I’m not alone!  Ever since Moondays went live online, I’ve found so many others who are in alignment with Moondays’ mission.  I’m excited to I know our web will grow and grow with so many connections!  Here are just some of the new discoveries we will be supporting, conversing with and adding to our resource links:

1. The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1979 by a multidisciplinary group of women who were pioneers in understanding the centrality of menstrual cycle research to women’s health. They are an interdisciplinary group of researchers, health care providers, policy makers, and students who share an interest in women’s lives and health needs as they are related to the menstrual cycle.

Their mission is to be the source of guidance, expertise, and ethical considerations for researchers, practitioners, policy makers and funding resources interested in the menstrual cycle.

They offer a network of communication and support that spans discipline, professional responsibilities and geography to provide woman-centered perspectives on menstrual experiences. Membership is open to individuals who have an interest in research on the menstrual cycle or related issues, and who support the purposes of the Society

Here is their blog http://menstruationresearch.org/blog/

1. Adventures in Menstruating is a blog written by a couple of women in England. They bring a lot of humor to the subject.

“Why Adventures in Menstruating?

We think menstruation is funny. This is why we write about it, talk about it and make up smutty jokes about it. Then we laugh. A lot. Why is menstruation funny? Um...for the same reasons a lot of other stuff is funny. It's a taboo subject -- the shock of it all always gets a giggle right away and, immature or not, the gross-out factor is still fun. It's the new fart joke. You wait and see. Laughter is therapeutic -- sometimes periods are a pain in the uterus.”

1. Pamela Madsen, one of the nation's most outspoken and recognized fertility educators and patient advocates writes a blog. In this blog post, she talks about the importance of paying attention to your cycle:

“The problem is that most of us don’t really listen to our bodies. We don’t allow a time for physically turning in during menstruation. We often do not slow down -- and take the time to listen to what our bodies are telling us. And some of us chemically alter our bodies through birth control pills - so we don’t even get the opportunity to tune into the wisdom of our bodies -- because we alter the cycles. Often there is no menstruation for women on the pill. Menstruation is seen as something to avoid instead of nature’s way of letting us take stock of where we are, and then letting go.”

“Is she crazy? ‘A new movement in bleeding?’ What is she thinking?” Surely some people must be rolling their eyes about me now (although no one has come straight out and confronted me yet, I suppose I have to be prepared for that).J It is a little unnerving going out on a limb with a new business.  If I wasn’t so passionate about this, I would never risk people’s criticism.  People also thought I was crazy when I told them I was going to open a rock store. Twenty years later, I am still selling rocks, both in downtown Portland and at www.fossilcartel.com, so I guess I’m not that off.

The “modern” woman has been encouraged to take advantage of all the conveniences available to minimize the impact of their periods: first sanitary napkins, then tampons and now?  Now you don’t even have to get your period!  Now you can get an injection every three months and miss your monthly cycle all together!

For me, women’s disconnection with their cycles stems from the underlying force of Western Civilization being primarily comprised of yang or male energy.  I am not judging this as a “bad” thing; it’s just an observation.  This is nothing new: the west being more masculine and the east more feminine.  I believe the United States epitomizes this identity: more, bigger, better, “Go west young man,” The American Dream, etc., always striving and asserting ourselves.

The Industrial Age amplified this male energy. We went from living off the land to the cities, and became more alienated. People lost family and community connections and rarely gained them back. This is still the case today. Many families split up after their kids went off to colleges in other states, often never to return to their hometowns except to visit.

Equally significant is when we moved forward, always striving with myopic focus to create more, bigger, better, we wound up minimizing physical needs that seemed to impede our efforts to achieve.  The truth is that there is always time for things that are a priority in our lives, but how many times have we used work as an excuse not to exercise?  “I’m too busy.  I don’t have time for that.” We’ve come up with all sorts of shortcuts to minimally satisfy our physical needs in order to maintain life while we work to build bigger and better: fast food, TV dinners, you name it.    Maybe it’s not a great quality of life, but we’re still breathing.  And then sometimes, we fail at that.  We eat too much fast food and don’t exercise – and bam! a heart attack.

