How can you manifest authentic ideas? Menstruation is here to support you! As we invite in the experience of menstruation, the gifts are endless. It calls us to slow down and spend more time listening. Easier said than done for many people! If this is hard for you, you are absolutely not alone. With understanding more about what this phase in your cycle has to offer you, there may be more motivation to listen to the inclinations of your physical body.

Disclaimer in the beginning, as I speak about this flow of ideas, I want to point out that this is experienced as part of the menstrual cycle. An egg is released which stimulates the building of the lining of the womb. Fourteen days after ovulation if fertilisation has not occurred, the lining sheds. This sequence is not what happens for women taking artificial hormones in the form of mediation, injection, or IUD. These stop the cyclical flow to prevent pregnancy.

Cycling naturally is all together a wild experience! Flowing from being one person one week, to a different one the next. If we resist this flow, we face inner turmoil and ailments within the body. Allowing yourself to be how you are in each moment and each day, invites the gifts of being a cyclical human to reveal themselves to you. Let’s start with how menstruation can support you in being your most authentic self.

When the lining is being released, we are spiralled all the way inwards toward ourselves. It is the easiest time in the cycle to tune into your body and see what it wants to share with you. Energy levels drop to encourage us to slow down and look within. To embrace this phase, it takes slowing right down. Breathing and relaxing. The feminine intuitive voice within waits for invitation to speak with you.

It is a powerful act to slow down in this time, meditate, and take out a paper and pen. Flow writing can provide an in-depth understanding of what emotions you are working with at the moment. Once you breathe into and express those emotions, we start to be able to tap into the ideas during this time. Emotions come first because they are the water. We need to drain away the water to support our internal fire in getting going.

The more you can surrender to menses, the more ideas you will receive. Using mantras such as “Show me the way” and “Speak through me”, state to the universe that you are bowing to the energies that flow through you. You are powerfully stating you wish to be of service. From this receptive state the universe will then give you assignments and projects. Completely original ideas will visit you in your dreams and waking life.

Write them down. During menses is not the time to act on these things. The energy is not available yet to flow with them. Instead document them, draw them, share gratitude for receiving them. You can relax because you know that in the dynamic phase that comes after menses, you will be given the energy to organise all that has come through you. Essentially you are going to make a plan on how you will create these things that have been shown to you.

This can look like making a schedule for creating the ideas, setting up a meeting with someone to gain more information, or releasing some things off of your plate to make space in your life. After that you will travel through the extraverted ovulation phase and then go into the creative premenstrual phase. Both of which will further help you bring those ideas and concepts into the physical world.

Each month as women, we create a lining in the womb space. We are taking energy and manifesting it into something physical within ourselves and then we release it each month. Constantly creating, and shedding. A spiritual journey of getting closer to ourselves and deepening our connection with mother earth. Open up to the wisdom and power of this time by surrendering and listening to the whispers of your soul.

What a complex word for only two letters! It has power. Like anything with power, it is amazing when you know how to use it. No represents a confidence that we know our boundaries. We have listened to past experiences and learned where to draw our lines. It sends a strong message to the universe that we respect ourselves. With each no that we say, there is a yes behind it. The no has the potential to create space for the things that really serve us in life.

When we experience having an abundance of water in our lives, yes can become our habitual response to everything. With water we are sensing the environment and picking up on what people need. Water connects us to our womb space, the feminine nature within. Without boundaries it literally merges with everything. The issue we can run into with this is if we try to cleanse everyone with our watery sensitive care, we just end up with dirty water that we then have to carry.

Imagine it like water in nature. When water has the boundaries of the riverbanks, the water flows beautifully over rocks. Aerating and remineralizing. It has a vitality to it, and it filters itself as it move through the process of traveling over the land. Without boundaries we have things like floods where water rushes around into everything. Mixing with all of the energies causing destruction. This is what happens when we try to be everything for everyone.

With saying no the boundaries are created and upheld along the banks of our rivers. Using this mentality there is a trust that our river can remain where it is doing its thing. The belief is manifested that the people who need our water will find it themselves. Our focus in that sense is to simply flow and maintain boundaries. Letting go of the story that we need to push our way into other people’s lives to fix them.

