Blood Sisters

by Melina Faria

I have four beautiful sisters who I am eternally grateful for. I am the middle child so I have two wonderfully supportive elder sisters and two inspirational younger sisters. All off us are somewhere in our thirties except for the youngest who is a twenty-going-on-thirty-something year old.

I confess for me, the best part about being thirty-something is the journey off going deeper into everything. At the moment I am digging a little deeper into the most powerful and potent part off being a woman. I am learning about the female menstruation cycle. Since I got my first period, my menstrual cycle has been a curse! An unimportant, inconvenient, unpleasant, unwanted, messy business in my underpants curse!! Thankfully I have never suffered from period cramps but I have experienced what we call “PMS”, spending days in depression often on the phone to one off my sisters in tears. When my period came, I would do what all the other women I knew did – get it out of sight by inserting a toxic, penis shaped, medium sized, commercial store bought tampon up my vagina to block the natural flow off my menstruation cycle and my intuition.

Bloody hell! If only someone had told be sooner…

The Maiden (Day 1-7 of the cycle)

The beginning off the menstruation cycle is called the Care-free Maiden. She represents Spring and symbolizes a time off re-birth and new beginnings. She brings with her the youth-full gift off energy, curiosity and self-confidence. I grew up in the Middle East, where my sisters and I, care-freely explored the rocky valleys off Oman to the sandy deserts and seashores off the U.A.E. Our parents flew far away from their homes in India and made their little nest in a small city called Muscat and then Dubai. We spent our maiden years playing in a little “daisy patch” which became our oasis. Everyday after school we would ritually walk across it and create all kinds off imaginary worlds while we played in it. From digging trenches to trap the boys who spied on us to planting onions called Oliver, singing songs, making potions and raising imaginary families off our own. At the start off every cycle, we are transformed into Maidens again and are free to run, skip or jump into our “daisy patch” with our maiden sisters – as we spring into life.

The Mother (Day 8-16 of the cycle)

The middle of the menstruation cycle is called the Mysterious Mother. She represents Summer and symbolizes a time off fertility and nurturing. She brings with her the ripening gift off abundance, vitality and self-less-ness. This is the time to claim our power. We are strong, we are tender and we are hot as hell!! We are not baby making machines but life-giving forces off nature. But before we become the Mysterious Mothers we were meant to be; we must dig deep into our maiden relationships with our own mother and heal the “Mother Wound”. Whatever our mother did or didn’t do must be brought to the surface and looked at under the bright, summer sun. Acceptance, forgiveness, compassion and gratitude are necessary so that with every summer cycle, we keep growing into the mother archetype; looking after one another in an authentic, loving way as we carry within our wombs – the mystery off life.

The Wise Woman (Day 17-23 of the cycle)

The next part of the menstruation cycle is called the Wise Woman. She represents Autumn and symbolizes a time off soul bearing (when all off the masks fall off) and reflection. She brings with her the gift of insight, honesty and self-love. This is the time to take responsibility. To acknowledge all of the things we did and all off the things we didn’t do. The wise woman is there to hold us accountable and to encourage us to learn from our selfish maiden and selfless mother. At this time of our cycle, we can always call on our wise women or go to our mothers who are in the wise woman phase off their lives; for advise, a shoulder to cry on or just to walk silently, side by side, on the beach, while the cool waves lap against our toes and our fingers and lips curl around cups off hot chocolate – tasting the bitter sweetness off life.

The Crone (Day 24-28 of the cycle)

The end of the menstruation cycle is called the Crone (crown). She represents Winter and symbolizes a time off flow and death. She brings with her the gift of letting go, release and intuition. This is the time to rest, dream, listen to our intuition and lovingly accept being taken care off by our loved ones. At the end off our cycle, we are called to re-connect with nature in the most potent way possible – through our blood. We can do this by sitting in a red tent with our blood sisters and bleeding into the earth or we can collect our blood after washing our diva cup or cloth pad and pour it into our garden. This sacred ritual is the symbolic burying off the maiden, mother, wise woman and finally crone. The burial ground might even be in the middle off a “daisy patch” and the tombstone might read – “Let’s heal our world one womb at a time”.

I have been re-born 230-something times in that daisy patch! And I am about to die again tomorrow as I bleed with the full moon. My prayer is that we leave daisy patches for our future generations and not land fills full off pads and tampons that take centuries to decompose.

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhoooooooooooooooo

One Womb Love,

Melina