Dark Half Of The Year - Part 2 Women’s Cycles, Seasons & When Times Get Hard (Ep 41)

In Part Two of our seasonal series, we journey into the dark half of the year  exploring how the turning of the seasons mirrors the cycles within a woman’s body and life.

We share personal stories of transformation, letting go, and rediscovering new ways of being from shifting identities to connecting with our ancestors and finding renewal in stillness.

You’ll learn:

🌑 How your menstrual and life cycles mirror the Earth’s rhythms
🍂 Ways to adapt your self-care in autumn and winter
💫 The importance of rest, nourishment, and emotional awareness
💧 How to transform inner criticism into deeper self-understanding
🔥 Rituals to honor the dark half of the year and your own renewal

🕯️ Samhain Online Cacao Ceremony – email hello@holistichealthcollective.co.uk
to join
🌙 Drop-in Moon Ceremonies – pay what feels right (suggested £20) book here https://holistichealthc.kartra.com/page/moonceremony 

 Silent Retreat – January 2026, Tonbridge, Kent https://www.holistichealthcollective.co.uk/retreats/

🌿 Autumn Nutrition Blog https://www.holistichealthcollective.co.uk/autumn-nutrition-to-stay-healthy/

• Samaritans
  • Phone: Call 116 123 for free, any time, from any phone.
  • Email: jo@samaritans.org. Responses can take several days.
• Shout
  • Text: Text "SHOUT" to 85258 to connect with a trained volunteer. This is a free, confidential, 24/7 text service.
• Papyrus (prevention of young suicide)
  • Helpline: Call 0800 068 4141 (HOPELINE247). This is for people under 35 who are having suicidal thoughts, or those concerned about a young person. 

If you would like our free moon download to get the list of the 12 astrological signs and how they impact your body parts and emotions, grab that here: https://holistichealthc.kartra.com/page/moondownload

If you are looking to balance your hormones naturally, then try our free 5 day hormone balance challenge, back to balance. Register here: https://holistichealthc.kartra.com/page/Backtohormonebalance

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holistichealthcollectiveuk

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Website:

https://www.holistichealthcollective.co.uk

Where you can find out more about of women's health retreats, our healthy products. our online health membership for peri-menopausal women, online courses and our in person events.

Our Women's health membership when you can jo...

