Speaker 0
Into the wild, I'm going into the wild, I am. It's been a wild freedom child, since I left my roots back home. Into the wild I'm good. Into the wild I am. It's been a while, freedom child, since I left my roots back home.
Speaker 1
Welcome to the Free Birth Society podcast. This is a radical space for women who are ready to celebrate their autonomous choices in birth, motherhood, and beyond. Together, we'll learn about wild birth through personal narrative, we'll explore the politics of birth, and we'll analyze everything that relates to our lives as women from a feminist perspective. Here's your host, Emilee Saldaya.
Speaker 0
It's been a wild freedom change
Speaker 2
Were you, like most women, taught that your period was a burden? Something gross to hide and ignore? Have you suffered with pain in your pelvis or womb or held shame around your sexuality? You're not alone, sister. And today, I am bringing you the wise woman education you probably never received. This week on the show, I'm talking with two dear friends of mine and FBS community cornerstones, Medicine Women Nancy Lucina and Kristin Hauser. Today is an important day because today, we finally launch our long awaited Blood Mysteries School. You'll get a taste of what the school's all about in our episode today. We'll talk blood rituals, practices, and the knowledge needed to reclaim our female rites of passage that are our blood mysteries. The Blood Mysteries School is not just another online course. This is a full on next level teacher training into the female blood initiations. The Blood Mysteries School is an alchemy of the sacred and the science of the seasons of womanhood through the map of the menstrual cycle. You'll gather in high caliber community, receive transmissions, and learn to share from your deepest well of womb wisdom as you journey deep into the hormonal landscape of your cycle. We start in February. Enrollment is officially open now, so head over to w w w dot blood mysteries school dot com to join Kristen and Nancy in a life changing sixteen weeks. Enjoy the episode. Alright. Hello.
Speaker 0
Hi.
Speaker 2
So I have my two friends with me today who have both been repeat guests on the podcast. Mhmm. Kristen and Nancy. Hi.
Speaker 3
Hi.
Speaker 2
So we have a really, really fun, paradigm shifting episode today. We're going to be talking about the blood mysteries. We're going to be introducing, Freebird Society's newest program, the Blood Mysteries School, run and created by Nancy and Kristen. So I'm gonna just pass it off right away to you both, whoever wants to take it first. What are the blood mysteries, and why might they matter?
Speaker 3
Nancy, you wanna go first? Or you
Speaker 4
Sure. I like to think about them in terms of, which is really your field of expertise, but traditional Chinese medicine talks about these three golden opportunities. One of them is our first bleed, and then the second one is is really like postpartum, but it's like birth post slash postpartum. Right? And then the third is menopause. So it's the it's these opportunities that we have to, like, really walk through a rite of passage, be totally transformed, hopefully, for the better on the other side. And so that's why these blood mysteries matter so much to me is because we are losing currently this opportunity to walk through this rite of passage and be transformed for the better. Because often what happens is that we're not seen, we're not witnessed, we're not given the proper tools. We it's sabotaged by the medical system, really, in all three cases, frankly. And so then instead of that being an experience where we come out on the other side feeling super powerful, we feel diminished. And in some cases, we can even be less healthy. Like, our health goes down as opposed to going up. So that's sort of the brief, yeah, answer to that, I would say, for now, if you wanna add on.
Speaker 3
Yeah. So I think I'll I'll just add that for me, the blood mysteries, it is really about tapping into sort of this long lineage of women that have womb wisdom and, really just our own it's it's the source of our power. Right? Our blood. So because we haven't really been properly integrated into that, like you were saying, Nancy, with a monarch ritual, whatever that would look like in different cultures, we really are cut off from our own power in a lot of ways. So I think blood mysteries are a way to reclaim that power and pass it on to our sisters, our daughters, and honor our cyclical nature really throughout, you know, menstrual cycles. Yes. But like you were saying, like, also throughout a lifetime, whether, you know, it's birthing children, going through menopause, like, all these rights that we pass through as women.
Speaker 2
Right. That are unique to us as females on this planet.
Speaker 3
Exactly.
Speaker 2
Yeah. Having our first blood, giving birth, postpartum, and then menopause losing our blood. So so I'm thinking about Jane Harvard Collings and her, all of her wisdom and that she shared with me on a podcast from a recent season, about no matter what, women are going through these rites of passage regardless of how they're tended to. And so I think that's really quite impactful to to consider that we all did go through these rites of passage. For those of us who are already mothers, we've gone through, we've gone through receiving our first or having our first blood, obviously, and then giving birth. And whatever happens in that initiation is what then teaches us how to be in this next phase of society. Right? Which so it's not just that we don't have rights of passage passage. It's actually worse than that. We do have them, and they are rooted in disempowering us, harming us, silencing us, and like you said, taking away our power. So I'd like to to stay there for a second just to frame this for anyone who this might be a new concept. Where have we been? What do you know about how the blood mysteries are treated, in in current history? What what are you both familiar with and and the results of that, in your work and and as women?
Speaker 4
I mean, I remember for myself when I learned the things that I now pass on and teach around the archetypes. What stood out to me the most was why was I never taught that I am really a cyclical being and that, for example, my productivity is not, like, a daily thing. You know what I mean? That I don't need to be, like, on every single day. Like, because that's that's the world that's set up for us now is run off of the male hormonal system, which is more like twenty four hours. And so that I feel like that was the piece that I got, like, the most upset about was, wow. I could be I could have been structuring my life around my cycles for, like, over a decade, and I missed out on all that. And instead, I was trying to fit my circle inside of a square. You know? So I would say, yeah. Currently, there's no there's not much room for women, for young girls to be that circle that they are.
