Perhaps one of the biggest changes that a young girl goes through, in the transition of adolescence, is the new experience of intense moods and emotions.
All of a sudden you may start to feel such a range of feelings over which you often feel you have no control. One minute you’re up and the next minute you’re down. Instead of experiencing life as a fairly even, black and white kind of existence, you are starting to realise that there are all sorts of shades of gray, with new (sometimes unfair) awarenesses coming to the fore.
Alot of this fluctuation of mood is due to hormones, and some of it is due to the influence of the moon.
In myth the Moon is said to rule things like feelings, intuition, cycles, feeling safe, psychic powers, fertility and creativity.
Most children are very intuitive and in tune with their inner selves, picking up the subtle energies of what is really going on around them. Sometimes this intuitive ability is belittled, ignored and criticised, which causes that intuition to go underground. At puberty when a girl starts her period, the ability to be intuitive and more in touch with subtle energy resurfaces.
The female human body is synchronised to cycle with the moon. When you start having periods your intuitive ability increases.
You become much more sensitive to feelings, hunches and all the subtle energies going on around you. You start to see below the surface of the obvious becoming sensitive to the undercurrents of a situation. If there is a large gap between what is plainly seen and what is really going on underneath, this can be disturbing as the beliefs and ideas that you have built your world and safety upon start to fall apart.
This is why it is essential to have quiet time to nurture your intuitive ability so that you can gain the information you need to make the right choices in your life. So called ‘bad moods’ are a signal that something is not quite right in your life, and quiet time lets you figure out what exactly is wrong.
Part of this is the growing up process. As we grow we have to let go of old ways of being to make room for the new. The transition or initiation to adulthood that is puberty is definitely one of those times. You may feel a myriad of feelings like sadness or anger as what is familiar ie, childhood, a childs body, awareness and innocence is changed, and an old self is lost and you have no idea what the new self will bring. There is excitement and sometimes fear as new sensations and desires are felt.
So what good does all this sensitivity do for you?
In simplest terms, your feelings and emotions are a personal radar system telling you what you need in your life, and equally important what you don’t need.
Stuff that makes you feel happy and good inside is the stuff that feeds you.
The stuff that makes you feel yucky, fearful, angry and upset is the stuff you don’t want in your life, no matter what anyone else says you should want or need.
Only you can feel your feelings and only you have the power to make the choices about how to live your life. Learning to listen to your feelings during adolescence is an important first step to becoming a responsible adult.
Often learning to listen to feelings and hunches requires quiet time. It can be difficult to hear it over all the daily moise of TV, family, friends, media and all the other stuff that focuses your attention out in the world instead of inside you. Puberty is the perfect time to develop the knack of listening to your inner self because it is a time when people naturally become curious about what makes them and the world tick, there is a desire to figure out your place and your thoughts.
For girls menstruation offers some pretty neat tools to really get to the bottom of any situation. And it is all about learning to ride the lunar / moon cycle and the symbolic energy cycle within your period.
The symbolic journey of the moon and the way it rules the growth of all living things is described in the model below.
Put simply, the waxing phase, that is, from the new moon to a full moon, when the moon is getting bigger is all about the growth stage. If we were using a the example of a plant… it is the stage between the seed to a fully grown mature plant.
The waning phase, between the full moon to a new/dark moon when the moon is getting smaller, correlates to the flowering, fruiting and dying of the plant. Please refer to the diagram below.
Energetically or emotionally, the waxing phase is more outgoing, positive, and action orientated.
The waning phase is more reflective, quiet, it is the letting go phase.
Just like the moon phase, a woman’s menstrual cycle has similar patterns.
You can go changes of puberty for a description of the physical process of menstruation.
The phase between the end of your period and ovulation, that is, pre-ovulatory phase is more outgoing, action orientated and ‘out there’.
The phase after ovulation, between ovulation and bleeding is far more introspective, quiet, meditative, sensitive and intuitive. It is this phase of your period where you become far more open to messages from your inner self.
The pre-menstrual phase is the time when most girls feel that there emotions are that much more raw. There is more of a desire to be by yourself. You may feel more tired, and just want to day dream more.
Often when girls / women do not take the time out to be quiet and still during this phase, they may experience far more severe menstrual cramps etc when their periods come. It is the body’s way of slowing you down for much needed rest.
Taking advantage of your unique ability to be more sensitive during this phase is a powerful way to get to know yourself and steer your own course. Maintaining your centre is an effective antidote against confusion as you start to navigate through unchartered waters. And when you start to listen to your emotions and start to deal with and manage them effectively (ie, listening to the message behind the feeling), their ferocity and uncontrollability decrease.
Ways of listening to your feelings and taking advantage of your intuitive time include:
- keeping a journal,
- having quiet time to dream and draw,
- asking your dreams for answers and information about your problems,
- playing with tarot cards or any other symbolic system of guidance,
- stopping to listen and think about what you are feeling.
