Cyclical Living
what is womb work?
The way of the womb is seemingly mysterious. Hidden truths deep at our core that were passed down from one mother to another, but forgotten. We are in a time of awakening. The feminine spirit can no longer be stifled. And womb work is the key to liberation.
I never knew what “womb work” meant. I just knew it was something I was being called to do as part of my ancestral healing journey. After the birth of Clare of the Solstice, I realized that connecting with my womb was the next phase in my embodiment. I didn’t know how I would go about this process, but I trusted that the way would appear. Appear it did, in the form of the most transformational book I’ve ever read. Wild Power changed the way I relate to my life as a woman. It reminded me that my power comes from my womb, the giver of life, and in order to harness her gifts I have to listen to her.
Womb work is a process of intentional connection with your womb by charting your menstrual cycle, knowing which phase you’re in and which version of you is in charge during that phase, and honoring the gifts that each phase offers. It is understanding that each part of the womb’s cycle is vital to our feminine empowerment. My womb tells me when to be still so I can get clear on my purpose, she tells me when to let it all go and just be playful, when to go full force into making things happen, and when to take inventory of what doesn’t serve me. My womb is my center and my compass. Once I connected with my womb I began living from it, living cyclically.
we are cyclical beings
When I truly connected with the cycle inside of me, I began to notice the cycles that exist all around us, and just how intertwined we all are, because of this beautiful cyclical design. We are cyclical beings living in an ever expanding cyclical universe where time is spiraling forward. All processes are cyclical: all living things on our planet go through a life cycle where they are born, they live, and they die, the seasons begin and end, water precipitates, evaporates, condenses, and precipitates again, the moon cycles through its phases from new to full and back to new, even our own sun is in it’s own phase of it’s life cycle, and will one day burn out, and our wombs shed the tissue that it no longer needs in order to make new tissue to support life. When I realized that I, as a woman, have a direct link to the interconnected cycles of everything, it completely shifted my perspective. Now my blood is the life force connecting me to other life forces that are also cycling through their existence.
the inner seasons
In Wild Power the cycling that occurs inside a woman’s body is equated with each of the four seasons:
Winter, the season of menstruation, is the time to be still, surrender all obligations, and go inward to tend to YOU. In the stillness of winter we are able to listen to ourselves and germinate our vision seeds. She is the shaman, the wise woman, and the oracle.
Spring, the season of pre-ovulation, is the time to take the vision seeds and decide what resources you will need to make them grow. It is a time for playful experimentation, curiousity, and planning. She is the nymph, the toddler, and the party planner.
Summer, the season of ovulation, is a flourishing time where you plant your vision seeds and take an active interest in watching them grow. It is a time of action, expressiveness, and elevated energies. She is the superwoman, the CEO, and the queen.
Autumn, the season of pre-menstruation, is a time for harvesting your vision seeds and determining if they came to fruition, and if not, what needs to change. It is a time for release, editing, and recalibration. She is the warrior, the inner critic, and the shadow self.
Having this language to talk about where I am in my cycle has been very helpful, because each phase, like every season, has it’s own unique gifts and challenges. For me this information has provided a framework for how I live my life. When I live in alignment with each of these phases, I feel more connected to myself operating from a place of rooted authenticity.
cyclical living in practice
Here is what cyclical living looks like in practice for me:
I chart my cycle as often as I can. This part, I will admit, is the hardest part for me to maintain consistently. I use the flo app, which is the quickest and most efficient way for me to keep track. There are free printable menstrual cycle charts available on the Red School website as well (see side panel for links). Whether you choose to chart it using an app or paper and pen is a personal choice. The most important thing is to keep track of what season you’re in, so you can begin to notice how each season affects you, making it easier to be fully present within it.
I plan things around my cycle. For example, when I’m in my inner winter, I’m not scheduling social gatherings, or going to all night ragers. I’m spending a lot of time resting, meditating, bathing, journaling, and caring for myself deeply and tenderly. I also honor this phase of my cycle with a ritual that connects me to my womb. Spring and summer are times when I like to make to do lists, plan social gatherings, and go out. Having all that energy in spring and summer also means that I won’t get much sleep, because my head is full of all the things I got done that day and all the things I’ll get done tomorrow. Luckily, because I know that’s how I’m affected by spring and summer, I also know that my approaching inner autumn will be the time for me slow down and take inventory. Autumn is the time when I like to deep clean or reorganize my home, write online reviews, or work on my website. And so on and so forth.
