Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. Today’s post is about the Moon Cycle and how it is such a powerful force in all of our lives, but particularly for women! The often maligned number 13 holds much Divine Feminine power, as it is aligned with the Moon herself, most often seen to be feminine. There are 13 Moon Cycles in a year, and these cycles roughly align with the menstrual cycle of women!
The Moon herself has distinct phases within her cycle, just as women do. The Moon begins her cycle at the New Moon phase, as just barely a sliver in the sky. Slowly over the next week, she begins to wax larger each night coming into her first quarter. In the second week, she goes from being a waxing crescent to a waxing gibbous after the first quarter. She waxes until she reaches her Full Moon phase. After the Full Moon, she begins to slowly wane for a week she is a waning gibbous, then meets her last quarter phase, before becoming a waning crescent and Dark Moon then beginning her cycle again!
These cycles align with the inner cycle within the woman’s body. A very interesting fact is that the word menstruation comes from the ancient Greek word for the Moon, mene. Menstruation is most usually aligned with the Dark Moon and New Moon phases. The Follicular Phase aligns with the Waxing Moon. Ovulation aligns with the Full Moon, and the Luteal Phase aligns with the Waning Moon. However, this can be different in all women, as our own cycles may not involve menstruation at the New Moon. If you do menstruate at the New Moon, you are said to have a White Moon Cycle, and there is some research to back up the idea that it may be more easy to conceive with this cycle. The fact remains that many women menstruate at the Full Moon. This is called having a Red Moon Cycle, which is often linked to being more nurturing and much more Psychic in nature! During menstruation, women on a Red Moon Cycle are likely to feel more creativity and participate in mentorship, and healing. In ancient times, being on a Red Moon Cycle was associated with Shamanism and healing in general!
No matter how a woman’s cycle naturally ebbs and flows, she is deeply connected with the Moon and the Tides (which are also controlled by the Moon). As the Moon’s Cycle lasts 29.5 days, so does the average cycle for a woman which lasts between 28 and 32 days, which means most women have an average of 13 cycles a year as the Moon does. Spending more time outdoors at night and cutting back on artificial light sources can help us more easily sync up to the Moon’s Cycle, should we wish to do so!
Of course, the Moon’s cycle does not only impact women. I want to briefly touch upon how the Full Moon can seem to affect everyone we come into contact with. If you follow the Moon’s cycle as closely as I do, I bet you prepare yourself for some craziness at the Full Moon, as many people can be testier than normal, given how the Full Moon brings so much to light in our lives! I personally celebrate the Full Moon on the day before, the day of, and the day after the fullest point of the Moon. I find that all three days are powerful and that people tend to feel the Moon’s pull on all three of those days. I want to note something interesting here, when we have a Full Moon in our Sun, Moon, and Rising signs there seems to be a more uplifting quality to the Moon’s energy than when she is in other signs, at least in my own experience and the experiences of people I know who also track the Moon and study astrology! Finally, I will mention how I work with the New Moon. Similarly to how I work with the Full Moon, I celebrate the Dark Moon and New Moon for at least three days, the Dark Moon for the day before the official New Moon, and the New Moon for two days after. I find this brings a good balance between how I interact with both extremes of the Moon’s Cycle!
I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of the Moon and how her cycles impact Women’s lives. What is your connection to the Moon’s energy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the Moon Cycle. I found the image on https://nypost.com/article/moon-cycles-meaning-astrology/.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Reading
- https://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health/menstrual-cycle-and-the-moon#spiritual-traditions
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003924/
- https://www.wellandgood.com/significance-having-period-full-moon/
- https://highbrowhippie.com/blogs/highbrow-hippie-blog/w
- Moon Magic: Your Complete Guide to Harnessing the Mystical Energy of the Moon by Diane Ahlquist