Why We Should Play With Magic

Have you ever heard of the song by Katy Perry called the Dark Horse?  The lyrics go like this:

I knew you were
You were gonna come to me
And here you are
But you better choose carefully
‘Cause I, I’m capable of anything
Of anything and everything

Make me your Aphrodite
Make me your one and only
But don’t make me your enemy, your enemy, your enemy

So you wanna play with magic
Boy, you should know what you're falling for
Baby do you dare to do this?
Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse
Are you ready for, ready for
A perfect storm, perfect storm
Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine
There’s no going back

Mark my words
This love will make you levitate
Like a bird
Like a bird without a cage
But down to earth
If you choose to walk away, don’t walk away

It’s in the palm of your hand now baby
It’s a yes or no, no maybe
So just be sure before you give it all to me
All to me, give it all to me

So you wanna play with magic
Boy, you should know what you're falling for
Baby do you dare to do this?
Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse
Are you ready for, ready for
A perfect storm, perfect storm
Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine (love trippin')
There’s no going back

This song plays with a lot of stereotypes about magic: that it's forbidden, that it means putting a sexual spell on men and that it's all powerful.  There is a reason why magic has a bad name and it has to do with female power.

In BC,  people worshiped both both gods and goddesses.  Then 2,000 years ago goddess worship dropped out of sight as Christianity began to grow.  Coincidence?  I think not.  

Part of my spiritual journey is to understand feminine power and one way to do this is to learn about ancient goddesses.  A second way is to embrace my menstrual cycle.  I recently read a book called Moon Time: a Guide to Celebrating Your Menstrual Cycle by Lucy H. Pearce.  I've decided instead of ignoring my cycle and pretending it doesn't exist (i.e. the woman's curse), I would instead try to understand it. Everything contains cycles, the four seasons is a well-known example.  The definition of cycle is a series of events that are regularly repeated in the same order.  And inherent in that definition is that each week varies.  So during any woman's menstrual cycle, each week varies.

Do you remember the commercials that advertised you can do anything during your period, even wear a white bikini?

Like who decided this was a good idea?  In fact, Pearce says that during the "bleeding time" we should be taking it easy.  This is not the week to be doing high energy work or making big decisions.  The week of our periods is the time to regroup. And what does society tell us?  You can do anything during your period.  Don't let it stop you.  But this is not necessarily what is best for women.  And there certainly is no understanding of how cycles work and affect women.  

Did you know that a woman's cycle used to be tied to the moon?  Pearce says that "the most common menstrual pattern is to bleed on the dark moon and to ovulate on the full moon...the 28 day menstrual cycle correlates with the moon's cycle."  How many women out there have a cycle like this?  With the advent of birth control and artificial light (which changes our natural hormonal response to the moonlight) our cycles are all out of wack!

Why is this important and what does this have to do with magic?  The source of feminine power is within the womb.  This is the ultimate source of our creativity, where we grow our babies.  Does this sound like magic to you?  Well it is!  

Other ways that feminine power manifests is in our ability to nurture and use our right-brown power i.e. yes, psychic abilities such as intuition, feeling, thoughts that convey messages for ourselves and others.    

So Katy Perry sings "So you wanna play with magic?  Boy you should know who you're falling for". Go ahead play with magic.  It's not a bad thing and for women, it only comes natural.  No one is going to burn us at the stake for this.  It's safe now.  Embrace your magical female power.