Speaker 3
Well, I can speak a little bit to, like, just my own experience. And, I mean, the initiation, it often comes with some type of shame, confusion, lack of trust in your own body's processes. And, yeah, it's just like when I got my first bleed, I remember feeling internal excitement, but that wasn't reflected to me externally. Right? I felt like this was a big thing. It seemed like it was like, I was fascinated by it. But externally, it was kind of just like, oh, now it's like, here's a pad, and, you know, you just do your normal life, and now you have this thing that you have to, like, manage Mhmm. And hide in a way because you can't really you know, I was in public school, and it's like, you need to be discreet about, like, going to the bathroom to change your pad and it or whatever. And then I thought, like, okay. Well, I'll just, like, start using tampons right away because that seems like a the cooler, better option, but I didn't know any better that it's, like, actually not ideal. And it's, like, has loads of chemicals a lot of times, and you shouldn't really impede your flow. So there's just so many layers of it. It's like and then if you consider, like, this the layer of sexual and body shame that comes into play for a lot of women and girls just not having someone sit down and be like, this is what happens each month, whether it's understanding through an energetic cycle or really understanding also hormonally, like, what's going on and why it might not be a good idea to opt for hormonal birth control at fifteen or even at twenty. I mean, there's so many layers to that as to how women and girls are coming through that rite of passage, and it imprints so deeply inside yourself.
Speaker 4
Mhmm.
Speaker 3
You know? This is the core, like, such a core place for us as women. And it's really takes some time to unlearn these patterns and reclaim the wisdom, the innate body wisdom that is already there for you.
Speaker 4
Yeah. You said it perfectly. I think the word imprint is so important in this context because, like Emilee was saying, it's not like we don't have the rites of passage. They're there because they are embedded in our physiology. And so we're going through them without the support and in in a way, like, yeah, outside forces are even trying to harm us during those key periods, and so that gets imprinted. That becomes your norm. But there's always, like, there's something inside that says, like, this isn't right, I think. Just like something inside for you, because I had the same, said, this is so exciting. This is so magical. I'm on like, there was a deep knowing of I am on the precipice of magic. And then getting on the other side being like, okay. I'm on the other side. Like, well, why isn't anybody else talking about the magic? Or, like, I don't know. You know? There's that huge missing net to catch you as you make it over to the other side of the wise women to hold you and walk you through.
Speaker 2
How was it handled? What was the imprinting for you, Nancy, in your in your first blood?
Speaker 4
Well, I would say mine wasn't so, like, intensely bad because my mom talked to me a lot about my body and about sexuality, mom was always encouraging me to, like, look in a mirror at my Yoni. You know? Just just simple stuff like that. So I was really one of the last girls in my class to to start, and I was like, when am I gonna get my favorite? When do I you know, I was so excited about it. But I think that was the most disappointing thing is that it wasn't I think my mom and I had a talk, and, you know, she kinda welcomed me. Like, she was sweet about it, but it wasn't really more than that. Like, I think, yeah, there's something inside that didn't get matched, if that makes sense. You know? That's, like, internal excitement.
Speaker 2
Totally. I mean, I think that it is largely the message is largely that it's unimportant.
Speaker 3
Mhmm.
Speaker 5
Mhmm.
Speaker 3
Yeah. Or it's annoying or it's a problem.
Speaker 4
And I can sure for for sure say that one of my big imprints was, it's just like any other day. You need to still go to school, and here's a Tylenol. Whether it was from the nurse or my mom or whoever, like, this is just what you do. You get You push up? You push through it.
Speaker 2
On that horse. Right? Remember all the Dampax commercials?
Speaker 3
She's all
Speaker 2
white on a Yeah.
Speaker 3
It's all
Speaker 5
on a on a on a on a on a on
Speaker 4
a play.
Speaker 3
Or all the swimming. Yeah. Right.
Speaker 4
Oh god. Yeah. Totally. Funny, you know, the messaging that now exists because there's the period period panties. And I just saw an advertisement literally today for our talk, for teen period panties for teens so that you can do anything all the time on your period. Like, you know, the message was like, you just keep going and doing all the things. So, yeah, it's basically the same, but with kind of maybe more comfortable
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Speaker 4
Underwear.
Speaker 2
Yeah. Depending on what you're trying to do, I guess.
Speaker 4
True.
Speaker 2
Yeah. It's really sad because even the the reasonable, the decent initiations are still they still got it all wrong.
Speaker 4
Mhmm.
Speaker 3
Mhmm.
Speaker 2
What about you, Kristen?
Speaker 3
So mine, mine was just marked with a lot of loss, actually. So I started I think I was around thirteen, and then my parents separated shortly after that, and, like, I lost my grandma. So I feel like that imprinted on me was, like, some deep emotional trauma in my womb space, and it sort of started manifesting physically even as early as high school years. I was having, like, severe pain, and that's sort of what initiated me onto the path that I'm on now. So while I'm I am grateful for that, but at the same time, of course, that was just, like, a lot to manage as a teenage girl. Like, I didn't have a strong relationship with my mother at that time. So and I was living with my dad, and I have two brothers that are both younger than me. So I was kind of just, like, doing it on my own sort of feeling, not having a lot of mentorship or wisdom or, you know, someone to sort of sort of guide me in that process. And I think a lot of women experience that.
Speaker 2
Right. I was gonna say that's how women feel about mothering. That's how women feel about menopause. That's how women feel about tending to their parents who are on the verge of death. I mean, it's just this ongoing reoccurring theme of women and girls feeling totally uncelebrated, unseen, unheld. Mhmm. And the cost of it, spiritually, physically, psychologically is so alarmingly obvious, it's almost hard to articulate. Yeah. Right? Because it is the continuum, you know. So how we are initiated into our blood and how our mothers talk about their bodies in front of us and then our bodies, you know, and then we bleed. Are you going to be placed on a table and examined while you're uncomfortable when you're thirteen, fourteen? Like, so many women I know. And it primes us all to then be good girls when we get pregnant and go in and let the obese assault us and have them tell us what to do and and on and on it goes. Right? And then we train our little daughters to do the same thing. And and it's so it's so striking how how this cycle has continued on for quite some time by really good people. You know? Like, good women. Not like evil out to get their daughters women. Not not at all. Right? It sounds like all of our mothers were really trying their best and were trying to figure it out and doing what they had. I'm also really thinking about the the, influence of religion and, obviously, that's massive. And, again, one of those things that's, like, so big, it's almost hard to articulate. You know, for me growing up in a Christian home, going to Catholic school, that came with a certain set of, you know, off limits. Even just the awareness that blood was dirty was so obvious, in my school. Not even in my own home, but just being in the environment of Christianity. The messaging as a child was so obvious that I was a little bit less than.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Speaker 2
When I was a little bit gross and I was a little bit, I was a little bit, yeah, meant to be, what's the word? Like, restricted or kept me back. You know?
