by Vanessa Hawthorne, London, UK

RELIGION, PERIODS, POWER.

In Catholicism women are not allowed on the altar because they are unclean – because they bleed.

In Judaism you are not to touch anyone when you are bleeding: a quick search on google revealed this quote:

”A menstruating woman defiles everyone and everything she touches”. Hackles up.

I was talking with a young girl recently, who is being brought up as a Muslim; we spoke about being Muslim and what sense she made of their traditions. When I asked how a woman’s period was viewed, she wasn’t sure but knew that a woman could not pray while she is bleeding as her prayers would not be accepted by Muhammad; she can only pray when she is clean.

Not long ago I watched a movie ‘Agora’ – about Hypatia, a renowned astronomer, lecturer in philosophy and a woman who made a ginormous contribution to the development of mathematics during Roman Egypt. In a scene where the Christian priest is reading from what they were implying was the bible and therefore the word of God, that women should be silent, modestly dressed and not really seen – my hackles went up. In this speech he was condemning Hypatia to her death by saying she was a witch. I got angry at this point.

And I was struck by the theme that was staring me in the face:

ALL THE MAJOR RELIGIONS OF THE LAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS HAVE TOLD WOMEN THEY ARE UNCLEAN.

Internalised message: “there is something God finds unacceptable about you”. I was suddenly struck by what I felt the cause of this systematic denigration of women on a grand scale was all about… fear. Fear of the true power of a woman who honours herself and her period.

But why?

BECAUSE A WOMAN WHO HONOURS HERSELF AND HER NATURAL CYCLES IS POWER-FULL.

This is something that was news to me too, not that long ago.

Let me take you back a year. It was an Esoteric Women’s Presentation and a woman presented that she had realised she was not in full honouring of herself because her periods came when she was busy at work: that if she were honouring herself fully, her cycle would support her by arriving on her rest days. So my immediate thought was “that’s bonkers!”. Then I suspended disbelief and listened some more – how she had experienced a change by noticing and reflecting on how she had felt and lived her day. Next thought… “this is for ascended masters, not little ol’ moi”.

But fortunately I decided to start paying a little more attention to my day and how I felt. The beginning stages of this process can be read about here: “Re-claiming my Relationship with my Period”. Within six months my period shifted to support me by arriving on the first day after my working week. Now, no ascended master am I, just an ordinary lady.

To say I found this extraordinary is an understatement. It is amazing to feel your body supporting you to this level! On one occasion my period moved itself about by arriving an hour after I finished work. My period has consistently changed cycle length so as to not be heavy when I have a big working day ahead.

I have come to know and experience for myself that our period is never late or early but always exactly on time for what is needed for you to clear and to support you. How beautiful and power-full is that?

So The Way of the Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon and Natalie Benhayon to the Women’s groups has inspired me (and hundreds of other women) to honour ourselves and the true power of the menstruation to heal. I know of no other religion to do this. And it begs the question:

• Why do other religions not want women to know this about themselves and actively discourage a loving relationship with their cycles? And follows my next question:

• Why did women give up on themselves and what they knew all those years ago?

It is for us to reclaim that, and it is a returning to what we already know. It’s not about saying: ‘those bad men’ – if we had stayed in our full power and claimed ourselves fully as women, no matter what, energetic law states that a force can only push you over if you allow it.

I write this so women can have an opportunity to allow the veil to be lifted on the evil (morally wrong) that surrounds us, and to say that there is another way.

The Way of the Livingness is my religion, and I thank God for the grace that I have come across Serge Benhayon and his family and the exemplary way they live that inspires me to live in the full glory that I and everyone else is.

To say I am grateful is an understatement!