When I first heard the term ‘moon’ used as a synonym for ‘menstrual cycle,’ I was living at a commune and spent my days roaming the wilderness, listening to birds and watching wildlife. I didn’t question or put much thought into what it really meant to link a woman’s menstrual cycle with the moon and the lunar cycle, I just kind of accepted the term.
Now, years later, I realize that I was taking for granted the closeness I had to nature and the earth in that lifestyle. So many urban and suburban women live bustling lives filled with schedules and walls, blocking out much of their relationship to nature, and potentially affecting their bodies in unintended ways.
The concept of ‘lunaception’ is a strategy to bring women and their menstrual cycles back into communion with the earth, by allowing the moon’s cycle to regulate one’s own menstrual cycle, as many people believe has been the norm throughout history.
The link between the moon and menstruation isn’t in any way proven, but it’s very commonly and historically believed to be a strong and important relationship. The idea is that in the past, our lives were lived more outdoors, and we were exposed to moonlight more regularly than we are today. By blocking out the moon’s light at night, women have lost their connection to it, and have lost the regularity that it provided.
In the 1975 book Lunaception by Louise Lacey, the author suggests that before our lives became dominated by the invention of electricity, women’s menstruation was directly related to the lunar phases. She posits that the onset of a period usually coincided with the new moon, and the fertile days coincided with the full moon. She also suggests this caused most women’s periods to occur generally at the same time as one another.
Ideally, the way to correct this detour from nature would be to Continue reading