Speaker 3
I felt that a lot too growing up in, like, a Christian home, and I think it it really played a role in because for me, like, the blood mysteries and the menstrual cycle is a spiritual practice. It's like the foundation of feminine spirituality from my point of view. Yeah. So reclaiming that has just been a very healing process in on my spiritual path too because I did grow up in a more and it wasn't even that conservative necessarily or fundamentalist, but it was still the undertone was there that I was clearly not a man, and that meant that that, you know, I had the curse of childbirth or you know, there's really that belief, like, that because I'm a woman, I did something bad, and now I have to deal with these things. And I really internalize that from a young age and probably ancestrally as well. So there's a lot of different layers there.
Speaker 2
So dark. Okay. So I hope everyone listening is thinking on their first blood story. And, you know, if you are out there and you're thinking about your first blood and you've never shared the story, find a friend. You know, find a woman friend to exchange stories with. All three of us, you know, doing this episode today all, lead men are reclamation ceremonies, which are so, so, so special, and, you two should talk about that, in a little bit. And I just wanted to mention here before we move on that you might discover that you don't remember it.
Speaker 4
And that's not I'm gonna say. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2
And so if you don't remember it, or maybe I'll pass it to you, Nancy, what would you say to someone going, I totally am drawing a blank?
Speaker 4
Art is what I turn to in that case. Grab something to draw or paint with even if it's simple, a few colored pencils or whatever you wanna use. Watercolor is great, actually, but whatever you have and and just, like, meditate with that question and then see what arises. Because, yeah, I frankly, like, didn't remember all the details. I had to reach out to my mom to gather a little bit more of my own story. So it is very common that you don't remember. But I find that when women work with the art in that way, they can, like, step back from it and, like, try to let your mind go when you're in that process of pulling up details and just express through the drawing even if the drawing makes no sense. And then later look at it, and you'll find some threads usually of memory of, like, oh, or at least of emotionality. You know, like, some emotion that's there for you. Something. So that's a really beautiful way too. And a lot of women are moved to tears when they do that process because it can bring up some repressed stuff.
Speaker 2
Because whatever it is, it is your story, and it's yours to work with. It's yours to own, hold, heal, speak, share, process. You know? It's to to get a, you know, same, of course, with birth trauma, and it's something that, you know, obviously is rampant around the world. But we have to find the path to come into relationship with these stories if we're going to do anything about it and if we're gonna write anything different for our daughters. So that being said, I'd like to return to what you had brought up, Kristen, about your menstrual cycle being a spiritual practice. I think for a lot of women, that's going to resonate and also maybe not be super clear yet what that means. So yeah, would you flesh that out? What does that mean, and what does that look like? And what does that look like in your day to day?
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean, I think the baseline is just, like, starting to understand, right, that female physiology is distinct, and part of that includes this hormonal cycle. And if you can start to you know, I teach a lot about hormones and hormonal resilience and hormonal intelligence, but what I what what I want to convey with that work is, like, really, it's an internal process. You don't necessarily it's helpful to have a framework. Yes. But you can start to tune in to how you actually feel inside yourself at different times of your cycle and gather so much wisdom, information, self trust, self compassion, and learn how to work with yourself and work with your body and gain so much through the different seasons of the cycle because we're not the same every day. And we are influenced by this hormonal matrix that we're living through. Right? So for me in, like, my own practice, that just looks like honoring where I'm at in in my cycle and knowing that at certain times of my cycle, I'm gonna have more aptitude for something than I would compared to at other times of the cycle. So I may plan something that's more extroverted or out in the world around ovulation. And then during my menstrual time, like, when I'm actively bleeding and now as a mother, that phase of my cycle is, like, very home focused. Like, I'm tending my kids. I'm tending myself. Like, I'm really enjoying just being. And as much as I can, of course, like, I have obligations, and sometimes it's more of an internal mindset shift of how I approach my life that those few days or those three, five days, whatever it's gonna be. And just honoring the bleeding process, using my blood to replenish the plants in my home or use it in ceremony or ritual in another way. Those are some of the small things that I kind of that are coming up right now, just speaking to it. But it's also one of my favorite phases of the cycle is actually the premenstrual time, like, the luteal phase. It gets, like, such a bad wrap around, like, PMS and all of that. But for me, it's like, this is the phase where I sort of have, like, a a better vision of my life or of where I'm at. And I can be like, okay. This is working. This isn't working. This is kinda where I need to go next. And so it's less about doing things externally, but it is more about, like, this internal organization process that's happening mentally, physically, spiritually, even sexually in some regards. So the more I've, like, learned about the cycle and just, like, allowed myself to be immersed in it, it's just there's so much there that you don't necessarily need to be taught because it's already within you.
Speaker 2
Right. You're literally living it.
Speaker 3
Yeah. It's like you don't need you don't need a spiritual teacher. Those can be great. And, of course, I've had spiritual teachers, and the feminine path can be different. It can be a different embodiment.
