Cyclical Living for the Feminine to Thrive
It's no wonder many of us are returning to the ways of cyclical living right now. We have been distracted for far too long in the ways of modern living, sold as conveniences, instant gratifications, and likes in a digital world that surrounds consumerism and capitalism in a constant state of information.
The feminine energy has been pushed aside and silenced from her thriving beauty for many centuries in the way of humans, yet the original way of cyclical living has remained the same for the Earth, Sun, Moon and stars. What do these natural rhythms have to show you?
What we have seen in the last few thousand years is acknowledgment of mostly the masculine energy, trying to push to be in the light every day. The feminine reminds us that to complete a whole natural cycle we must honor the fallow, or the darkness. The Yin/Yang symbol represents this perfectly, we cannot have one without the other, and each Yin and Yang contain part of the other. We need the sacred light to balance the sacredness of the dark. The dark is the time for reflection, honor, and reset. Imagine what the world would look like if we weren't collectively scared of the dark? Would we all have a chance to reset our own internal feminine energy?
So, will you join me on this dance of how we can do to return to these ancient ways of cyclical living? Are you ready for the connection back to the Earth and yourself? It takes practice to embody what it looks and feels like to live in nature's truth.
Let's dive in! As we return back to cyclical living as a way for the embodied feminine to thrive, we must look towards all that is natural and observe these processes. We observe that the Sun moves through the wheel of the year with the solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days as a way to signal when to plant food. In the dark of winter, feminine half of the year, we reset and pause food production.
The Moon moves through a 29.5 day cycle as a microcosm of the Sun's reflection. Here, women align with the feminine lunar energy through their menstrual cycle as way to track time, ovulation and menses.
The stars move through their own orbit too, sharing information of planetary transitions. We are connected with our earthly bodies to these celestial bodies. So, it's important to remember back to our ancestors' way of living with the cycles and rhythms as a way to feed, nourish and tend to ourselves and the living land around us.
We see now, that our interconnectedness is through the ether (mind + space) with the use of the internet and social media. These can be used as tools, but we also must remember that we didn't get here without the natural world guiding us. To reset ourselves from the stimulation and mind overload we experience in these times we need cyclical living to keep us grounded.
Creating connection back to cyclical living can arrive in many different ways. The main idea is that we need to slow down and smell the roses per se. When we can intentionally pause and observe what's happening around us, we honor the cycles that already surround us. This happens through observation. And as such is a way of the feminine natural cycle to pause, reset and reflect.
Some ways to connect into cyclical living include;
Acknowledging the Sun's seasonal changes on the Wheel of the Year. There are 8 points in which the Sun's light and energy shift on the Earth, whether light or dark.
As a cyclical menstruator, there is a natural reset during bleed time, Inner Winter. Your cycle may even align with the New or Full moon, so this can become an easy way to tune into the lunar cycles. Notice what shifts and changes for you throughout your cycle- remember, there are 4 distinct energy shifts/seasons in one menstrual cycle.
The moon's transit through the night sky acts as a marker of time. Each full moon has been given a name, such as strawberry moon or harvest moon. These names were specifically given in accordance to the growing season to mark the time of year.
Can you take time to observe the moon's transit in the night sky as a way of connection into cyclical living? Create your own observations while looking at the night sky each day (morning and evenings are a great place to start.)
Once there is an established observation and connection, whether doing this solo or with a group of people, you can begin to embody the ways of cyclical living. This means you can now bring this into your life as a daily practice. For the feminine to thrive, we have to remember that she also has times of lightness and expansion during receptivity and also times of fallow, reset and contraction.
To embody cyclical living you can begin by pausing and carving out time during each transit of the Sun, Moon and even the stars. Some ideas to get you started would be to attend gatherings, online circles, construct a seasonal craft, and to be an active participant in what's happening in the natural world around you.
Cyclical living is an intentional way of living with life itself. This idea is not separate from any of us, simply forgotten. Will you join me in the movement of reclaiming cyclical living as an inherent and motivating force for life? Will you reclaim the feminine essence of that natural slow down, reset and pause throughout the Sun, Moon and Earth's cycles?
If you don't yet know, Moon Rise offers New Moon circles each month on Zoom. This is one way to actively participate in the cyclical rhythms of life itself. Take a peek here!
May you remember these ancient ways that are embedded in your cells. May you remember the ancestors who have gone before you, the ones who lived intricately connected in these cycles. May you show yourself, your community and the world what it looks like to repair this connection with the feminine through being the living example of cyclical living.
xoxo, Breta