The moon and your menstrual cycle

Sister moon will be my guide
In your blue blue shadows I would hide
All good people asleep tonight
I'm all by myself in your silver light
I would gaze at your face the whole night through
I'd go out of my mind but for you
I'd go out of my mind but for you

—Sting, ‘Sister Moon’

You probably know that the moon affects oceanic tides and supports the growth of plants, but did you know it can also influence a woman/menstruating person’s cycle?

The average length of the menstrual cycle is 29.5 days, which is exactly the same as the lunar cycle.

Let’s just take a moment to absorb this.

It’s a fact that helps us begin to understand that there has to be connection between our cycling bodies and the cycling moon.

It might not seem too great a leap, then, if I told you that ovulation can be triggered by the light of the full moon due to its interaction with a woman’s hormonal system.

In the Zambezi valley in Africa, women knew this—they expected to ovulate at the full moon and menstruate when the moon was new. They took advantage of this phenomenon by adapting the roofs of their houses with a special opening for the full moon to shine through.

Another example is the Yurok American Indian women who menstruated in synchrony, ‘utilising the light of the moon to regularise their menstrual cycles,’ according to Buckley & Gottlieb in Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation.

Even in our modern, urbanised environments, our bodies reflect a connection to sister-moon. There are some studies that show higher rates of conception (and, therefore, ovulation) occur around the full moon, whereas there is a decrease in conception (and therefore, ovulation) around the new moon.  

This pattern of bleeding in sync with the new moon is known as a ‘white moon cycle’, and while it is common, many women also bleed at the opposite end of the lunar cycle—around the time of the full moon—which is known as a ‘red moon cycle’.  

It’s fascinating to compare how different a woman can feel physically and emotionally depending on which of these two lunar-menstrual patterns her body is following.

Whether you’re cycling according to a red or white moon cycle can tell you so much about your life at the time. And that’s not even going into the inextricable connection between the state of our nervous system and the balance of our hormonal system—in my book Moving with the Moon, I go into detail about how our stress response can throw our menstrual cycle out of whack.

WHITE MOON CYCLE 

Bleeding in sync with the new moon means that you are likely to be ovulating with the full moon and is considered to be the optimal pattern for aiding fertility.  

Dr. Robert E. Svoboda, an American Ayurvedic physician, writes that when a woman ovulates with the full moon, ‘the heavens encourage her body and mind to be plump and juicy,’ and menstruating with the new moon helps her body ‘expel unused fertility juices.’  

 If you’re regularly bleeding in alignment with the new moon, it may mean your body is focused on ‘mothering’, either literally, as it prepares to conceive and nurture new life in the form of a potential pregnancy, or figuratively, in terms of an enhanced propensity for nurturing others. This energy can be fostered by ensuring you nurture yourself during your bleeding time with plenty of rest and withdrawing from outside work and social commitments—where possible, of course! 

In a Moving with the Moon® approach to our cycles and our bodies, the dark/new moon phase of the moon is considered to be a more internal and introverted time of the month. It’s when we can benefit greatly from rest and deep inner reflection. Menstruation is a time when we are naturally lower in energy—our hormonal levels are at their monthly lowest, as is the immune system. This mirrors the dark, quiet energy of the night sky at dark/new moon. 

But some women find this descent into darkness challenging. 

I fielded my students and social media friends to see how they experience their white and red moon cycles. 

Takayo finds her white moon cycle a little ‘tough’, especially the waning moon phase when she often suffers headaches and bloating and feels like she’s ‘holding too much stuff’ and feels ‘overwhelmed’. But she says as soon as her period starts, she feels a deep release, and by day three or four, her lower energy lifts, and she feels ‘revitalised’.  

RED MOON CYCLE 

The pattern of bleeding in sync with the full moon is called a ‘red moon cycle’ and represents a connection with your inner creativity; it’s when you might be ‘birthing’ something within yourself rather than a literal baby. 

Interestingly many women report that this pattern feels much ‘lighter’.  

Ashlee says that bleeding with the full moon is so much ‘easier’, and she feels ‘clearer in her head and heart’. ‘I also feel more balanced in my overall energy levels and decision-making throughout the entire month,’ she says. 

Now post-menopausal, Anna recalls that she found a red moon cycle ‘easier to manage with the demands of mothering’. 

 ‘The dark/new moon bleeds were “deeper” and harder to handle when I didn’t have the space to withdraw into the red tent,’ says Anna. 

 A read moon cycle is the flip side to a white moon cycle and is said to reflect your darker femininity, and many women find that their shadow side comes to the fore during menstruation, bringing these aspects into the light to work with and heal.

‘I definitely became more intuitive. It was a very bipolar feeling as the earth’s energy was so high, yet I was wanting to be drawn inwards and more yin,’ says Nadia, reflecting on a period of time when she experienced successive red moon cycles.  

THE DANCE BETWEEN THE WHITE AND RED MOON CYCLES 

Throughout your fertile life cycle, you may find that you experience both patterns of bleeding or that your cycle is in transition from one to the other (i.e., bleeding with the waxing or waning moon), depending on your priorities at the time.  

Becoming more sensitive to the subtle differences in your cycle and how they parallel with the moon in its various phases allows you to recognise your changing needs and leads to deeper self-awareness. It can even be a source of comfort, as Danika shares: 

Having realised I was in a red moon cycle, one of self-discovery and healing, it gave me a feeling of peace. I have unknowingly been going through a phase of self-discovery and was feeling a little lost. I felt more comfortable with exploring my own creativity while knowing I was supported by the moon and nature as well.

Want to deepen your menstrual cycle awareness to benefit your physical, emotional and mental health? I invite you to read my book Moving with the Moon: Yoga, Movement and Meditation for Every Phase of your Menstrual Cycle and Beyond, which explores in depth my moving with the moon® approach to tracking and working with your cycle on and off the yoga mat.

Ana is also now available for 1:1 yoga sessions via Zoom if you’d like a personalised sequence for your feminine age or stage. See here for more info and to book a free 15 minute intro chat.

Practice with me anytime, my package of feminine yoga recorded zoom classes are now available here.

References

Thomas Buckley and Alma Gottlieb, Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation, University of California Press, 1988.

Francesca Naish, Natural Fertility: The Complete Guide to Avoiding or Achieving Conception, Sally Milner Publishing, 1999.

Christiane Northrup M.D. Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing, Bantam Dell, 2006

Dr. Robert E. Svoboda, Ayurveda for Women: A Guide to Vitality and Health, Healing Arts Press, 2000.