What are the Menstrual Cycle Rites of Passage?

When we think of rites of passage in life we often think of religious events like communions and bah mitzvahs or birthday markers when we get new freedoms like turning 16 (driving!), 18 (voting, cigarettes, & porn!), and 21 (drinking all the booze!).

And don’t get me wrong, some of these events can be really special, but others are let’s just say not our proudest moments - I’m looking at you 21st birthday.

But there are very real, very profound, very sacred rites of passage in the lifecycle of women that get completely overlooked - or worse, demonized.

I’m talking about menarche - your first period.

Pregnancy - literally growing another human inside of your body.

Childbirth - pushing a human that you grew as a part of you out into the physical world and stepping into your new life as a mother.

Menopause - your last period.

All of these rites of passage have one important thing in common… there is NO GOING BACK.

You can’t go back to before you started bleeding.

You can’t go back to before you became a mother.

You can’t go back to your menstruating life once it has come to a close.

There is no going back. Only going forward into the newness.

These are pivotal moments in our lives that deserve reverence, blessing, & beyond all else celebration.

We are becoming a new version of ourselves.

We are saying goodbye to the old version of ourselves that we will never again get back.

It’s a mourning,

A letting go.

And it’s also a celebration,

An embracing of the new life that is unfolding for us.

It’s beautiful.

It’s challenging.

It’s exciting.

It’s sad.

All at the same time.

These are the moments of our lives when we most need to be seen, heard, and witnessed.

To have our transformation acknowledged & celebrated by our communities.

Without that acknowledgement we feel lost, confused trying to desperately grasp onto our old life even though it’s nowhere to be seen.

It is in these moments that we need one another.

Imagine just how different your early menstruating years would have been had your mother, aunts, & grandmothers intentionally celebrated your new bleeding body. If they had told you how powerful it is to bleed - to have a cycle of life and death right inside your body. If they had told you that your menstrual cycle can be your superpower and that they want to show you how.

Literal chills down my arms as I write this.

We would be different.

Imagine how different your pregnancies and child births would have been had you had a MOTHER SHOWER to honor, celebrate, & SEE you as you stepped into your new life as a mother rather than a baby shower filled with onesies, baby bottles, and a gazillion diapers – all things that are for baby not mama.

We would be different.

Imagine how different menopause would have been for our mothers and grandmothers had the women in their lives had a party to celebrate this transition and the wisdom that comes with their immense life experience. If we honored these beautiful babes as the wild + wise beings that they are.

We would be different.

We would be better - whole, full, EMBODIED.

All this is to say, it’s time that we create these experiences for the women in our lives. We must celebrate their important rites of passage.

And how do we do that?

With women’s circles.

Women’s circles are where we can come together in safe + sacred celebration of the women in our lives. To honor their transitions. To walk alongside them when they are overcome with the knowing that there is, indeed, no going back.

If you have a woman in your life who is…

> Beginning her menstruating years

> Becoming a mother

> Becoming a wife

> Ending her menstruating years

Let’s work together to celebrate her transition, to SEE her through these changing times, and to acknowledge the immense rite of passage that she is navigating.

In my new role as a Women’s Circle Facilitator, I work together with you to design the perfect women’s circle for the special woman in your life. You tell me where + when and I do the rest.

If you have a woman in your life navigating one of these pivotal rites of passage, it is time to SHOW UP FOR HER.

Learn all about my Women’s Circle offerings here.

(& set up a *free* call to start planning your circle!)

PS. Don’t have a woman in your life that is going through a rite of passage BUT still want to have a women’s circle because it sounds so damn lovely?! I got you.

I also host women’s circle for…

> the full moon each month

> the new moon each month

> Earth-based holidays like the equinox & solstice

> birthdays

> life transitions like new jobs, big moves, break ups, and more