9 Comments

“The shape of a circle is inclusive, whereas the shape of a line is divisive. “

Seemingly so simple and yet so essential and wise. You are right on with this course. Thank you!

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Good awareness of the limits of "linear". The etymological root of the word “rule” is “reg-, move or direct in a straight line, rule.” So there's linear thinking and Reichs, the German word for “empire,” meaning “kingdom, realm, state,” also, “riches” and known more colloquially as “the ruling class.” This is the very aim of empires/rulers, to keep you in line, while they hoard the loot. Also i find the spiral a helpful pattern for navigating cycles.

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So interesting, I didn't connect line and rule; but it makes sense given linearity has a dominating quality that drives us to "rule over" ourselves and nature in a top-down way.

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Exactly, "domination, rule over"... As one signifiant example, it's programmed in the Bible, in Genesis: "... fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground" or "...and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

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Certainly a mood swing that connects the dots to the point of separating the girls from the boys and women draw closer together while men wonder what’s going’s on with each cycle and could not connect how babies are born in the early days of human development. The men feared what they did not understand. Myths evoked and the monthly cycle ostracized women often to solitary confinement to prevent them from destroying a good hunt for food, but named moon phases ; where eventually the sexes in some cultures revered the Great Mother and worked together in harmony.

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Yeah, menstrual seclusion is still practiced in some places. Ironically part of what we are reclaiming with this work is the right to decide that we want to retreat at menstruation, rather than being told we have to because we're dirty or shameful. Thanks for your perspectives 😊

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I so wish these perspectives were available to me as a young woman. Instead I was practically perimenopausal when I learned to understand my body and cycles this way. Love what you're doing ❤️

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I feel that way sometimes too—even though I was in my 20s when I came to this work, there was still a sense of grief and even rage that I hadn't known and understood myself properly until then. It was like I'd lost years of opportunities for growth and care. But one of the other learnings with cyclicity is that nothing (including time) is ever really lost, right?

I am also finding that although many younger women are now aware of the "information" component of this work, they aren't making connections or internalizing it. I think what's needed is older women who are embodying this fully, and can guide younger generations through. We are slowly reclaiming what we have lost 💜

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A beautiful perspective Vaishali, and yes that's true that nothing is ever really lost, yesterday's suffering forms the compost for today's offerings...

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