She who, with her blood, created the human world.

“Women’s menstrual blood always was, always is of the essence of the creative power of the Great Mother. Blood is the physical counterpart of the mystical life force spiraling throughout the cosmos, nourishing the universe, sustaining its breathing in and out, its manifestations and dissolutions…while being deprived of ritual solitude while we bleed, we are also isolated from the communion of other women who are bleeding. Each woman must go through each life stage, transition, and crisis, in silent aloneness, unsupported by either ritual or the women’s group. This combination of meaningless isolation and lack of ritual solitude is the final patriarchal taboo against women—a major cause of mental illness, and a major barrier against self-realization. Thus was women’s ancient collective power broken. Women under patriarchy, isolated from each other and from themselves, could no longer threaten male dominance of “life,” or question male cooptation and imitation of our original female processes. This is why all patriarchal religions try to define menstrual and childbirth blood—the source of life—as a filth, a shame, and a crime. Because it represents the creative power of the evolutionary female. “She who,” as Judy Grahn said…she who, with her blood, created the human world.”

–Monica Sjoo & Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother