The Seven Sacred Rites of Menarche: The Spiritual Journey of the Adolescent Girl

Kristi Meisenbach Boylan follows up her highly acclaimed The Seven Sacred Rites of Menopause with a beautifully written, insightful book about menarche—the first menstrual cycle—and its effect on a young girl's spiritual journey from maidenhood to motherhood.While more and more parents are explaining in clear, open terms what happens physically to their daughters as they move through puberty, they often leave out the emotional implications. More importantly, they often fail to address the spiritual impact of the transition.Meisenbach Boylan believes that parents need to make room for positive rituals in the lives of their daughters. These rites can act as a spiritual map for our daughters to follow as they make their way through the perilous landscape of adolescence. Young girls need these rites in order to truly understand that menarche is the central event that occurs as they make the pilgrimage from the safe cocoon of their parent's world into a world of their own. And more importantly, they need these rites in order to understand that it's okay to weep and to feel lost and alone at certain points along the way.The author not only outlines these rites, but includes celebrations for parents and their daughters to share during this amazing time of growth. Although it often seems like an overnight event, the changes that transform a girl from maidenhood to motherhood do not happen instantaneously. The Seven Sacred Rites of Menarche shows parents how to join their daughters on this wondrous journey.