“Springtime is the time of the Maiden. It's the season of risk-taking, mistake-making, curiosity-waking, and shimmy-shaking." It's the time to awaken to the juicy vitality that is LIFE & blossom!”
—Kathleen Davis

Quick! Think about a movie, a place, a book, a song, and/or person that caused your whole body to go ZING upon your first meeting. [That ZING?—That’s your instinctive, embodied Maiden in action.]

My ZING LIST includes The Enchanted Forest, a storybook park for kids in Maryland where I grew up—so full of magical delights! It includes a copy of the book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, gifted me at 10 years old and a key factor in my propensity for all things magical ever since. It includes the song “Ride Like the Wind” (Christopher Cross) which I first heard in high school and have subsequently listened to about times at the loudest volume possible and included on every mixed tape I made for at least 10 years—until people stopped making mixed tapes (Hello, CD’s!) Lady Diana Spencer (Princess Di) also makes this list, beginning with her engagement to Charles, right up through er untimely death.

Can’t forget ZINGER movies, especially those like the 1995 classic, How to Make An American Quilt. For most of us, movies come and go from our lives with minimal fanfare, but THIS ONE—oh, no!! From the first ZING until now, I am captivated and we are now officially #ForeverFriends. Filled with the beautiful, messy, awkwardness of cross-generational women in community, the film unfolds its message of the power that love and shared story have in celebrating Connection, (with a capital C—since big Connection seems to come only from a long-view commitment of bearing witness to one’s full, authentic life experiences.)

The movie stars a bevvy of truly formidable actresses such as Ellen Burstyn, Wynona Ryder, Alfre Woodard, Mya Angelou, and Anne Bancroft. (I LOVE a good film with strong female storylines!!)

But, the big reason why I’m sharing a little of this movie now in this blog, is that it captures something about the biological threshold of the season of the Maiden (aka Spring).

It goes like this….

Near the beginning of the movie, we meet Marianna (played by Alfre Woodard), the exotic, French-speaking, cigarette smoking member of the quilt-making group at the heart of the story. Introduced to us by the main narrator of the film—Finn (Wynona Ryder), we discover that Marianna’s mysterious, Parisian background made a huge impression on young Finn as she grew up and that the year Finn got her period, Marianna presented Finn with a glass of red wine to commemorate her feminine milestone.

The idea of greeting one’s menarche was so very foreign to me that I was at once both delighted and filled with longing that the occasion of my own first period couldn’t have included a glass of red wine. Or a cake. Or a smudging with a sage stick and a piece of meaningful jewelry. Or a gathering of wise women to encourage and support me. (Alas! Such was not the case for me. How about you?)

Here’s the THING: the occasion of getting one’s first period is the milestone threshold moment that marks the biological beginning of Maidening. I mean, cosmically, it’s a BIG, feminine deal—regardless of the importance granted it by those in our circle at the moment of our own menarche.

However, each of a woman’s seasonal thresholds isn’t limited to its biology. Live long enough and you see that what is true in the specific is true in the universal; what is true on a physical (biological) plane is also true on an unseen plane (emotional, mental, spiritual). What is true IN HERE is also true OUT THERE, and vice versa. So, perhaps the greatest gift of a woman’s seasonal embodiment is that each threshold serves as an undeniable, natural marker that a ch-ch-change is occurring. Each marker is saying, “Dear one, pay attention! It’s time for your story to shift!”

This leaves us with one big question right now: What is the Season of the Maiden all about?

The Wheel of the Year (using poetic language, ‘cause I love it so much)

During each calendar year, Father Time and Mama Nature partner together in another of their circle-dances around the cosmic ballroom, measuring their Sun-orbiting progress in solstices, equinoxes, and seasonal thresholds. As they waltz, the swish of Mama Nature’s skirt sweeps the Moon into motion and unleashes tides and circadian rhythmic flourishes, including a woman’s menstrual cycles. [Cue in 2 measures of dramatic waltz music.]

We’re all familiar with their “metronome” or basic unit of measurement, right? It goes like this: one earth orbit around the sun = 1 calendar year. During Spring, it shows up like this:

In Time-- Spring/Vernal Equinox (March 21) + Waxing Moon (monthly)

In Nature—Spring, a time for greening, budding, blossoming, emerging fertility

The Wheel of Life

Here in the Well-Seasoned Woman’s Studio, we’re all about the embodied, feminine experience—how “seasoning” shows up in a woman’s biological and socio-psychological self. For Spring, this’ll include…

In a woman’s body—Menarche (first blood), generally 11-15 years of age

In her stage of life --From menstruation until age 30 (give or take), we are invested in the work of experimenting and figuring things out; we’re engaged in formal education, building our skillset/ resume, learning how to “adult”—making lots of mistakes, getting things wrong, experimenting with a variety of paths, options, people, partners, managing shifting relationships, building autonomy & independence, and entertaining a plethora of options
In her life geometry—First Half of Life = the seasons of the Maiden + Mother, when a woman’s Tidal (menstrual and energetic) Flow is directed outward

All Creative Cycles

Every time a woman begins a new creative endeavor, whether it be starting a business, crafting a project, planting a garden, or hosting lunch for friends, etc.—she draws upon MAIDEN energy to move her forward. As part of an entire cycle, it’ll look like this:

The Crone: A time to rest, restore, transcend, abandon, come Home, transform, dream, imagine, hope, create a fertile container, celebrate earthiness

The Maiden: A time to be curious, explore, experiment, attract, get lost, gain experience, make mistakes & learn from them, celebrate fertility

The Mother: A time to commit, focus, labor hard, sacrifice, nurture, protect, connect, deliver a finished product, celebrate community

The Matriarch-Queen: A time to harvest, express gratitude & joy, withdraw, take stock, allocate, release, shift, have faith, celebrate duality

Begin Now

What it really comes down to is embodying Time & Season—and the only time and season we truly have is right here, right now—it’s about both navigating by and surrendering to the gifts of our circadian, instinctive, natural rhythms through regular practice—the kind of practices that get us in touch with our precious bodies, encouraging our hearts to open and our minds to settle.

If you’d like to discover how some coaching sessions might help you unleash your Maiden, I’d love to help, visit my coaching page here.

In the meantime, let’s all begin by paying attention to our own deeply instinctual Maiden energy==the ZING and SIZZLE and BUZZZZZ that lives inside each of us. It’s a gift we’re meant to savor every day of our wild and precious lives.

“Creating your own ZING List is a great Maiden practice—since Maiden energy embodies the answers to questions like—”What lights your fire?” and “What makes you feel ALIVE?” and “What mesmerizes you?” So—basically ALL the things that cause your heart rate to increase and your focus/attention to be bewitched. ”

— Kathleen

meet the maiden