Human beings live with our biology. We address The Law of Nature and dismiss dismal fears imbued in ancient world Myth.
As we breathe the breath of life, contemplate the myriad thoughts of our minds, and respect the functions of our organs, we celebrate—with understanding—the mysteries of preparation and conception of new life.
For all time, women’s curse—decreed by a deity—is to desire her husband and to bear his child in grievous pain. Her desire and his pleasure perpetuate the race.
But even without desire, a woman also bore the pain brought on by a rapist’s attack that foisted upon her an unwanted child. Pregnancy was a happy/sad occurrence. Legitimized by marriage, a new child enriched the tribe and the Hebrew nation. The birth was a cause for celebration and gratitude. However, delivering a child with no legitimate father, humiliated her family who demanded infanticide to keep the gene pool pure, and caused the woman’s death by stoning. Like Eve, who was said to have inveigled Adam to disobey, the woman was to blame. Eve epitomized Original Sin and was proclaimed guilty throughout the ages.
Another aspect of the deity’s curse was the monthly preparation for birth, what even into the twentieth century women called menstruation –– “the curse.” The young girl, Ayala is a symbol of “everygirl-everywoman.” Her normal human function came upon her when she was almost twelve. In her, the eternal cycle repeatedly continued monthly. Nothing prepared the innocent girl for that shocking experience. Nobody explained to her what to expect. When the bleeding started, she thought she was dying. Had she injured herself? Where could she turn? Who would save her? Who would she dare to tell?
The subject was extremely private, embarrassing, and confidential. Eventually, as girls do, she had to confide in a girlfriend, a sister, or her mother. Reassured that her experience was normal, Ayala dealt with her new “sickness,” a sickness, she was told, that affected all women. One day soon she would become a mother, have status in the family, and be treated with respect. But Ayala barely had time to be a child herself. The prospect of responsible adulthood was daunting, and the promise of dignified motherhood was far from joyful. She would soon be married.
The process exacerbated Ayala’s difficult life. Her mother warned her to stay away from men, be cautious when she went to the well for the family’s water, and always go with other girls to the river when she washed clothes. She was, in fact, responsible to keep herself “pure.” Ayala withdrew from the boys and girls she played with. She became shy, reserved, and filled with shame. She learned that women who led a sedentary lifestyle could endure the seven days of incapacitation. Washing and reusing rags from old clothing to keep from ruining her clothing was distasteful and difficult to hide from those around her.
She wondered about the nomadic Bedouin women, those who still trekked the desert tending their goats and dromedaries to hunt for food. How did they keep their condition private? How could they tend to cleanliness while there was no water in the desert? Some people were known to wash their hands in the desert sands, but Ayala didn’t think that would work for women’s needs. At least Ayala learned she could depend on her “free days” according to the moon. No wonder some women worshipped the Moon Goddess, the Shekhinah, the Divine Feminine or Malkah haShamayim, the Queen of Heaven. YHWH, Yahweh of the Israelites, would not understand.
Ancient scribes gave the reason for the deity’s curse. It was because the woman disobeyed His admonition not to eat a certain fruit in the Garden. For her disobedience, she would hereafter suffer painful birth and yield to total subjugation to her man. For eating a pomegranate?
As her people cursed her for the natural process of monthly bleeding, set her aside to remain in what some call “the red tent,” in secluded company of other cursed females, declared her anathema, and admonished her––for no fault of her own––as “unclean,” she was taboo for a quarter of each month and would continue to be for the duration of her child-bearing years. This denunciation of a menstruating woman or girl was common in many parts of the ancient world. For a quarter of her life, she would live in shame. When she emerged from the company of other cursed girls and women, she had to purify herself in running water. Only then, Ayala was allowed back in the company of her family and the tribe. She was even permitted to enter the Temple. Of course, the taboo repeated as once again she was “in her moon.” Since ancient times, and in many cultures, woman’s “curse” is measured by the phase of the moon.