I let my womb be my guide. I spend a lot of time meditating in my winter to get clarity on what I want. The download I get during my winter is my vision seed, what I’m working towards throughout that cycle. My winter menstruation ritual is the container where I receive this information. Once I’m clear on my vision, I write it down in a place where I see it everyday, and each phase of my cycle feeds it until it becomes a reality. For example, at the time of this blog post I am nearing the end of my menstrual cycle. My vision seed for this cycle is “I am expanding”. I am focusing on being the most expansive version of myself that I can be. Part of this expansion includes singing in front of people (a fear that has been an obstacle to my growth), growing my business (i.e. publishing my website, creating and sending my museletter, publishing blog posts, and marketing my incense), treating my body, mind, soul, and home as the temples that they are, and caring less about what people think. So I spent my spring writing music, practicing my songs, creating a logo for my incense brand, and getting dressed up in ridiculous outfits and going out dancing. Summer was a time of getting back into my exercise routine, facilitating Align with your Vibe again after it’s summer hiatus, continuing to write songs, and singing at two song sharing gatherings. As I write this, I’m in my inner autumn, taking inventory of what I did this cycle that served my vision seed and what didn’t. I’m writing this blog, finishing and publishing my website, creating and sending out my museletter, and cleaning my house in preparation for the approaching winter when I will crawl into my cave and listen for the next vision seed.
I always laugh when I find something that is so valuable that I can’t remember what it was like living without it. I lived without this hidden knowledge for 37 years, and yet, it was inside me the whole time. I guess that’s really what the eternal search of humanity is…a quest for something more, only to find that the more we seek the less we have, and the less we seek the more we have. Everything we need to heal the insidious wounds of the system we’ve trapped ourselves in is already inside of us, waiting to be rediscovered.
May we all find what we are seeking hidden inside of us, may it remind us of ourselves, may we return to our collective center as balanced whole beings living side by side, radiating and celebrating our own unique frequencies together.
In Shadow and Light,
Clare
If you know someone who feels aligned with the themes discussed in this blog post, please feel free to pass it along to them.
A spark needs both flint and steel to catch fire.
May you share your spark to whomever is open to receiving it.
Upcoming Journeys
If the information in this blog post inspires you, check out my other offerings!
ROOTED IN ANCIENT PRACTICES
DRIVEN BY DIVINE ARCHETYPES
WRAPPED IN RADICAL AUTHENTICITY
SPARKED MY OWN HEALING
ALIGN WITH YOUR VIBE /
2.6.24 /
7:00PM
Vibe into your most aligned self with breath work, meditation, journaling, ecstatic dance, and a sound bath.
We, and everything around us, are made of tiny particles vibrating at different speeds. When we explore the interplay between our own vibrational frequency and the frequencies around us, we open channels for exponential growth. Align with your Vibe is the container for that exploration.
Bring the following for a more immersive experience:
~ journal
~ comfy clothes for movement
VASANT PANJAMI / 2.22
.24 /
6:45PM
This February, under a full Snow Moon, we will honor the ancient Hindu goddess Saraswati, divine creatress, keeper of knowledge, and stewardess of the arts.
Gather with other goddesses for an evening of
tea, rituals, chanting, dancing, creating,
affirmations, journaling, talking, and listening.
Bring a journal/writing utensil, a drum or noisemaker, something comfortable to sit on (we'll sit in circle on the floor), an altar offering for Saraswati that represents a creative project that you’d like to complete, an open mind, and an open heart.
“Holding space for cyclical changes, round and round I go; such a sacred carousel I’m on, being a woman.”
Resources your womb would love
Click the following links to find more resources to guide you down your own womb journey.
We all begin in the womb.
Welcome home.
Wild Power
https://www.redschool.net/product/wild-power-book
The book that started it all for me. An affirming read filled with ancient wisdom that I channel every single day. If you are only able to choose one resource to go deeper with at this time, choose this one.
The Red School
Founded by the force of women that wrote Wild Power, this website has a wealth of information on cyclical living. After all, they wrote the book!
The Flo App
This app is amazing. First I was just using it to track my ovulation when I was trying to get pregnant, which worked twice! Now I use it as my full menstrual cycle tracker. You can log physical symptoms, moods, water intake, sleep, etc. They also offer tons of cycle related resources.
Menstrual Trackers
https://www.redschool.net/chart
Of course The Red School offers free printable menstrual trackers! These ladies may not have invented the keys, but they have unearthed them from the patriarchal system and are opening gateways for women everywhere.
https://www.goddessrising.org/moon-mapping
Goddess Rising offers a free printable menstrual tracker as well as courses, yoni crystals, priestess pilgrimages, and many other journeys for the divine feminine path.
https://www.brendaryan.com/cycles/menstrual-cycle/
Brenda Ryan, the force behind Priestesses of the Spiral Path women’s circles, has tons of information supporting the rise of the divine feminine, including cyclical living. Her menstrual tracker is unique, as it’s aligned with all of the different cycles around us, including the Celtic Wheel.
LET’S STAY CONNECTED!