We live in a sea of criticism today, with all of society’s exhortations about how we’re ‘supposed’ to be, particularly as women. A few thousand years or more of patriarchy telling us we’re weak, bad and lesser has created an inner toxicity of shame and self-loathing.
It’s no wonder many of us feel disconnected from our truth, unsure about how to follow our own unique, original impulses. Luckily cycle awareness can guide us, slowly and steadily towards a robust self-awareness and truth-speaking fluency.
There are three particular sources of menstruality wisdom that can support us in the quest to speak our truth: the pre-menstruum (inner autumn), the Quickening (the autumn years in our 40s running up to menopause), and the great initiation of menopause itself.
As we’re sure you’ve noticed, there’s a particular character we all tend to meet in our inner autumn, in some way, shape or form—the inner critic.That part of us that points out all the ways we’re failing, or ‘not good enough’.
On the surface, this figure appears to be the scourge of your life – undermining your confidence, belittling your dreams and generally sapping your energy.
But, by practising menstrual cycle awareness, you can restore the inner critic to its rightful home – the premenstruum – where it can play its vitally crucial role in your initiatory journey; helping you to build your inner authority, know your truth, and learn how to express it with grace, even as it may come with a great charge.
The truth-telling power we wield in our inner autumn is a double-edged sword: it can either ‘kill’ you off or ‘awaken’ you to a new level of self-recognition and power. Which way it goes
depends on your awareness, your ability to take responsibility for who you are, and a healthy dose of kindness and tenderness for your vulnerable, messy parts.
To learn more about how you can work with your premenstrual truth-teller, we recommend reading the inner autumn section of chapter four of Wild Power; The Inner Seasons, and chapter six; The Sacred Role of The Inner Critic.
(We also have a self-paced Inner critic workshop series - you can find out more here >>)
In your 40s you hit the inner autumn of your menstruating years. It’s normal now to feel a restlessness kick in and an urgency to find and live your truthful answers to life’s deepest questions: ‘Who am I?’ ‘What’s it all about? What do I really want?!’.
Your 40s are about listening more strongly to that deeper pulse of you, beyond societal expectations and demands. It’s a shift of attention away from the mundane to a deeper nurturing of your Calling, what’s most truly important to you.
In these years, the energies of the premenstruum may seem to stretch out to occupy more of your whole cycle experience. You’ll feel your inner autumn truth-telling powers amplify - increasing discernment, a claiming of yourself and a deeper responsibility for your power. You’ll also gain access to a deeper gear in yourself that allows you to understand the impact of your past allowing you to to heal from the ways you may have been uprooted from your true expression.
In menopause, you may well find yourself saying no to just about everything. Behind that no is a powerful clarity about what is not you anyone. It seems to come from a place much deeper in you than your conscious mind, which knows that there’s a deeper truth to attend to now.
The power of no – which is also helping you to claim time and space for yourself – is the single most important thing you need to find your Self through menopause. It sets boundaries for you in a way you’ve never done before, the ‘no’ is alerting you to what isn’t true for you anymore, what has to go. So, it’s wise to listen up.
Along with the power of no, comes the power of sight - an inner knowing, a felt sense of things. It’s as though you can see through things in a way you haven’t done before. This is because menopause really does start to remove the veil from your eyes. Largely, you see through to the shadow side – and you can no longer deny the truth that the ‘emperor has no clothes’.
On the other side of menopause, you may feel as if you know nothing, at the same time as feeling utterly connected to your Knowing. The truth is that you’ve found yourself, and discovered that you’re enough. And in that enoughness lies a liberated voice seeking expression, a voice that won’t be silenced anymore.
To explore the truth-telling power of the Quickening and Menopause, we invite you to read our menopause book, Wise Power: Discover the liberating power of menopause to awaken authority, purpose and belonging.
