Part 1: Seasons Change

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Writing to you from my Day 22 Fall Phase.

Women have always been thought of as being deeply mysterious. A woman can be very blunt and direct one day and then open and flirtateous the next only to confuse her partner a week later by responding with irritation and tears. Her emotional state may seem like it doesn’t hold a candle to the ocean’s tides and moon phases. But what if I told you it is most closely represented by the weather forecast and the seasons? Today, I would like to take you deeper into the seasons of the menstrual cycle’s month and expand it even wider into the life stages of a woman.

We contain within our wombs the power to grow life that is not our own. Within each natural menstrual month there is a beautiful process of being born and dying and being born and dying. In each menstrual month are four unique phases dictated by a cocktail of our sex hormones, estrogen, a smidge of testosterone, luteinizing hormone, follicular stimulating hormone and progesterone all creating this amazing life cycle process within us. This is very powerful stuff.

The seasons of the natural year are shown in fractals on a macro and micro level of our cyclic nature, the infradian rhythm. Menstrual cycles prepare us to grow and give life but also to face death head on. In the macro sense, the seasons paint a picture of our fully lived lives in life phases and archetypes, yet also, on a micro scale we see the seasons playing out monthly with the possibility of birth and the inevitability of death.

The first half of our lives we are growing outward into the world. The second half, we are moving and growing introspectively. This is the natural course of a woman’s maturing process.

This is also the process of every month, growing outward during the first half and going inward into the second half preparing us at each phase for the larger scale phases of our lives.

This is true of the seasonal year shown in the temperate forests which experience four full seasons every year. Spring and summer there is outward growth. Fall and winter there is inward growth and rest.

Photo by Meiying Ng on Unsplash

In our western culture there is a resistance to the second half of the life cycle. Our economy is equally proportionate to our productivity. This is our only perceived value. And this constant outward growth and energy has translated itself onto women as well. The world culture only wants Spring and Summer’s outward productive growth, while it denies the balance of pulling back, pruning, introspection and rest that is natural to Fall and Winter phases. If you have ever been in a temperate forest in late summer, you have seen the wildness of undergrowth, full of invasives and thorny things. This is true of women as well. No going inward, no rest, always pushing through, remaining as though in summer and as a direct result our reproductive and hormonal systems become out of balance and diseased as well.

Photo by Christian Holzinger on Unsplash

For most of my life, I have lived in the beautiful landscape of Western North Carolina with four very distinct seasons. If you asked me five years ago which season I liked most, I would have definitely told you, “Summer!”, without hesitation. I most enjoy comfortable mornings spent sipping coffee before I get my day going. I love the day trips with my family to my favorite hikes, waterfalls, swimming holes and lazy tubing on the many river options in my area. I love the long sunny days that allow for friends to gather outside enjoying grilled fresh veggies, watermelon, and watching fireflies create their own firework display. I love how energized I feel.

How about Fall, when the leaves turn the most vibrant colors and nights return their coolness?

Honestly, I love the fall colors or leaf season as it’s known here and I always go for a scenic drive, but deep inside I dreaded fall because it meant the days were getting shorter and winter was on its heels. “Winter is Coming” (insert Game of Thrones voice).

What about winter? I love to go for a good snow, but it rarely snows here. Mostly it’s just grey and rainy and dark and then there is this pressure to go all out on the holidays. And when all of the parties and flurry are over, I am left with cold darkness. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? I’m what I like to call, solar powered. The direct sun charges my batteries, so being in the dark means seasonal affective disorder is very real for me by the time February rolls around.

Spring? Oh, now Spring is full of surprises. It’s a love hate kinda thing. I love the newness of the little tender shoots and bright pink blossoms that contrast the dark grey branches and the occasional warm day when I get to soak in the sun. I enjoy starting my garden fresh with new inspiration, sorting through seeds from the previous year. On the flip side, the cold snaps, rainy wind and allergies have me longing for long lazy summer days.

