Your First and Last Cycle

In Chinese medicine, a woman's life is mapped in cycles of seven years, governed by Jing, the constitutional essence we inherit at conception, and its slow unfolding through Tian Gui, translated as heavenly waters or menstrual cycle.

Men's lives are mapped in similar cycles, but in multiples of 8, expressed through his own physiology, Jing and Tian Gui working through sperm and reproductive capacity, rather than Blood and the Ren Mai.

These following years are approximate. It could be interesting to track your own experience.

At age 7, Kidney Qi begins to flourish, the first shift.
At 14, Tian Gui arrives. The Ren Mai opens. Your first cycle begins.
At 21, that Qi matures to full physical maturity.
At 28, peak vitality.
At 35, the first quiet signs of change.
At 42, the shift becomes more visible.

At 49, the Ren Mai empties, Tian Gui is "exhausted," and menstruation ends.

What opened at 14 is the very same vessel now closing.

Menopause is the other half of the same cycle as puberty, the same Jing, reaching its natural completion.

My teacher, Yvonne Farrell speaks of the Ren Mai as the archetype of Mother, the capacity to conceive of something, to labour over it, birth it, and nourish it until it can stand on its own. It's the vessel of nourishment itself.

And the Chong Mai, its counterpart, is said to carry our habitual patterns, our essential authenticity, and the intergenerational material passed down through the maternal line.

So when these vessels close, it isn't only your fertility being reviewed. It's the whole inheritance carried in that Jing, your bonding, your earliest experiences.

This is one reason charged emotions can rise so strongly now. Experiences directly related to mother and the earlier years gave rise to your patterns of relationship and bonding outside of this primary relationship.

When hormones fluctuate and finally return to pre-fertile years as a result of biological demands, the whole story comes up for review.

Something is ending, and that is the point. The seasons are changing and the gates are opening and closing. As the themes of our earlier cycles return, we get a review, another chance.

If something here speaks to you, you can work with me in person at my clinic in Preston and at The Yin Palace gatherings in Melbourne, or online through my qigong community and Rage Rising. The Three Treasures Pathway is offered both in person and online.

With Love,
Anny 🌹