In the beginning it can feel like a foreign response to turn down invitations, offers, or opportunities. Remember during that phase that behind every no is a yes. With each no you are not just rejecting what is before you, you are refining what you genuinely want and feel aligned with. That point in time then drops into the pool of the universe like a pebble. Rippling out change in your future because you have fine tuned your vibration just a little bit more.

I invite you to check-in with yourself with the questions below.

What am I saying yes to in my life that I really want to say no to?

If I say no to three things this week, what would I make space for?

Why do I feel the need to say yes when my soul says no? How can I release that story?

Your time is the most precious thing you are in possession of right now. How you spend it is a sacred decision. The more you live within this reality the better spent your time will be. Remembering that life is short, and each moment deserves to be in alignment with your highest soul calling. Things that bring you joy, make you feel alive, being of service to a greater good. Saying no to the things that are not in alignment makes you a warrior of your soul and you will be greatly rewarded.

I love asking this question when I first meet people. I am surprised by how many start to think about it in that moment for the first time. For people who have felt like they have been walking around aimlessly and do not know what to do next, this is a revelation. To have a dream means that you are on the journey of learning how to channel your energy to manifest. Without that dream your energy shoots out into the universe in many directions.

As your energy splays out like this it leaves you vulnerable for other people to use your energy for their dream. This may be completely out of alignment with what your soul resonates with but that is hard to decipher when your energy is out of focus. An example of this in the world is people working for companies they do not understand fully for the purpose of a wage. Of course, one can work for a company and receive a salary while maintaining alignment with their soul.

There are many amazing companies out their created from people’s big dreams. When we break down all that we see in the world around us, we can see the dream behind it. A major thing happens when you are aware of your individual aspirations in life. You may work for yourself or with someone else. The way that you work is entirely different. You maintain an alertness within your conscious mind of the direction of your life and this is powerful.

Awareness facilitates your soul developing and expanding over your lifetime. When we remain oblivious to our soul callings and dreams, there is a sleepiness about the way we orientate ourselves. Colour is not so vibrant. It is easy to be manipulated by the dream created by advertising and government structures. We take everything at face value because we do not have our own dream and therefore it is not possible for us to become aware of the dreams that manifested all things.

Diving into the air element here as I express these intangible concepts into words! Take a breath with that idea. I invite you to imagine how your life might change over the next week, month, and year if you had a focused dream that you wanted to manifest. Paint this picture as vividly as you can. You can even create a Pinterest board of images to flesh out a specific dream you desire to manifest in the near or distant future.

Once you have completed journaling and creating from the above prompt, my next invitation is to sink into the dream while meditating. This does not have to be the typical seated position in silence. I receive amazing visions about my dreams and messages on next steps to take while driving. Also walking supports me in this process hugely. Meditating brings calm groundedness to my days. Sometimes it is great to have a task though to get myself out of my own way.

Your action to write your dreams down and find images to match them is like calling out the universe saying, I AM READY! Now comes the point when you release the whole thing. Yes you read that correctly! Let it all go. What comes next is the journey where you follow the prompts from the universe. Taking action one day at a time. A lot of the calls to action I receive I cannot understand how they are related to the manifestation of my dream.

This is the point were my ego has to take a back seat. I release the idea that I am controlling all things in my life. Letting go of the idea that I understand how everything works. These two things lead to surrender. Once I put my trust in the hands of the universe, then and only then, my dream manifests. That last step is vital because it is a significant reminder of my place in the universe. It is a step that facilitates us living in wonder which makes life much more fun!

One of my favourite mantras around eating is, “It is not about the food!”. I have taken the deep dive into the components of food. It simply turns eating into a tormenting logical game for me. Understanding the intricacies of food and how they affect the body is wonderful, once I keep it behind my intuitive guidance system when choosing food. What I eat when I allow myself to gravitate in any direction is endlessly fascinating.

Taking on the mindset of curiosity with my body has been incredibly freeing. I get to observe myself with the eyes of a child rather than the eyes of a critic. When I sat in the critic chair, over time I developed the pattern of deceiving myself because I wanted to avoid judgment. With the child perspective I feel open and willing to consistently observe myself. If I reach for the sugary things, I watch. If I feel the need for animal products, I am aware and alert.

