One of the things I love about getting my period is that I feel more connected to my emotions.

I tend to stay away from inversions during the first few days of it, and I always spend more time meditating. I am at my most sensitive on and around my period and I own it. I own that I cry more easily, that I laugh more from the gut, and I also feel it’s the best time to connect my own energy to the moon’s cycle.

Every new and full moon I take time to honor where I am in my cycle and I also have a ceremony, even if only for a few moments—because I feel as women we get a great deal of healing, and strengthen the connection to our ancestors, when we honor the moon and work toward getting more closely in sync with it.

According to the ancient yogis, women are supposed to bleed on or around the new moon cycle rather than the full moon. It’s said that those bleeding on or around the full moon are less connected to their natural rhythm and more distant from their bodies. The connection to the ebb and flow of the ocean is less than those that bleed during the new moon’s cycle.

Our natural connection to lunar energy, and becoming more aware of our connection to it, provides us each month with an opportunity to become more intimate with our bodies, our breath, and the moon’s healing energy.

Cultivating moon awareness brings us into greater alignment with the Divine Feminine, Grandmother Moon, herself.

The new moon is connected to setting intentions and goals that honor new beginnings, as well as the darkness that is needed for growth to occur, much like how a seed germinates in dark soil before rising to meet the sun’s rays.

Full moons are said to be connected to the shedding of the old, that which no longer serves us, so that new energy is welcome into our lives. Sometimes the full moon is called, The Ship of Fools. A mother ship traversing the sky taking away the fool inside.

When I was younger, my mom would tell us girls to sit under the full moon with her to cleanse our third eye. She’d sit under a full moon before taking exams for college because she said in doing so she achieved clearer thinking and better memory. She also said it offered clearer hearing of her heart’s stirrings and that she could listen to her gut with more clarity and compassion upon sitting under Grandmother Moon (I have a cool Mom).

We were told to cut our hair on full moons if we wanted it to grow back thicker and longer and that shedding a few inches on a full moon would induce faster and healthier hair growth.

Some may look at all of this as being nothing more than Hocus Pocus, and tis the season. With Halloween near, with the idea of witches riding brooms being possible in the minds of children everywhere, with blood and gore at its height, with front yards made into graveyards.

Horror films are at their peak season, and why not invoke the moon’s energy when there are so many images of the full moon, with owls nearby?

Around this time of year we grow more like our ancestors, connect more deeply to the cycles of the moon.

Watch Jaws, the new Carrie that’s coming out, The Exorcist, or dress up in whatever way that makes you feel more connected to your most natural self, maybe the self you might be fearful of showing on other days of the year.

Halloween and the moon are undeniably connected. Remember we dress up so that we aren’t mistaken for the living, when zombies come out of their savasana to feed on the night when the dead come alive. We don’t usually associate Halloween with our periods, unless we’re watching Carrie.

And with the moon connected so closely to Halloween, to feminine energy, our cycles, our blood, it’s a perfect time to connect with the moon.

Like elephant health & wellness on Facebook.

Ed: Bryonie Wise