The Menstruality Podcast - 224: Choose Your Menstrual Cycle Leadership Power for 2026 (Alexandra & Sjanie)

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Happy New Year! We have a gift for you to help you start your 2026 infused in cyclical wisdom.Everything that Alexandra and Sjanie create at Red School is focused on inspiring us to connect to the power that lives within our cyclical nature, so that we can know and claim our own leadership roles in our lives. So, in service of this, today Alexandra and Sjanie do a power card reading with the Red School power cards, to help you choose a menstrual cycle power to guide your leadership this year.And by leadership they mean what you’re built for, your gift for the world. And as Sjanie says in this conversation - your unique way of leading in your life is sourced in your connection to your menstrual cycle. Alexandra added a beautiful visual, saying that it’s like an umbilical chord to the source of your being, to the mothership of you. We had so much fun doing this, and our hope is that you feel like we’re all sitting together round the kitchen table playing! There are three cards to choose from… which one will be your menstrual cycle power ally for the year to come? We explore:How the menstrual cycle helps us to live our own unique leadership (including Sjanie’s latest premenstrual example of how her cycle is helping to grow her up through her journey with self-responsibility). How the menstrual cycle holds us in a sustainable rhythm of self-care, particularly through inviting us to stop and drop our bundles The Red School power cards as a tool for understanding the different menstrual cycle powers that live inside the four inner seasons of the cycle - and you’ll have an opportunity to choose one to guide your year ahead.---Receive our free video training: Love Your Cycle, Discover the Power of Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Revolutionise Your Life - www.redschool.net/love---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email [e-mail]---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardy

Welcome to the menstruality podcast where we share inspiring conversations about the power of menstrual cycle awareness and conscious menopause. This podcast is brought to you by Red School, where we're training the menstruality leaders of the future. I'm your host, Sophie Jane Hardy, and I'll be joined often by Red School's founders, Alexandra and Sharny, as well as an inspiring group of pioneers, activists, changemakers, and creatives to explore how you can unashamedly claim the power of the menstrual cycle to activate your unique form of leadership for yourself, your community and the world. Hey, happy new year. We've got a gift for you today to help you to start your 2026 infused in

cyclical intelligence and wisdom. So everything that Alexander and shiny create at Red School is focused on, inspiring us to connect to the power that lives within our cyclical nature. So we can know and claim our own leadership roles in our lives, whatever that looks like for us. And in service of this today, Alexander and Sharnie have done a power card reading with these lovely little round cards called the Red School Power Cards to help you choose a menstrual cycle power to guide your leadership this year. And by leadership, they mean, what you're built for, your gift for the world, your genius. As Shani says in this conversation, it's your unique way of leading in your life that's sourced in your connection to your

menstrual cycle. And Alexandra added a beautiful visual, saying it's like an umbilical cord to the source of your being, to the mothership of you. So beautiful what she says. And we had such a good time doing this. I really hope you enjoy it too. I hope you feel like we're all sitting around a fire together or around the kitchen table, playing and having, having fun. And there are three cards for you to choose from. You'll find out more about it soon. Which one will be your menstrual cycle power ally for the year to come? Good morning. You too. Let's start with our cycle checking. I can kick us off actually because I'm on day 15, I think. Yeah, ovulated. I'm either day 14 or 15, but this is very

classic for my inner summer around my ovulation because I'm very outward focused, but I definitely know when I ovulated, which was day 13, so I know when my bleed is going to come, which is so helpful. And I have news to report Shani Alexandra and the podcast listeners who have been listening for a while and know about my inner spring challenges in my pre-ovulation phase. I had a real breakthrough this month because I went to a workshop with my friend who teaches this thing called falling where you play the different parts of you in front of other people, which is very confronting and also incredibly liberating. I had this whole weekend of playing my like magical inner child and bitch and all these different characters in front of people. And it really opened me up. And it

was just when I was coming out of my bleed. So then my inner spring was full of play and openness and possibility and experimentation. And I was. suddenly I was on day 11 or 12 and I thought, oh, this is what they're talking about when they talk about the inner spring powers. I was playful and instead of anxious and all my, all of this rising energy going into my head and worries and doubts and it was like, oh, who knows? We don't know. Let's try.

How about this? So it was so fun. And so now I know one of my keys to unlocking the powers of my pre-ovulatory phase are just to play out these different parts. of myself these different characters and yeah you need to book a play date with yourself every spring put in your diary play date with sophie from 10 to 12 a m on like day seven yes yes so anyway i could obviously talk and talk and talk today one of you two go it's very entertaining sophie jane i could happily listen to you sharnie you do want to go next you you're on a roll go for it i don't know if i am on a

Well, but okay, all right, I will tune in to myself. I'm feeling okay after a bonkers night of bonkers dreams. I mean, it's like me, it's like tripping all night, all these mad insane figures. But actually, I am actually feeling in good cheer. I am, it's Day 21 of the Moon, and I actually do feel this real discernment. So I'm very precise about, you know, things.

And I'm critical, but not in a judgmental way and not. It's a criticalness and knowing what is for me and what isn't for me. That kind of critical precision. So it's not like I'm being critical people or judging things. I keep having this image of, you know, a tree in winter with no leaves on it and the starkness of the image. And there's a starkness within me because it's amplification. with getting older, this starkness. There's less and less leaves around.

And I become more and more exposed to myself in the world. And today, that experience, that starkness is, there's a dark light, but it's not bad. It's just a darkening of the light inside. And it brings a different kind of sight. It's something to savour, but it requires slowness. And as you can see, I can be easily distracted out of it with a little entertainment from my friends.

Wow, that's so beautiful. That picture that you just painted is so moving. And it helps me understand the elders in my life so much better. Thank you. Oh, thank you, Sophie. Really beautiful. Yeah, so I am day 19. so two days behind the moon and today I'm feeling oh like I've sort of landed in on the soft

sofa in my living room and the fires lit feeling but I should probably reveal what yesterday looked like in order for me to be landing on the sofa yesterday was one of those days There are these moments in the cycle where we just hit a wall or an edge or, for me, it was a place of absolute enoughness. I mean, that sounds so nice and clean and tidy, but the truth is I was just throwing my toys out the cot all day. like my inner Edina came out, which for those of you who've watched absolutely fabulous, sort of grown women behaving like a teenage, just rebelling against everything. Yeah, the gloves were off. But it's so interesting because it's such a reality check moment.

This is something I love about the inner autumn. You know, we talk about it as the feedback moment in the cycle. So I have been holding a lot, doing a lot, really keeping all the balls in the air. And, you know, I think, like as human beings, we're capable of incredible things. But not ongoingly, we can do extraordinary things as long as we have moments of respite and let go and where it all comes falling to the ground. And I feel like yesterday for me was a real kind of kicked my feet from out under me and I sort of face planted and I was like, okay, that is enough.

And there was something about I could feel this irritability in me all day. Like my skin was itchy and everything was annoying. And I knew that I needed time on my own and I knew that I needed movement. Those were the two things I knew I needed. and I couldn't get them until last night, quite late last night. But I did a couple of brave things like I chose to not eat dinner with my family. I went and ate dinner on my own. I took myself off and did some yoga.

I did some very kind of physical, strong yoga. I really wrung myself out. And I was just on my own. And got myself to bed pretty early. And I've woken up this morning just really reaping the benefit of that. I can, I just feel like I've softened. I can feel my heart. I feel playful, you know, joyful.

It's very, very nice. I'm back inside myself. I'm back inside my own kind of rhythm and groove again, which is really nice. Well done. So good to hear. Isn't it? Yeah. Okay, so this conversation's coming out on, right at the start of the new year,

and our intention with it is to do a power card reading with these beautiful round cards that you've created that have the different powers of the different inner seasons of the menstrual cycle on them. And we're going to choose three, and we're going to, we're all going to pick one, and we're going to invite all the listeners to pick one, and then we're going to reveal what they are, and then you get to play with that card as your menstrual cycle power for the year. And the focus of the card reading is around leadership, which really is a huge focus of Red School. That's a big part of what Red School is for in the world.

And I always think it's good for you two to define how you understand leadership, because there are many ways to understand it, and the way you speak about is quite different. to how many people might understand it or to how, you know, our culture might understand it. So could you just walk us into, when you say leadership, what do you mean? Yeah, because as you were describing that the reading we're going to do, I can imagine some people going, oh, well, this reading is not relevant for me

because I'm not a leader. But it is absolutely relevant for each and every person. You know, each one of us is a leader. That's something we really. hold, each one of us has got something very unique that is their genius, their gift, their creative offering or contribution to the world. And the process of being in connection with that and realizing that in the world is our leadership.

So leadership isn't a role that someone else gives you. It's also not a job description. It's a relationship to yourself, to your power, to your calling. And the process of discovering that, you know, over your menstruating years and beyond, it's an ongoing unfolding. We sometimes describe leadership as being the unfolding of who you truly are. And so that is everything to do with your relationship to yourself and your relationship to power. Yeah, I mean, my favorite phrase is, you know, discovering what you're built for, you know, in this life.

And it's about feeling the meaning of your life and how that is expressed in the world. That's the way, one of the ways I like to describe it. to know, to feel that you are meaningful and that you have something just through who you are, just through who you are, that you have something important to contribute. And I just love how the cycle grows that in us. Yeah, this is the radical thing that we're holding at Red School is that your leadership is sourced from your connection to, your menstrual cycle and, you know, your connection to the whole journey, actually, from

menarchy to menopause and beyond. And that's, yeah, that's radical. And in our experience, a really beautiful thing to know, because rather than looking outside of us for guidance on, you know, how to be or what to do, we can tap into this inner oracle, this incredibly intelligent, intricate design that, yeah, can support your leadership each and every day moment by moment. Wonderful. It's amazing. The definition of leadership that I've always loved, which was taught to me by Chammerly at the Awakening Women Institute, who I've been studying with for like over a decade now,

and she always talks about it like we're all weaving a tapestry in the world and each of us has a thread and our leadership is our capacity to stay close to that thread and weave it in with the rest of the world to weave this tapestry beautiful colors and full of diversity and my experience of being with my cycle is particularly at menstruation but more and more these days are ovulation too I feel a really deep connection to that thread. What am I about? What am I for? What do I really care about?

What do I want my life to be in service to? What am I going to focus on? And that's what menstruation does. And then these days, ovulation is like becoming this big moment of having like a crescendo moment of, okay, this is what I'm for. And it's hard to describe it. My wonderful listening partner, Sissel, talks about like the big ovulation moment where we get to feel ourselves.

But yeah, maybe, I mean, that's how I experience it. But could you walk us into a bit of like break down a little bit how the cycle supports us to lead? Yeah, with our leadership. Well, maybe I'll pick up from that piece you just shared there because one of the ways the cycle supports our leadership is that, you know, there are these different phases and stages to the cycle,

the different inner seasons. And each inner season grows, you're growing, is growing your power, is growing your capacity, each season teaches us and tutors us and awakens us to particular gifts and talents. So different things come to the fore. And you can draw on these for your leadership. So cycle awareness really helps you to access this sort of full spectrum of power that is needed to realize something in the world.

