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I love my moon time, I love everything about it. 

Spirituality, an intimate relationship with the spirits; a love of life and respect for all its sacred forms; the use of practical magick and powerful prayer; and the holiness of the Earth, are all the fuel and form of my life and everything that flows out from it. It has been this way as far back as I can remember in my 53 years of life, and it is the lens through which I see my life now, and in the unfolding future.

I am a Traditional Witch, conjure-man and faery seer. I am a well-travelled lecturer and author of several books on those topics, and creator of a multi-year apprenticeship program aimed at core spirituality, mystical living, eco-spirituality, and the practice of real magick for real change; or, as I call it, “Magick with Muscle”. The intense soulfulness of my message is a direct result of being born into and growing up in Appalachian and Southern culture that was highly influenced by a romance of the land, the legacy of the Civil War and the African slave-trade, and the looming presence of racism and poverty. I was born with the veil (the second sight) into a family where the folk lore and customs of this gift were still alive in both my family and community culture. These elements made the living presence of Spirit; the spirits; and the powers of: prayer, spirit-doctoring, faith-healing, charms and spells, and other forms of "magick", very real and very necessary in a world with a lot of injustice and inequity.

In this season of the Fathers and Mothers, one last ancestral tale, before we descend into Darkness.

His name, ironically, was Charlie Coward, and they say he was seven feet tall. It was he that made the Blood Marriage with the Land, and so we are Americans today.

In my family's Long Memory, his is the oldest name remembered in full. The oldest of all—but his given name is long forgotten—would be that Cow Herd whose name his descendants still bear.

The blood mysteries, they have called to me for years. The calling felt distant, an eery echo in an old worn in cave that lived deep within my wombspace, the house of my ancestors. 

I learned about The Moon and You: A Woman's Guide to an Easier Monthly Cycle when the author, Barbara Hanneloré, told me she'd selected words from The Woman's Belly Book for her book's page one. I'm honored Barbara chose my invitation — that we women consider our bellies as sheltering "the creative energy kin to the majestic Power of Being informing the universe" — to set the direction for her book.

In a warm and personal voice, Barbara offers practical ways to address, reduce, and perhaps eliminate pre-menstrual and menstrual distress, both emotional and physical. She does so by reframing the monthly cycle as an ally, not an enemy, provoking us to balance our lives in every dimension. She offers us the possibility of understanding and experiencing the menstrual cycle that we embody as kin to the cycle of moon phases and the circling of seasons in nature at large.

Organized in five sections, illustrated with delightful line drawings, the book guides us to:

• explore our connection with these cycles of nature;
• validate and nurture our inner lives with self-awareness and self-care in a variety of expressions;
• nourish our bodies with balancing foods, herbs, and physical practices of many kinds;
• understand the impact of cultural beliefs and values regarding menstruation on our personal experience;
• remember and then re-imagine our first menstruation — menarche — as welcoming us into womanhood in the way we've always wanted.

Each section provides references enabling the reader to investigate topics in greater depth. And each section concludes with an activity that helps the reader to integrate ideas and practices into the details of daily life.

Aside from the pleasure of knowing The Woman's Belly Book has provided inspiration and support for Barbara's The Moon and You, two threads of interest wrap me up and draw me to this book....

[click on "Continue reading" below for more]

MY SACRED BLOOD

My blood
My deep red flowing blood
Flowing in joyous delight
Through the caverns and crevices
Of my life
My good red blood
Racing in anticipation
Of things yet to be revealed
Full of curiosity
Feeling no restraint
Innocent of dangers
Powerful beyond my knowing….yet…..

I just had a thought-vampire stories involve a woman falling in love with a competent, but dangerous, man.  Dracula came out in 1897, when the women's movement was strong, soon to result in women's suffrage.   Vampire stories often involve a woman giving up her independence and competency to be with a man.  She's hypnotized, can't look away, and he by turn, wants her lifeblood-that which keeps her alive and functioning.   Is this a perspective on the rights of women?  Is it possible that there is fear that a man will take a woman's right to live away from her? If not by force, than by stealth?  That even so, a woman's nature isn't strong enough to resist?  Are vampire stories in general just reinforcements of patristic ideas?