Young women have more of an opportunity now, more than ever, to “achieve.”  The odds aren’t stacked against them as much as they were with their mothers and grandmothers.  First tampons were invented to make it easier for a woman to forget about her period.  Pharmaceutical companies are now promoting birth control pills and injections to stop or minimize periods.  Why allow your period to stop you, when you can take something that will almost completely get rid of the “problem?”  There seems to be something inherently wrong with stopping our natural cycles unless it is a medical necessity.  It has already been proven that women suffer a loss of bone density from one of the period suppression products marketed today.  Who knows what other side effects will come, as there hasn’t yet been enough time to tell.

Like diet and exercise, the monthly cycle that connects women to their physical bodies and this physical world is an important link to women’s overall health as well, for reasons that are not only physical, but emotional, spiritual, and psychological. Besides it being good exercise, there’s another reason it’s advantageous to take a hike in nature: it gives us a sense of connection with this earthly world and helps put things into perspective (not to mention the benefit of massive amounts of negative ions we get exposed to, which we are starved for in cities and offices).  I believe women connecting with their monthly cycles are graced with physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological benefits. This is what I am striving for with Moondays -- to help women connect with and come to appreciate their natural cycles, bringing themselves and their world a mind/body/spirit healing.

I’ve never been happy with the selection of words representing the female genitalia.  “Yoni” is the closest I’ve come to one I like.  Vagina is so clinical sounding and pussy is too raunchy.  My seven year old daughter came up with “VG” and I’m really liking it.

The origin of the word "vagina" is from a Latin word meaning "a sheath or scabbard," into which one might slide and sheath a sword. The "sword" in this case?  As if we needed a man’s military connotation for our unique, wondrous physical feature.

Although I think children should definitely be taught the “proper” words for genitalia, I don’t see any harm with coming up with euphemisms for them.  The issue is making sure they know it’s just a nickname and not the “real” name.  I agree with Mimi Spencer in her article that explores the whole topic.  To read the full article, click here:  The Vagina Dialogues.

At 22 I had an interesting summer.  Having just come out of my formative years in metropolitan NY, I found myself living in a desert, in the middle of nowhere.  The quiet emptiness was a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of NY.  It turned out to be fertile ground for experiencing life on a metaphysical level.  A couple of months before, I had begun reading a series  of various spiritual and metaphysical books.  The authors expanded my perception of reality.  Life became a whole new world.

Reading and resting one day, in my funky old 50’s trailer I began zoning out, in a conscious meditative way.  All of a sudden, I was “seeing ghosts,” images of deceased women from my personal history floating and surrounding me in my tiny bedroom.  It was as if they were there 1. As a plea to encourage me to do something in my life that would benefit women, right some wrongs, heal the hurt and empower us, or 2. To let me know that was going to be part of my future.  Their presence was intensely visceral, unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

The whole thing was a little odd as I never had the inclination to be proactive about “women rights” outside of my own personal life.  My women’s studies class in college did get me all riled up, but I was no Gloria Steinem nor did I aspire to be.

Three years ago, I started a dream that may be the answer to this experience, 26 years later.  A few years before that, I had read the book The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.  It was a popular book at the time.  Set in biblical times, when women were menstruating, they went to a red tent where they could relax and socialize.  After I read the book, every time I’d get my period I’d think, “Damn!  I wish there was a red tent I could go to.”

I’ve always suffered to varying degrees during my moon cycles.  How perfect would it be to have a place where I could remove myself form the day to day drone, take a little time out, care for myself and connect with other women during my moon time?  I know I’m not alone.  I’ve seen statistics: approximately 60% of women suffer from some level of menstrual discomfort.  My idea to create a modern red tent became not only a promising business model, but a campaign to help heal women by giving them the space and encouragement to honor their cycles. I believe that a lot of our menstrual suffering and other female ailments are directly related to our disempowerment as a gender dating back several millennia.