The Moon and The Menstrual Cycle
Holistic Yoni care is a lifelong journey of cultivating your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing through practices that support your sexual vitality and empowerment. The beginning of this journey is awareness of your own body and the influences that it constantly responds to.
To understand the lunation cycle is to understand yourself through fertility awareness. When you learn how to flow with the moon, you bring your entire being into harmony with nature’s rhythm—physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. You also learn the science of timing your life events more effectively so that things go as expected as often as possible—this is one of the greatest secrets of manifestation.
In this post, you’ll learn about the phases of the moon and how they correspondence directly with the monthly menstrual cycle. The lunation cycle is the 29-day sum of the moon’s phases from new until dark.
WOMEN AND THE MOON
Thanks to the contributions of archaeologists and anthropologists, there is substantial evidence pointing to women as the creators of the first calendars used by mankind. Numerous artifacts (rocks, large bones, etc.) share similar etchings made by women tracking their fertility cycles.
These etchings allowed a more advanced concept of time to take form in the minds of people as a recurrent 29-day cycle. Whether for agriculture, family planning, business affairs, or interpersonal relationships—the moon has always proven to be a reliable source of information about how to live in harmony with the cycles of nature.
The moon’s gravitational relationship with the earth affects the movement of water everywhere. Overall, the human body is said to be composed of roughly 60% water (that percentage is higher in certain parts of the body). Not only does the lunation cycle affect physical health—but it also has a large impact on our emotional and psychological wellbeing.
Astrologically, the moon symbolizes the subconscious mind. It reveals deep truths about your psychological makeup, and how you respond and/or react to your day-to-day life experiences.
Although this lunar influence is ever-present, you have the blessing of free will to choose how you show up in life—no matter what. However, that is much harder to do consistently when you are unaware of what is influencing you. Learning about the moon provides a greater level of self-awareness and preparation to navigate and manage your life in a truly meaningful way.
THE LUNATION CYCLE
“The moon herself does not change; her light does. What the earth beings see as the phases of the moon are actually reflections of the moon’s changing relationship to the sun.”
–Demetra George, Mysteries of the Dark Moon
The 29-day orbit of the moon around the earth is known as the lunation cycle and consists of 4 major phases: new, first quarter, full, and last quarter. The new and first-quarter phases make up the waxing motion of the lunation cycle in which the moon moves away from the sun and reflects more light. The waning phase occurs after the moon reaches its furthest point away from the sun and starts returning (last quarter to dark/new moon).
During this 29-day transit, the moon passes through each of the 12 Zodiac signs (hence the term ‘moon sign’) spending just over 2.5 days per sign. The energy of the Zodiac sign housing the moon will be experienced through the subconscious mind and the subjective nature of the individual. In other words, the moon sign colors your emotional expression and perception to a certain degree. Your natal moon sign (the sign where the moon was at the time of your birth) can provide great insight into your psychological makeup. Combining your moon sign and transiting moon sign (at this current moment) with the knowledge of the moon’s phase is a valuable skillset that you can develop through further study for the purpose of self-awareness and ultimately, self-actualization.
In the next section, we’ll discuss each of the 4 major phases of the moon. Furthermore, you’ll learn why the female body is a microcosm of the universe that mimics lunation through the menstrual cycle, a phenom known as the blood mysteries.
NEW MOON
The new moon (also known as the dark moon) is the darkest phase of the lunation cycle in which, the moon shows her true face rather than some degree of reflected sunlight. This phase carries the energy of death, regeneration, birth, and new beginnings. Energetically, the dark moon corresponds to the root chakra—the abode of Shakti.
Shakti ( शक्ति ) is a Sanskrit word meaning primordial cosmic energy. Shakti is the power source of kundalini—the individual life-force or embodied expression of the Divine Feminine Principle of the Creator. As a dynamic emanation of source energy—Shakti is the Cosmic womb through which everything in existence is created, sustained, and destroyed.
As a result of such creative potential, new moons are fertile for seeds to be sewn—literally and figuratively. Therefore, the process of manifesting new intentions begins at this time with the expectation that the sun’s reflected light from the moon, in the days ahead, will support their growth until the peak of the lunation cycle—the full moon. According to the renowned astrologer, Bernadette Brady, new moons set in motion a 29-year cycle.
Psychologically, the energy of dark moons support introspection, trauma-healing, shadow work, and root chakra healing (mother wounds, ancestral healing, and self-discovery) to create space for new experiences. The stillness created by this darkness supports meditation and dreamwork.