The choices each day reflect back at me my current state of being. As I slip into eating habits that clog my system, I see the reflection that I am resisting my sensitivity to the world. That nugget of information reveals to me that I need better boundaries in my life. Possibly that I am not doing enough to protect my energetic space. I see the reflection and I adapt to support myself in a deeper way.

With a lack of awareness, I see that my body runs to the solution that acts like a patch. Bringing the issue into my conscious awareness opens my mind up to an array of solutions to choose from. The process of catching these reflections gets easier over time because the patterns are repetitive. Now after doing this for years, I have come to the point where I laugh with myself for the mirror image I see as I choose my food!

Breath into your body now for a moment and invite in the idea that your body is always on your side. Expand your breath with that affirmation, “My body is always on my side.” As you relax and sink a deeper within yourself, affirm to yourself, “All of me is welcome here.” These two simple phrases are the key to getting on the same page with your body. Dropping the shaming self-talk that chimes in with each meal.

If all of you is welcome and if your body is on your side, then food can be a funny reflection that allows you to learn more about yourself. This perspective lightens the load, gives space for laughter, and makes the journey more enjoyable. Laughing your way through changing habits will go a lot smoother than shaming your way to aligning with your higher self. You are your own best healer. Enjoy the journey.

Releasing a pregnancy is an important time to heal the womb space and practice flowing with emotions. With stigma and suppression of this topic, it can be challenging to know what is best to do. For personal questions feel free to send me an email. Everyone’s experience is unique. I have written an ebook to support you on your journey. 'The Birth of Ben' is on my webstore at the webpage Elemental Empress Medicine.

Awareness of the process is the first step. When there is more of an understanding of what is happening physically, it can be easier to come to a state of acceptance. With releasing a pregnancy, your body does a literal U-turn. One moment it is flowing resources in a certain direction. The body is transforming at a rapid rate. In the process of releasing, this can feel like a significant jolt to all of your systems. Gifting yourself time to pause is supportive to the birthing journey.

I gave myself a birth pause, and it was profound. For healing through abortion, this is a step that may be a new concept. A birth pause means that you are taking time between giving birth and moving on with your life. This looks different for every person, and it is a beautiful time to tune into your intuition to see what feels right for you. I paused by birthing at home, going to a plant nursery, and doing a ritual with an orange tree in my garden.

With the unknown, it can feel easier to rush through it and pretend like it almost did not happen. Like this is just a heavier period. For me that was my first-time experiencing pregnancy and I felt I wanted to recognise and acknowledge that. In the long run, the rushing causes us harm. The body and mind have been through a lot. This can manifest into a wound we hold and shield from the world if we do not take time to integrate those life experiences.

From my earth ritual of planting an orange tree, I was gifted insight while healing, into the mother energy. It felt right for me at the time because I was given the gift of life. I made the decision to release that gift and so I gave it back to the earth where that gift nourished the life of a young fruit tree. It gave me a sense of peace that my decisions and bodily processes are connected to something larger than myself. I leaned on the elements, and they supported me unconditionally.

The light within the eyes reveals the ignition of the passion within the soul. When we have buried that light deep within, the eyes glaze over and we can walk through life as if in a haze. You can notice this as you go about your day today. Look in people’s eyes and notice how much light you can see. Finding that light of passion and feeding it, calls the soul forth once more to shine through the eyes. A potent attractive quality in a human.

The eyes are the window to the soul and are also within the element of fire because they are the receptors of light. They communicate the light of our soul. A gateway of sorts for people to have a sneak peak at our inner world and for us to examine the external world. Expressing a variety of passions is an optimal approach to stimulate the internal fire and keep it burning no matter what. Find what lights you up.

One way to go about finding out more about your own passions is to ask the people around you. They know when you are excited and connected to what you speak about. Ask them to tell you when the times are that they see your face light up. Question what you are doing when they see that or what topics you are discussing. Use other people’s eyes to see yourself more clearly. They do not have the lens of self-doubt and suppression that you may be battling with.

