October's eclipse is extra powerful for purging trauma stored in the womb. Blend a custom yoni steam to make room for new life this Scorpio season.
As we enter Scorpio season, it’s the perfect time to release unprocessed emotions and trauma from the body. This can be done through somatic therapy, bodywork practices like yoga (lots of hip openers) and shadow work. However, some deeply-buried trauma lives in internal organs that are difficult to stimulate with these practices - like the womb or yoni (for those of us living with one).
If you have lots of Scorpio energy, I highly recommend making this a routine ritual.
How does trauma live in the yoni?
In Sanskrit, the term yoni is the word for vagina and womb. It is a powerful force and is central to our energetic, emotional, sexual and intellectual wellbeing.
Physically, the womb is a hollow organ, which makes it energetically unique. It will fill up with whatever energy is around unless we intentionally fill it with something else. This can sometimes mean that the fear, helplessness or sadness you felt when you were experiencing a trauma can sometimes stick around, inside the womb space. When challenging emotions and memories hang around inside the womb space, this can lead to physical and emotional symptoms - from heavy, crampy periods, to more serious reproductive health issues.
Scorpio season is the ideal time for purging womb-related trauma
In medical astrology, Scorpio deals with the body’s processes of creation, transformation and elimination - of survival and excretion. Since it rules over sexual energy, it claims parts of the reproductive system where sexual energy becomes life energy - including the womb (where a fertilized egg becomes a fetus), the birthing process, and death and dying.
As a result, Scorpio rules over the resources we share with others, because the most intimate thing we can share with another person is energy exchanged through sex. In our modern world, this also grows to encompass things like money and material possessions, but at the core of it, they are also just energy in another form. As we share energy with our intimate partners, we’re also susceptible to taking on their traumas through sex.
This also means ancestral trauma ...
Aside from negative experiences we may obtain in our intimate exchanges with others, we also inherit ancestral trauma through the womb. Not all ancestral trauma is from generations ago. Each of us spent five months in our grandmother’s womb and she in turn formed within the womb of her grandmother. This formative time, whether you consciously remember it or not, shaped you in many ways — including your DNA, emotional state, and psychological health.
“All the eggs a woman will ever carry form in her ovaries while she is a four-month-old fetus in the womb of her mother. This means our cellular life as an egg begins in the womb of our grandmother.” —Layne Redmond
Only through receiving loving nourishment — from ourselves or others — can we truly heal trauma in all forms and celebrate this aspect of our sacred feminine. In a world wrought with far too much trauma to the yoni and female psyche, the time has come for us to use our own tools to transform the experience of having a womb.
Yoni steaming & its benefits
Yoni steaming is a potent tool for this and is the perfect ritual for this Scorpio and eclipse season. It is actually an ancient women’s remedy that is being revived by women everywhere who are ready to celebrate, nourish and support their yonis.
It may sound odd to some, but steaming the yoni has stood the test of time as a respected treatment for women, used by traditional healers across the globe to cleanse and revive the womb.
The benefits of yoni steaming extend to:
Reconnection with the sacred center of creation that lies within us
Release of stored grief and trauma
Activation of female sexuality
Regulation of the menstrual cycle
Increased fertility
Speed healing after birth
Treatment of uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, uterine weakness, uterine prolapse and endometriosis.
Treatment of chronic vaginal/yeast infections.
Relief for the symptoms of menopause
Detoxification of the womb and elimination of contaminants from the body.
I'll be gifting a special organic Scorpio Eclipse Yoni Steam Blend to all in-person attendants of the Scorpio Eclipse Circle on October 23rd to take home. However, if you can't make it, here are directions on how to make your own.
DIY Yoni Steam Release Ritual
Using your intuition for proportions and herb selections, choose herbs from the list below to come up with your own special yoni steam blend for Scorpio season. I recommend performing the ritual prior to or on the eclipse on October 25th, but it would be appropriate to perform anytime this Scorpio season.
Note, if you don't have a womb, you can still perform this ritual or use the blend in a bath to release & cleanse your energy.
Hibiscus - antispasmodic; helps relieve heavy cramps and regulate flow. Energetically, it allows for flow and release in the sacral region, allowing for pleasure and intimacy. Highly recommended for Scorpio season as it is a Scorpionic herb.
Rose - cycle balancing; exceptional womb and heart space healing properties; Libra & Taurus association & the ultimate divine feminine herb
Lavender - sweet-smelling antiseptic and antibacterial; powerfully cleansing and soothing, it invites in calm and assists with healthy boundaries. Great for water signs, Gemini and Virgo energy.
Mugwort - used to expel stagnant energy and move blood; great for those suffering from amenorrhea; Energetically tied to Taurus and powerful for tapping into intuition
Nettle - detoxifies and builds blood for those with heavy cycles. An Aries and Scorpio associated herb and great for purging this Scorpio season
Motherwort - multifaceted herb for women in all stages of life; blood mover for those suffering from amenorrhea, eases PMS symptoms as well as moderates menopausal symptoms; Beneficial for heart and womb connection and healing
Dandelion root - detoxifying, and improves endocrine balance; great for anyone lacking grounding or earth energy in their chart or with lots of Sagittarius energy.
Calendula - antiseptic and soothing to irritated tissues. It also helps ease and treat cramping and heaviness.
Chamomile - a soothing, nurturing herb associated with ancestral wisdom and cancer energy; relieves cramping, tension, and pain; great for connection to ancestors.
Yarrow - a powerful infection fighter, great for wound repair, tender, bruised, stitched tissues. Energetically tied to Chiron, the wounded healer and therefore great for everyone.
Ritual Suggestion:
Connect:
Place your hands gently, & lovingly on the body, perhaps one on the womb space & one on the heart.
Invite in conscious breath. In through the nose, sigh out through the mouth.
Express your welcome & gratitude to your body & womb space for being a part of you & for sharing her wisdom
Stay connected, breathing & listening. Be open to guidance from this space.
Allow yourself to trust the messages you hear from within. Start to notice the different tone used by the body versus the mind. Let the body’s messages guide you towards selecting music, meditation, journaling or additional stillness for your steam.
Do this for about 3-5 minutes before you steam, & continue conscious breathing & connection throughout your steam.
Prepare:
Set yourself up in a safe, private & pleasant space.
Start a pot (either stainless steel, enamel or earthenware) of 1-2L of water to boil with a lid.
Once you have a rolling boil, turn the heat down, add 1/2 cup of dry herbs to the water and simmer for 5–10 minutes.
Turn off heat and let steep for another 10 minutes with the lid. This limits the escape of volatile plant oils.
Gather a sheet to drape around you & a towel for the pot. The sheet should be wrapped around you once you sit down to form a sort of tent for the lower half of your body.
Once you are ready to steam, place the pot on a heat-safe surface on the floor, & wrap it in a towel to protect you from the hot material should you touch it. If you do not have a yoni steam seat, you can place the pot in a clean toilet or steam in a puppy dog or tabletop pose.
Get comfortable, get your draping around you & open the pot carefully. Use the draping to allow in fresh air if needed while you get settled; otherwise, close the steam tent up so that no cold air comes in. Settle into your yoni steam.
Relax, meditate, read something inspiring, have music playing, connect with your yoni, your pelvis, & receive what your body has to communicate.
It's best to steam for about 20–30 minutes. Listen to your body. Repeat as desired. Use the steams throughout your cycle, focusing on the week before bleeding. Do not use it during bleeding or pregnancy.