Bringing Back the Wisdom of the Moon Lodge!

[Mika]

I thought about this carefully, there were a number of ways I could go about it, in my usual style.


I could have put this in Spirituality, as I feel that's what I am really trying to offer with the sharing of this information, but I didn't!
I could have put this in Na'vi Culture, as a question if they would have such, but I didn't!
I could have put this in my Labyrinth Thread, which is off limits for comments, but I didn't.
I could have put this in Poetry, which limits criticism, but I didn't!
I have voluntairly, put it here, recognising, it will be probably end up being debated, and agree to let it be so!

I just wanted that to be noted ... at the outset!


So drawing upon Grandmother Spider energy, the teaching of wisdom, and some subjects that although not 'apparent' in Avatar, but realistically would be part of the Na'vi lifestyle, this is one of those.

NOTE: The actual debate is not meant to be about whether or not it 'would or would not be' in Na'vi Culture!

The debate I'm presuming is whether or not here on Earth the idea bringing back Moon Lodges is a good idea!

There is a movement, either known as Moon Lodges, or Red Tent Groups, that advocate that it is time to bring back these into our modern society.

The following quoted articles explains the premise of why many women feel there is a need for this.


"Bring back the menstrual hut.

Now, you may well be asking, why do women advocate a return to a practice that grew out of a fear and loathing of this most natural of women's functions, the monthly shedding of the unused lining of the womb? This attitude was accompanied by the fear and loathing of women in general, though which came first is a chicken and egg sort of question that can probably not be answered at this late date.

By way of answering, let us examine the phenomenon. Each month, when a woman's menses arrived, she left her usual home and chores and went to live in the hut. There, shunned by the rest of the village, she waited until her "curse" was past. The list of beliefs about the magical properties of menstruating women and their issue would probably fill a volume of the average encyclopedia. A menstruating woman could curdle milk or blight crops with a glance, despoil weapons and tools with a touch, and steal the strength and luck of any hunter or warrior foolish enough to have intercourse with her. It should not be a surprise that she was isolated and avoided.

But let us look at it from the woman's point of view. She was able to leave behind her children, her husband's family (with whom she probably lived), her usual obligations, and all the water-hauling, food-gathering, pig-tending, fuel-seeking tedium of her everyday life. She was not only free of her usual activities, she was forbidden from engaging in them. It is not recorded what sort of activities were permitted at the menstrual hut. I would surmise that no useful arts were permitted, since any craft engaged in would result in an item that was unclean and therefore unusable.

It was, in short, a rest. And what woman, whether hunter-gatherer, assembly line operator, or modern executive on her way up, could not use five days a month in which nothing was demanded of her, no one would bother her, and she could not be required to postpone her departure until everyone else's needs were taken care of? Furthermore, the revived menstrual hut will have new traditions and a new image. It will not be a place of shame, to which women slink and in which they wait in loneliness and disgrace, until they can purify themselves and come home to wait on their families again. It will be seen as a place of rest and retreat for some of the busiest people in a society: young women, who often have children to care for, household tasks to do and perhaps also a full-time outside job. It should be the place where women come as to a resort, to meet with their friends and leave their ordinary cares to others; where women can practice their menstrual magic, long despised but also recognized as potent, connected as it is with the engendering of human life.

The new menstrual hut will sit among the trees, surrounded by a high wall to keep intruders out. It will have places of quiet, where a woman may think, read, or just sit. It will have places to gather that are open to moonlight. It will have a pharmacy for those who suffer under the monthly ebb and flow of hormones. It will have few chores, just cooking and tidying up for oneseif and for each other – not for ... (older) children, husbands and in-laws. What else it has will be limited only be the imaginations of the women who come there.

People in the Western world are generally proud of the distance they have come from the cultures they once possessed, and of the habits which are still common in much of the rest of the world. However, as we have learned over the past 20 years, our vaunted progress is often illusory. Much that was good about the past has been frivolously abandoned merely because it was old, and when it was too late, people learned why their forbears had preserved their customs. By then, however, it is often too late. The ritual has been lost, the names of the gods forgotten, the hymns reduced to nursery rhymes.

In the case of the menstrual hut, however, we are fortunate. It can still be recovered."

There is ONE culture that honored, at least in traditional times, the mensus as sacred!


"The Moon lodge originates from the Native American Indian tradition. They honoured the moon time as sacred, it was treated with respect. The Moon Lodge is a Sacred Place for women to gather during their Bleeding Time. It was when we connected to Moon and Earth, Grandmother and Mother, and to each other. We were welcomed back into our communities, which eagerly awaited our return, to hear the wisdom we had gained.

In these modern, changing times, women are reconnecting with and recreating the Moon lodge Ceremonies. We are discovering our voices and our inherent role as Wisdom Keepers.

The information received as the menses begins in the clearest human picture from within the womb of the Great Mystery, of the unknown and our future. Among our dreaming peoples, the most prophetic dreams and visions were brought to the people through the Moon Lodge. In other words, the most useful information that can come to us comes from each of you women who use your moon time well.

For each of us who do not honour this time, much is lost, including the respect of others for our bleeding.

So Sisters!~ What do you think?

And Brothers (just remember to be respectful)!