Some conversations feel like medicine. Not the kind you swallow, but the kind that softens you open from the inside. Today’s episode was different, not just because it was our first co-hosted conversation, but because we dared to name what’s been left out of nearly every public health conversation:
Perimenopause is not a malfunction; it’s a rite of passage.Today, I had the honor of speaking with Season Opitz of Dancing Spring Garden, a deeply rooted herbalist in Arkansas who is walking beside me as I navigate the wild terrain of perimenopause.
Together, we moved through a terrain few are taught to map: the sacred, complex journey of the uterus-bearing body, outside the gaze of white supremacy, outside the medical industrial complex, outside the shame scripts that silence our symptoms and story.
We explored the deep remembering that happens when we reorient ourselves to the wisdom of our bodies and rewild the care we give ourselves in transitional seasons.
We broke the silence. We shared herbs. We untangled lies. And most importantly, we remembered:
The body is not the problem. Supremacy is.
What emerged was a truth too often buried: most of what we think we know about the female body has been filtered through supremacy culture’s warped lens, centering the needs of white cis women as reproductive vessels, while violating, neglecting, or medicalizing the rest of us.
To the men and masculine beings reading:
You, too, were taught to ignore your body. To measure your worth by output, suppression, survival.
But your body is not a cog. It is not a commodity.
It is time to come home.
To un-numb.
To stop producing and start listening.
To remember that your rage, your fatigue, your longing are also portals.
You are not exempt from this reclamation. You are essential to it.
Together, we are building a new rhythm.
One rooted in relationship.
With the earth.
With our herbs.
With each other.
With our sacred, shifting, sensational bodies.
This is not a return to the past.
It’s a rewilding of the future.
Welcome home. Your episode is coming up soon… Keep reading
3 Takeaways:
Our Bodies Were Never Designed for Their Full Wisdom
Medical systems were never intended to hold our whole truths. They were created to serve one narrow body type: white, cis, able-bodied, and reproductive-aged. Anything outside of that is labeled “abnormal” or “disposable”
Perimenopause isn’t a disease; it’s the body’s transformation. It’s a return. But when medicine centers only the body that births more white children, everything else gets seen as waste.
Example:
Mood changes? Called “unstable.”
Hot flashes? Mocked.
Crying spells? Over-medicated.
But what if these were downloads, not defects?
Thought-Terminating Clichés:
“It’s just hormones.”
“You’re overreacting.”
Reframe:
Perimenopause is not a pathology; it’s a portal. Our bodies are birthing wisdom, not breaking down.
Reflection:
When did you first learn to mistrust your body’s messages? What would shift if you treated your symptoms as sacred signals?
Perimenopause is a Revolution, And Herbs Are Our Allies
Season offered insight not just from her head, but from her soil. She reminded us that the Earth has always offered a remedy, even when systems don’t.
We spoke about the healing power of red clover, adaptogens, and gentle nourishment that invites us back into balance instead of war with our wombs.
Example:
Red clover supports hormone balancing.
Ashwagandha soothes adrenal fatigue.
Motherwort calms the heart of rage and grief.
This isn’t “woo.” This is ancestral medicine. Suppressed, not because it didn’t work, but because it couldn’t be patented.
Thought-Terminating Clichés:
“There’s no scientific proof.”
“Just get hormone therapy.”
Reframe:
Herbs are not an alternative, they’re original. They remember what your body forgot under capitalism.
Reflection:
Which plant are you curious about right now? What herbal support feels like an invitation instead of an intervention?
Supremacy Culture Undermined Our Wombs
From sterilizations of Black and Brown women, to erasure from clinical trials, to being dismissed in exam rooms, uterus-bearing bodies have always been political terrain.
But perimenopause has long been excluded from even the reproductive justice conversation. Why? Because when white patriarchy centers birthing more of itself, anything that doesn’t serve that gets left behind.
Example:
Reproductive justice must include all body transitions, not just birth.
Perimenopause, peri-sexuality, and peribirth are part of our full human journey.
Thought-Terminating Clichés:
“Menopause is a personal problem.”
“You’re just aging.”
Reframe:
This is not decay. This is decolonization. Reproductive freedom includes this chapter too.
Reflection:
Where have you been silenced in your body’s transitions? What stories or care practices can you reclaim to honor your current evolution?
Practice Your Praxis
SELF:
Make tea with intention this week. Let it be a ritual of listening to your body instead of fixing it. Bless your brew. Sip slowly. What does your body ask for in stillness?
HOME:
Talk to a loved one about what perimenopause actually feels like — not just the symptoms, but the shifts in identity, sensuality, energy. Make space for collective remembering.
WORK:
Challenge language that pathologizes the body. If someone says “crazy hormones,” respond with:
“Actually, I think my body is trying to teach me something important.”
Your body is not a problem to fix. It is a place to come home to
Final Words: This Body Is a Map Back Home
This episode wasn’t just about perimenopause; it was about returning.
Returning to the body not as a machine for output or reproduction, but as a living altar. A site of knowing. A threshold of becoming.
For those of us holding wombs, we have been told our power ends when our blood slows. But what if the slowing is the summoning? What if the hot flash is a flare of ancestral activation? What if this is not deterioration, but divination?
