Maureen Theresa Smith - Your Moontime Magic: A Girls Guide to Getting Your Period and Loving Your Body

Table of Contents

Copyright 2005, 2020 by Maureen Theresa Smith

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Illustrations on pages 10, 97, and 98 by Kri Bolding

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

An earlier version was published as First Moon in 2005.

First printing of Your Moontime Magic, February 2020

ISBN 978-1-60868-668-1

Ebook ISBN 978-1-60868-669-8

Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

10987654321

CONTENTS

W hen I was a little girl, I loved hanging out with my five older sisters. My perfect afternoon was spent sitting on their bedroom floor, a pile of their makeup spread out before me to play with, listening to them talk about all the details of their lives: their friends, their crushes, their teachers, and their favorite music. I liked to be around them as they hung out with one another, studied, made food, and got ready to go out on dates or with friends. It didnt really matter what they were doing; the fact was, they were teenage girls and I was totally fascinated with everything about them. I thought they were the coolest people ever. I liked to hear them talk about their bodies, about their relationships, and about their dreams. I loved the way they got ready to go out together, how they helped one another with their makeup and clothes, and I remember loving it when they let me braid their long hair. There was always music in the background, singing and dancing in front of the long mirror, and a lot of commotion as they prepared for a big night out. The simple ritual of getting ready was so fun that it felt like a celebration.

So much of my sisters lives fascinated me. One of the most fascinating things was the care and comfort they offered one another during a few days of each month, and how they all seemed to feel pretty much the same way at the same time each month. I was curious about the mysterious boxes of pads and tampons tucked away in the bathroom linen closet. I was also very aware that my mother expressed an understanding that I certainly did not have. When my sisters had cramps, she would give them medicine and speak to them in a quiet and concerned voice. Though I didnt understand these things, I was acutely aware of the unspoken connection they shared. They all shared things that were still mysteries to me a changing body and a period, or as I now like to call it, moon or moontime. I was too young to menstruate, but I felt somehow connected, knowing that I, too, would one day have a period. And somewhere inside, I felt very proud of that.

The day I got my first moon wasnt such a big deal on the outside. The truth is, I had been so eager to be part of that mysterious womanly thing that I had lied to my friends and family, telling them I had started my period a year earlier. So when I discovered a bit of blood on my school uniform skirt on my way home from school at age thirteen, I was quietly elated. But I also felt a loss: I was unable to openly share this new experience in my life and to celebrate with my mom and sisters. I wished that I could go home and tell my sisters that I was now officially one of them. I soon realized, however, that none of my friends were celebrating the arrival of their periods either. Instead, many girls felt embarrassed or that they should hide it due to the centuries of stigma about periods. (Stigma means something that is looked upon as negative or to be hidden.) Isnt that ridiculous? A perfectly normal, natural biological process would be stigmatized?

Years later, in college, I studied womens history and women in many cultures. I learned some really cool things. Did you know that since the beginning of civilization, many cultures around the world have celebrated a young womans first moon with dancing, gifts, and festivities?

For Native American girls from California coastal tribes, menarche (another word for the first moon or period) was an occasion for lots of attention from their families and villages. In the fall, a special dance to honor several girls menarches brought groups of neighboring villagers, who arrived with gifts, food, and singing. The festivities lasted five days. In Brazil, a young womans first period is celebrated with a parade of flowers. When I learned this, I thought, Thats the way to enter your womanhood!

I have come to believe that celebrating your changing body and celebrating yourself are key to happiness, fun, and creativity in life. Celebrating with friends and family and sharing stories and traditions are part of what makes being a girl and becoming a woman so rich, full, and magical.

So this book is all about celebrating this incredible time in your life a time when you are growing from the beautiful girl you are now into the amazing woman you were born to be. Its also about making sure you have the tools you need to create a life full of happiness, magic, and celebration for yourself. Ive included lots of ways you can cultivate fun, creativity, and wisdom during your moontime and throughout your life. To help with that, youll find these sections throughout the book:

Moontime Journaling: Prompts for things to write about in your journal to help you become all you dream of being.

Moontime Munchies: Recipes for delicious, nourishing foods you can make.

Moontime Moments: Things you can do to honor, empower, or pamper yourself during moontime.

Moontime Magic: Craft and self-care projects to adorn your home and your life.

Moontime Meditation: Practices to relax your body, quiet your mind, and spark your imagination. You can find audio versions of these on my website at www.yourmoontimemagic.com.

Moontime Herstory: Stories of inspiring contemporary and historical women to fuel your dreams.

Moontime Mythology: Moontime and goddess traditions from all over the world.

I hope this book helps to ensure that you have everything you need to discover and love yourself. Women are magical. You are the magic. Celebrate yourself on the special day when you have your first moon, and let every moontime cycle be a reminder to continue to celebrate and honor yourself. You are a magical, magnificent woman!

NOTE TO READERS

I wrote this book from the perspective of a cisgender female. However, the information shared is for everyone with a period or identified as a girl.