"How might your life have been different if there had been a place for you? A place for you to go… a place of women, to help you learn the ways of woman… a place where you were nurtured from an ancient flow sustaining you and steadying you as you sought to become yourself. A place of women to help you find and trust the ancient flow already there within yourself… waiting to be released… A place of women… How might your life be different?"

- judith duerk

Women are sacred. Which really means connected, not separate to anything else. We nourish the mystery of life within our bodies holding the capacity to birth, nourish and purify. We can discover about our connectedness by deeply tending ourselves and learning through our own bodies and cycle. We are in relationship to all things and have the capacity and responsibility to tend life in all its myriad forms, finding our own and unique ways to do this.

I offer mentoring, Women’s weekends and can create bespoke women’s circle and teaching events for you and your community based on an understanding of the cycles of women.

I run ceremonies in which the moontime (menses) has an honoured place and offer opportunities for you to learn more about how to work with your moontime as a ceremony and share these ways with the men in your life.

I feel strongly about tending the whole cycle of woman from birth until death and have a strong interest in how we collectively and personally journey with menopause. I can offer teaching and sharing spaces to tend the menopause transition and signpost you to the leading teachers and growing body of literature on these topics.

I have worked with supporting women recover from prolapse naturally for many years and can offer support and guidance on this topic.

Please connect with me if you would like to talk about how I might be able to support you and your community at this time.

The ancient yet timeless ways of women are related to our blood. Our births, our periods beginning, our monthly flow, our childbirths and our menopause are natural ways our bodies initiate us into new phases. We can use these transitions to let go of what is no longer needed and replenish ourselves. They offer connection to our deepest levels of knowing and the chance to create our lives from this place. We can take care of new seeds, birth our visions and let go of dead wood when the time is right. We are remembering this wisdom at this time. We are free to talk openly about such things which have been taboo for a long time, probably because of the power contained within them.

Reconnecting with the Women's Mysteries offers a map and a deeper appreciation of the creative energy of nature which is reflected in our bodies. This energy is affecting us whether we acknowledge it or not, so taking time to understand and allow ourselves to work with life in this way can be healing and call forth freedom of self expression, creativity and authenticity. We can work with this energy to grow in self awareness and heal our wounds. We can resolve patterns that limit us and strengthen our inner resources and outer community.

Our history would have been one of sitting together to hear and hold one another, of following the moon and of deeply understanding the relationship of our bodies to nature. I believe we are in a place in history of re-membering the wisdom and power of the sacred feminine that in earlier times would have formed the bedrock of our culture. Way back, as young ones, we would have grown witnessing our mothers and elders facilitate transformation in a day to day way in our community. Most nature based peoples honoured the practice of retreat during the bleeding time in the cycle, sometimes known as "Moonlodge" or “Moontime”. The community supported women to take time away from daily life as they bled to rest, dream and bring visions back for the health of themselves and the people. Young women were honoured and initiated at the time of first bleeding. They were welcomed into the wisdom of the motherline with respect for the insight, intuition, fertility and strength they were stepping into.

It was understood that the menses moved stagnation and blockage not just for the woman concerned but for her community and brought gifts and connection.

Closely connected to the cycles of the seasons and the moon, it is likely women would have lived through their life seasons understanding their connection to nature and the rhythm of growth, full bloom and decay that plays out on many levels in our lives. It is probable that old people were respected wise elders, who, as initiated women had access to their own knowing and could support others to find the same. There is powerful historical evidence that women played an important role in the spiritual lives of their communities and were often highly valued members of society, having high status and holding priestess and shamaness roles.

I believe sharing about the Women's Mysteries is about making this relevant to our current time and setting up environments where we can explore together and draw on our experiences and wisdom.

Moontime

The bleeding phase of the menstrual cycle

Named such because of the connection between the lunar cycle and the waters of the body and of the earth.

the tides and the patterns of ebb and flow, proliferation and breaking down are a part of every aspect of the living world.

I share every word that follows with the greatest respect for the wisdom and experiences you as a reader may have with this theme. We all have much to learn from each other if we go on the journey of re membering our innate relationships with the cycles of life and the consciousness of creativity that they express.

