Take a few minutes to read E.McKibbon's beautiful words.  She tells us of the various transformations she has undergone in how she thinks about her body, menstruation and nature.  There are some great insights here - grab a cup of coffee. ~Diana

I'm writing to say that I love your products. But I also appreciate that you give people the opportunity to talk about the wrongly- tabooed subject of menstruation, for long ago, it was something to be respected and honored.

I use your Sea Pearls tampons and your GladRags. I have never been a woman who thought periods were disgusting or a hindrance to my life-quite the opposite actually. When I was in my early teens, I looked forward to starting my period, and when it came at 14, my mother took me to our local gourmet market. She bought me a special sandwich, a piece of chocolate cake, a bouquet of flowers, and my first box of pads. I felt so special and womanly.

A few years later, I went on the pill. My period lightened significantly and only became a symbol of not being pregnant. I didn't think too much more of it than that. However, as I got into my early twenties, I became much more aware of nature. I surfed, I hiked, I lay on the beach and listened to Mama Ocean's waves, and I began to have an intuition that being on the pill was not for me.

With much trepidation and fear of getting pregnant, I got off the pill, and when my first period came, it was a full, powerful flow with heavy cramps that felt quite delicious to me. Also, with help from a friend who used to be a family planning counselor, I learned the Billing's Method of Natural Family Planning. I've used that method with condoms as birth control with great success. As the years went by, I continued to play in nature and respect her while hiking and surfing, but I also began to have a greater respect for my body as one infinite, ongoing cycle that pulsed on far beyond my period.

Anyways, I've always preferred pads, even while exercising, because I like to feel the warm flow of blood. It's a reminder for me of my creative power- for making a home for a potential human life, and also for my artistic creativity, my thoughts, my personal evolution as a conscious woman, and the shedding of the "lessons" I've learned throughout the month. Then as the next cycle begins, I feel the estrogen making me giddy, sexy, energized, prolific, followed by the progesterone which makes me want to retreat into myself. I feel myself fill with water, as if I'm a small ocean, and then the cycle begins anew with my period.

If I feel all this, then why on earth would I want to put polluted, harsh, chemically-laden tampons inside myself, and bleached, synthetic pads between my legs?  Plus, as I began to see that my menstrual cycle was tuned to nature, I began to have an awakening to nature as a conscious, cosmic force that I did not want to pollute.

It makes me so sad that so many cultures, including our own, see menstruation as disgusting. So many women think that their blood is disgusting and they are greatly ashamed of leaking, or even getting it on a partner while making love. Today's pills even keep it at bay, promising to lighten it, make it a seasonal thing, or get rid of it all together. I couldn't imagine this! My cycle tells me so much about where I am emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically. I know exactly what's going on with my body at all times-when I'm fertile and when my period is due. Now before I start to bleed, I get myself a bouquet and set my Glad Rags and Sea Pearls in the bathroom. Washing them out after use is another way I tune into myself-I wash the monthly energies away, down the sink, and am ready to start a new month, a new personal cycle.

I feel it's very important to say that, since using the Sea Pearls and having to soak them in diluted tea tree oil, I believe that it does a world of good for the natural defenses in my vagina. I feel even healthier than before! But do make sure it's diluted ☺.

- E. McKibbon

E. McKibbon is an artist who enjoys depicting the female body, flowers, fruiting bodies, and unusual things within nature, making them all dynamically co-exist with harmonious energy on the picture plane. She loves oil paints, watercolor, hiking, gardening, and photography. She and her husband live in a pretty little cottage by the Pacific Ocean, and enjoy taking evening walks together. Elle enjoys tea and natural foods very, very much.