Yeah. And you described that very beautifully and just in mentioning menstruation and ovulation. and ovulation and the different gifts they have. And then also the thread, sorry, the thread piece that you said about Chamoli, how the cycle holds you to your thread. And we often say something we say a lot at Red School, which is the cycle is holding you. Maybe, Alexandra, you want to unpack that a little bit,

what we mean by that. It's like an umbilical cord to the source of your being. If you're practicing cycle awareness all the time, you're tracking that umbilical cord to the mothership of you. Yeah, that's the thread. So yes, menstruation gives you the insight, the knowing, the visioning, your calling reveals itself. I mean, it can reveal itself any old time, actually, also I want to acknowledge. But menstruation is the archetypal moment. And as Shani described, seasons have these different powers you can draw on that support you in that journey.

And then as you're traversing this journey around the cycle, month after month, deepening your cycle awareness practice, what you're doing is you're building this lovely container for yourself of holding, because you're getting to know yourself, you're getting to trust yourself more and more, and daring to trust that there is something meaningful at work there, and to let go and let yourself be carried by that more and more. And it also builds, you know, deepens trust, builds confidence in yourself because, of course, there are challenges in the cycle. And where there are sort of wobbly moments, the challenges, bring you to your edges.

It's like shiny yesterday, you know, she met a massive edge of herself. And then she, you know, she threw her toys up at her tantrum. and then met herself and something shifted. But something shifted in your experience of yourself, Sharnie, but also I would say something shifted in your journey of self-responsibility with yourself. Yeah. Yeah, very, very much so. And this is another key thing with how the cycle supports our leadership

is that it is helping us month by month to mature to grow up. I mean, every time we meet a challenge, like Sophie, I'm thinking of you and your inner spring, you know, the breakthrough you've had is a breakthrough in maturation. It's a deeper self-awareness, it's a deeper understanding, it's a deeper care for yourself. It's expanded your capacity to hold yourself and give yourself what you need. And what is so beautiful about this, so, you know, we talk about the cycle as being each month as being a developmental process. because of these challenges that we face,

the gift, I think, in that process, is this sweeter, actually it's the word you always use, Alexandra, it's this kindness that we find with ourselves. And a confidence rose from that. And I'm imagining, Sophie, you will feel that too. You will feel this new level, like a deep, resilient confidence now because something has been liberated in your power. Well, something directly happened. So this might serve as an example for the listeners.

Okay, what does this mean? My cycle can support my leadership. So I was more playful in inner spring, which meant I had more access to different resources in myself, whereas when all my energy is going into anxiety, I can't hold space in the same way. And I was holding space for a group of women, in a group coaching call, and something went on between two of the women in the group. And I was able to find my ground, regulate my nervous system, and hold space for them and for what was going on in a way that was healing for everybody because of the playfulness that I'd access through relating to my inner spring in that way. So that's how, because a big part of my leadership is, yeah, supporting women to bring forth their leadership. Like, that's my thing.

So, yeah, that was, that's an example of how my connection to my cycle directly supported my leadership in that moment. Wow, that's impressive. That's amazing, Sophie. That's a fabulous story. There's just one other important point here about the cycle and leadership. You know, leadership's only possible if it's sustainable. And the menstrual cycle is this incredible rhythm of sustainable. It's a sustainable rhythm. It's our rhythm of self-care. We have times of activity, times of rest.

And you just have this inbuilt self-care package, if you're tending to your cycle. And also, you're learning to trust those moments where you know you have to drop your bundle and step away and do absolutely nothing. And that's an edgy thing to do. But when you practice cycleware and felt it in your body and, you know, you've been pulled into menstruation

and you've had to stop. You learn to trust that more and more. And so you really learn to trust this rhythm of sustainability. Oh my God, we all need that. Everybody on the planet. Okay, so shall we do our power card reading? Yes, I've got the power cards here. Okay, so do you want to tell us what they are first for people that don't know?

Oh, this pack has travelled with us now. We created the first prototype, like in 2010 or 11, and it's evolved. But really, there are so many magnificent powers in the cycle. Each season holds gifts and possibilities. And we thought it would be really helpful to name some of the powers that are in the specific seasons and put them into cards so that we can build relationships with these powers. and we can work with them as allies and really use the cards as a way to deepen our understanding of our cycle experience, but also deepen our understanding of the cycle.

So they're a great personal tool for personal insight and inquiry, but they're also a really good learning tool. Alexandra and I are educated by them nonstop. We never stop learning about the powers of the cycle, obviously through our own lived experience of the cycle, but through playing with these cards. and we play with them every day pretty much. I mean, how often do you do anything without drawing a power card, Alexandra? And be honest, be honest.

Well, I don't do much, I don't think so. I only, I very rarely, very rarely, because I live a life of leisure. It's true. You don't need power. No, no, I don't need power cars. I live a life. Yes, I choose one every morning, actually. Yeah.

But, well, some mornings I forget, actually. Yeah. Well, we had a fun thing this morning because this morning you picked Say Yes, which is an inner spring card. Yeah, I just picked that for my day before we came on the call. And then just before we did this recording, you picked Say No, which is not autumn power. So we're going, right, the mystical power of the cards is speaking.

Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to draw, well, Alexandra is going to pick three. cards. And we're all, listeners included, going to choose card one, card two or card three. And that's going to be the power that we invite you and us to work with this year to support you with your leadership. Okay. Now, so no cheating and waiting to hear what they are. You are right now going to choose a number. It's an order coming from the Pope. choose your number write it down yeah write it down that's a commitment so if you what number are you going for three okay i'm going for two i'm going for two oh we'll be fighting over that one we fight over

if there's something to fight over we'll fight over it yeah you two are feisty today okay listeners have you chosen i hope so okay all right so and i'm going to i'm going to pick the three cars before yeah We won't name them until we come to them, actually. So I'm going to just pick them. So I'm picking one now. Stand effects, compliments of Alexandria. Card number two. Very high tech on this podcast.

Look at it. It's so tempting, but I won't. And card number three, oh, it's a choice. I'll have to take this one. Okay, one, two, and three are picked. So let's start. with card number one all right shall we say them all first no no no no no no oh excited guess what it's say yes again it's dogging me this morning yeah say yes say yes

okay so for those of us who picked one how can the power of saying yes support our leadership this year. It's for us to be true to ourselves and hold our thread. Well, this was an incredible ally for me when I first got back to the UK. So I'm going to contextualise this. So this power card is a spring card. It's an inner spring card. And it has a kind of lovely quality of exuberance about it. It's this natural kind of movement within us within the spring you know there's this growth of energy and that growth of energy just wants to co yes to the world it's it's just this excitement and natural motivation and it's there's no second guessing going on there's no kind of I don't know should we do a sort of

reality check on this before we move on it you know a sort of yeah no overthinking no ever think. Precians, ability, studies. Oh, yes. No critics, absolutely no critics are, you know, are allowed in this spring zone. It is something that's, it's a very unadulterated, innocent, I want to say, almost joyful energy of, you know, just greeting the world, I suppose, as an ally, really, you know. and that just saying yes to what comes up. And coming to my personal story, you see, I was, I was landing in the UK, this was 2008, at the end of 2008, I had given up my whole life in Australia, and I had gone through menopause.

And this was really such a symbolic moment of stepping on the ground of my new postmenopause life. So I was coming into the spring of my postmenopause life. And I had this big vision, but there was nothing, you know, it was just a vision of what I wanted to do, which is, of course, all this work that we're doing now. And my, my, I didn't, we didn't have the power cars at this stage, but what rose in me was, I just said to myself, I am going to say yes to every opportunity that comes up. I'm just going to say yes to everything. I'll never forget that. And well, look, the rest is history. Yeah.

So where this power generally sits in the menstrual cycle process is towards the end of the inner spring. It is in many ways the kind of gateway into that inner summer energy of really landing in the world. And it's a self-authorized, self-giving permission to, respond to life's generosity, to respond to life's invitations, to respond to the call. And, yeah, if we're really riding and following that spring energy, as Alexandra said, there is a natural impulse there that we're following. So we're not talking about overriding something or forcing something. We're talking about taking our foot off the brakes and really let it, give

ourselves permission to follow the joy, to follow the invitation, to follow the call and to follow the magic, actually, because the inner summer has the potential to really magnetize something and create amazing synchronicity and harmony and really allow something to come into form, into coherence. But in order for that to happen, we need to be a willing participant. This is part of our free will, part of our agency. And yeah, I love that about this power is it is a power of agency. It's a choice that you make to go with life. And so for those of you who have picked this card, yeah, it's, I mean, I'm feeling, well, I'm imagining some of you hearing this are feeling nervous because there's a risk always a risk involved in saying yes

so I want to acknowledge that and I imagine some of you are feeling the kind of excitement of this yes energy so possibly a good thing to begin with is to just begin to be curious about what your relationship is to this yes power that's a good place to start you know how easy is it for you to allow and to receive what life's giving you and to follow the call and to just notice perhaps over the year actually how you can cultivate a sort of healthier more wholesome relationship to this yes energy in you and just in the spirit of play Sophie because we know spring play is such an ally for all spring energies play really does liberate the powers of the inner spring because there's an edge to saying yes because there

might be some fear involved and because there is always a risk and you are when you say yes you are stepping into the unknown even as on some level you might know what you're saying yes to you never really know i mean god that's the thing i learn again and again and the innocence in me I'm like, oh, yes, let's do that. I'm like, oh, my goodness, I had no idea what I was saying yes to you. So that thing is part of it. And the innocence is really necessary. But yeah, because there's a risk involved, why not this year?

Just play with yeses. Play with small yeses. Play with small yeses. Play with saying yes to little things. things you might ordinarily just block or resist or numb out from or ignore. Why not start playing? And I'm going to bring my Sagittarian nature in here and say, if there's someone listening who's chosen card one and they're like, they need some permission to say a really massive yes to something that they've been wanting to say yes to for a really long time,

just sit with the possibility is 2026, the time for this massive yes. maybe could this be the year yes oh my goodness yeah the big yes the big yes that you've been sitting on like an egg that's waiting to hatch could this be the year you let it you let it crack i'm thinking it's just some other little important thing here around being able to nourish that yes in our beings which is of course to to rest well at menstruation, because remember there's this order to the cycle, each season unfolds from the season before. And so to have a sort of feeling of a nourished spring, the more we can rest at menstruation and feel and get a little taste of that docking into the mothership of ourselves and that affirmation of ourselves. That gives us a little bit of an anchor, I think, to one.

