Midsummer I am fertile. Round eggs dropping into round womb under a round sun by day the longest day on Earth, the longest day of me. Then Lammas, the sacrifice the unactualized eggs dying inside of me the fullness not perfectly full any longer. Mabon then, light and dark in balance the harvest of seeds sowed long ago and new seeds planted as well reaping and sowing in preparation for the darkness ahead. Urgency sets in; there is much to be done before the night. By Samhain I am fully in my shadow. Tense, sensitive, psychic and sore unable to resist the spirits within or without welcoming them in, feeding them chocolate, expressing the powerful witch-like energy of my Truth And then the blessed release of Yule, Sun born again, and me bleeding in the longest night bleeding and releasing and relaxing, internalizing lessons learned from the dark, enlightened with everything else on the planet here comes the sun and I say "it's alright". Imbolc, first milk stirrings of life still far underground, and so it is in me, potential only a whisper, light returning and cautious celebration for passing through yet another season of darkness. Then the Spring, light and dark again dancing equally inside and out all in balance and everywhere new lifebuds and sprouts and lambs and smells and hope and romance eggs everywhere outside of me, eggs everywhere inside of me such promise, such faith renewed. At Beltane I am heavy with potential, fertile, desirous I leap the fire. I choose a mate to lay in the field with I surrender to the dance of the Lord and Lady. Midsummer the Sun swells again and I with it.
Betz King is a psychotherapist, Bard, Priestess of the Western Mystery Tradition and humanistic journalist. She bleeds wise blood in Berkley Michigan). Her dissertation - Bodyhood and Being-With: A woman's experience of embodied spiritual empowerment is available at her website: www.betzking.com . It speaks to the honoring of the menstrual cycle as a sacred expression of the Divine Feminine. betzking at betzking.com |
Comic strip: A conservative American family visits the (future) Museum of Menstruation