Without knowing it at the time, this is how I viewed my monthly cycle too. I hated seasonal changes except when spring changed to summer, and I wished summer lasted forever, that is until late summer, which felt a bit buggy and prickly. Then, I just wanted to start late spring and summer all over again. As for the rest of the year, I dreaded late fall and endured winter with gloom and desperately waiting for spring to return.

To make the direct correlation to my monthly cycle, I basically wanted to live in late follicular phase and ovulation phase (days 10 to 16) all the time. And this was true for me in the actual year and in my menstrual months. I felt the most myself for a total of 12 weeks out of the entire year of my menstrual cycles.

So, let’s break down the seasons of the menstrual cycle:

Remember every woman is slightly different based on her own unique hormonal shifts and genetics

Monthly Seasons:

• Winter Menstruation Days 1 to 5/7 (the number of days can from month to month and also depends on the current life phase)

• Spring Follicular Days 6/7 to 12/13

• Summer Ovulation Days 13/14 to 18/22 (There is a late summer phase in here as well)

• Fall Luteal Days 18/22 to 25/35 (again everyone is different and will have varying days from month to month depending on many factors including health and age)

Life Phase Seasons:

Here we are looking at age ranges that make up very distinct maturation of a woman’s life

• Spring: Menarche (the first bleed between age 8-14yrs old) to late 20’s

• Summer: Late 20’s to late 30’s

• Fall: begins late 30’s to a womans last cycle bleed somewhere in her mid 40’s to mid 50’s

• Winter Menopause considered medically after no bleed for 1 full year and on

I have also come to see each monthly and life phase as its archetype as well

The Archetypes of the monthly and life phases:

• Spring- Follicular: The Maiden phase: young adult

• Summer- Ovulatory: Mother phase: Child bearing phase

• Fall- Luteal: Wild woman phase: Mid life re-awakening

• Winter- Menstrual phase: Wise woman or Crone phase: Menopause and post-menopausal years and on

I started tracking my cycle daily in late fall of 2019 after reading The Optimized Woman by Miranda Grey. I saw my monthly Seasons emerging, taking shape into very dynamic energy shifts that I could directly relate to the natural seasons. I tracked every single day (if I missed a day or days I went back and filled in my journal) for 2 solid years. I journaled every day through the pandemic days, and I was beyond grateful that I had stumbled upon this awareness before everything shut down. I was able to use each phase to fully process the global trauma. I learned how to use the menstrual cycle to attain goals like reorganizing and entire kids’ bedroom, planning a 10-day trip camper trip to the Florida Keys, hosting parties, homeschooling my son, planning and planting flower beds, working out, and restructuring our personal finances which has proven will take several Spring phases. I now plan for my month ahead using the abilities in each phase and paying attention to the challenges with each phase as well.

I quickly realized this awareness; this gold nugget of innate body wisdom, was not just for me. I remember in the winter of 2020 sitting on the front porch on a warm day having what would be the last conversation with my grandmother. I told her about women’s cycle awareness and the books I was reading and podcasts I was listening to and feeling a real call to teach everyone about the simple act of tracking the cycle and lining up and living in the flow of the cycle. She responded after thinking about what I had told her. “Jessie”, she said, “I wish I had known about all of this when I was very young and had five children. My husband had expectations that I was to be in Summer, as you call it, every single day. I think if he and I understood how this all works, he would have, and I would have given a lot more grace”. This is a sentiment I would hear while teaching this for the next few years and I still hear it. “I wish I had known”. And this is why I want to get this out there to you, the reader. And then she said the words that continue to ring in my ears just when I’m ready to give up. “Keep going”. I heard you grandma. I will keep going. I will keep going on about this for you and other grandmas, and for mothers, and sisters and daughters.

my Grandma and I at her 90th birthday party

… next up Part 2: Seasons Change

Have any questions or comments? I would love to know what your favorite season is! Leave a comment to get the conversation going because this is the best way to learn.