So one, we're more physically nourished because saying yes to something, I mean, you're going to be doing something, you know, you need some energy. But also there's a sort of some thread of confidence there you're holding on to that can sort of stabilise you a bit more because it is risky. And I just want to say the two cards that came this morning for me were say yes, followed by risk. Interesting. That's so important what you're saying, Alexandra,

about how we nourish the yes. And it also makes me think of the importance of rest at menstruation or for those of you who no longer bleed, creating a rhythm of rest in your life. Perhaps that's rest at the dark moon or rest on a certain day every week or rest at a certain time every day. because to really say yes, we need to know our why.

We need to have a sense of alignment with what matters to us and what makes our heart sing. So when you talk about the nourishing of the yes, it feels like it needs to be anchored in a sense of knowing of ourselves and connected to the meaning of who we are. Because then the yes, we'll know when it's a yes, because it's lined up. You know, we can feel that it's something that is for us. And it doesn't have to be a head decision.

We're just following that impulse that's arising from our deep self. I'm really glad you mentioned that, Alexandra. Really good. Yeah. And I've got one more piece that's alive in me, which is back to your cards from this morning, Alexandra, you got say yes and say no. And these are sister cards.

for me, siblings, like the more I'm able to practice discerning what I need to say no to, particularly in the inner autumn on the other side of the cycle, the easier it is for me to say yes in inner spring. So perhaps you're like, you don't have a lot of energy in your life at the moment or perhaps you've got a lot of responsibility. Maybe there's a practicing of a saying no that can allow for the saying yes. That is brilliant. Oh yes. That is. Okay. Well, tell us, We'd love to hear from you. There's a post on Instagram that you can come and share. Like if you chose card one, how's that landing? How does saying yes feel to you? Come and tell us about it. And then let's go on to Sharnie's card number two.

I'm going to pause our power card reading for a moment to share an invitation because Alexander and Sharnie would love to invite you to join them for their annual free online visioning retreat, which is called Your Menstrual Cycle, Your Oracle, and it's happening in a couple of weeks on Wednesday the 14th of January. It's not your usual annual planning retreat. It's actually an invitation to step way out of strategy mode and to ease into deep listening. And every year, people leave nourished and revitalised

and plugged back into the power of the menstrual cycle with your menstrual cycle or your cyclical nature as a loyal source of guidance for the year to come. So if you want to join them, you can find out more at redschool.net forward slash oracle. And this event is also a great way to get a feel for how Alexander and Shawnee work to see if you might like to join them for this year's menstruality leadership program, which is starting in February. You can find out more about that at menstrualityleadership.com.

And just before we get back to the power card reading, I'd love to share this story from Jules Alma about her experience of the menstruality leadership program. To me, the most profound thing about it was just being able to interact with that many women, people on a weekly basis and share these super vulnerable, intimate experiences about our lives and cycles, which is something I'd never experienced before. I think most of us haven't. And we just were having these conversations all the time about our inner worlds, our inner experiences with our cycle and just, the different life stages and approaches to womanhood and taking care of ourselves and moving through our emotions. And I mean, that's something, that's a value you can't put money on. You know, it's like, how do you gather this many people in one place and have these kinds of conversations? Like, that's the ultimate preparation for learning how to hold space for others in

this way. And then whatever way, you know, you're trying to extend your own work. And Alexandra's card. And Alexander's card. We're sharing it. There's enough for everyone, by the way. There's enough for everyone. Everyone's got this card. Let's hope it's not meet the critic or provoke and cataly. Fingers crossed, folks.

Oh, Sharnie. Oh, my God. It's such a companion to say yes. Oh, Sharnie. It's cherished, isn't it? No, it's not. Harmony. No.

Innocence. It's innocence. Wow. That is a sacred card to me. It's a sacred power. Innocence. Well, another spring card. Would you like to start off saying something about innocence,

I'm slightly sort of my wonder card. Your wonder card. Yeah, I had a journey with innocence last year. Yeah, so I got to know this one in a much more real way. So the innocence power, the place it occupies in the cycle is a little closer to menstruation. So I think of the say yes as being sort of towards the end of the inner spring. And I think of the innocence card as being part of the, I want to say, the meniscus of the menstrual cocoon or the menstrual bubble. It's the feeling that we receive because we've been able to let go, clear the dross,

sort of detoxify, put down our responsibilities, all that that goes on at menstruation. And that decluttering and clearing process allows the slate to be wiped clean and allows us to see ourselves through the eyes of love, through the eyes of purity, through the eyes of beauty. And that quality that we can tap into at menstruation is something that we are really practicing, courting and holding onto as we come out of the bleed

and as we come into the world, holding on to this goodness, this innate goodness that we all have inside of us, that place beyond judgment, beyond shame, beyond the traumas we've lived, beyond all of that, that place that is unbroken in us. and it takes quite a lot of fierce protection to stay with that intactness as we come out in the world. Yeah. And so that's often why the crossover between menstruation and the inner spring is quite precarious is because we're in that dance of staying in touch with that goodness. while we separate from the cocoon and while we come out into the world

and we lose that amazing holding that menstruation can give. I am so glad you went first. That is just such a beautiful way in to this power card, Shani. And I, yeah, it's beautiful what you just said. I'm sort of basking in it. it's a wonderful framing of it I'm in wonder over it

so yes this quality of innocence is incredibly precious to care for and it is really almost the first casualty the moment we come out into the realities in inverted commerce of what's going on in

world and on all sorts of levels it feels like something that is you have to kind of get over you've got to you know you if holding to that call it it's like you've got to grow up well it's entirely true you have to grow up from your naivety and your ignorance absolutely and face things. But innocence is something never, ever, ever, ever, ever. I feel so strongly about this to be abandoned. Because without it, I think the death forces get in. The critic, oh, that hits me.