Speaker 4
What I find just really fascinating and, like, somewhat amusing is that there's so many paths that exist for the masculine, for the males. When you start to dive into the world of spiritual practices that are very extreme. Like, here, they have the Sundance where they tie like, they they hook their themselves. It hooks into their chest and tie themselves to a tree and, like, dance around it in in the sun and don't eat. And it's great. Like, it's a great thing for them. And I my thing is, like, women don't need those extremes to go into those altered states that those experience give, you know, to the men because we literally die and are reborn every single month, every single cycle. That's what, for me, the menstruation is. It's that that chance to really, like, let go, let myself dissolve, and then come back and be reborn when I start my next cycle. So, let's see. The seasons and the the archetypes, I I like to talk about it from the perspective of the archetypes. Meaning, like, you are four women, like, in one woman. You know? You pass through these very specific phases throughout the cycle, and we've all well, not all maybe, but most of us have heard of the triple goddess, which is the maiden mother Crone. But there's a third one in between there that's missing, and she has many different names. Kristen and I are calling her the sorceress. So we have the maiden, mother, sorceress, and crone, and these are the four different phases. Each of these archetypes correspond to the phases of the moon, and they also correspond to the seasons. And each of these phases is either more internally focused or more externally focused depending on where you are. So if we start with the the first one like, technically, when you when you start counting your cycle, it's day one, and that's the first day that you bleed. But when I speak about the archetypes, I start with maiden, which is the woman inside of you that emerges when you're closing out your bleeding period. And so it's the spring energy. It's the fresh new life energy. It's the waxing moon. So in between, new and full, not quite full yet, but, like, gaining that momentum to to start to come out of your your cave and your shell and express yourself in new ways. Maybe start new projects or perhaps pick up old projects from the last month that you put down for a little bit when you began to bleed. So she's that that young woman inside of us that's full of life and, creativity and wants to, yeah, get out in the world and do stuff. I often talk about her in terms of sort of the way that I felt when I graduated high school, and I was like, I'm gonna move to New York and be a famous actress. You know? And I just nothing could stop me. Mhmm. That's what I was gonna do, and I didn't do that, but that's okay. I did move to New York. I did study acting for a bit. But yeah. So, anyway, the point is, like, there is a little bit of naivete there. So there's always, I feel like, a shadow side and a light side to work with. Yeah. With these, archetypes, and then, of course, we can track these archetypes as well throughout our larger life cycles. You know, if we're blessed enough to make it into old age, we will pass through all four of these and die as a crone. So that maiden is obviously that young young part of ourselves that's, you know, bright eyed and ready to take on the world. And so my the way that I work with my cycle in terms of my spiritual practice is to really study these women inside of me and fully, fully allow myself to be them. You know? When the moment is there for me to be the maiden, I harness that energy as much as I can. So that looks like, like I said before, like starting some new projects, you know, or maybe picking up, on some old ones that I sat down, laid down, you know, while I bled. The maiden has a lot of patience for organizing things in a detailed way. Like, so if I'm gonna work on a spreadsheet or something like that, I, like, choose to do it during that phase of my cycle. Then we move over to the mother, which is the period of ovulation. Roughly speaking, each of these is around a week that you're gonna experience them them, but it's not like this hard line, you know, where obviously and and each woman has to feel into how that ebb and flow is for her. But eventually, you'll feel moving from the maiden this pull into the mother, which is when you'll, you know, really notice it in your body because you literally are juicier, and that can translate into all other areas of your life. This is the another externally focused archetype, and it's when you have a lot more energy, you typically speaking, to pour into anything that needs attention in your life. I find myself around this period very tuned into subtle energies in a different way than I am during menstruation. It's like a it's like a cosmic force that can sort of I can meld with. You know? It's like a very light energy, like a solar kind of energy, where I'm able to really receive so many ideas. This is an awesome time to write down all of your ideas because, again, we have these shadow sides of them of each archetype. So I would say one of hers is I can do all of this. You know? You get, like, twenty ideas in one or two days, and you're like, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And so being aware, to not over commit yourself in that period of the mother because in a week and then in two weeks, you're gonna be in two totally different phases, you know, and you're not gonna be maybe wanting to do the same thing. So this is a great time, though, to, like, write down all those ideas, maybe return to them later, but, like, make sure you really pour your energy, your life force into something that's really important to you during that month. Because what happens later when we move to the next phase is that we can go through a grieving period if we didn't properly harness that energy. And so that's like, I just find that it to be the most satisfying, spiritual path in that way when I just learn to harness the energy at each phase. And so moving from the mother, we go to, the sorceress. She has many names. Some people call her the maga, the wild woman. She is definitely the most misunderstood and I would say the most hidden archetype. And it was interesting to hear Kristen speak on, like, I love that part of my cycle. Cycle. It's actually when, you know, so much internal stuff happens for me, and I agree. But it took me years to get there, to work with her because her energy is very fierce. She is our inner critic, And so what she does is she she comes in to really slash away all that is no longer serving you. And sometimes if you're not expecting her, she can kinda knock you off of your feet. You know? And suddenly, what was very shiny some days ago in your mind's eye of, like, wow. You know? Because a lot of positivity can rise during your ovulation period. Wow. My life's going so well. My work, my family, my home's so beautiful. And then you switch over to sorceress, and it's like, what