I share these reflections and invitations to enquiry recognising that gender identity is fluid and this has always been the case in indigenous cultures. We tend this discussion of Moontime because there are features of our sexual structure that give us specific experiences of life if we are female bodied.

For more detail you can read articles on the blog, explore the linked resources (section- Women’s mysteries) or come and join an in person event where we can explore and unpack this topic with time and personal connection. 

MOONTIME SHARING DAY FOR MEN AND WOMEN

9TH JULY 23 - BRIGHTON 1- 6PM

with Jill Kettle and Hans Schuldheis.

A warm invitation to come together to tend the cycles of the feminine and explore the ceremony of Moontime.

We will look at the of the menstrual cycle. We will explore how that pattern plays out in nature, inner life, and the life phases of people and how the menstruating years fit inside the bigger picture of a woman’s life.

We will focus on the Moontime phase of the cycle, the part where breakdown, composting and renewal is at it’s peak. We will look at the gifts and qualities of this phase and how we might orientate ourselves towards supporting and honouring it as men and women alike.

Our objective is to honour Moontime teachings from a few perspectives and come together as men and women to explore how we can integrate this knowledge and understanding into our lives and communities in good and healthy ways so that we can best serve life. We will look at what ceremony is and how we can learn from it and explore the differences between internal and external ceremonial formats.

The day will be a mixture of teaching and discussion.

For men our hope is that exploring the Moontime may help you to feel better resourced to honour and support the women in your life and deepen your internal relationship to the flow of energy through the cycles of creativity for your own nurturance.

This sharing space is open for all. However one of the motivations for holding this day is because Hans and I work with some ceremonial formats that have protocols around how the Moontime and the external ceremony relate to each other. We extend particular invite to those who have been working with us in ceremony and want to deepen understanding of the importance and impact of the energy of the moon and how to honour and work with it well.

To me, tending this topic feels like an integral part of cultural repair.

For men and women.

By suggested donation £50, concessions available.

For booking and questions please contact me here

We are aware of the complexities and highly charged feelings that can surround this topic and we open this discussion in the spirit of enquiry and service to life to ask questions and reflect on what is true for each of us. We fully recognise our own apprenticeship and ongoing learning journey with these themes.

Deeper reflections on the topic of Moontime -

I am gathering reflections, articles, art and poems to explore our relationship and experiences of moontime and our cycles.

Please see the link at the bottom of this page if you would like to contribute. You can read articles in the blog.

A warm invite to read this post about working with your moontime if you are new to these ideas and would like to find out more.

Over the last years there has been an exponential increase in interest towards tending the menstrual cycle and the bleeding phase of that (Moontime). There is greater recognition of its fundamental importance for women’s health mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually and how that connects to wider relationships and society.

This connects with a broader conversation about how the menstrual cycle fits into the wider cycles of a woman’s life and the journey she takes as she steps into her bleeding years, moves through them birthing children or projects in the world and ends her journey of cycling through the process of menopause entering a new phase of her life, growth and spiritual connectivity.

The whole of the menstrual cycle has wisdom and potency. It offers different points of view constantly. Often it is thought of as just the bleeding time, but from each phase of the cycle we can harvest, learn and deepen our relationship to ourselves, one another, nature and spirit.

We can choose to build our own relationship to our Moontime and cycles and discover what that means for us individually and collectively. In our personal and shared journeys we can find guidance from within and from the vast intelligence of the web of life, re membering aspects of ourselves that may be critical for our potential to find balance inwardly and outwardly at this time.

All life is born of woman. Women are sacred, connected and in close relationship to the great mystery of Life.  The incredible potential to bring together spirit and physicality in the womb and to tend and nurture the life that is birthed exists within us. Whether we have babies or not we are capable of nourishing this creation and manifesting in so many ways. Through these innate gifts women are connected to Life and the process of creation in ways that deserve acknowledgment and tending.

There are different perspectives through which to view the menstrual cycle and its capacity to be a gateway to wisdom, healing and cultural repair. There are many modern writers who draw on ancient knowings and their inspiration and experiences to create hugely helpful resources. 

