First, I must give a shout-out to the Bloody April series that is currently going on at the Go out beneath the naked night blog, where she is dedicating the month to menstruation. Looking no further than this I have to give the blog a plug, I don't think nearly enough women talk about their monthly cycle, and I think in the mindset of a lot of people (be they witches or not) the subject remains a cultural taboo. She has brought up a number of interesting topics so far, and I look forward to what the rest of the month brings.
In this spirit of embracing the wholeness of being female, I did some poking into other areas of feminine spirituality and stumbled across Susan Weed's Wise Woman Weblog, where she has recently posted a great radio interview with Astrid Grove where they talk about midwifery and 'womb space', which is a neat term that was seemingly coined by Astrid which sums up the heart of our being as women (it was conceptualized to be sensitive to those women who may have had hysterectomies, but I think it sounds a lot nicer than just talking about your uterus). There are also some other great radio interviews with other inspirational women there.
And, since I am really interested in menstruation as a cultural topic, I have decided to seek out Thomas Buckley's Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation; they have it at the university library (2 copies!) so I'll be picking that up along with source material for a U.S. Foreign Policy paper I have to write for school.
Speaking of books, have I praised Sue Monk Kidd's Dance of the Dissident Daughter recently? It is an absolutely fantastic read, and provides so much food for thought. The shift away from traditional Christianity and towards the sacred feminine really has the power to resonate with so many women. It is a lovely book, and I may have to reread it now. :)
I may add to this as I find more links, books or videos of interest (some video clips would add visual interest to the post after all). And I know I am indeed celebrating the feminine, which I am entitled to do as a woman, and there may be some similarly female-centered posts here in the near future. I do however, have a little something on the back burner to restore some gender balance, so I look forward to seeing that come to fruition as well!
Also, something really lovely that Susan Weed said, "every woman has her true voice"... I hope I am moving in a direction that will let me find mine.