To shine in your passion naturally means you will stand out. With that you will feel alive, full of joy, and overflowing with life force. However sometimes the fear of standing out squishes the goodness out of it and the fear within succeeds in keeping us small. Let this be your sign, your beacon, to choose the light. Shine it and know that the discomfort is challenging but more importantly it is temporary!

You can recognise a soul passion my watching what you are naturally drawn to. Notice what information you can memorise effortlessly. Go all the way back to your days in the classroom. Remember which topics were a joy to dive into. These are the breadcrumbs we can use to lead us into ourselves to find the hidden flame. First we must find it through self-reflection and then we can begin the process of feeding it to encourage it to come forward.

Over the past year of my life, I have stepped into my passion and manifested it as a career. I chose my light. It shines through my face like a torch these days! When I connect with family and friends, they comment on my eyes and the glow of my face. They say things like wow, you look alive. I love it because it feels real to me. I am honest that I get scared at times. I am imperfect and mess things up. I realise that all of that is just background noise. Expressing my passion is the centre piece.

Within the solar plexus we have the home of our fire. This is the place if you wish to ask yourself questions about passion, fire, or motivation in life. Above that we have the heart chakra which then leads up to the throat chakra. Fire can remain hidden in the stomach area. This tends to cause stomach issues. If one is willing to be vulnerable and allow the passion to meet the feelings within, they are a stage closer to sharing with the world.

Starting the throat chakra swirling is the next step. Talking to friends about passionate topics. Sharing creative projects with small groups of people. Expanding outward each day practicing voicing your passion. What we do we get better at. This is true for all things. If today it feels like a horrendously large task to even start expressing what lights you up, start with checking in with your feelings. Build some trust with yourself. Then take it slow to share with others.

There are people out in the world that are so excited and in need of seeing the expression of your unique soul!

Having a water system is something deeply transformational. So much so it makes me a little bit sad! Yes, our water systems world-wide have become entirely inadequate for human consumption. When we accept that we can take the next step. First comes the filter. If you do not want your body to start accumulating what is circulating in your water, you need a filter. It may feel like because the water is being provided to you that it is safe, this is an assumption, and it is false.

The truth is that we need to be self-aware about our water. Testing it is a great first step. You can start connecting with your neighbours and pull together a fund to get your local water tested. This will inform you on the components in the water so that you know you have the right filter. The simplest filter system is using charcoal. Charcoal coins can be placed in water bottles and charcoal bars in jugs. Leaving water out in a jug in the sunlight is great to reduce the amount of chlorine in it.

The next level to ensure your body is not accumulating these chemicals and toxins, is a sediment or layered filter. Slightly more complex to remove more of the nasties from the water that you would rather not consume. These are a little bit more expensive but at the same time universally accessible to get online and in health food stores. A great first step in supporting your body in living and thriving in a flowing state.

To embrace flow within the body there is another factor to consider. Once the harmful parts of water are removed, we are left with a clean but stagnant water. The body is moving fluids around all the time to establish health in every system. What if the water is stagnant? How can we experience internal flow? We experience stagnation in the body when we drink stagnant water. The fluid sits in between cells rather than flowing in and out of them.

When the water has a life force, it is excited! It bounces around and wants to rush in and out of cells. This is golden for us because when the fluid moves in and out of the cell, it takes toxins out and brings nourishment in. Our systems establish a state of flow. Everything from digestion to breathing. With tap water we have harmful components and stagnation that clog our body. It is living filtered water that supports the body in thriving.

Changing your home water system is a simple shift with profound repercussions for every aspect of your life. Why be the filter when you can have one in your home? Why live with stagnant water moving around your body when you can have it rushing in and out of cells? Our tap water is not going to be changing any time soon, so it is time to take this opportunity to live in a thriving body into your own hands!

Book in for a consultation today to start your journey.

Emotional suppression can seem like an intangible concept if we do not know the signs to look out for. Tension headaches are like an aching pain in the brain and back of the head. There is a combining factor to headaches. Water. We know that dehydration is a common cause of this discomfort. Water is how we allow emotions to flow. Without enough water stagnation occurs. Our energy sits in the body and the stagnation manifests pain and disease.

