3 Reasons to Honour Your Cyclic Nature
Spend time paying attention to the cyclic nature of life and be repaid a thousand-fold and more in the riches of renewed self-trust, clarity of vision and the ability to live in alignment with the truth of who you are.
Beloved sister, hear this truth: you are a wise and wild force of nature.
Do you remember?
Your body is formed from the strong, nurturing earth.
Healing waters flow through you as your blood and your emotions.
Each breath you take connects you to the dancing air which supports you and gives you life.
Fire is in your spirit, powerfully aflame with sacred rage, divine joy, and luminous passion.
Your cells are made from billions of exploding stars and the light of the Sun and the nourishment of Mother Earth.
Your emotions, hormones and blood wax and wane with the Moon.
Your heart beats in time with the pulse of the planet and each breath takes you through the seasons of the year.
You embody nature’s cycle of birth, growth and fullness, of waning, release, and death, and of gestation and rebirth.
You are the wisdom of the cycles of change embodied in human form.
Remember this.
And disconnect from the prevailing culture which seeks to manipulate you and disconnect you from your soul, the souls of all things, and the soul of the world. Don’t listen to the falsehoods peddled by centuries of patriarchal culture which deride and denigrate and seek to destroy women’s power and truth.
Remember.
And reconnect to the pulsing web of life.
Connect to yourself and your sisters and to all living beings, with love.
With your feet rooted on this sacred Earth, with the Moon in your womb and your blood, with the fire of the Sun in your belly, and with each breath of life you take – rise up.
Rise up in love for yourself, and for all living things.
DISCONNECT FROM THE PATRIARCHAL PARADIGM
Yet we collectively live largely unconscious of the cycles and seasons of our bodies and the Earth, Moon and Sun, cut-off from our instinctual, intuitive selves, seeing nature as something ‘out there’ rather than acknowledging we are part of a global network of living things.
We’ve forgotten our place in the eternal and delicate dance of life going on beneath our feet, above our heads, all around us and within us.
Much of humanity has become so dissociated from the essential interconnected nature of life that we’re destroying our planet’s finely balanced ecosystem.
Our culture only values intellect, logic and reason. Rationality and intellectualization. Strategy and planning. Goal-setting and action taking. Competition and winning. Problem-solving and solution-finding. Ambition and singularity of purpose and direction. Linearity and perpetual growth. Transcending our bodies, emotions and earthly life to move upwards towards enlightenment.
And while these energies in themselves are not bad, it is when they become dominant that healthy balance is lost, and we’ve seen where that leads: the toxic masculinity of patriarchy – the rule of the father – which has presided over the last few thousand years.
REAWAKENING TO THE SACRED FEMININE
Yet more and more of us are reawakening to the truth the life is cyclic.
More and more of us are following the call to heal from disconnection and instead be guided by the cycles of our bodies and the rhythms of the Moon and Sun.
And as you explore these Sacred Feminine cycles as a path to living in your truth and power, you will naturally begin to turn away from the prevailing unhealthy paradigm and its pressure to do more and be more and acquire more.
Turn away… and lift your face and your heart to the Sun and Moon. Feel your feet on the Earth. Breathe the air around you. Drink deeply of the healing waters of life.
Slow down.
And notice.
Notice the subtle change of the seasons as they unfold throughout the year.
The first shoots of new life in earliest spring; the leaves unfurling; the fullness of flower blooms in summer; that subtle shift in the air as summer ends; the russet hues of autumn; and the still, soothing quietness of winter.
Feel into the subtler energies and how they express themselves through YOU.
The springtime Maiden of hope and possibility who is playful and curious. The early summer of the Lover, sensual, courageous and free. The high summer of the nurturing Mother, infinite in her love. The autumnal Queen who has reaped the experience of her life experience and is fearless and strong. The winter Crone, peaceful in the depths of her wisdom.
At its essence, honouring the cycles of life is a simple spiritual practice of paying attention. Paying attention to your inner world and the world of nature around you. And it is so worth it.
Here are three reasons why…
3 KEY REASONS TO HONOUR YOUR CYCLIC NATURE
1. TO BE KINDER TO YOURSELF
When you live with awareness of the sacred cycles of menstruation, the moon and the seasons of the year you’re recognizing the essential life-death-rebirth nature of all existence: you are acknowledging your own essential nature.
Tuning into this fundamental energy cycle underpinning all of life and recognising its influence on you will help you to be kinder to yourself.
For when you’re aware of your own natural ebbs and flows of energy, the shifts in your emotions and your inevitable ups and downs then you are able to be more compassionate with yourself because you will realise it is perfectly natural for your inner world to wax and wane.