Transcript

0:00

Yes. Welcome to the Holistic Health Sisters podcast of Wellness and Real Life Sisters Hannah Carr and Sarah King from the Holistic Health Collective. In this podcast, we're going to be sharing our passion for, of course, holistic health, but also spirituality, healings, hormone, plant medicine, seasonal living, our love of nature, and our love of community. So we are gonna invite you to take a pause and take a nice deep breath. And join us on a path of healing, of self-discovery and self-love, and of stepping into the brilliance of who you really are. This is a podcast for the seekers out there. Those of you who know there's more to life than just surviving or going through the motions, and you want more, more health, wealth, happiness, love, compassion, connection, trust, surrender, and more faith, and you want that for others too. So we can make this world a better place for us all to go and grab a cup of ceremonial grade cacao and join us as we explore what moves through us, that which is divinely led, so we can all move from fear to walls, more faith. Thank you so much for being here with us today. Warm, welcome to part two, the dark half the year, the purpose of this. So today we will be delving more into. Women's life cycles. This will include part of the menstrual cycle, but also the seasons of a woman's life. And we're gonna be doing some personal storytelling and some shares as well. And so both of us are on this episode. Hi Han. Hi. So in our last episode, we explored samhain, the dark half of the year, a time of endings, rest and rebirth. So if you didn't listen, go back and check that episode out. Today we are bringing that same rhythm inwards into the body, into the womb, exploring how women's monthly cycle mirrors the turning of the seasons, and. You've probably heard, and you certainly have probably felt, our menstrual cycle is not a linear process. It's a circular, rhythmic ever changing, just like the earth, just like the moon. When we begin to honor those inner shifts rather than resisting them, we can really come into harmony with our body's wisdom. We can really come into good health and better relationships and have more fun in life, I would say. What would you say has been your experience of honoring those internal rhythms? Hannah? I would say before I started working with the moon about 10 years ago, I wasn't that tuned into those internal rhythms. I knew when I was ovulating, I knew when I was menstruating, but I wasn't plugged into how my energy. Was changing throughout the month when I might need more rest or perhaps more nourishment. So it is really been a learning over the past 10 years. And now I really embrace the fact that a women's cycle has these different changes throughout the month and. I have a young teenage daughter who will be close to entering that kind of menstruation age, and I was trying to explain to her all the gifts of the monthly bleed. So I was explaining to her that, for some people, they can experience being a little bit more open psychically, or at least intuition wise at that time of the month. I certainly find that, but it can also be nice to have a permission slip, not an excuse to need to rest or slow down to use it in a disempowering way, but to use it in an empowering way of, oh yeah, sometimes I do need to rest. And this is a great reminder from my body giving me permission to do that. So I do enjoy that. And also, I have been a little bit more tuned in recently to the Inner mean girl or the Inner Critic, that voice that comes up just before menstruation. Where I get really curious with that is has this part of me got anything of value to say that I could actually pay attention to, rather than try to push those thoughts away. And also to empower other parts of my cycle where. I don't need to listen to that voice all month long as well, because I've given that part of me, that chance when it needed to have its voice heard, really. Yeah, I guess over the years, just embracing all the different parts of the cycle and being much more connected to that and the gifts that each part of the cycle bring. So I'll do a whistle stop tour reminder through the inner seasons and how they are linked to the outer seasons. We have done extensive workshops inside the Holistic health Circle. We've written blogs on this. If you want more information, we'll signpost you to it, but just as the earth moves through spring, summer, autumn, and winter, we too embody these seasons with our monthly cycle and within our life cycle. So our inner spring. Could be connected to that follicular phase. So just after menstruation where hormones begin to rise, so you've got estrogen that might bring more energy and clarity and creativity. You might feel a bit more inspired, you might be a little bit more sociable and ready to begin Again, this is your new beginning. Then you've got inner summer ovulation. This is a time of radiance, high energy connection, confidence. Kind of life in full bloom in a autumn luteal phase. Just before menstruation, hormones are beginning to dip. Progesterone and estrogen shift sensitivity could increase both physically and emotionally. This is the premenstrual phase that's shedding before the release. So like the trees letting go of their leaves, we too are invited to release what's no longer needed. And this, when Hannah spoke about listening to perhaps their inner voice, it could be an inner critic. Truth can really rise at this point in the cycle. Boundaries might become clearer, what we've ignored really asked to be seen. And then we go into that inner when inner winter menstruation. Bleeding time. Energy pulls inwards. Hormones are at their lowest. This