In this season, no matter our age, we embrace our inner youth. This is a good time to journey or quest, learn new skills, practice the balance of self-care and care-giving. We seek the inspiration raging in our guts—our genius—that which is ours alone to manifest. Ask the Maens and Maidens in your life, and within yourself: Beloved, what is it you really Desire?

In May, we honor the pattern that replicates itself in the seasons, the waxing and waning moon, the ebb and flow of ocean, and in the bodies of Women. We respond to both sunlight and moonlight through magical science of hormones and the pineal gland—"the seat of the soul." Our hormones dance and flow in synch with these large forces of nature. This cycling is a built-in mechanism for renewing mental and physical health, taking us inward and outward, to release what no longer serves us.

Archaeology and anthropology teach us that menstruation was central to the development of human civilizations: Women responded to their Blood Cycle by going within to listen then coming out to share with their tribes what they experienced in their monthly "vision quest." This sharing was not about reproduction, but another creation of the whole universe. I ask women to sit with this remembering. There is science involved in this magic, but it is magic first.

...We become She Who Cycles. Now that is something to tell a young woman on the day of her First Bloods! 

Kim Duckett © Mother Tongue Ink 2016

Kim Duckett Ph.d. (Asheville, NC) Priestess/Ritualist/Teacher of Women's Studios for 30 years; Founder and Elder Priestess of WHISPER: Land of the Sky, "A Year and a Day Sacred Mystery School for Women," and WOTY: The Wheel of Year as an Earth-Based Spiritual Psychology for Women training. From more information about the Wheel as psychology book, contact Kim at followheartkd@gmail.com

Kimberly Kirk (Princeville, HI) is a farmer, artist, and mama, cultivating tasty gardens on the Island of Kauai. Her artwork is an expression of her love for nature and a powerful way to heal from grief.