You see, it's the antidote to the critical energy without innocence, without fiercely tending to the qualities of that. And I find it almost impossible to describe what the qualities of innocence are, except that I think you did a beautiful job, Shani. And without innocence, the critic will lay waste, will lay waste to everything. And it will lay waste to hope. There is no hope. Cynicism, bitterness, regret.

You know, these are, I can never remember. What are the four horses of the apocalypse that I have written about, you know, in wise power? That you mustn't let take hold at menopause. There's four of them anyway, folks, but I can tell you. Criticism, bitterness and cynicism are like up there at the top. One day I'll remember them all. in the moment because they corrode your soul completely.

It's like a living death, I think. And it doesn't allow for the mystery of life. All the weight then falls on us. And we forget that we are in connection with something huge. That is also on our side. It's a very bleak place to be in. Wow. That's extraordinary what you're saying, Alexandra.

And I'm thinking in terms of leadership and in terms of feminine leadership, which is what the cycle is schooling us in, vulnerability is so core. You know, our humanity, our undefendedness is so core to us leading from a place of responsiveness, but also from a place that is in connection with something greater. so we're not just serving our own agenda. So when you speak about innocence, Alexandra, and I think about the process I've been on with innocence, because you know, you say it's hard to describe this.

And I remember I often used to ask you what you meant by innocence, you know, you said it's hard to describe the experience. And I, because I've now felt it, in a way I hadn't before, what became clear to me is that innocence has a quality of deep presence about it. Yes. And for me, it felt like my cynicism and my defensiveness and all the ways that I, not all the ways, let me not exaggerate here, all the ways that I've defended myself fell away.

was miraculously, but some of the ways that I've defended myself fell away and I landed in this place of deeper trust. And I can remember one particular moment where I was just sitting in my lounge, staring out my window. And the feeling I had was of feeling so rested in myself. I didn't need to shadow box and argue with in my mind all the stuff. I could feel the spontaneity of creativity with a capital C coming through me. And it was like being inside the emergence of my own self, of my own experience. And the meanful note I made to myself, which I had to write down because I was like, I want to, you know, I want to really cherish this power.

And hopefully this will help those of you who have picked the power card was to recognize when my critic showed up and to be really fierce about creating a. sanctum around this innocence, you know, that the critic, whether it's minor critic or the critics in the world, can judge what I do and how I do it, but cannot comment on who I am and to really hold that purity of my being, that goodness of my being sacred. Can you say that one more time? Because I feel like this is the thing that we all need to hear again and again. What can the critic comment on and what can't it comment on? Yeah. So the critic can comment on what you do, but not on who you are. And if someone's hearing their critic commenting on who they are, what do they say? What do you do? Well, I mean, there are lots of ways

you can work with this. And in fact, we have a workshop on exactly this topic in a critic workshop where we describe this process and we talk you through very specific tools and practices for what to do when this happens. Great. I'm going to put a link to that in the show notes. Yeah. But one of the things I like to do because I like working imaginably is I just imagine drawing a circle around me and moving that energy out because it gets under your skin. It makes you feel so bad about who you are. And so to tease out, right, I might have done this wrong, but this does not make me a bad person, even just naming that to yourself. And then I imagine this kind of sanctum, this sacred circle and actually moving that energy out. And bit by bit doing that again and again seems to

create a fortification where those things don't penetrate me in the way that they used to. Yeah. That's so helpful. One of the things that helps. me connect to innocence in my leadership in the world is actually going out at night on a clear night and looking at the night sky. Because when I take in the stars and just how far away they are and just how huge this all is and just how tiny I am, then I connect into something so quiet and so huge inside me that it has a wipe the slate clean kind of feeling. So it puts me in contact with something that's, yeah, underneath the cynicism or the criticism or the jadedness that can happen living in this world that we live in. Yeah, it's the perspective. There's perspective

with innocence, I think. I find that really, really lovely, actually, Sophie, just really beautiful. And just trying to think if what else I might say to care for innocence. I'm really caught by what you said there, Shani, about the undefendedness, the vulnerability. It's our capacity to let ourselves be vulnerable. And we need a degree of safety to be able to do that. So the more we can build a degree of safety, because we're never ultimately safe. Yes, we need a degree of safety in our being to allow us. ourselves to just be tender with ourselves to be open with ourselves and the two things that are

very important for me are slowing down going slow and the kindness just really doing those two things together brings me back into a tenderness within myself and then within that tenderness That's like the soil out of which innocence can thrive. Yeah, and we can't force innocence, but what we can do is we can cultivate the conditions that innocence can be revealed to us. So if you've picked this card and you're still menstruating and you still have a menstrual cycle,

I recommend paying special attention to the pre-menstruem because the ways that we're triggered, the ways that we react and the stuff that comes up for us when we're challenged, which we often feel most clearly in the pre-menstruem is what needs to be felt and met in order for our innocence to blossom. That was my experience.

It was through deep healing work. of healing trauma that I landed in this place of innocence in myself. So that's something that you can put your attention to in your cycle awareness practice. And maybe also a simple act would need to come to the Red School Hub, the community, the free community, and come and connect with others there if you aren't in connection with this community because just the connection alone can start to create that more of a web of safety around yourself and your cycle experience too. Yes.