could be that invitation to rest. You could be more intuitive and reflective, and it's in that stillness that renewal begins. And just as winter gives birth to spring menstruation gives birth to new life, new clarity, new moons, new beginnings. So in the premenstrual and menstrual phases, our hormone levels, especially estrogen and progesterone. They can dip really dramatically, and this shift can bring physical sensations like fatigue, tenderness, bloating, emotional waves, like sadness, irritability, introspection, or even grief. So there are no bad or wrong feelings. There's just information. Your body's speaking might be asking for more nourishment or space or honesty. Many traditions did honor menstruation. It was seen as a sacred time, a spiritual reset, a cleansing. It's a great detox of the body actually. And women would withdraw from daily tasks, they would gather together. They would rest and receive visions or guidance. So you may know this as red tent, so imagine if you treat this time not as inconvenience, but as a built in cycle of renewal. We are in this dark half of the year, is asking you to. Adapt your self-care really. And we've got some suggestions on how you can do for this, how you can support yourself. But what we'll speak to is a few personal stories about letting go and shed in and changing our self-care to suit our lifestyle. And this natural dropping of identities which we see in this cycle in the inner seasons also reflected outwardly, hannah, did you have some stories to share there? One that comes to mind for me, a fairly recent one, and this is a letting go over probably a decade. So a period of transition was before I had kids, I worked in banking and my persona to the world, I guess was professional, smart, and. Quite glamorous, as well. And I had really beautiful wardrobe of clothes that matched that persona. And then when I become a mother, I didn't really need that wardrobe of clothes anymore. In fact, the wardrobe of clothes was quite different. When I become a mom, I do remember that transition of feeling like I didn't really know how to dress as a mom. How did I show up in the world to look as a mom and. How did I step into that role? It took me a while to discover that, but I still had these old clothes that perhaps if it was, I dunno, a weekend away or a night out, I'd probably go back to that old version of me. I was excited to reconnect to those smart and glamorous parts of me. And over it's about a 10 year period. Those times have got less and less. And I think that you've been through this period of change as well, Sarah, that I actually remember when I studied nutrition that my teacher was telling me at the time that. Often, say for example, you've got a lot of tension in your body. It might be that you, you wear very straight clothes that kind of pops you in and that you, if you wanted to be a bit more fluid and floaty, then you know, one way that you can step into that persona a little bit more is through your clothes. And I remember thinking, gosh, I never wanna dress like that. That's not me. And it is more than 10 years later that is me now. You'll probably see me in a wide leg trousers, the floaty dresses, stepping more into my femininity. But I had a good clear out of my wardrobe and I had to really accept that I wasn't gonna wear this Karen Millen pencil dress with big pointy shoulders in a wide belt anymore. Like I had this lovely dress and I wish that I could wear it, but I don't even fit into those high heeled shoes anymore. Sarah, where I've worn flat shoes or trainers for so long now, my feet have definitely they've not got wider, but they're not shoehorned into these small pointy shoes anymore, so I can't even get the shoes on. I don't feel comfortable. I've got nowhere to wear the clothes, and so I had to let go of that part of me, but it was. Unexpectedly I was quite tied to it actually, I was sad to let that part of me go because there'd been so many fun and good years whilst I was in that persona. So that's a little bit of a long story of letting go, but I've transitioned over a period of time, but the final letting go did feel really difficult and really sad, and I really didn't want to let go of those clothes, but I just had to admit that. I didn't really have anywhere that I'd wear those kind of clothes anymore. And to lovingly let go of that part of me and at the same time be excited about the new part. Who gets to wear, the floaty dresses, the wide trousers, and be really comfortable in the flat shoes as well. As you're speaking, I'm thinking who does this really well is Marie Kondo, who is. I think world famous for the magic of tidying up or decluttering. And she really speaks to holding the items that you are when you're having a clear out and thanking them for the part and the part that they've played in your life and really tuning into whether they'll serve you anymore and then lovingly passing them on. I think it even come into a Netflix series, but it's a wonderful book. But yeah, the clothes are just an extension, an outward reflection of who we are. An important phase of your life, a life that you loved. And not to say that you don't absolutely love motherhood, but you still had to say goodbye, didn't you? That's it. And I just wanted to share about a challenge. Which has now really transformed into a gift of using my inner menstrual cycle and how this really was emphasized in the dark half of the year. The challenge of it, if I'd had this awareness of cycles, it really probably wouldn't have got to the the depths that it did. So just a trigger warning,'cause I'm gonna share about. A time that I did try to take my life. It is part of my personal story