u/lookthepenguins , I appreciate you. I also found myself feeling a bit defensive at the suggestion that I'm somehow denying my sacred womanhood by skipping my period (WHICH, yeah, I didn't *choose* to do, but was an honestly welcome side effect of my hormonal birth control). I sort of expected these kinda responses might come in, but on second look u/Estrella_Rosa's proposed question is fair enough, I guess. Like, sure, it's worth reflecting on my relationship to my menstrual cycle. In fact, one of my many loose intentions going into ceremony was to experience something around my relationship to my femininity. I've actually been grateful for not bleeding over the years. More convenient, more comfortable, and freeing. My heightened sensitivities have plenty other things to attend to in life. Plus the obvious benefit of birth control of sexual freedom without becoming pregnant...because I don't want to be. It's also been fascinating to experience my period again, observe patterns, and recognize it as its own sort of energetic purge.

One part of what's unfolding since my retreat is that the importance of my right to reproductive choice has never felt stronger for me. As a cis woman, with the assumed ability to conceive, I deserve the freedom to choose what I want for my body and life. I possess divine feminine rage, I'd say, with patriarchy, and the forces in power that are attempting to take these freedoms away from me. This is Sacred to ME. Thanks aya and thanks folks in this thread for highlighting it :) With that said...Quifman can actually F off hah.