5 Ways To Use Your Menstrual Blood
How many of us were taught to be empowered around our period? For the most part, bleeding is considered a private or even taboo subject. But the truth is, our cycles are incredible. The innate wisdom of our bodies is so powerful. And menstrual blood is one of the most magical substances on the planet!
Menstrual blood has been regarded since ancient times as an important life-giving elixir both biologically and mythically. Menstrual blood is closer to the composition of milk than actual blood, as it is designed to nourish a fertilized egg in early pregnancy. It contains minerals, macronutrients, human growth compounds, and special stem cells and unique proteins that are only found in menstrual fluid.
For something so important, very little scientific research has been done on menstrual blood. We are only just beginning to understand the generative biological power of menstrual blood. And the mythic, energetic, and emotional significance is almost completely unexplored in a modern context.
The ancients celebrated and revered this feminine elixir as the substance of creation with the power to regenerate, renew, and create life. The mythic and spiritual practices of almost every ancient culture centered menstrual blood as a powerful and sacred body fluid that enhances health and longevity. Ritually engaging with it was thought to alter consciousness and produce states of awakening. Menstrual blood was also considered to illuminate nondual awareness, as the womb is where sacred union between the egg and sperm occurs, and the space where one being can exist inside another.
The original feminine shamanic lineages that kept these mysteries and wisdom were broken by the patriarchal overlays on ancient spiritual traditions. Along with the spiritual idea of transcendence and the Father-God came a disconnection from the earth and the body. Wise women, mystics, and witches were targeted and their practices cast into the realms of the demonic. People became disconnected from the innate powers of the body & the Goddess.
Menstrual consciousness was sadly lost. But this awareness is reawakening. I’ve been speaking about this a lot lately, and about my own experience with planting the moon, which is a practice where I bury my menstrual blood into the earth each month, as a way to honor my cycle, attune to nature and the earth, and symbolically root myself, my daughter, and my female lineage to this place and time.
But there are other things you can do with your menstrual blood, should you choose to ritualise your cycle in any way or just to help you connect with your own body and menstruation in a different way…
Water your plants with it
It makes sense that menstrual blood is so powerful when it comes to fertilising plants and helping them grow - menstruation is the elixir that creates life, so of course it is good for the greenery too. Dilute it with some water and use it to water the various plants in your garden.
Dry & store for future spells
I keep a small glass bowl in my bathroom and simply pour the blood from my menstrual cup into it and let it dry. Then it easily flakes off and I put it in a small jelly jar to be used on my altar, in spells, or creating charm bags and talismans. This means you can access the magic of your menstruation when you’re not *actually* on your period!
TOP TIP: when looking to use your menstrual blood in any way, it is easiest to collect it if you use a menstrual cup. This is a reusable and typically-silicone funnel shaped container inserted into the vagina to collect your menstrual blood safely - they are better for your body and for the plant! If you’re just looking to water plants or put it into the earth, you can easily rinse out cloth pads or period panties into a bowl and use that.
Use it to empower magical tools & objects
You can also use the fresh blood to power up sigils, candles, talismans, etc. Whatever type of magicor spiritual practices you engage with, you might have specific objects and tools that help you with your practice. Your menstrual blood can be used to annoint these, to decorate them, to mark them and so on.
Use it for divination
Divination is a practice of receiving communication from the soul of the world. Many people use tarot cards, runes, tea leaves, or another tool to receive messages and symbols that give great insight. And as your menstrual cycle is such a source of intuition and reflection in itself, using your menstrual blood for divination is a brilliant next step. Similar to reading tea leaves, you can collect it, transfer it to a chalice and swirl three times before inverting onto a saucer and intuiting from what you see.
Make menstrual art
Menstrual art is literally just that - art pieces made using your period blood instead of or in addition to paint, pens, pencils, chalk and so on. Maybe you use your fingers for a more visceral experience. I have even painted sigils in my blood directly onto my body. Directly interacting with your blood in this way can be very healing and empowering.
There are of course plenty of other things you can use your menstrual blood for - come and join my Facebook group community, Feminine Mystery School, and let’s talk about the different rituals and uses surrounding menstruation and menstrual blood!