of why I've become trauma informed and why I really love helping people to come into deeper inner trust with their life or work with the seasons so that they know that there are potential challenges and what you can do. That's why we speak about the self-care. And so it was in an October and a premenstrual phase. I tried to take my life, and then the reason I know that now is because my bleed came when I was in hospital afterwards, and the premenstrual was a time that my inner critic completely overtook my life. So I didn't have the ability to separate that in a mean girl or that inner critic from reality. And this is why we've said a few times already, if you are feeling low, if you are feeling like you're having a hard time or depressed, it's really important that you reach out.'cause you probably can't coach or reason yourself out of it. And you're gonna need that extra support. So whether it's reaching out to, there are many charities, in fact we'll put them in the show notes. Suicide prevention, a friend, even a work colleague, make sure that you are not doing this alone in the dark half of the year, in particularly. And Hannah already said about her inner critic coming up, premenstrual. It can happen and usually there's some good reflection to be done that part of you wants to be listened to. But what can happen is it can merge and it can take over. So that's why that support is important. And especially when we haven't got as much sunlight, we are not producing those hormones that help to buffer some of these what's the word? We don't have the ho the, some of the confidence hormones. We don't have the testosterone at its peak in the premenstrual. So we might really feel that dip, which is just a phase. But if you are struggling with your mental health or physical health, then it can merge. So that's where I've been with it. But where I am now, I know that we're in the dark half of the year. We're coming up to samhain. It's the 15th of October as we record this. And I'm premenstrual. And what I've done is I've known that the veil is thin and I've known that we can perhaps contact ancestors. And I've been walking a bit of an ancestral path and discovering and exploring some of the history of my family and. We did a wonderful workshop, Hannah and I, when we were at a festival with a wonderful mother and daughter business, or they have their own, business called Lucid Dreaming, lucid Living, and they're soon to feature inside our holistic health circle, but also they're going to be featuring on the podcast. So if you are into anything like outta body experiences, spirituality, astral projection, and stress, all connection, this is definitely the episode for you and maximizing our dream space. And so I connected with my grandfather, who's been dead for about 30 years, and what happened was I really felt an exuberance, a complete joy and high happiness that when I woke from the dream space and I remembered it, it was within my body. I felt like my heart lifted and opened. And many cultures really honor the dream time, don't they? Hannah? Yeah. I feel like what you are sharing there about your experience with meeting granddad is the feeling Sarah is exactly the same feeling as when my spirit left my body as I was falling to sleep one night. So I feel like it's our joint experience of connecting to spirit. But we mentioned in the previous podcast episode after samahin is what celebrated in some cultures is Day of the Dead, and that's on the first and 2nd of November. I started to celebrate that as Day of the Dead. So taking on other cultures traditions and trying it in my own home. And what we done was we invited the family round and put pictures up of all of our ancestors that we've loved and lost. That's the way I described it. So those that have passed over and we had a celebration and we at food and then we. Left food in offering to them. So these can be some of the kind of rituals that may help you connect to. It might be taking those steps in your everyday 3D reality, actually bring it into your dream space. But it actually might let you to connect to your ancestors that are, perhaps in another realm that's the way that you might look at it, or they're there. Spirit, these practices can help you connect. So Sarah's experience was after visiting Granddad's home, wasn't it Sarah? So that was in your 3D reality, but your dream space let you visit back there. That's right. Yeah. For me, physical locations evoke quite a lot of feelings within me. So I was drawn to go back to South London where my grandfather lived and where we visited in kind of second home for us really growing up. So once I had been in that space, this helped me to activate that connection through the dream time. And so there are lots of ways that you can support yourself and. What I'd really invite here is, best, your intuition might be stronger at this time. There are many ways that you might be disconnected from your intuition, but if you are connected, then you know, override any suggestions with what feels right for you. But for autumn, winter, or your inner autumn winter, really slowing down if this feels right. So reducing social commitments if you can. Choosing stillness over stimulation, using rest as medicine. Nourishment through food. So eat warm, try and let go of any raw or cold foods. Eat grounding food. Foods like soup, stews, root vegetables. Hannah has done an Autumn Nutrition talk, which you can find in the membership, or check out the blog that's written on Autumn Nutrition that's in the show notes. Yeah, the basic one, hydration. So you might just want to switch up some of your hydration for warming herbal teas teas that help cramps or soothe