Happy Solstice!
Maiden, Mother, Enchantress, Wise Woman: we embody each of these Goddess archetypes through the four phases of our menstrual cycles, just like the Earth herself does through the seasons — and today she is transitioning into a new season and a new Goddess archetype.
More and more I want to live in sync with all the cycles — menstrual, lunar, seasonal — and I’m amazed at how much more synergistically my life flows when I do.
Even though the energy of our own menstrual cycles has the greatest influence on us, the phase of the moon and the season of the Earth also have their pull — especially once you start paying close attention.
So, beautiful Northern Hemisphere goddesses, welcome to Winter, season of the Wise Woman!
In case you need a refresher, here’s how the Goddess archetypes manifest in each of the cycles…and how you can start thinking about flowing with them:
The Wise Woman (the phase the Earth enters today in the Northern Hemisphere) is aligned with the energy of winter, the dark of the new moon, and menstruation (the phase of our cycles when we bleed).
This energy is intuitive and deeply spiritual.
The Maiden is dominant in spring, aligned with the waxing crescent moon and with pre-ovulation (after you bleed and before your body releases an egg).
The Maiden is all about rebirth, new enthusiasm, new possibility, mental clarity and physical vigour.
Mother energy emerges in summer, aligned with the full moon and with ovulation (when the egg is released).
Mother energy brings bright abundance, empathy, and boundless energy to nurture yourself, your loved ones, and your deepest desires. It’s the ripest time to create new life, whether literal or figurative.
The Enchantress archetype is what we cycle into in the fall, the waning crescent moon phase, and premenstruation (when your body prepares to shed the lining of the uterus).
Enchantress energy is wild, unpredictable, emotional and powerful. It’s a natural point to turn within, take stock, and discard what no longer serves you.
When it comes to creating our lives — to making change, to aligning more and more closely with what we’re called to be and do — working with these shifting cyclical energies is our superpower.
The Enchantress phase (whether annually in the fall or monthly in the moon’s cycle or your menstrual cycle) projects a neon flashing light onto your awareness: “Look at this, I don’t like this, this is annoying.” It brings what’s not working into your consciousness (usually in an uncomfortable way).
The Wise Woman phase (in the wintertime, the dark of the new moon, or during menstruation) gives you the opportunity to acknowledge and be with the feelings that have been brought up by the Enchantress. Through resting, daydreaming, reflecting on what you need to do differently and then committing to change, you can prepare to enter the next phase running.
Because the Maiden (in the springtime, new moon, and pre-ovulation) brings the energy and vitality that you need to implement that change.
So that in your Mother energy (in the summer, full moon, or during ovulation) you can bring the change fully into fruition — and then celebrate and appreciate what you’ve achieved.
But right now, at the end of this disruptive, brutal reality-check of a year, I’m so grateful to be here, cycling into the Wise Woman phase of the year.
Will you commit to embracing this season with me?
We have a precious opportunity in the Wise Woman season. This is the optimum time to turn inward and reflect, to ponder the closing year’s events, feelings, thoughts, and struggles (and 2020 has held a lot of those), and to review our goals and projects and how we want to live our lives.
Even more, it’s an opportunity to marinate in our desires. To daydream our long-term goals being fulfilled, imagine solutions to short-term problems or the next steps of projects, and to do so by connecting to what we truly desire.
It’s energetic work. Spiritual work. And fully dreaming these possibilities allows us to then fully commit to the change.
There’s momentum in the collective this time of year, as everyone thinks about making resolutions and resetting with a new year.
But it’s not really time yet for action. The Wise Woman/Crone energy is a time for dreaming. The commitment — the resolve — is important too, but instead of jumping straight into creating change on January 1st, I encourage you to spend longer sitting in that Wise Woman energy.
Use the time to vision and dream — to really feel what you want to take action on. The dreamy work of the Crone gives you access to the energy of the Maiden once spring begins to emerge.
The seed of your new commitments is deep underground. It’s sitting in darkness. Give those commitments time to pulse with some life before you start acting on them or executing them.
-Zahra
P.S. Would you love a simple, dreamy pathway into relationship with each of the 4 goddess archetypes? My series of Moon Meditations are a guided journey into the Feminine archetypes, and they make it so easy to start building a relationship with these different parts of yourself.