Viva Menstruation!

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blood, connection, female, Feminism, God, Goddess, magic, menstruation, moon cycles, new moon, period, spirituality, taboo, teal swan, women

Cheers to those 3,500 days of our lives that we bleed!

 

In honor of the upcoming new moon on Thursday, here is a little love from Teal Swan.

And in honor of all the women that have this magic energy inside us.

We have it, so let’s tap it and lets make miracles with our blood!

Much love,

Mensa

 

What to Read Next: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

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ancient births, ancient history, ancient menstruation, ancient women, anita diamant, bible births, bible literature, bible story, birth, blood, book about ancient women, book about periods, Feminism, genesis 34, herstory, jacobs daughter, leas daughter, literature, love, magic, midwifery, moon cycles, novel, periods, rape of dinah, the red tent, women cycles, women literature, women of the bible

I must admit I do not devour books. Reading was not something I grew up with as a child, but I have learned to become a better reader over time. Every time I finish a book, I find some sort of peace. I seek out knowledge through books, and I try to read a little every day. Sometimes though, a book captures me in such a way, that I become obsessed with the world inside it. I live it, I dream about it, think about it and it consumes me. The Red Tent was one of these books.

The subject matter? Women of ancient times. Specifically one woman: Dinah, mentioned only once in the Bible in the Book of Genesis. Her story comes to life. Her youth, her traditions, and the red tent. A place where women of ancient civilizations used to gather during the new moon, to observe their menses, and bring ritual and in some cases honor the life bearing blood that fills wombs every month.

Not only did the story of Dinah, daughter of Lea, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah bring knowledge of ancient womanhood practices, including midwifery and births, marriage, sex, and a young girls turning of age through her period. My journey with these women, made me understand the strength of the covens that formed during times where their stories, and names were barely mentioned.

This story is rooted on the Bible story of “The Rape of Dinah” in Genesis 34, where the episode of her violation by Shechem is later avenged by her brothers Simeon and Levi on the city of Hamor, father of Shechem.

The Bible is a book where the female is scantly sacred, where lineage is remembered by fathers, and where the births of sons is most honorably, and women’s honor is due for the rise of power for man and tribe. Anita Diamant transforms the stories of Laban, Rachel, Lea, Jacob and Joseph and flips it on its head. She remains true to the old written word, but delves into a world lost by time filling in the gaps of Dinah’s story.  A woman’s world where magic, wisdom, strength and faith are rooted on the spirit of the female.

I give praise to The Red Tent, for it gave me sight into a world where eyes need to go, where women ought to be honored, and most of all remembered.

If you love history, if you want knowledge of ancient womanhood, and if you want to dive deep into a story of love, magic and blood, then I invite you to open the pages of this book.

Thank you to the author, and thank you to Dinah, whatever your real story may have been, today we remember you had a story too, and we honor your story now.

With love,

-Mensa

No More Boys Will Be Boys

Tags

10%, Cara Reynolds, charity, dump trump, end the backlog, Feminism, Feral audio, Georgia Hardstark, Joyful Heart Foundation, Karen Kilgariff, Maria Emilia Borja, Mariska Hargitay, Mushpa + Mensa, my favorite murder, national non-profit, organic cotton, podcast, rape, rape kit backlog, rape psa, recycled, upcycled

Watch all three videos and see.

I started this Blog entry today, as we here at Mushpa + Mensa want to start backing charities we believe in. Every month we will give 10% of our income to a charity we pick each month and promote in our blog, newsletter and on our website. This is something we have wanted to do and in 2017 we are making it happen!

The first charity we are covering will be End the Backlog. It is a is a program of the Joyful Heart Foundation, a national non-profit organization founded by actress and activist Mariska Hargitay with the mission to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues. We heard about this organization as Cara (me) is obsessed with, My Favorite Murder, a podcast by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark about, you guessed it, murder. Each episode the girls tell each other their favorite tales of murder, and hear hometown crime stories from friends and fans. Check your anxiety at the door, ’cause Karen & Georgia are dying to discuss death. They gave 50% of their sales or MFM products for 1 month to End the Backlog.

In Joyful Heart Foundation‘s own words End the Backlog is the cornerstone of Joyful Heart’s Policy & Advocacy work, focuses on shining a light on the rape kit backlog in the United States. Our goal is to end this injustice by conducting groundbreaking research identifying the extent of the nation’s backlog and best practices for eliminating it; expanding the national dialogue on rape kit testing through increased public awareness, engaging communities and government agencies and officials; and advocating for comprehensive rape kit reform legislation and policies at the local, state and federal levels. Ultimately, we seek to change attitudes about sexual violence and abuse, educate the public, improve systems to lessen the trauma survivors experience and ensure greater access to justice for survivors. 

With this new person, whose name I shall not speak, in office we must fight this rape culture, now more than ever. Ladies, men, children, let’s do this. Buy our organic cotton and upcycled stuff and we will work to #changetheculture. I love you ladies!

We are women, HEAR US ROAR!

-Cara aka Mushpa

Last Minute Women’s March Sign Ideas

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activism, art, Audre Lorde, Awesome Event, be brave, Cara Reynolds, Carrie Fisher, Ecuadorian, environment, Feminism, gay, God, Government, green, Happiness, Health Care, inspiration, Latina, lesbian, love, Love is Love, March, march signs, Maria Emilia Borja, NC, North Carolina, political, politics, Princess Leigh, Protest, protest march signs, protest signs, queer, recycled, resistance, revoltion signs, revolution, Sign Ideas, Star Wars, The South, Voltaire, wilmington, Woman Owned Business, Women's March, Women's March Sign Ideas, WomenAlice Walker

If you are anything like us, we can get real close to the time of whatever-it-may-be and then get what needs to be done, last minute style, done. Don’t get us wrong, we do it well under pressure. The Women’s March tomorrow is no different. We are going to wake up around 7AM to get our signs done to get out to our local Wilmington, NC Women’s March. I did some image research and quote digging and came up with 10 good sign suggestions off the World Wide Web.

1. We go high.
2. Your silence will not protect you.
3. Nasty Woman
4. “Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities” Voltaire
5. Hate Kills
6. “I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.” Audre Lorde
7. Woman’s place is in the resistance. (in reference to Carrie Fisher…Princess Leigh….Star Wars. You get it.)
8. I am stronger than fear.
9. Truth matters.
10. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”  Alice Walker

Get your recycled pieces of boxes, cardboard, old sheets and get to creating. We will collectively be with every human at every women’s march tomorrow. We love you.

Love trumps hate. Be brave.

Cara and Maria Emilia