the nervous system. So this could be things like raspberry leaf or nettle or kaile, but we absolutely love this time of year self-care rituals like lighting a candle. I like to do it in the morning when I wake up early and the place is quiet. You might light a candle at the start of your bleed. You might offer gratitude to your ancestors or to your body for releasing. You might journal on what you are letting go of physically, emotionally, or energetically and movement wise, something a bit more gentle, so maybe getting outside for a walk, but for a shorter amount of time. Gentle yoga. Maybe even just some self massage.'cause that will help to move stagnation in the body and be really aware of your emotions at this time of year. Emotional awareness. So if tears come and I notice I'll be curious to say, see what you say, Hannah. When I, the immediate thing when I start to cry is to stop myself, but try and let them. How is it for you? We actually do it. I'm gonna talk, say like we collectively, it's my experience, but I believe we all do this, is we hold our breath and we contract our chest. Probably before you've even realized that you've done it. So the fact that you've got a well awareness that you're stopping yourself, Sarah, is that's part of the journey is that you've got the awareness now, but I believe that most of us, in this part of the world are doing that without even realizing, swallowing those tears or that lump in the throat back. Down. A place I really like to cry, it just comes out for me, is in my car. And I think it's'cause I'm by myself. I'm not with anyone else. Music can move me or it might just be, a memory or something like that. Or I might be listening to something in an audio book or a podcast that moves me. And I think that maybe I feel safe in this sort of like container where people can't come over and say, are you okay? Or. Do you need anything? It is a really good place for me to have a little cry if you haven't experimented with having a cry or some of my clients and some of my ladies at Women's Circle, they love having a scream in the car. Sarah, they put on heavy metal music and use it as a tool to help connect to emotions and have a bit of a release in the car. Beautiful. I love it. Yeah, so really allowing yourself if and when and where you can to shed. So just keep looking out the window, the trees are showing you. Nature always shows you what to do. Try not to pick up too many responsibilities or start new projects. Making life easy at this time of year, particularly for you all grieving. Or going through health challenges or bleeding if you are menstruating. And when we align with this season, we really stop fighting ourselves and this is becoming an unbecoming, the sacred rhythm of woman womanhood. There is power in this cyclical way of living. Remember, your hormones aren't working against you. They're just guiding you back to balance. And we'll soon be coming up to the Scorpio, new Moon or Scorpio season, which invites us even more into the darkness and the shadows within. To find the gifts and power that lies within as well, and the gift of mystery. So that's all for part two. And just before we go, let's just remind you of a few ways that you can go deeper with this work with us. So if you missed the last Part one podcast I mentioned that we have a samhain online cacao ceremony. You can do that on Halloween itself on, or the food days following. If you're interested in joining that, just drop us an email at hello@holistichealthcollective.co uk. We can tell you how you can join, and the other thing that you can do is you can join us. In a moon ceremony. So we just mentioned there, the scorpio season coming up and for the rest of this year we are actually opening up our moon ceremonies for you to join us. So you don't have to be part of the Holistic Health Circle and monthly health membership. You can do this as a drop in session. That we're doing this as a pay. What you feel is right session so you can pay anything from a pound to come and join us. So there's no reasons to stop you. The financial is not a reason to stop you. This is a suggested amount of 20 pounds, but do what you feel is right and come and join us on those ceremonies to take this work a little bit deeper. And the final way that I'd share that could be really good for you to consider is we have a silent retreat in January, 2026. It's in tonbridge in Kent, and this is on the first new Moon of the calendar year, and this is a space where you can drop into your own deeper work over a longer period of time. So we're gonna be there for three days, allowing you to explore the depths of yourself. So go and check out all of those offerings. Some of them are gonna be linked in the show notes. Otherwise you can drop us an email or just check out our website, www.holistichealthcollective.co.uk. Say thank thanks for joining us today, and we will see you on part three. Thank you a million times, Ava, for joining us on this podcast episode. You can support the show by giving us a follow on any podcast platform you're listening to this on. If you already follow us, then thank you so much and maybe share this episode. If you think of someone, someone comes to mind where you think they'd really benefit from listening to this. This is one way that we like to spread the love with our friends, is sharing podcasts or playlist. So let them know that we are thinking about them. So just send it on to them with a few words about why they might enjoy it. And if you'd like to check out any of our in-person events or retreats or our online offerings, head over to our website, www.holistichealthcollective.co.uk. We'll see you in the next episode.