I am informed in my work and practice by an earth based North American spiritual lineage. I value the precision and refinement of understanding it holds. Women’s teachings (or healthy cultural patterns in general) have not faired well through times of colonisation and genocide in any land. I am certain that historically we had our own healthy patterns in Europe and our journey right now is about relearning how to do life well. Through working with a lineage that predates patriarchal distortion and genocide I have reconnected with one of the most powerful spirit given ceremonies, the Moontime. Shifting viewpoint has given me access to what is already happening within me from a fresh perspective. It has allowed me to experience and value my cycles in a radically different way to the narratives my society laid out for me. This experience has been very connective and opened me up to truths and patterns I feel are universal and cross cultural, extending beyond one point of view or tradition.

Through this lineage lens Moontime is seen as a very powerful ceremony that is deeply respected. All true ceremony is concerned with gateways between this reality and the unseen aspects of life. It is there to teach us how to live.

The Moontime ceremony is one of purification, for ourselves and for all the things we are in connection with. For our environment, family and community.

If ceremony teaches how to live what is happening here and what can we learn?

Many ceremonies are spirit given in that people have gone deep into prayer or connection and found patterns of practice that support connection and help access or facilitate changes or shifts in awareness. There is typically an altar, a configuration of elements that form the focus of the ceremony and are interacted with. However the Moontime stands apart from these kinds of ceremonial formats. It is innate and generated internally. Women are naturally initiated into their bleeding times and go through initiation after initiation as they cycle through their years. This culminates in menopause which is it’s own rite of passage with a strong purpose. 

In this understanding the woman herself is the altar. She is capable of having a very strong experience.

Moontime is the power of nature itself, pure, with no manipulation. Ceremonies created and orchestrated by even deeply connected individuals are still manipulations at some level, interactions with nature or spirit to create affect. Moontime is wholly and utterly an expression of the flow of life and the bleeding part a particular aspect of that.

To be in health the cycle of life goes through phases of growth and proliferation and dissolution and breaking down of material form. This flow is needed for life to be healthy, even though a part of it is composting and decay. It is destruction, breakdown or resting phase that is necessary for life. This composting serves life. It has so much to teach us.

All humans need to cleanse and purify, to clear away what no longer serves life and renew ourselves, seek or discover our deeper knowings. Historically men had external ceremonies to support them to find connection, vision, purpose and healing. In most traditional earth based contexts the women had less need for these outward forms because they lived in intimate relationship with their internal ceremonies of Moontime, birth, breastfeeding and intuitive capabilities.

Times are different now for most people in a modern context. We have largely forgotten these ways. As women maybe we need those external ceremonial forms more now, but we can also remember what we have within us. Internal or external the ceremonies take us to the same place of finding out about our own connections.

The Moontime invites us go into an internal process. To dive deep into the mystery. Women in their Moontime are more sensitive, open, porous, in a state of heightened connectivity, cleansing and renewal.  They are able to be in strong prayer. Another way of expressing this is communication, the capacity to express inner need and longing into the web of life and be open to the responses. They are in an internal purification process. They may be connected or have insights into important things that need to be brought into manifestation or be guided to knowings or understanding that supports themselves and their communities. 

A traditional understanding is that a woman in her Moontime is also processing the things that need to be moved for the collective, not just her own personal material.

Imagine a reality where all women were truly supported to carry this role for themselves and for the health, happiness and balance of all people, beings, land and the unseen aspects of life. Imagine a world in which we could really support the function of the moontime to be a part of the means to process the untended grief, wounding and pain that clogs the arteries of our modern world. Imagine the relief in the lives of those who are already doing this work but out of conscious awareness, the women of our world now who already support the movement of this stuckness. I believe so much ill health, depression and overwhelm in women is as a result of the unacknowledged processing that the Moontime naturally supports.

Moontime is a hugely potent female contribution to culture. I deeply believe our capacity to reframe how we hold this, acknowledge this and support men and women to really understand what is happening can be a powerful momentum for healing at this time. Women will cycle and bleed whether we acknowledge it or not. When it is not valued as important or purposeful but inconvenient, shameful or unimportant it perpetuates wounding, ill health and disconnection on so many levels. From this viewpoint we cannot access the potential it has to move what needs to be moved in a good way. To embrace this possibility takes acknowledgment, honouring and recognition of our value and connectedness. The fullest potential of the gifts of Moontime are accessed by woman’s willingness to surrender and deeply connect to her body wisdom.