Yes. Again, I'll put a link in the show notes at red school.net forward slash podcast and then look up this episode and then there'll be a list of links underneath it. Okay, so you're feeling good about this card, you two, in a sense for 2026? I feel. Big work. Yeah, I just feel, you know. Yeah.

For me personally, what I'm taking away is to enjoy the wonder of innocence, the wonder of not knowing the wonder of the miracle of it all to really just stay in that like wow state yeah that nice guy well it's great in my way that we do both have this yeah we'll be kind of reminding ourselves yeah the wow all right so now we come on to card number three I thought this would be funny if this was card number two because this is the card that keeps coming up for me over and over again. Show yourself.

Oh. That's your card, Sophie Jane. Yeah. And it's an inner summer power. So Alexandra, you've been in a courtship with this card for, I would say, a year or two, actually. I know, it keeps coming up for me. It's two years at least, Sharkey. Two years.

And it does not give up on me. Yeah. Unrelenting. Well, it's the world that wants you, Alexander. We want more of you. What, put this power in context for us, in cyclical context. All right. So, yes, as you said, Shani, it's a summer power.

And remember that. the, you know, the season, this season, you know, rests on the seasons that have come before. So remember the importance of the connecting administration. So we've docked into the mothership of ourselves. And then we have managed to tenderly come out of that and navigate this lovely rising energy of the spring. And we've, I love these cars. It's all They're all connected these cards. So we started, you know, we've got the innocence you encounter, and then ultimately you come to the say yes.

And say yes is such, as you said, Shani, sort of catalyzes this season of the summer, of the powers of this summer, of being able to experience the powers of the inner summer. And so, yes, you're coming up to that sort of pinnacle moment of the inner summer. And Sophie, you were talking about this right at the beginning, about menstruation and ovulation, you know, similar things sort of going on for you. That summer moment of, ta-da, you know, the cycle really supports you to just go,

this is me, folks, this is what I'm doing, this is what I want to do. And it has this wonderful quality of unashamedness about it and undefendedness, actually. It is, there's pleasure in it. there's a kind of delight there's a pleasure in being yourself actually in this card and also the way it's written it's a command when I get it

you like to go oh right command I just have to step out and do it and actually I think you have that boldness in the inner summer of your cycle you have that boldness to just go for it, you know, regardless. There's a kind of wild abandon, I think, that can happen with that summer energy. So, yes, show yourself.

It's this command is don't faf around, just do it. And be bold, be out there, be yourself is like the message of show yourself. And of course, for me now, post-menopause, It's so interesting getting this card. I think, oh, okay, I've just got to turn up. I have just got to show up. And, you know, I do stuff on social media sometimes, occasionally, Insta and so on. You know, and I do conversations with people.

And I go, okay, just show yourself, Pope. You know, just go out and do it. Don't plot and scheme and plan because you don't do that anyway. You can't do that. It's not your style. You've never done that. You're an extemporizer. That's your genius. Just show up. You're deeply embedded in this work. Just show yourself with it. It is just so clear. It's just clean and unequivocal this energy, this power.

Yeah. And because it's connected to menstruation being the opposite pole and the thread that you've held through the inner season, it is a power that isn't divorced from your true nature. I mean, it's utterly about you being you. So if you've picked this card as an ally to support your leadership, it feels like the invitation is to really dare to, be more of yourself, to really dare to show more of yourself. So in particular, the parts of yourself that you think, you know, aren't quite right or don't quite fit or aren't acceptable or aren't impressive enough or perfect enough and all of that.

It's an invitation to bring all of that on board. I mean, this card is the opposite of perfection, can I just say. Oh, yes. It's really real. It's about authenticity and daring to be yourself. Yeah. And so showing up, are there something about, I think, the inner summer energy in general, but even this card that certainly for me, but I'm imagining for most of us,

show up means like put on a performance or you know yeah or it has to look a certain way I don't know there's something like entangled in this showing up thing I think culturally and I think for women particularly but actually the true power of this power is not that it's liberated it is really, really, really fucking liberated. And I think that's why it has so much power is because there's an unleashedness about it. And it's that expression that comes from the seed of knowing of yourself administration.

And it allows the flower of you in your very singular particularness with all your idiosyncrasies to take up residence in that. the world. And this is, I think, what a trap that we all fall into because of ye good old critic is that we think leadership has to look a certain way, or we think that success has to look a certain way, or we even think that showing yourself has to look a certain way. But we can show ourselves as introverts, we can show ourselves quietly. You know, it doesn't always have to be big for example or public even it can be between you and one other so there's a lot more intimacy to this card i think that then we might at first imagine that's very wise what you're

saying shirney yeah yeah there's just one other thing i want to add to this and and it's a theme that i that's been cropping up again and again because you we're talking about your experience with this power card, Alexandra, and you were like, right, just show up, you know. Don't argue. Don't argue for the next thing or whatever it is. I'd say if you've drawn this power card, it's also really inviting you into a kind of consistency. I don't know. That word maybe isn't quite right.

But it is about a persistence, like not waiting for the right moment or the right situation. for you to feel a certain way in order to show up. It's about showing up regardless again and again and again and again and again and again. And I know so many creatives say this and surely this has been true for me and I know it's been true for you, Alexandra, is to have a kind of commitment to showing up

and to show up regardless is ultimately what births the thing. You know, it's not waiting for, the right moment or waiting for inspiration is just to show up with whatever you've got and to trust that, to trust who you are in the moment and to trust how things are flowing through you in the moment. And that's ultimately what yields the magic. Well, I'm taking this one on, taking on really seriously, this was my card three. And the thing I notice immediately is my stomach starts to squirrel around and I feel afraid.

