Mary Magdalene with Alabaster Jar by EsotericaZosimoto

Within the feminist spirituality movement, professor of religious studies, Anna Fedele describes the practices of a group of Spanish pilgrims for whom “a world-denying and body mortifying Christian attitude is at the root of most present-day evils and the principal cause of the exploitation of the planet” (Fedele 2013. p.145). The pilgrims consider themselves “heirs of an ancient pre-Christian and pre-patriarchal pagan cult of the Goddess” (ibid) and are among many groups involved in what I would describe as a ‘menstrual revival’ movement. The pilgrims believe that “women’s blood is sacred and see the menstrual cycle as a key element in the process of reversing Christianity’s systematic devaluation of the body, particularly the female body” (ibid).

In modern culture the power of menstruation and acknowledgement of the divine feminine has surfaced at various times within literature, art and philosophy- the divine feminine rises…