All kinds of things can come up when we start to tend things that have been ignored or devalued for a long time including relief, wonder, grief, clunkiness and anger. We have been living in a power over paradigm for so long that grief may come for what hasn't been possible or what has been lost or harmed through not honouring the relevance and magnificence of the feminine. Many people have internalised that power over paradigm and live with self critical voices that deny our value or the importance of our cyclical nature. Working consciously with Moontime for men and women alike offers a roadmap and one pathway for healing for ourselves and all our relationships.

Some of the ceremonies we work with have specific protocols for the Moontime which we will explain fully in the appropriate contexts. Our hope is this writing offers a context for why we hold it in the ways we do. It is very common for a woman seeking to attend external ceremony to come into her Moontime as this is the most connected state she can be in. We would like to support your experience of this in a good way.

Moontime is a beautiful thing and a topic for men and women alike, to grow in our understanding, to give ourselves permission to tend Life in these ways, to grow in health and happiness.

We invite a deep exploration of moontime in our work and gatherings and offer support and mentoring for working with your moontime as a powerful ceremony one to one as well.

A MALE PERSPECTIVE ON MOONTIME - HANS SCHULDHEIS

As a man I feel that in a healthy culture men and women worked and lived together to hold balance and healthy relationships between each other, all living and non living beings. Only women are able to give birth. At the time of pregnancy, birthing and postnatally it is the role of the man to nurture and protect the woman. That is something that most people are still able to understand and support in our modern culture. When it comes to the moontime I feel we have lost that sense of value and the crucial role it holds to regulate, balance and inform society of healthy living. Through working with indigenous lineages I have regained and remembered a deep sense of what it might have been like in a fully connected earth based culture, as a man holding responsibility to nurture and protect women to be able to fully embrace the moontime as they bleed for themselves and their community, purging and cleansing impurities and imbalances and re emerging with desperately needed advice and instruction for us men on how to right the wrongs.

Nowadays our role might be to hold space to allow women to rediscover and experiment with this potential. To inspire and encourage them about how much we need and value this as men.

To conclude I share this quote and podcast from Pat Macabe. I feel it speaks eloquently to the challenges we face as we seek to find healthy ways to live at a time when we have been conditioned by disconnective narratives about masculine and feminine. This feels central to the topic and discussion around Moontime. I hope you enjoy if you choose to listen.

“You think you know what the masculine is, but you don’t. All you know is how they behave in a power over paradigm…… we think we know what it is to be human, but we don’t. All we know is how a human being behaves in a power-over paradigm. But what could a human being be in another paradigm?

Pat McCabe

I am gathering articles and images from women’s experiences with working with their moontime to share ideas, inspiration and our wisdom. If you would like to add your voice to this please get in touch using the form below.

Dates for 2024 to be confirmed.

How can we claim our authentic life and fully welcome ourselves?

How do we support ourselves to stand trusting in our inner knowing, nourished and grounded, able to give our gifts to ourselves, our families and communities?

We believe that a part of the answer to this is by tending to our own rites of passage.

How we were met at the major thresholds of our own lives can leave or reinforce inner patterns and conditions, often leaving a lasting message in our beings about our value and worth. At these critical times of our own births, our first bleed, our childbirths or births of projects and menopause we often learn unconsciously what our society expects of us. These internal messages may be unresourceful, tricky to release and stand in the way of our free and authentic self expression.

How would we have loved to be met? What welcome would we love to give ourselves and our sisters?

In this weekend workshop we will explore how to create the conditions we need to acknowledge, honour and celebrate earlier rites of passage that may have been overlooked, underwhelming or challenging. We will set the sacred ground, step into a transformatory experience and integrate our journey together. Our vision is to support one another to leave with an embodied sense of our gifts and self worth.

Weaving time in circle with eldership, song, ceremony and connection we will co create a journey of hope and blessing to nourish our souls and welcome ourselves truly home. We will remember our ancestors and the generations to come as we gather for the health and happiness of all of us.

With care we will look at what might stand in the way of us embracing our lives fully and work to integrate hopes and fears, capacities and limitations. We recognise the value of respecting grief and sadness about what may not have been possible as well as all that we can be grateful for.