the fuck did he say to me? You know? God. I'm gonna kill him. Like, he didn't do this, whatever, with your partner, for example, or, oh, my my work is what was I thinking? Like, I'm so bad at this. I can't do this. I'm not up for this. All these doubts can come up. So I like to say that the sorceress helps you to learn all the areas in which you aren't fully loving yourself yet, and, like, she really points those out at you. So it's that opportunity to, yeah, increase your self love and also, make sure that your arrow is focused in the direction where you actually wanna go. That's kinda what Kristen was saying. Like, this internal organization, like, is this actually working for me? What would be better? And so that the gift of the inner critic is that, yeah, straightening the arrow just a little bit more. You know? So she's someone I like to work with when she comes along in my life, creatively, but in a different way. Like, maybe with maiden and mother, I'm putting my creations really out there into the world. Whereas with sorceress, maybe it's a creation just for myself. Maybe it's a journal piece or an art piece or a song. You know? Or I get up and, like, put on a few songs and I do some ecstatic dancing to just, like, move that energy. So I think there's a grief that can come up for women during this part of the cycle that's actually just very primal around not getting pregnant. So, like, even if you know you don't wanna get pregnant and there's a million reasons to not get pregnant, your body on a primal level, I think, is often wanting that egg to be fertilized. You know? And so there's a grief that can kinda come out of nowhere for women. But once you learn to recognize that grief coming up when you move over to the sorceress, you can channel that. And that that becomes really cool pieces of writing or pieces of art that are more like truth telling, you know, cutting through the bullshit. So it's an opportunity to really, learn to to to speak from deep within the womb that that real truth. And then finally well, and I should just pause there. In our larger life cycles, she represents menopause. So she's that in between phase of, like, I'm not bleeding anymore, but I'm not yet quite grown. And there's so much power to be harnessed there. And I just find it interesting, and, of course, it makes so much sense that she's so hidden in our community because I find it and forgotten. Because supposedly, there's this phrase, that said that comes from a Native American. I'm not sure exactly where. This was just given to me, and I I'm sorry. I can't say exactly where it's from, but I think it's really beautiful because it says, like, when you begin to bleed, you meet your power. When you are bleeding, all the ears are bleeding, you practice your power. And when you stop bleeding, you become your power. So that's interesting that she's the most hidden archetype when that's the period where we're really like, wow. I know what I want in my life. I'm here to lead. I'm here to be a leader in my community. You know, I think that's really what the sorceress has to offer us, in terms of our larger life cycle. So then from her, we move on to crone, and that is when and some some women start to feel crone kind of bubbling up even a couple of days before they bleed, and it's a a shift into, like, like, lower energy feet down on the earth. Like, Kristin was saying, I just wanna be home. It's very internal. It's a period of deep, deep rest ideally, because it is that time where you are going to die and be reborn. So there's this separation that happens from all the external stuff happening in life, and you kind of pull yourself inward. And even if you don't even if you aren't actively doing that and following this cycle, I think there's still this part of you that, like, does that. And so the conflict happens when we're making ourselves get out get out in the world, pretend like it's just any other day, get back on our feet, you know, fill the to do list with a thousand things. There's this internal struggle that's happening because every part of us is screaming to just rest. And the magic happens when we are able to rest because it is the part of the period where or the cycle where, the veil is so thin and you have so much access to spiritual energy, spiritual wisdom, deep, deep, deep knowing. Yeah. It's just really, really, really special and and brainwave states that are not normally so easy to access when we're so externally focused in the world. So this is when we can get down into theta and delta where, we the normal world kind of drops away. The normal to dos drop away, and we can go deep within to access spaces of healing. So, yeah, I mean, I could say a lot more about the crone, but, you know, there's so many different ways in which we can honor her. One of the practices we shared in our our ebook is, to offer your blood to the earth, to offer it to some kind of plant even if even if you live in an apartment and it's just your house plant, that act of touching your blood is such a reclamation right there. Because like what we were saying earlier, there's this imprint that often happens during our first lead where it's dirty or you're supposed to hide it or just roll it up in the pad and throw it away or take out the tampon and throw it away. Like, you don't even ever really deal with it. So I love the act of touching my blood, putting it into some kind of receptacle to then water and, like, do a whole prayer around that of what I'm releasing back to the earth, what I'm calling in for my next cycle.
Speaker 2
Logistical question. Does that mean you're using a cup?
Speaker 4
I actually don't use cups anymore.
Speaker 3
So would. I mean, either.
Speaker 4
So what collecting it. What I do is I have a bucket, and I use cloth pads. And then what I do on my first two days, which is my heaviest days, because then after that, it's pretty light for me, I, go in the sink and, like, have the bucket there and rinse out the pad as I'm wringing it out. Yeah. So it's like a mix of water and blood. Gotcha.
Speaker 3
Yeah. That's what I do too. It's it's some very similar. Like, I use period panties or Mhmm. Pads and then, like, just soak them in some water and kind of rinse them out in there, and then that's I mean, it's water and blood, essentially. Mhmm.
Speaker 4
Mhmm. Yeah.
Speaker 2
And the plants like it.
Speaker 4
Yes. They love it. Like, the our blood is magic. It's literally what was gonna become a baby. I mean, it's life force Elixir. Magic. You know? Yeah.
Speaker 0
Life force magic.
Speaker 3
I mean, some women like, you can also use it on your face. Like, menstrual blood has stem cells in it, which are, like, super regenerative. So there's lots of different ways
Speaker 5
of blood
Speaker 4
to face
Speaker 2
with it. Yeah. Totally. Face masks. Mhmm.
Speaker 4
Put a dot on your third eye. Yeah.
Speaker 2
Okay. Beautiful. Anything you wanna add, Kristen, around maybe piggybacking with the seasons just so that those got get placed here?
