Everyday Wisdom Catching Tools:
A Guide to Elemental Beholding
Learning to work in concert with the creative energies of my female body is one of the greatest honors I hold. The female body is designed to be creative. Learning to respond to both the physical and energetic patterns of my cycle allows me to access these potent creative resources from within. Menstrual cycle tracking has been a tool to help me access the underground of soul- not unlike soil- that when cared for cares for me. I want to draw parallels between menstrual cycle charting and tending to a biodynamic garden as a way of connecting the inner and outer ecologies of soul and soil.
An Overview of Biodynamic Gardening
A biodynamic garden is viewed as an integrated, whole, living organism made up of many interdependent elements. Tending to the four elements is a primary way to contextualize the archetypal patterns of creation unfolding within the garden. One of the most important aspects of the biodynamic system is the calendar which lays out a map of distinctions. First, there are the four elements: earth, fire, water, and air. Then there are the key parts of plants: root, leaf, flower, fruit/seed. Each part of the plant is related to an element. The constellations also have an elemental association. For example, Taurus is an earth element and Leo is a fire element. The alignment of the sun and the moon within the constellations are also noted. Below is a visual representation of the above mentioned components:
Though the biodynamic calendar appears to be complicated, I have learned to simply trust the work laid out for me on any given day. If it is a root day, I do root-related work. Tomorrow may be a flower day, so I wait to focus on flowers. Acting in accordance with the biodynamic calendar, I have come to appreciate the details of elemental intricacies, the unseen but dynamically felt forces of creation. When distinctions are valued in their rightful place, I don’t extinguish creative flow. Dare I declare that I am learning to take my place as a co-creator? The many stories of banishment and exile from the garden of creation have been consequential. We are living in a time where the narrative of being a human is ridden with so much self-hatred and I fear that we might be falling under the guise that as a species, we are a mistake. With focused attention, the biodynamic calendar offers a myriad of invitations to join with the forces of creation.
Creating Coherence Through Cycle Charting
Similar to the biodynamic calendar, the blueprint of the menstrual cycle also highlights a whole dimension of inner powers, sacred tasks and developmental challenges. It was Alexandra Pope of the Red School who first adopted the concept of the “inner seasons” to describe the distinct phases of the menstrual cycle. Here is a brief overview of these distinctions:
The inner Winter marks the time of our menstruation, and the natural powers are of receiving inner guidance and unconditional love. The sacred task is to let go and do nothing. The inner Spring is the time of pre-ovulation where curiosity and playfulness are the forces that reside here. The sacred task is to cherish yourself. The inner Summer is during ovulation and here lies a natural outward focus oriented around pleasure and gratitude. The sacred task is to show yourself to the world. The inner Autumn, the pre-menstruum phase brings in the power of discernment. The sacred task is to face yourself.
It is within this framework where I have been able to return to my inner ecology and relax into the self-containment of my body. I’m fostering an assuredness in my own elemental composition and the subtle forces working through me. I draw upon a cycle chart, a web-like tool, to catch the complexity of my body’s wisdom. Cycle charting is a self-observation practice that involves writing a few words down each day. Day One of my cycle begins with my bleed and here is an example of me noticing a quality I was experiencing on that day:
Empty. There is honey in the void.
Here is a cycle chart template from cyclical wisdom consultant, Ruby May’s journal called Know Your Flow:
Committing to the practice over the course of a few months have brought forth a skill in carefully tending to the many parts of myself (physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual). Patterns emerge as well as a growing sensitivity and self-connection. I am learning that clarity comes in the reverence of letting distinctions land and work in my life over time. Clarity is not simply understanding using the mind. Clarity arrives when we experience an inner-standing. Sometimes the experience can be rough. Clarity ultimately comes with a cost, such as leaving behind an old story or an old identity. The internal change wrought by a new distinction can mean entering a metamorphic state, like butterfly mush, that is beyond repair. New clarity literally reshapes us in new levels of relating to the external world. I begin to experience more of my cycle work permeating into my creative acts.
As I continue to develop the faculties necessary to perceive both my outer and inner ecologies, I notice the touches of coherence I am bringing into the natural order. Here is an example where I experienced consonance in my work in the garden. The biodynamic calendar also has blackout days. Blackout days are when all human inputs in the garden (such as harvesting, planting and tending) stop. I was always amazed when these blackout days aligned with my own time of bleeding. It was confirmation of the value of rest and the designation of times of non-action as ways to support the subtle forces. Poet, W.B. Yeats provides a beautiful summation of what can happen in the flux these moments of pause:
The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.
Will you join me in this perfectly imperfect dance? Will you begin where you are and trust the power of that? Will you track the wobbly days where you notice a shadowy part of yourself coming out of hiding? Will you celebrate how you noticed and responded to a very specific need you had? These everyday tools bring practical ways of applying spiritual vision into what really matters to each one of us and a place in the dance of creation.
Acknowledgements
Nathalie Jackson, thank you for bringing me into contact with the element of fire. The distinctions of this particular element that I have suppressed in my life are now working deeply in my life. You can find more information about firewalking here.
To the circle and to the brave women who choose to gather in service to its living intelligence. Highlighting Jenina Sveinbjornson, Meaghan Parent and Jill Cunningham. Your wisdom is woven in here.
To Wonder Witch, my muse for this essay. Your spidey senses are incredible and I long to hear more about what you are noticing and wondering about. Will you write about it?