PERIODS... Awkward. Annoying. Suck it up. Gross. Don’t talk about it. Cranky. Crazy.

I’ve had my cycle for over two decades. Over twenty years. More than half my life these descriptors have been on repeat from both within myself and those around me regarding “that time of month.”

How silly, limiting and devoid of life that seems now.

To say that looking at my cycle as four distinct seasons was a perspective shift is understating it quite a bit. The article I reflect on outlines the rise and falls of the hormonal, physical and emotional aspects women experience each month…. for someone who thought I just had 4 days that were “off” a month and all the other days “should be” the exact SAME and if they weren’t the EXACT SAME emotionally, energetically, physically then I was doing something WRONG…the idea of seasons blew the ground I was standing on right out.

Thank God.

See below the highlights of the article “The 4 Seasons of a Woman’s Cycle Explained Week by Week” by Sheleana Aiyana of Rising Woman.

I am forever grateful for this wisdom and wish its power for so many: the girls budding into women, their mothers holding them in embrace through this sacred passage, to my own inner rhythm that was covered for so long, for any human that loves women- this is a gift we should come to know.

Wishing us all a connection to our intuition. An ability to ride the seasons of our experience with the knowledge of our power within. -Kim

• Week 1: Inner Winter (days 1-6) Wise Woman, Crone, Visionary

  • bleeding phase, inward reflection, rest, self care as a gift to yourself and family.

• Week 2: Inner Spring (days 7-13) Goddess, Maiden

  • follicular phase, energy coming back, increased concentration, physically strong

• Week 3: Inner Summer (days 14-21) Mother, Healer

  • ovulation phase, expressive, more social, seeking intimacy, knows her power

• Week 4: Inner Fall (days 22-28) Wild Woman, Priestess

  • luteal phase, beginning to wind down, hormones dipping, decreased physical energy with increased creativity; clear knowledge of what isn’t aligned in her life, inspiration for personal growth

Reference: Sheleana Aiyana of Rising Woman