Physiologically, new moons correspond with the onset of menstruation. It is important to note that the amount of natural light (sunlight) absorbed and stress levels can place the body’s natural rhythm out of sync with the moon. Therefore, it is not unlikely for a woman with more of an indoor lifestyle to notice menstruation occurring closer to the time of the full moon and ovulation around the new moon.
The maiden goddess archetype is used to anthropomorphize the new moon so that we can better and understand and integrated its mysteries.
FIRST QUARTER MOON
The first quarter moon appears as a half-lit orb approximately 7 days after the new moon waxes (moving away from the sun) and reflects the sun’s light from a 90-degree angle (square aspect). At this point, any challenges that must be overcome to manifest your true intention (from the time of the new moon) will usually present themselves in one or more areas of life. When this challenge is overcome, the vision for your intention is refined and ready to mature. You also gain the benefit of learning a powerful lesson that will support you on your journey.
The first quarter is about growth through adversity and learning how to be flexible. It corresponds with the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, in which the ovaries undergo a process of developing follicles to produce a mature egg. Out of 5-20 follicles—only one egg makes the cut!
Isn’t it simply amazing how the female body plays out this theme of ‘refinement through adversity’? This is just one of many great mysteries revealing secrets about how life proliferates and diversifies its expression on this physical plane. The warrior goddess archetype is also used to anthropomorphize this energy for deeper understanding.
FULL MOON
The full moon marks a time of completion, celebration, and a release of sexual energy that occurs approximately 14 days after the new moon when the sun and moon oppose one another (180-degree angle). The moon reflects the maximum amount of sunlight possible as more of the subconscious mind is revealed.
Physiologically, full moons correspond with ovulation wherein, a mature follicle in the ovary bursts—thereby releasing a new egg. Everything that you have poured into your intention up until this point (every thought, action, word, etc.) is now crystallized as the foundation of your intention, which will be evident in the resulting fruit.
Full moons create excitable energy that may take on the form of celebration, emotional volatility, impulsiveness, and enhanced sexual desire. These energies have a tendency to reveal what is usually hidden from our conscious awareness through our behavior, reactions, and responses to what’s going on in the moment.
Unlike the new moon phase, this is not a time to embark on new sole ventures. Rather, a full moon is usually more aligned with visibility, making announcements of what you’ve already started, co-creation with a partner (romantic or platonic endeavors), and letting go of something in your life that has reached its full maturity.
Full moons are also associated with pregnancy and fertility as anthropomorphized by the mother goddess archetype.
LAST QUARTER MOON
As with the first quarter square (90-degree angle between the sun and moon), the third (or last) quarter moon appears approximately 7 days after the full moon during the waning phase. As the moon grows darker, a focus on nourishing your creation increases. This is also the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, in which, the ruptured follicle from which the egg burst is transformed into the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum secretes hormones that maintain the thickened uterus lining (a process that began in the follicular phase during the waxing moon) so that the egg can be implanted if fertilized.
This is a time where any wisdom or knowledge gained throughout the lunation cycle thus far can be integrated and analyzed. Your intention can now be refined based on real-life experience and wisdom. This is a good time to review your plan, make adjustments based on fresh insight and inspiration. This phase eliminates any loose aspects of your intention that are no longer relevant or in support of the purpose so that you can maintain the integrity of your vision.
The final few days of the lunation cycle are known as the balsamic phase, which is a time for resting, releasing, retreating, and healing through the alchemical process of regeneration in preparation for the next lunation cycle to begin. The last quarter of lunation is associated with the crone goddess archetype (old one, wise one, dark mother).
A CHALLENGE FOR YOU
Look up your moon sign using the calculator at Cafe Astrology and post it below in the comments!
SOURCES
- Book: “Mysteries of the Dark Moon: The Healing Power of the Dark Goddess” by Demetra George
- Book: “The Fifth Vital Sign: Master Your Cycles & Optimize Your Fertility” by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack
- Book: “Womb Awakening: Initiatory Wisdom from the Creatrix of All Life” by Azra Bertrand, M.D. & Seren Bertrand
This video was really helpful to me, now I am interested in learning when I am fertile.
Yay, that’s great to hear, Bianca! There is so much we can learn about our bodies on this journey, and I’m happy that you found this helpful. If you ever have questions, feel free to drop them here or shoot me an email.
And I forgot to add I am a Capricorn moon.