Witchcraft and Menstrual Power

Women are usually thought of as the "weaker" sex, with men having that great upper body strength. But women were once considered to be the more magically potent gender. This was due to their spiritual alliance with the Moon, tides, and the Earth herself. Here are some examples of proof of "Women's magic Power.":

The ability to bring forth "life" from their bodies.

Women's ability to provide food from their bodies.

Menstruation, the monthly flow of blood that indicates the potential for fertility. (Even the promise of Life after Death.)

Women were initially revered, respected and worshipped because of this power. The earliest sacred images took the form of females. 

No material on Earth, nothing is considered more magically powerful than menstrual blood. And no practitioner more powerful than a menstruating woman. Except in the case of "menopausal" women who were thought to the most powerful. As women were perceived as not loosing power as they aged, but in fact gaining it. 

Traditional metaphysical wisdom suggest menstrual blood creates a solid wall of magical protection. It can break curses, hexes and confound the evil eye.

Consumption of as little as a single drop of menstrual blood is believed to stimulate undying devotion for her. This can be done knowingly or unknowingly. After this she will command your heart forever.

It is even believed by historians, scholars and anthropologists that menstrual blood may have provided the first blood sacrifices where no one got hurt.

But with any thing so potent it is also potentially dangerous. The real reason why some cultures separate women from men when they menstruating is not because they are unclean as we have been led to believe. But in fact it is because women in this condition were temporarily too powerful and dangerous to be left unsupervised. 

Where women live or work closely very closely together, menstrual cycles tend to become synchronized. Therefore the women in one community might simultaneously menstruate, creating a formidable magical army.


Menstrual blood is such a yin (female) power, it may counteract or deviate yang (male) energy. It can defuse men's amulets and deactivate men an their magic as well. The admonitions to avoid sexual contact with menstruating women may have been instituted to preserve male power. 


In today's culture even those with access to true menstrual blood may not find it convenient or socially acceptable to use, so there are substitutes that could be very powerful magic spell ingredients and serve as a facsimile. They are henna, iron, iron oxide powder, ground hematite, vermilion powder, red ochre, or red brick dust; blood root, dragon's blood resin or red sandal-wood powder. Or dried scarlet carnation petals. 


If the witch is understood as embodying this primordial potent female power, then this is the reason why she became so feared and why she is perceived as being potentially dangerous and so capable of destruction. It was because of her ability to access this power. 


Brightest of Freya's Blessings,
Lory