When you are starting to become familiar it is really important to write down the details somewhere. You can use a ready made calendar or diary , or create one for yourself or use the free printable template found here. There are also many software charting programs available either to buy outright or subscription based. An excellent example of these is Hormonal Forecaster which you can try for free and get the feel for how it works and its many features – to learn more please visit our Hormonal Forecaster page
Miranda Gray’s book “Red Moon Understanding and Using the Gifts of the Menstrual Cycle” , gives instructions on how to construct a ‘Moon Dial’, “a simple device which enables you to compare each month’s findings and to summarise these to produce a general guide to your own menstrual cycle”. Basically…”For the first month, start by drawing a large circle on a piece of paper. Divide the circumference into the number of days in your cycle for that month, then join the divisions with lines to the centre. Mark on the outside of the circle the calendar dates and on the inside of the circle the day number of your cycle. Write in the relevant sectors the different phases of the moon…”
For each day write the relevant information about moods, health, energy levels, sexuality, dreams, images etc.
It is also fun to actually start looking at the moon.
What does the moon actually look like when it is full, waxing, waning, and dark?
How do you feel when it is in these positions?
Keeping track of the moon, our dreams, intuition, how we feel physically, emotionally and mentally as we move through our cycle can be very enlightening and fruitful, allowing us to predict and accept our own personal rhythms, empowering ourselves by being informed and connected to who we are.
It is probably easiest to keep your record in your bathroom (perhaps with some brightly coloured pencils) so you can record the info when you observe it. How much information you want to record will probably depend on how keen you are to learn. And you will find after a while that all this new found knowledge will become second nature and you will instinctively know where you are, just from what your body and the moon are telling you.
Nothing beats actually looking at the moon.
Do it.
Let yourself remember your connection to her waxing and waning.
If you own a moon diary or calendar it will have all the phases plus the astrological information in it. Correlating what you are seeing in the sky with the knowledge of what phase the moon is at from your calendar will very quickly train yourself to feel the moons rhythm. After all it is a long lost skill of many generations of women. The skill and knowledge is still there in your genes and ancestry, it just requires a little coaxing in this modern setting.
For example moon phase ready reckoner which will give you the lunar phases for the current month. These are also sent out via email in our Monthly Newsletter.
After all that, another useful first step is to find out your natal lunar fertile phase so when you are looking at your calendar or diary you can observe whether your hormonal cycle is synchronising with your lunar phase. We do some very nice and informative natal lunar phase reports – which teach you about your natal lunar phase, how to observe it and how to use it to either achieve or avoid pregnancy. They are available here –
Lunar Fertility Report – for avoiding conception.
Conception Action Pack – Achieving Conception
This is the beginning, you don’t have to do everything at once. Befriending your menstrual cycle and your body is a slow process at times. Be kind to yourself and do the steps you feel that you can. Or none at all if it seems to much. Feel free to keep coming back whenever you need to, give yourself time to take on new ideas.
Charting your menstrual cycle is not as hard or as time consuming as you think!
You just need to know what you are looking for and have an easy system for recording the information.
And the beauty is that once you know what your cycle does each month, you will begin to instinctively feel what your fertile state is – it will become second nature.