Menstrual Blood

“This river (Styx) wound seven times through the earth’s interior and emerged at a yonic shrine near the city of Clitor (Greek: Kleitoris), sacred to the Great Mother. Styx was the blood-stream from the earth’s vagina; its waters were credited with the same dread powers as menstrual blood. Olympian gods swore their absolutely binding oaths by the waters of the Styx, as men on earth swore by the blood of their mothers. Barbara Walker, The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.

Few substances have held the magical imagination like menstrual blood. Many ancient civilizations recognized the power and primacy of menstrual blood. It obviously nourished life in the womb. The magic in it came directly from women’s resemblance to the mother god. It was potent, dreadful in its power. They believed that the blood congealed in the womb, or clotted, to become new life. It bestowed wisdom and nourished the fruit of the womb. It was likened to the red flower, which preceded that fruit as all flowers become fruit. The connection to the moon was obvious, so it was also called the moon flower. The words flow and flower are obviously linked.

The power of women came from the fact that they gave birth, and the power behind that life-giving grace was menstrual blood. Clothing stained with menstrual blood had magical power. The charm for creating a baby was called an Adamah (Walker 635), and was made by mixing clay with menstrual blood, sometimes translated as red earth. Perhaps this is the origin of the creation story of how god (originally female) created the first man, Adam. Some ancients believed that a menstruating woman could ensure a good crop, and chase away destructive diseases and pests simply by walking around the perimeter of the field, a tradition that continued into the middle ages.

This blessing, a singling out in magic, wisdom, relationship to divinity and importance to the world also possessed a shadow. Men eyed it with such dread and terror, that when they came into power, menstrual blood became a curse. Imagine for a few moments the ways men have tried to control and contain that power after the shift to patriarchal oppression of women.

In the pages of my story I have shown just a few instances of the magical respect menstrual blood used to be accorded. Ruah (ruadh) means red or royal. In Alchemy, the red queen (blood) copulates with the white king (semen) to create the divine child. This is the hieros gamos or divine marriage that early Christian writers said was performed at Eleusis. The red hymen gown worn in the women’s mystery is dyed in menstrual blood, as are the linen strips women tie to the branches of the mother tree in order to pray for a baby. The red scarf that gave invincibility to the queen’s champion was dyed by her own hands using her magical flow.