And that is, you know, I literally sit with women all day, women and folks all day who feel fear of visibility, imposter syndrome. And so that's what I'm feeling in response. Like, show yourself, so, oh, shit. This is so frightening. But you know the thing, you know, the thing that helps me the most is, I don't know where I read this. So I think I heard it from Oprah, actually, it was from Oprah. She said that everyone that's ever sat on her sofa, you know, which is that. thousands and thousands of luminaries, they've all had imposter syndrome. And she listed them off

like Meryl Streep, Maya Angelou, J-Lo, Lady Gaga. They all have this imposter syndrome in the sense of, I can't show up as me, I'm not good enough. And so I always just think, I don't always think, but in my good moments, I think, well, if you're scared, Sophie, you're in good company because everyone is. And that's not a reason to not do it. So to show up. with my dry mouth and squirrelly tummy and shake even shaking you know sometimes like i'm visibly shaking or i've got like a red rash on my chest because i guess i want to get anxious and i'm like well here we go this is how i show up and just but it's a practice isn't it just building it up incrementally so if you're if you're listening oh my god show yourself this sounds terrifying

it's just we start with the little yeah steps yeah really important And I'm thinking how the practice of cycle awareness this year can help all of everyone listening, help all of us. Because every day when we practice menstrual cycle awareness, we notice how we are. And part of our task is to let ourselves live from the place we're in and show up in the world with an authenticity around how we feel. feel. So we are actually all practicing this every single day. And it's like a muscle of, and then it's sort of like an experiment as well, I want to say, that every day you're like, oh, I feel is it okay for me to do blah, blah in this condition, and you do it. You're like, I survived. And then the next day you do it. And I, so I think that's really, really helpful. And the other thing that's really

helpful is to, you might have heard of our dark arts. We lovingly call them dark arts, but they're the inner skills of menstruality leadership, which we teach about on the menstruality leadership program. There are 12 of them and a 13th fairy. But one of the dark arts is the dark art of appreciation. And it's something that actually the inner summer really helps to cultivate in us. And it's also a practice of acknowledging and celebrating and recognizing ourselves what we do well, what we've done, what we've achieved. So if you have got this card, I'm going to highly recommend you commit seriously to self-celebration as like a daily practice. You know, this year, make that your dose of medicine every day. Just say one thing.

to yourself in recognition of yourself, in celebration of yourself, in appreciation of yourself, because our capacity to show up as who we are has everything to do with us feeling safe enough to do that. And when we can recognize for ourselves what we've done and who we are, that creates this buffer around us. It creates a sense of protection or permission even to be who we are. So I highly recommend. You can add that to the prescription, Sophie. And don't you also feel like when people, I'm talking publicly here, but when people show up publicly with their weirdness or their strangeness or their vulnerability, isn't it just the best with their messiness, with their imperfection? It's such a

relief. We can always go, oh, good, we don't have to collude with this myth that we have to be perfect. So, yeah, bring the weird, I say, bring on the weird. I wouldn't mind throwing just one other little dark art in, actually, which is to join appreciation, because show yourself can sound so all or nothing. And actually to find small ways to take the dark art of small shifts, just the 1% of showing yourself, the 1% of taking up space, the 1% more of just daring to be more of yourself in a situation.

And it might just, well, it can start with just being very honest with how you are in the moment, showing up, showing yourself to yourself, but then one other person or a small group of people or whatever that is. Just, yes, just taking the small baby scraps. Totally. Like do you raise your hand in the meeting even though your heart is pounding? Yeah. And even though you don't quite know what you want to say. Okay, that's a bit much, Alexandra. That's just something. Why's what you want to do? We're not all extemporaneous.

Wow, we could clearly talk about this all day, but we probably should let everyone get on with the beginning of their new year. Yes, get on with their year. Yeah. And we have an invitation to this Oracle event. Can you say more about it, you too? Yes. It's called your menstrual cycle, your Oracle. And it's a new year visioning retreat, which we've held for a few years. And we just can't stop doing it, both because we enjoy the pleasure of holding it and because of the richness of what comes out of it. So it's two and a half hours. And we get creative you can bring your art materials your collage stuff whatever and come and we create a inner winter sanctum for you really drop into the power of menstruation imaginatively so you can

come whether you've got a menstrual cycle or not and vision for the year ahead and each person comes away with a line and intention a quest that they're holding for themselves and we offer guides for how you can work with your cycle then to support you with that quest over the year. And of course, you've now all got a power ally that is also going to be accompanying you that you can hold close to you this year to support you with your quest. So it's a really beautiful way to work with cyclicity and work with your embodied knowing to dream your year. Yeah.

Well, happy new year, you too. no that's a silly thing to say because it's not true we're not there yet I won't say that thanks I've loved this in a way I wish we could do this every single podcast episode it was actually it was really fun wasn't it

and actually I just want to say I kind of want all those powers this year I think they all go together myself you know I'm secretly holding them onto them all I think even as innocence is my one. Wow. Okay, well, let's see what unfolds.

Thanks so much, you too. Thank you, Sophie. Bye. Okay, thanks for joining us today. I hope you had fun finding out your Power Card, Ally. Please come over to Instagram to share the card that you chose and what it means to you, what it's sparking for you. And we'll be with you again in a couple of weeks.

And until then, I just want to wish you a very, very happy new year again and that this whole year and your whole life that you live your life according to your own brilliant rhythm.