Speaker 3
Yeah. So, the maiden or the follicular phase would be associated with spring. And it just it's like the time where, you know, the growth is happening. Like, literally, the follicle that's going to become the egg that is released is going through this massive growth process, and and that follicle is what releases estradiol into your system and, like, makes you feel more juicy and changes the way your brain functions, which Nancy kind of touched on. And then you move into, the summer season or the ovulatory phase, the mother archetype. And that is, you know, big expression. Right? Just as we would be in our summer in the summer season, you're more out in the world. There's, more practice of sunlight, literally. So it's just a more yang phase of the cycle. It's the most yang phase. And then you move from there right into the fall, and that's the season of the sorceress and the premenstrual time or the luteal phase. So the luteal phase is just, it's the long typically the longer phase of the cycle for most of us. Like, of course, there's a lot of variations of normal there, but that's just after ovulation until your next flow. Right? So the premenstrual time is part of the luteal phase, but it's usually, like, the week before your flow, actually. So but I kinda consider that whole phase depending on how you linger in the ovulatory phase or the summer season. Then you shift into that more fall season with the rise in progesterone, which is, like, a very, calming hormone for most women. It promotes sleep. It promotes relaxation. We're in a serious kind of cultural moment where we are lacking this hormone. Many women, like, have progesterone issues, deficiency. Their luteal phase isn't long enough. You hear, like, you know, luteal phase defect, just like all these these issues with progesterone production. A lot of that has to do with what's happening in the first part of the cycle and also just stress. Like, stress sort of depletes our progesterone, and just how we're managing our energy throughout the cycle can really play a role on that fall phase and how the sorceress is, like, able to show up at that during that time. And then from the fall, you move into the winter, and that's the season of menstruation. So that's when you're, you know, actively bleeding. It's the most internal time. It's the most, the season of rest. And it's like in Chinese medicine, it's the time where your energy goes inward to your kidneys so you can be restored for the next spring. And it's similar in in the cycle, actually, because your the kidney organ sort of manages your reproductive life or directs your reproductive life. So having a regular cycle really depends on being renewed during that bleeding time. So if you're not, you know, resting during that time and you're sort of overextending yourself, that sort of depletes the energy of your kidneys and then affects all the other phases that come after that. Right? So it's like, oh, then you might not have, like, the best spring, and then the harvest isn't great in the the end of the summer and the beginning of the fall. So, yeah, there's a lot of ways that what Nancy was saying, like, ties into our actual hormonal physiology
Speaker 5
Mhmm.
Speaker 3
Which is where it gets really interesting in how our hormones are interfacing with our brain and and really shape the way our brain functions at different points of the cycle. And this is, again, where it's like we can get really into the sort of, hormonal intelligence and the physiology of it. And what's most important is just being in the practice of it because then you're gonna start to put it together. I mean, for myself, like, I remember before I knew I was pregnant, but I was pregnant, and I just felt like this increase in progesterone, and I knew what progesterone felt like because I had had a relationship with that phase of my cycle. And then I was like, wow. I'm just, like, floating in this progesterone, like, relax space. Like, I don't care about anything. Like and that's kind of my first hint of, like, oh, you're probably pregnant because you're getting an even more progesterone than you normally do. So I think, you know, when you start to get into those more subtle inner relationships, there's just so much there. And for me, that was definitely what sort of led me to having a free birth and, like, birthing at home and because it's like, well, no. I know what's happening inside. So what else is there, really?
Speaker 4
Right.
Speaker 5
So I
Speaker 3
think, yeah, it's like that is really what allowed me to claim that, you know, at a later phase in my life because I went through a lot to get to that point, I guess. But yeah.
Speaker 2
It's making me think about there's a quote that's something along the lines of everyone wants to change the world, but no one wants to clean up their own backyard. Mhmm. That's not a quote. I just combined two different quotes.
Speaker 4
Something like that.
Speaker 2
You get the vibe of what I'm saying. And it it makes me think of that. Like, if we it's been on my mind a lot this week of just clean up my own backyard, clean up my own room, so to speak, you know, my own internal universe. And that that really is the most sustainable way to make the shifts that that I ache to see on this planet. And Yeah. Your program is such a good example of the road map that's possible to be mentored by women who've done this work, who've been doing this work for so long. You know, even just you you saying that you could feel the subtleties of progesterone because of your relationship and your your inner awareness of that. I mean, that's that's, like, groundbreaking. That's a really not just cool, but, like, this is not the right word, but, like, healthy, you know? Like, ability that that is it, you know, I think for most women are gonna hear that and be like, what are you talking about?
Speaker 5
Yeah.
Speaker 2
Right? Even though we're all psychic beings, we all are, you know, deeply intuitive beings. And yet, generation upon generation upon generation of outsourcing our female power has led us to, this kind of void. And and what's exciting about this work, like you've already named Kristen, is you are the living universe of this work, each and every one of us. And so teachers are helpful, mentors are helpful, blueprints are helpful because there is this kind of, awkwardness to relearn it. But it can actually happen very, very quickly since we are it. Yeah. So so, yeah, I'm wondering if, you know, both I noticed so there's there's two different places I could think of to go, and I'll just pass it to you both of of what you wanna do. If you want to touch on the hormonal stuff anymore, I feel like that would be an an obvious interesting place to go. Or if that feels good for now, both when you both named rest in the krone season, in the winter season, that definitely sparked something both times you named it around, you know, kind of the obvious that no one wants to rest, no one knows how to rest, women don't know how to rest, mothers don't know how to rest. We feel guilty about resting. It's so linked to productivity and and caretaking and this never ending list of things and and the balance of of all of that and the headiness of that. And, yeah, I'm having the thought, like, how do you rest? Like, what does that look like? And and I wonder if both of you could share some wisdom on how you got willing to contend with this particular season of, of our monthly cycles because it kind of feels like the obvious one that doesn't fit in society. And I know you're obviously both mothers of of multiple children. So how did you figure that one out? Teach me everything you know.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Speaker 3
Yeah. So I think, for me, what happened was just it was my body actually just demanded it. There wasn't it wasn't really like a negotiation, because I had such intense pain for so many years at the beginning of my flow. I mean, I just had to rest. And so then when I started to heal that physical side of things, it just became clear that that sort of trajectory of resting during flow was going to continue to be, like, a root for me. Right? I think it has to come from an internal place of how you relate to resting. Because there are times where I'm on day two or three of my flow, and, like, I still need to take care of my children and and do certain things. However, it's my orientation is always how can I do this with as little effort as possible, And what can I change that my expectations of myself are less internally? Right? So, of course, there's the physical act of of literally lying down and resting, reading a book, listening to music, whatever that looks like for you. But I think what's actually more important is, like, that you're allowing your mind to sort of fade into the background a little bit more and just be more present in what's happening in your body system because that's what allows your energy to descend into the pelvis, into the womb, and actually have that full release of blood that's needed.
