MoonBlood

I walked from one corner to the next ~ 4 corners that established the boundaries of my small piece of heaven on earth. I never dreamed that I would get the house, but I had a son to finish raising and my soon-to-be-ex-husband ~ had a dog. Actually now that I think about it, that is about what he had when we got married. The refinance to get his name off the paper work had been ridiculously easy and now in the middle of the night I was marking my territory.

The moon was full and sparkled down upon me as I stopped at each corner. I raised the jar to the moon and prayed my thankfulness. I asked for wisdom and grace to carry on, I asked for courage to face the future. I proclaimed by sincere thankfulness for the masters, teachers and angels that had guided me to this moment. I poured a small amount of liquid with each prayer. When I finished the four corners I walked to the ornamental windmill standing in what I conceived to be the center of my home site. I finished my prayers as I spilled the rest of the blood tea into the heart of this land. I floated into the house to finish my ceremony with a song in the glow of candlelight. I surged with the promise of moon and the power of earth. I felt at once both the softness of a single blade of grass and the strength of the giant cottonwood. I was rock solid with courage and determination filled with a gooey center of mushy love. I was woman!!

For the few days preceding my ceremony I had been collecting my menstrual blood into a Mason jar. At the same time I made a strong infusion of rose petals and lavender flowers to add to my brew. The power of a woman’s blood combined with the inner and outer aspects of love symbolized by the plants that I cherished.

I thanked the goddess for bringing into my life the teachers and circumstances that had opened up this small town Christian girl to the ongoing lessons of a much broader universe. I had never done anything like this before. I wouldn’t have had a clue about performing this kind of ceremony if it hadn’t been for the thirteen month study of plant spirit medicine under the tutelage of a modern day shaman. My life would never be same after my introduction to journey work and an ever expanding awe of the spiritual universe. I was like a sponge.

That experience was followed by a wondrous year I spent at herb school. I walked away from that year long program with 4 notebooks full of facts and hand-outs on the medicinal properties of plants, plus I had been introduced to earth centered ritual celebrating the feminine. The women I met would become dear friends and mentors. I sat in class and listened to women discussing the power of being female. I was shocked and dismayed. I was shocked because I could not believe any one could enjoy nearly bleeding to death every month and dismayed because I had lived so long, suffering through the dreaded curse, totally unaware of the power that these women described.

I only had a few years to explore this new monthly “moon blood”, and then it was over, as dramatically as it started. But this is now; and I am woman!!

* annette