This is the wisdom of the Crone, the seer, the keeper of flame. And to reindigenize our relationship with our cycles is to remember what capitalism worked so hard to make us forget: our seasons are sacred. Our transitions are truth. Our medicine is older than the machines.
Colonization and the Western medical system want to flatten us into utility:
we are valuable when birthing
invisible when bleeding
discarded when transitioning.
But in Indigenous cosmologies, especially among many African, Celtic, and earth-based traditions, we move through sacred cycles that are never about productivity, but about embodiment, wisdom, and spiritual role.
The Mother Maiden and Crone
The Maiden is the beginning; curious, fertile in both body and possibility.
The Mother is the nourisher; not just of children, but of community, of dreams, of justice.
And the Crone; she is not “old” she is the Keeper of Memory. The wisdom-bearer. The one who walks with the unseen and speaks with the soil.
Perimenopause isn’t an end, it is a becoming.
It’s the Crone’s quickening. A sacred rite stripped from us by supremacist timelines that reward youth, productivity, and whiteness.
To reindigenize our care is to remember:
🌬️ Our blood is not shameful.
🌬️ Our hot flashes are not dysfunction; they are fire medicine.
🌬️ And our transitions deserve altars, not jokes.
This is about more than hormones.
This is about returning to the Land and the Lineage that never forgot who we were.
Crone-Era Starter Garden: Herbs for Rewilding the Body
Begin your apothecary of becoming right where you are, even if it’s a windowsill.
These plants are not only medicinal. They are messengers.
Each one supports the journey of perimenopause and the wisdom of cyclical living
.
For Uterus-Bearing Bodies Transitioning into Cronehood:
Red Clover – A phytoestrogen-rich herb that supports hormone balance and reduces hot flashes. It’s gentle but mighty and helps the body recalibrate naturally.
Motherwort – A powerful heart tonic and emotional balm. Supports mood swings, anxiety, and grief that often surface during hormonal shifts.
Vitex (Chasteberry) – Regulates progesterone and supports the endocrine system. Especially good if cycles are irregular or symptoms feel erratic.
Oatstraw – Deep nourishment for the nervous system. Calms frazzled energy, supports deep sleep, and rebuilds inner reserves depleted by years of pushing through.
Lemon Balm – Softens the edge of overwhelm. Uplifting, antiviral, and cooling — perfect for both mental and physical heat.
Crone Ritual Tip: Make a simple infused tea blend with red clover, lemon balm, and oatstraw. Drink in silence while journaling:
“What wisdom is blooming in me that the world taught me to fear?”
Rewilding the Masculine Body: A Return to Sensation
Because men, too, have been estranged from their inner rhythms by the grind of supremacy and productivity culture.
These herbs support emotional regulation, hormone balance, and reconnection to the intuitive body:
Ashwagandha – An adaptogen that rebuilds resilience. Regulates cortisol, supports testosterone balance, and invites grounded energy instead of burnout.
Damiana – Known as a heart opener and sensual stimulant. Invites men back into their emotional and erotic bodies with presence.
Nettle – A nutrient-dense tonic that supports the prostate, energy levels, and iron absorption. Great for rebuilding vitality.
Tulsi (Holy Basil) – Regulates stress, boosts mood, and centers the heart. A sacred plant ally for daily centering.
Mugwort – A dream and intuition enhancer. Supports spiritual reconnection and can be used for smoke cleansing or in teas (lightly — it’s strong!).
Masculine Ritual Prompt: Brew nettle and tulsi together. Sip slowly while placing a hand over your heart and asking:
“Where have I traded my peace for performance?”
🌬️Garden Blessing:
May your starter garden not just ease symptoms
but whisper truth.
May it reconnect you to the land, to lineage,
to the rhythm that capitalism tried to grind out of you.
This is not just healing.
This is resistance.
This is ritual.
This is return.
Talk this into the Soil
When you sip your tea tonight…
When your sweat returns uninvited…
When your patience shortens and your rage rises…
Say to your body:
“I am not broken.
I am entering the most sacred role of my life.
I am the Crone coming. And I carry fire.”
🎙️ Teaser for the Next Episode: "The Sovereign Man: Stewardship, Not Supremacy"
Before we go, I want to leave you with this:
In ancient Celtic tradition, the king wasn't crowned by conquest, he was chosen by the land. Sovereignty wasn't about domination. It was about devotion. He had to be in right relationship with the Earth, or the land would reject him. The crops would fail. The people would suffer.
And I can’t help but ask…
What would shift if modern man saw himself not as master, but as steward?
Not as a ruler, but as one in sacred service to something greater?
In our next episode, I’ll be joined by a special guest as we explore the sacred masculine archetypes — Father, Steward, King — and how reclaiming them can help us all return home to Earth, to balance, and to right relationship.
We’re dismantling supremacy, yes, but we’re also rebuilding something sacred in its place.
So bring your questions. Bring your wounds. Bring your longing to remember.
Because next time, we’re calling the kings back to the soil.
With reverence and root-deep gratitude,
Desireé B. Stephens
Founder of Make Shi(f)t Happen
Educator | Counselor | Community Builder
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