Speaker 5
Mhmm.
Speaker 3
Because we I mean, we're a mentally obsessed culture. So a lot and, you you know, it's like we spend a lot of time up here. And just to have that practice of dropping down and in ideally every day at some point. Right? But the cycle already provides you a unique framework to do it, to just say, okay. This is my practice right now, and start with what you can do, what feels, like, possible. So that if that means the first day of your flow that evening, you finish work or you finish your other obligations, and then you go to bed super early or you take a bath and you have some special time for yourself, then that's where you need to start. If you it feels possible to rest that entire day and prepare food ahead of time so you don't have to cook that day and have some nice herbal infusions ready, then you can do that. Right? But if that feels like you can't commit to that or that's already, you know, past your capacity, then set yourself up so that you can actually feel the benefit of doing it and build that trust in yourself that you're able to do it because that is
Speaker 2
a big literally move slower. Literally. Yeah. I'm gonna try that on. I like that.
Speaker 3
K. Anthony, do you wanna add anything else?
Speaker 4
Yeah. I mean, this is such an like, I love this topic. It's so deep. We could talk forever about this. A couple of things that are coming up for me, two main things. One, I'm a lover of altered states of consciousness. I search them out. I work to create them for other people. It's where I go to access wisdom. It's when I need a question, I don't think about it. I get myself into an altered state of consciousness. And so when I learned that I could do that just simply by resting when I'm bleeding, I was like, sign me up. I wanna do this. You know? This sounds super cool, like my own little ceremony,
Speaker 5
you
Speaker 4
know, every time I bleed. So that was a huge doorway for me because that's what my personality resonated with. Also, like you were saying, I didn't have the physical like, I've always had a relatively enjoyable with certain things that come and go issues, but I didn't have that, like, demand for rest. But there was, like, an internal longing. Like, as soon as I learned about the seasons and the archetypes, it was like a permission slip. I know that sounds kinda lame. We don't need permission to do this, but it what? It was like a, oh, I can do the thing that I've always been, like, intuitively wanting to do anyway, starting from when I was fourteen and I got my period. I did not wanna go to school. I didn't wanna go to gym class, you know, to cheerleading class. Yes. I was actually a cheerleader.
Speaker 5
It's pretty funny.
Speaker 3
That's funny.
Speaker 4
Hilarious. Anyway so you know what I'm saying? There was this like, you were saying this internal movement that, yeah, wanted that. This is the thing, and this is the thing with postpartum too. It's so challenging to be in right relationship with these phases, of our cycle and with these parts of our lives like postpartum where we really should be resting without community. That's just the reality of it. Like, we we need to somehow create a little bit of a red tent for ourselves. And so, honestly, this is what it looked like for me. Like, as soon as I met my husband I'm not kidding you guys. Like, within one week of knowing him, I was like, alright. So here's the deal. When I'm on my period, I don't wanna do anything for the first day, like, ideally, the first two days. And if you if you come into my space, I want you to be serving me. Like, I want you to be either rubbing my feet or giving me a cup of tea or taking something off of my plate. You know? Are you good with that? There was, like, a serious conversation on it. He's like, okay. And I taught him all about it. And so he is part of my community that I lean on when I'm bleeding. I also have nannies, which funny enough, like, lately, I've been only bleeding on the weekend, and they don't work. Like, I don't have a nanny that works on the weekend. So I'm like, you know? So then it's like, okay. Well, Brandon, what can you do for me? Can you take the boys out for a couple of hours so I at least get that little bit of time? Like Kristin was saying, I love to take a bath when I'm bleeding, so I try to do that. And it's just exactly like she said, taking the expectation off to do anything else but what you absolutely have to do. And so how does that look when mothering? It's hard, but it's like laying down when you're nursing, you know, instead of standing up. That's what it means. It means really getting to know your cycle and being prepared as much as you can knowing that you're gonna go into winter, knowing that you're gonna go into crone. So you have a, thing of soup in the freezer that you can pop out so you don't have to deal with food. You know? Just those simple things, taking as much off of your plate as you can. It means saying no to social things. I don't wanna hang out with people. I don't wanna have a lot of conversations. I don't want to go out to a restaurant and eat really rich food. Like, it's just not you know? So it's like staying close to home and taking as much as we can off our plates, and it's hard to rest during Crohn mothering if you don't have the community intact. So that's I feel like that's where our work is. Our generation who is starting to really get into right relationship with these things, then the next work I think we do, it's like first the internal work, and then it's like, how do we create community so that we can get the support we need and so that we can give the support that other women need. And that's a huge, huge, huge question, but I'm working on it, you know, in small ways. So I would say that's another way you can do
Speaker 5
it. Mhmm.
Speaker 2
So when you're in the bath, you're just, like, laying there with your eyes
Speaker 4
closed? You're funny.
Speaker 2
Yeah.
Speaker 4
So yeah. Like, that's what I'm saying, though. It's like your own personal ceremony. Like, when you actually drop in and let go of the mind, get down into your womb, you're, like, on a journey. You're on a trip. You can receive so much information and wisdom.
Speaker 2
That it's, like, boring.
Speaker 4
Yeah. That's, yeah, that's that's a that's a common story. You know? Yeah. But that's because you're used to, like, a fast paced rhythm.
Speaker 2
Totally.