For women there is another signal that their pain originates within their emotional body. During the pre-menstrual phase, we are working with our deeper emotions. They come to the surface to be expressed and released. It is the time of the month when we are the most honest. It is also the time when we can bring our potent creations into the world. Birthing can be a challenge though if there is a lot of emotional blockages to work through.

The body is on your side so it will start to bring those things to the surface to be released. Getting everything flowing again as quick as possible so that we can feel energetically vibrate. Without this interpretation or deeper understanding of what is going on, we jump to suppression with drugs, alcohol, and other numbing agents. The first thing is we do not know that it is a sign the body is releasing something and the second is we do not know how to flow with that release.

I sat with this question of how to release these emotions coming through as a dull pain in the head. It was humbling to ask such a basic question. I realised all I had learned was how to supress, how to keep pushing forward no matter what. Especially within the pre-menstrual time. It was just labelled as PMS and that was that. When I figured out through guidance from other people how to do this, I was almost frustrated by how easy it was!

The dialogue in my head had me believing that if I allowed myself to feel these things I would fall apart, and it would never end. In practicing again and again allowing the emotions to flow I proved myself wrong. I now see it as a sign of stagnation in my emotional body which is the water within my being. From there I know the simple steps to take to bring myself into the balance. The first step with all of my healing practices is to pause which allows awareness to grow.

Next comes an increase in the amount of water, herbal teas, and fresh foods I eat. Hydrating the body and detoxing my system. I then get myself close to the element of water. The waves of the ocean, breathing in the shower to cleanse, listening to water sounds on my phone. I marry this with a practice I go back to again and again, journaling. It is my way of bringing those things that wish to be released from the darkness into the light.

I write in black on white paper to see everything as it is. Choosing from that standpoint what I wish to keep with me and what needs to go. I affirm my dreams, intentions, and goals. It is a two-way system of communication between my subconscious and conscious mind that is untouched by the opinions of others. I can see my water for what it is in those times that I take in silence. Some days the words rush onto the page like a river, others the murkiness makes it a tedious process.

Before you reach for the pain killer, take a moment to ask your headache what it wishes to share with you. If you consistently get pre-menstrual headaches mark in your calendar to give yourself extra time for self-care at this point in your cycle. Through rest and relaxation, you will receive the feminine wisdom from your watery womb. Feminine energy waits for invitation to be heard. We need to give it space by pausing and listening.

How relaxed would you feel if I told you that your behavioural patterns are not your fault? When I soaked that realisation in, I literally felt this deep tension within my physical body melt. I was carrying heavy judgement for my actions. Thinking they were wrong and harmful because they were not supporting me in creating the life of my dreams. This hindered the process of me expanding into all I wished to create because I was not in a receptive state.

Judgement and guilt are emotions that shut us off from the supply of abundance that the universe wishes to share with us. We are worthy of physical, energetic, and spiritual abundance in life for no other reason than we are living. It is a birth right. We can stop that flow by being hard on ourselves and sitting in those negative energies. Becoming aware of these aspects of my life, I was drawn down the path of understanding what ancestral ties were.

My first experience of ancestral ties came from giving birth. Within my womb space I experienced energies that did not feel like mine. The whole birthing experience felt like it was connected to something larger than just my lifetime. From this I felt called to explore and I asked the universe to show me the way. It led me to my grandmother. Three weeks of solo time with my maternal grandmother manifested and the stories began to flow.

I heard about the womb traumas and patterns that had been going on for generations. The dots were connecting more and more with each story that she told. I could see it in my choice of partner, my relationship with my womb, and my fears in life. There were so many similarities and crossovers with these people who I had never met. Taking it back to anatomy and physiology supported me in breathing into this topic and coming to a level of understanding.

We are all born through women and each women’s body has experiences which are essentially energy. The DNA from the mother and father are packed with life experiences. What happens in life changes us and we pass that on to the next generation which is evolution at its essence. So, there I was with the reverberation of all of these people’s experiences. That awareness gave me perspective which led to a melting of self-judgement.

