Today is officially Aerin’s MENOPAUSE DAY — at least according to western science or whatever. My last period ended one year ago yesterday, May 31st 2024. I only really know that because I happened to take a photo on June 2nd of the last menstrual blood I bled and will likely ever bleed.

I don’t know why it feels important to share about it here; it just does. I feel young, at 51, to be menopausal. But I guess there’s no “normal” either. It’s just the medical, pharmaceutical and beauty industries that want us to believe in some standardized aging process so they can capitalize on our insecurities and fear of death. The truth is I’ve probably NOT bled many more that I have over these last eight years. Sixteen months pregnant (more or less) and then all the time after those “failed” pregnancies for hormones to regulate, etc. etc. I only got my period maybe four times in 2023 and twice in 2024. So… it’s not like it’s some huge shock or anything. But it feels, to me, important.

Last night, I felt very blessed to convivir with a beautiful Fulni-ô family from the Águas Belas region in Pernambuco, Brazil. We shared some songs and prayers and conversations. The moment I saw this headress / tiara made of white feathers, I felt it was meant to mark this day. I am claiming an initiation into matriarchy today. I know it is just the beginning. I am nothing but a baby crone now. But it IS a significant moment in this one small life. I wish to move into this new stage with awareness and feeling.

It also feels scary. There is something quite intense about transitioning into menopause during this time on the clock of the world. It feels like those of us who are just ceasing to bleed now have some other kind of potent responsibility for a world in collapse in so many ways. And maybe not… Nonetheless, I cross over this threshold with dignity, openness and some kind of a strange, humble and graceful regality (if such a thing could exist). Fully middle-age… with some tiny veins of wisdom beginning to run through me. I am available for this world with all its pain and suffering and all of its awe and beauty.

I also heard this cute and poignant podcast a while back on which a woman just my age shared her moving-into-menopause story and it resonated a lot. Lemme know how it is for you, fellow travelers passing through this important physiological and social portal at this time.