devotion to the luteal phase feels like
or call it inner halloween self care one week before the period
letting myself have crying spells, for the love of fuck (also swearing a fuck lot more), without suppressing them medically or seeing them as something to fix. that’s my body’s wisdom moving all the pent up emotions of this cycle through me, and the highest wisdom is in fully, dramatically embodying that and letting it move. also praying to get some time at home alone so I can have a rage ceremony, so I can voice out and dance and shake all of the emotions that have surfaced ever since my monthly inner descent into the underworld (luteal and menstrual) began.
resting as much as I possibly can, and willingly cheating capitalism/productivity/work culture (or, a workplace) for this if I have to, because this world and it’s normal work culture wasn’t built to ever include, consider or care about women’s bodies, but living in a woman’s body is my reality, my truth, my science, my temple and my altar, and I will live so, whatever it takes. keeping my favourite baggy, soft and comfortable tees out to wear, with nothing else hopefully, as much as possible
the luteal phase is a truth seeing phase. when I am in healthy, regulated cycle and body, it shows me truths I was too nice a maiden to otherwise see in follicular and ovulation seasons. when someone gives me the ick in luteal, when someone starts seeming questionable in luteal, when something feels off about a situation in luteal, it’s dark feminine wisdom, not the PMS crazy that society gaslights me into believing it is, as a woman. I am an oracle of oracles in the luteal phase, and nothing will bother me, anger me or unsettle me in this time unless it has reason to do so - reason rooted in valid, deep truth that is calling me to explore it.
sleeping in longer, unapologetically. taking naps, unapologetically.
embracing and accepting that I have the lowest energy at this time that I’ll have all month
also embracing my heightened sensitivity, my very low tolerance for irritating people, and my aversion to harshness at all levels - harsh energy, harsh words, harsh noises, harsh attitudes
and hence, giving myself more solitude and more free passes to be Lakshmi and simply walk away from any room, table or situation that feels like it’s disturbing, dishonouring, or disrespecting me
sipping on brews with ginger, hibiscus, rose and especially mint for all the stress of this time.
caring about my magnesium intake with my banana intake, and even more sexily with almost daily cacao ceremonies for one by one <3
if needed, going on a little floral shelf shopping spree and restocking my favourite gifts of earth to make magic with
burning sage everyday
sticking to my morning pages, and journalling twice a day even.
aligning to an inward, introverted, reflective, dark moon energy, creating more space to meditate, longer baths, quiet time spent awake, solo dates in quiet places, connecting to nature, softer (or no) workouts, enjoying the solitude of early mornings or late nights, whatever my sleep schedule allows.
a beautiful idea from the lovely
for those of us who are self employed - keeping this time for the slow, foundational, boring admin work. for weeding the garden, airing the soil, and all the things that aren’t necessarily creative dancing but still strengthen the structure within which our creativity will bloom when our inner spring arrives again, post bleed.the goddesses Kali, Lilith and Hecate <3
doing less everyday, especially in the 7 days before the bleed, which for me are even more difficult energetically than the bleed itself. I reach my lowest, most tired, most angry, most sad, most acne-prone, most irritable, most pessimistic, most existential angst moods at this premenstrual time, and if I didn’t know that this was a cyclical thing, I’d be in some really dark spirals.
wearing black head to toe and tapping into my inner witch, it’s scorpio season in my womb when the bleed’s about to begin
eating dark dark chocolate and pomegranates, and being Persephone
going off social media until after my bleed
attuning to my heightened intuition, and sitting with the rage, discomfort, sadness and melancholy that comes up, realising that this is the end of a cycle and it’s everything that I avoided feeling presenting itself to me to feel before it can be cleansed with the bleed
moon rituals to honour the phase of the moon, wherever it may fall in alignment with my cycle
remembering how last month, I made myself go go go all through the luteal and the first five days of the bleed, trying to numb myself out and be “normal” i.e ignore my body altogether and “do” things and go out and erase the period as a feminine experience completely the way all the sanitary napkin commercials said we should, shrouding the visit of the inner dark goddess in unmentionable oblivion, and paying for it the rest of the entire month by always feeling inexplicably fatigued, dull and lowkey depleted all the time because they never told enough women that that’s how important resting during the bleed is, they made us normalize being eternally tired and caffeinated instead.
pulling tarot, recording my dreams (they get really potent, prophetic and deeply revealing during this special time of premenstrual and menstrual for so many of us), wearing my I don’t want to be perceived roomy, flowy and soft fits, slowing down everything that I can slow down, giving myself grace and understanding in how low this phase can be emotionally
and just letting everything be, just for a bit, until I reemerge from my feminine body’s miraculous self-ritualizing of it’s inherent, immanent balance of light and darkness. surrendering to the fact that I was never meant to be 24x7 on the go, and that women were meant to and designed by Goddess to live in these cycles, just like Nature has it’s autumn and isn’t expected to bear fruit and flower every single day for everyone else to extract from her.
and so it is. <3
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This is so gorgeous, like the deepest indigo blue of a nighttime sky. You always write with so much devotion to the feminine. I feel like you’re the author to the guidebook of how we ritualise our innate womanly energy. You always inspire me to connect deeper to myself. It is so important to honour this phase of our cycle and you describe how to, so beautifully.
I also loved the subtle story along the way, of this dark goddess casting spells with her tears, descending into the underworld to rest the temple and altar that is her body. I feel like she went down with her middle fingers up haha
🥀🥀🥀🥀
This was such a balm to read, like a sacred guide to truly living as a woman ❤️🔥