The simple exercise of filling a lunar diagram for several years has been one of the most revealing and transformative experiences that I have lived as a woman. It has helped me to understand, accept and respect the changes that I live every month with my menstrual cycle and clearly see the states that are repeated, cycle after cycle. At the same time, it has helped me to discover the influence of the moon in my life and how their phases are related and interact with my own hormonal changes.

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The lunar record: an ancestral practice

When we make our own lunar record, we are continuing an ancestral tradition, rooted in the same consciousness that women have had since the prehistory of the moon cycles and the link with its hormonal cycle. These women marked incisions in animal bones, and also in stones, to write down the passage of the lunar phases, and to keep the account of their menstrual cycles.

For example, in the famous image of the ‘Venus of Laussel’ we can verify that the horn -shaped bowl has exactly 13 stripes, the same amount of full or new moons that are in a complete lunar year.

Our Paleolithic ancestors were the ones who created the first calendars and began to mathematically measure time. From here comes the word «rule», with its etymological origin of «measure», using the arrival of menstrual blood as an instrument of calculation and measurement.

Today there are many examples and versions of different types of lunar diagrams, all with the same intention of offering us a visual and circular newspaper in which we can write down our internal experiences from one month to another.

A lunar diagram to download

At the end of this article I share the lunar diagram that we have created from a for our online course the four moons in me, so you can print and integrate it into your day to day. On this sheet you can capture with words, colors or symbols the sensations and experiences that you live every day, and thus be increasingly aware of the characteristics to better perceive the characteristics of your own internal kaleidoscope.

If you are constant in this practice throughout several cycles, this attentive and loving listening will allow you to make your own ‘magical distillation’ of how you live each menstrual phase (if you are menstruating at this time of your life), how the moon affects you in its different stages and how these two experiences together.

How to fill your lunar diagram

Then I explain the steps to make your own record, using the diagram we provide. You will see that it has 30 spaces to fill, since a complete lunar cycle is 29.5 days (not 28 as many of us imagine!). I recommend that you print or make several copies of the lunar diagram, and that you immerse yourself in this record for at least four months. It will be useful to have it by hand when you start a new sheet.

* Know the day of the lunar cycle

The first thing you have to know is at what exact moment of its phase is the moon in the sky the day you decide to start this practice. This is easy to perceive, for example, if it coincides with the full moon. But to know precisely on the day of lunar cycle, I recommend that you consult a calendar that indicates the phases of the moon, such as the one we create every year in cyclical women to share with the women pointed to our Newsletter, with a version for the northern hemisphere and another for the southern hemisphere.

If the day you start your lunar diagram does not fall exactly on the black moon, growing room, full moon or four diminishing, you can determine the exact quadrant simply counting the spaces forward or back of these four days of reference.

* If you are menstruating

If at this stage of your life you have the rule, you have two options.

Perhaps the simplest thing is that you start filling your lunar diagram coinciding with the first day of your menstruation, as the image shows with the example. Look at what phase the moon is in the sky, locate the corresponding quadrant of your lunar diagram and mark it as day 1, since this is how we count the days of the menstrual cycle.

The other option is to start the registration of your lunar diagram at any time, whatever the phase of your menstrual cycle. In this case, you must also take into account in which phase the moon is that day and locate the corresponding quadrant, which will be the first one you will use, completing the inner and outer circle (in another section I offer you guidelines on what you can put here). In this case, when you start your record it is important that you know and marques on what day of your menstrual cycle you are, counting from the first day of your last menstruation. This will allow you to recognize more and more sensitivity and in advance the changes you live in relation to your hormonal cycle.

You can write the day number of your cycle (2,3,4,5 etc.) in the outer space of the circular diagram (as number 1 appears in the example). Then, you should simply continue completing it until the first day of your next menstruation. If your cycle lasts more than 30 days, you can continue in another lunar diagram. If it lasts less than 30 days, there will be blank spaces, without filling.

* In other stages of life

The lunar diagram is not an instrument only useful for women who have the rule. It is actually a lunar newspaper that you can use at any time in your life, to strengthen your connection with the moon and with yourself, and see the connections between your own internal state and the phases of the moon.

You can do this practice during your pregnancy, as a special newspaper of the nine moons of your baby’s gestation.

A girl can also do it before the first menstruation comes, to begin to feel and strengthen her connection with the moon.

It is also highly recommended to integrate a lunar diagram during the climacteric years, when menstruation is gradually withdrawn and is less and less frequent. This practice is a wonderful way to grow your link with the moon more and more, beyond your hormonal cycle, and to become aware of all the changes you live in this passage rite, and beyond, when your sacred blood no longer returns.

* Complete the inner circle: connect with the symbolic and intuitive

As you can see, this lunar diagram has two concentric circles, to help us connect with different aspects and ways of feeling and interpreting our experiences.

The inner circle is designed to give space by your most intuitive and symbolic side, through the use of different colors. I recommend that you have a selection of colored pencils for this exercise. You can choose a color that attracts you and that somehow represents your mood, intuitively and spontaneously. You can also use the inner circle to capture some symbol or small drawing that represents your experience beyond words.

* Complete the outer circle: key words about your daily state

You can fill out the spaces of the outer circle with keywords that describe your level of energy, emotions, health, appetite, sexuality, creativity, dreams etc. As they are quite small spaces, it is a good exercise to go to the essence of how you are every day. For example, if you are on the first day of your menstruation, words could be: «sensitive, tired, desire to be alone, slow, intense dreams.» If you are in your preovulatory phase, you may feel «dynamic, cheerful, sensual, impatient, focused …» to help you fill these spaces, in the chapter dedicated to the lunar diagram of the online course «The four moons in me» we include an extensive list of guidance examples to describe physical, mental, emotional and spiritual states.

* Reserve a moment of the day to do it

The practice of the lunar diagram is an opportunity to give you a daily time to listen to you lovingly and put words to your state at different levels. You can do it before going to sleep and check how you felt throughout the day, or point how you feel when you wake up. An idea is to have it by hand on your desk, or next to your nightstand …

An important note: If you fail to follow the rhythm of filling it every day, do not overwhelm, it is totally normal! Try to review and remember how you felt the day, or previous days, and above all, that it is a pleasant exercise, not a duty or stress.

Cultivate the wise and loving woman in you

As you fill more leaves, observing more cycles, you will meet more and more depth and recognize how your hormonal cycle and the phases of the moon influence.

The practice of lunar diagram It helps us strengthen within us the wise and loving woman who knows how to listen and respectwhich can take perspective to offer a compassionate understanding of itself, integrating the wisdom that «everything is cyclical», and «this will also happen» …

From the basis of knowing ourselves better and accepting ourselves, we can transmit to the people around us (our partner, our children, our workmates, family members …) in which phase of our menstrual cycle we are and what needs and capabilities we have.

As I said at the beginning of the article, filling a lunar diagram has been for many years one of the most revealing and transformative exercises that I have done as a woman, something that has allowed me to channel the creative force of the cyclic in all areas of my life.

If you have already experienced it or if you have the habit of making your lunar record in your day to day and you want to encourage other women who have not yet discovered it or have not encouraged to try it, I would love to share some comment about your experience, at the end of this page.