Speaker 4
And, oh, one other thing that I think is so important that I just wanna touch on briefly is this can motivate women. So women often get stuck in the productivity thing of, like, well, I gotta be productive or all the things that you said, the stories that go along with it, the guilt or the shame or the whatever. And when I realized that if I orient my life to my cycle, it means that I'm, like, super on for two weeks usually. I'm, like, pretty pulled back for half the cycle. But during those two, I am on and I am productive. And so I'm actually more productive than I am when I'm trying to be productive every single day and fit my circle into the square box. You know? So I feel like that's a real motivating factor for women too because what happens when you drop into that delicious delta womb space, if you give yourself that time when you're menstruating, it's like such fertile ground for those beginning of the seeds to start sprouting for your next cycle. And so you receive the instructions for your next cycle. You know? And then you're on. And then you're like, okay. How can I harness this energy up until
Speaker 2
Hence the spiritual practice? Right? Like, the discipline to drop in and get quiet with that and receive those messages to bring forth.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Speaker 2
I used to do that, but I stopped just somewhere along the way. I mean, I guess it's from having a kid.
Speaker 4
Even if you give yourself one day. Like, that's usually my role is day one.
Speaker 2
Me too.
Speaker 4
Or the pick your day that feels the heaviest for you, sometimes for when it's day two. Mhmm. You know, when it's like, I'm really fully bleeding. So it's like pick that one day and really schedule it into your calendar.
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. I fantasized about, like, sitting on a bale of hay here while I'm still working and just, like, bleeding onto the hay, but, like, still working. Alright. Let's let's circle back to this incredible program that you two are creating for us, for the women of this world. Yeah. So what is the Blood Mystery School? Tell us what what wants to be shared about it. I'm so excited, really.
Speaker 4
It is going to be truly the most incredible collaboration, I think, between you, Kristen, and I. We have very unique and different things to offer that is going to create just this very holistic map for women to help them to walk through these different phases of their cycle to learn all about, like you said, the sacred and the science of it. And so how does that, yeah, play out in your everyday life where you may be having struggles? Like, maybe some women who are gonna take the course are gonna come with hormonal issues that they want resolved. Maybe some women come for the spiritual access, for the spiritual information, you know, but we're gonna cover really all of it. And so what I feel so excited about is that it just feels like the most comprehensive offering on the menstrual cycle because it's going to have those spiritual components too that often aren't talked about. I just think it's gonna be an incredible journey for women of healing as well to learn information, but also to go through this process of remembering and reigniting, reclaiming. You're gonna have opportunity to really sit in a lot of different, like, ceremonial kind of spaces as well to integrate the information. And it is a really exciting thing because we're what we're going to be doing is imparting all of this knowledge and and information and wisdom, but also helping all of the women who are taking the course to then take it out into the world. So to bring it into their women's circles or bring it into maybe the the teachings the the things that they're already doing within their work, like, you know, maybe they're already a birth worker, but they wanna add this to their career in that way. And so we'll be teaching on how to lead this stuff in person or, you know, to women and girls, both. So I've led a lot of stuff for coming of age girls. So I'll be teaching on, how to do that, how to format your circles because it's a very different thing to teach to women than to teach to girls. So our idea with this is that you learn all you can learn. You embody it. You practice it over a period of four months, you receive mentorship from the both of us, you sit in circle with like minded women. And then once you're ready to bring it on the world, you also have those tools to be the teacher that you are, the leader that you are in your community.
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I can just add sort of what I'll be bringing to the container for us, and that is really focused on your own hormonal physiology, understanding your hormones outside of the lens of pathology and outside of the lens of sort of use hormonal birth control to mask any symptoms or, yeah, just really getting clear on the hormonal matrix and also being able to recognize and identify if there's an issue that you're having and learn how to work with that. So I'll be teaching herbs to use throughout various phases of the cycle. I'll be teaching about, lifestyle, like, support and also diet and how that supports different phases of the cycle and different hormonal matrixes. And what what I'm weaving in is, like, bringing in sort of this ancient wisdom from Chinese medicine because I think it really helps women to reorient completely outside of the Western paradigm. Right? It's like there's this other energetic way to understand the cycle, and it just deepens your awareness and allows you to move through issues in a little bit different context. So I'm really focused on helping you, so helping each woman that joins to transform their relationship to their cycle and really start to understand how to work with any challenges that are present and being able to teach that and, like, see start to recognize potential, hormonal challenges with other women you work with or when you're leading circles and be, like, a wise woman for your community so you so we don't have to be outsourcing our power all the time to professionals, doctors, you know, other things that long term might not be that useful.
Speaker 2
Mhmm. Awesome. Beautiful. The Blood Mysteries School. So epic. It's gonna be so amazing. It's coming along so beautifully. And it's going to go live, and the school is going to start in February. Yeah. It's a sixteen week program. It's live. There's passive content. There's live classes. There's two classes a week. There's workshops. There's just so much. So it's going to change your life if you take it. I hope you do. I'm excited to take it. And, yeah, just thank you so much. I know that you're both deep wells of wisdom, and we barely scratched the surface here. And for those of the women that will travel with you through this school, Yeah. It's pretty exciting. They're really in for a treat.
Speaker 4
Thank you.
Speaker 3
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2
And that's it for today, my sisters. Check out everything we do, including one on one and group coaching. Learn about our private membership, in person retreats, and more on free birth society dot com. Our online courses are on free birth society courses dot com, including our flagship course, the complete guide to free birth. Don't miss the radical birth keeper school if you're ready to become the authentic midwife that women are searching for. Together, we rise, and the revolution starts inside each of us. I'll leave you with our free birth society theme song, Wild Woman by Aruba Red.
Speaker 5
I honor you for the wisdom you held, the ancient traditions of plant medicine and womb magic. I feel the spirit of the ancestors as I place my hands upon my belly. This sacred portal will be honored. Eons upon light beams of survival, withstanding the eradication of our power by design. I will not allow the separation of our young to be forced upon me. My sisters will no longer birth in captivity. The picket line redefined from burning our wild women to paralyzing us and drugging our babes. Strapped down in a clinical white bed drying up the milk from our breasts, keep your needles. My family will never again be doomed to chase those dragons all your poison. We reject your fear. We choose love. Everything with intention, death, ascension. I will fly and bring her back to the star. Conscious conception. Conscious conception. Wild woman. She still lives in inside.
Speaker 0
Wild woman.