I could see from that standpoint that I was gifted an array of things and now in my life, I got to decide what I wanted to keep. Hearing the stories built my awareness, as well as creating a deep connection with my physical body. I started to train myself to question my relationship to things in life. Looking at how I handled money, what kind of men I attracted, and how I envisaged my life playing out.

It felt like I was discovering two distinct parts of myself. One was the human version that had these ties to ancestors and the other was my soul that was in this body for the life journey. My soul wants independence, self-sufficiency, and freedom to express myself. My body tells me that I need to rely on a man for stability, expressing myself is dangerous, and being a woman means I am vulnerable. A perfect contrast to manifest growth and evolution in my lifetime.

I use fire to burn the stories that I no longer wish to continue in my life. Through a burning ceremony, I get clear in writing out the pattern that I have become aware of in myself that I no longer desire to carry with me. I then read out the pattern and my wish to release it while looking at myself in the mirror. Followed by setting it alite and watching it burn to ashes in a bowl in front of me. To complete the ceremony, I place the ashes in the earth.

You are not what you have been gifted. Allow yourself to relax knowing that you are not the sole creator of the life you see around you. There are many patterns feeding into those manifestations. Where your power lies is in your level of awareness of what is manifesting in your life. The more aware you are, the more choices your can make. Deciding what ancestral gifts you want to keep and which you would like to burn way.

When I became more skilled at tuning into my body, I did it out of intrigue. I really had no idea just how much it would reveal to me about everything. Seeing the body through the eyes of symbolic sight enabled me to see myself, in others and in the world around me. I have grounded that symbolic sight in the four elements of fire, air, earth, and water to share the journey with others. Symbols have ancient wisdom wrapped up in them. Our body is an amalgamation of symbols.

The first stage of this process for me was to reorganise the associations in my brain. Meaning I consciously stopped myself from equating an ache, pain, or occurrence in my body with an external cause. Not that the external part did not have an influence, it was just not the core of what was happening. That stage took a good bit of time, but I had Louise Hay by my side, and I started to document my bodily sensations to encourage introspection rather than projection.

What happens when you go inward?

There is a significant point of acceptance when you go inward to evaluate an illness. You are accepting that you manifested the discomfort from an imbalance within yourself. Not that there needs to be shame or blame, this is done with the knowing that the body is always on our side. It is simply sharing messages about how we can come back into alignment. Words can only get us so far. Bodily sensations are the voice of your soul speaking through you.

This means not looking externally for the cause and if it is needed to go externally (which a lot of the time it is not) we make intuitive decisions through the compass of the body. This broadens the perspective of what medicine is for us. If you tune into an ache in the knee and ask it what it needs you to do, the answer comes through as words or images. By trusting and following you can get the medicine.

This medicine comes in many forms. It could be the grounding power of the sand, the cleansing water of the ocean, or even a person on the beach that shares just the right message with you. Letting your body guide you is a surrendered state. In the masculine pattern of constantly doing this can seem illogical or daunting even. From experience I can say it is simply your soul trying to redirect you onto a path that gets you to your goal faster and in a more enjoyable way.

To walk on the path your soul is directing you to, you must accept that you do not know everything. That there are workings in the universe that you cannot fathom because if you actually did know all about them, you would go insane! Coming through these phases we arrive at seeing the body as a set of symbols and signs. Our job is to listen to them and interpret them to make shifts that are needed to thrive in life.

After practicing seeing the anatomy and physiology within me as a metaphor, I opened my eyes to the world around me and saw the connection. I saw the experiences I was having in the animals in my life. I saw myself in the different expressions of the ocean, the changing colours of the trees, the phases of the moon. Understanding the world around me came much more easily when I understood more about the world within me.

One of my favourite things to teach is seeing the body as a metaphor because it is a gift that keeps on giving. A study that will stand to you forever. It allows you to not only see the interconnectedness of life but to feel it in your bones. Supporting someone else in seeing themselves in the sunrise and the trees is an honour. To make significant shifts on how we live on this planet, I feel we need to learn this. When we see ourselves in the fire, air, earth, and water, we care for them.