Periods! Blessed or Cursed?

For many years the menstrual cycle has been seen as a hindrance and an inconvenience. As part of my job, I love to empower women to embrace their periods.

I remember when I got my first period I cried.. begged mum not to tell dad! I felt ashamed and embarrassed for some reason?

These days, women have almost 10x more periods in their life compared to our women of history. In our life we will experience around 400 periods, give or take a few pregnancies and breastfeeding etc. In the past women only had around 40 periods in the life, they got their period later, had more babies etc. 400 periods! thats a lot!

Menstruation has been subject too many tales in our history, it was said that a women on her period could wither a vine, discolour a mirror and turn dogs rabbid. Females were seen as a weaker sex, and thats why we bleed, we couldn’t hold onto all our blood which was a vital liquid. It was also thought if you had sex with a women on her period, and you didn’t die from it then your child would be a girl or have red hair!

In the case of Ancient Egypt, it was literally considered sorcery, and me

nstrual blood was incorporated into spell casting and medical treatments. And, before you ask—yes, they drank it!

The Greeks weren’t any less weird, and part of every spring planting ritual involved spreading menstrual blood mixed with wine over the field in a kind of magic meant to increase the fertility of the soil.

Today.. in some religions there are still some churches and restaurants you can’t visit when Menstruating.

I want to change this mind set!

Our periods are actually a sign of vital health. A period is the lining of the uterus shedding away.. This lining is full of oxygen and nutrients that helps to sustain life when we conceive a pregnancy.. it’s an amazing tissue that helps create life! I hope for all women to be proud of there ability to release an egg and potentially create life.. to have a period is to be healthy and vital!

So the answer to my question, is blessed! - The old English derivative of the word ‘blessing’ is ‘blestian’ which means bleeding!