And this is especially true if you have a menstrual cycle where the tides of your shifting hormones take you on the journey through the energies of spring (pre-ovulation & rebirth), summer (ovulation & growth), autumn (pre-menstruum & release) and winter (menstruation & death) each month.
2. TO OPTIMISE YOUR LIFE
You can utilise awareness of your cyclic nature to help you plan your life for optimal personal fulfilment, for example planning your social life around your unique energy pattern, as it is influenced by the sacred cycles of life.
Because whether you’re following your menstrual cycle, the moon or the seasons of the year and your unique response to them, this gives you the awareness to recognize days and phases of the year when you’re likely to be more outgoing, creative and full of ideas (spring and summer energy) or when you’re drawn inwards and perhaps need more rest (autumn and winter energy).
If you’re self-employed you could use it to help you plan what kind of work you do when – if you have that flexibility.
If you’re in a workplace where you don’t have so much flexibility over when you do what, then perhaps just being aware of your unique energy cycle can help you to be more compassionate with yourself if you feel you have ups and downs.
You could use it to help you plan, birth, nurture and evaluate creative projects.
You could use it to plan when to put more energy into your spiritual connection and the types of practices you do. You can plan rituals and spiritual/devotional activities and reflection time to correlate with the phases of the cycles and seasons and your journey with them.
Or you could simply watch and listen to the energies of the sacred cycles of the outer and inner seasons as a reminder that change is a constant presence, and dance alongside them as a reminder to keep in daily contact with the enchanting magic and mystery of life.
3. TO CONNECT TO YOUR SOUL
Spend time connecting to these sacred cycles and you will be repaid a thousand-fold and more in the riches of renewed self-trust, clarity of vision and the ability to live in alignment with the truth of who you are.
It connects you to your soul self – that part of you which is a unique expression of life itself.
For while spirit is ‘out there’, transcending ordinary life, the soul is embodied, calling us inwards to connect to and live from what is most unique in us.
Spirit calls us to rise and transcend our sense of self.
Soul calls us to descend into our bodies and root ourselves in the truth of who we are and engage with our bodies, emotions and feelings … and listen to the wild call of our yearnings and callings – the messy but beautiful truths of our inner nature.
While transcendent spirit has long been associated with the Masculine face of the divine – of sky Gods who look down upon us and judge, the immanent soul is associated with the Feminine faces of the divine – of life on earth, the seasons and cycles of life, and embodiment.
So by connecting to the cyclic nature of life you are inevitably forging a more intimate relationship with your soul.
HONOUR YOURSELF THROUGH THE SACRED CYCLES OF LIFE
So, my wish for you is that honouring your cyclic nature brings you home to a profound sense of belonging: to the felt sense that you are part of nature and that all of life is connected and held in an invisible web of being that is awe-inspiring and magical to behold.
I wish that you will feel it all in your bones, your blood and your soul, and experience the felt sense that, woman, you are part of this mysterious cycle, even if much of humanity has forgotten this truth.
Living in rhythm with life’s sacred cycles brings healing and wholeness.
It reconnects you to the presence and grace held in the moment, and to the ever-unfolding flow of life.
It brings peace and authenticity to nourish your heart and soul.
And through my work I aim to I guide you home to an embodied sense of belonging to life by honouring the Sacred Feminine energies of nature and Her seasons and cycles.
May you rise up, empowered by reclaiming your birthright.
To live in flow with life. To meet your needs and dance with your desires.
To speak your truth and fulfil the potential of who you are.
With much love & many blessings,
Stella x
Your Next Step
Learn more about honouring yourself through celebrating the many sacred cycles of life with my new book.
Cycles of Belonging: Honouring ourselves through the sacred cycles of life is a guide to unlocking the powers of cyclic living to lead a more fulfilling, meaningful, and wholehearted life.
It offers an embodied feminine and feminist psycho-spiritual path for women to reclaim their inner wisdom, follow the callings of their soul, and come home to a profound sense of belonging to the seasons and cycles of life.
“A beautiful book on flowing in rhythm with the sacred cycles of life.”
Cycles of Belonging guides you through six sacred temples of belonging:
Presence - the breath cycle
Daily Rhythms - the circadian cycle
Sacred Blood - the menstrual cycle
The Moon - the lunar cycle
The Sun - the solar cycle, exploring the seasons and the wheel of the year
The Life Cycle & Goddess Archetypes - exploring the life cycle archetypes of Maiden, Lover, Mother, Queen and Crone
Each Temple explores the energies of each cycle, their healing gifts and shadows/challenges, together with practical suggestions on how to work with the cycles, including journal prompts, rituals and blessings, as well as magical words of poetry and soul guidance.
Let Cycles of Belonging take you on a journey home to wholeness, rooted deeply in the truth of who you are and the magical web of life that connects us all.