This weekend is supportive to the "Welcoming our Daughters" programs of events, providing rites of passage opportunities and connective experiences for young women and their mothers. To read more see here and see the other blog articles.

We warmly welcome women of all life stages and phases to this weekend. We remember our needs for blessing and acknowledgement stepping more fully into our sovereignity.

This weekend is co facilitated with me with Tatiana Shuttleworth. I feel so grateful for the depth of grandmother wisdom she brings and feel grateful she shares so deeply the vision to bring this piece of women’s work to the world. Our hope is that sustaining community and support beyond the weekend can be nourished and fostered.

To book please contact me.

From a previous participant…..

“Trying to find words to describe what I experienced over the weekend feels like trying to carry water in my bare hands. Words slip by and pour through my fingers, unable to quite articulate what there was there... struck dumb with total awe at the other women I witnessed. Alone. United. Like all the women who have ever been. Broken and remade. More glorious than I'd ever noticed before.

Something moved in me. Deep and old and true. Wild magic grasped for us. And I felt all those who were not there with us too. The air hummed. A thing taught to my Mother and her mother before her snapped and I saw it for the ugly lie it is. Women are not small delicate things. No.

Air stilled. Heat rising. Brain quickening. Pregnant with an idea.
Hair on end, eyes wide, heartbeat out of place, throat stuck, eyes filling, sweat prickling. I watched these women. Stand up. Take stage. Step into their own skin. Find their place in things. Hair loose. Tears falling. Embodiments of The Sacred Earth. Burning with rage and power. High on exsitence. I hope they saw themselves as I did. Mortal Goddesses. Awakened from their slumber by magic woven into their flesh, called forth by drum beats, heard words, intention and love.”

Lucy Beana.

UPLIFT – A POSITIVE APPROACH TO PROLAPSE AND PELVIC FLOOR PROBLEMS

Please contact me if you would like to arrange a workshop for you and a group of friends. We offer these as bespoke events when we have enough interest.

Uplifting news for that sinking feeling!

Are you experiencing life limiting effects of prolapse or pelvic floor weakness?

Discomfort, dragginess, peeing on coughing, a sense of dropping down below? Are you dismayed by the dismal prognosis for recovery or concerned about surgery?

We warmly welcome you to UPLIFT, a day workshop dedicated to positive approaches to healing and managing prolapse and pelvic floor problems. 

It is likely you are reading this page because you are struggling in some way and we understand from personal experience that this may bring up many feelings and concerns. This workshop was born out of our own journeys to healing or helping others. We want to share what we have discovered and help you to find your own way to help yourself. We have gathered really effective, natural and accessible tools and understandings to help with your journey to greater health, wholeness and freedom. 

This workshop is designed for women of all ages. It is filled with information, sharing, experiences and nourishment. We hope you will leave with a deeper relationship to yourself, a thorough understanding of our female anatomy and how to support yourself through posture and exercise as well as many things you can do at home that will really make a difference for your type of problem. It is not one size fits all approach. The group will be limited to ten women so there will be plenty of time to attend to your specific needs and issues.

Jill and Justine are natural health care practitioners with many years experience in acupuncture and Chinese medicine, shiatsu and massage, anatomy, women's health and women's circles, pilates and natural movement. We are all passionate about health and supporting each other to thrive as women.

Course content

• Listening to what’s going on for you.

• Deepening your connection to your body.

• Physiology and anatomy of pelvic floor and prolapse.

• Exploring the importance of right posture for management of prolapse and long term health of pelvic floor.

• Core breathing routines to maintain health and rehabilitate weak muscle groups.

• Introduction to the hypopressive breathing technique.

• The types of prolapse, how and when it can show up – examination of peak risk moments, childbirth, menopause, and later years.

• Self care for best support for ourselves, especially at these critical times that are under tended in our culture (post natal, menopause and elderhood).

• Looking from the perspective of traditional eastern medicine and sharing wisdom from these traditions.

• Discussion around maintaining vibrant sexuality as we age.

• Exploring the emotional aspects of prolapse and issues of support and self care in our lives.

We want you to feel really cared for and nurtured and will be providing all teas, coffees, cakes and a vegetarian lunch.

£75 inclusive of food.

For more information about the facilitators read here…

Jill Kettle - on this site and for her acupuncture experience see here.

Justine Sipprell