Memoirs and story from the Red Tent

........The last woman read from the Goddess Book of days; she had counted the days until she got the one that corresponded to the present day of the RTT - the 69th day, due to leap year, and this is what it said.......

Adamu

"Woman's Blood Created the World"

The Chaldean's of ancient Mesopotamia called her All Matter. Her name means 'red', the life giving blood of the womb; menstruation. The root of the word is the Sanskrit r'tu, meaning 'ritual'. Ri means 'birth' suggesting that ritual began as blood rites associated with a woman's Moon Womb time, the first calendar living in a woman's belly. Menstruation or menses is Latin for "month". Where are you in your cycle today? Adamu calls out from her royal red hammock hanging between two luscious, full-fruiting date palms. She is smiling, sipping rose hip tea from a copper chalice inlaid with rubies. Her hair, rich mahogany-orange, is woven in braids and wrapped tiara-like on top of her head, which is adorned with crimson hibiscus. You snuggle in next to her like a child crawling back into mama's bed in the morning. Comfort and hugs are her gifts of love. Tell me your menstrual story, she inquires with soft concern. You begin slowly, talking of your first blood and the relationship you have with your bleeding time. Sharing the details of your story you feel centered, accepted, and loved unconditionally as you swing ever so slightly in rhythm to your breath. Wear something red today in honor of your cosmic lunar connections and the sisterhood of all women. Engage your menstrual mind for heightened visions, prophetic dreaming, and extrasensory perceptions. Release any culturally implanted shame about menstruation. Even if you no longer bleed, you cycle in memory.My menstrual cycle is sacred.

~From Goddess Days by Nancy Blair.
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"My red bracelet fell off just a few days ago...a constant reminder of the magical afternoon I encountered at the Red Tent Temple. I was so disappointed that I would not be able to arrive until late in the day, but that disappointment quickly turned to amazement and gratitude as I walked in and instantly felt a powerful surge of love and peace sweep over me. There were women doing yoga as I entered the building. Just past them I could hear the murmurings of other women. As I approached I just remember the powerful sea of red; bright, beautiful red. There were women reading, and women drawing. There was a woman getting a back massage. There was a beautiful woman in the grief corner. There were women talking and some just sitting in silence. There were women eating and women resting. Everyone was just being in the moment. It was magical. I wish more had had the opportunity to arrive late in the day to see, and to feel, the magic that had been unfolding throughout the day. A-HO!"