I didn't know for sure what that meant, but I knew, just by the way they presented it to me, that it was something of a feminine nature.

They drew me close and whispered how the swan phase was the blood of my last, ever period. They advised me to pour my blood into the vial and never let it go. It would be held there forever, like a scarlet relic of my precious, bleeding womb. Unfortunately, I never got round to doing that, because I never knew which cycle, would end up being my last.

And so, the purpose of these words is to bring your awareness to something that escaped me.

As you enter the menopause, you may notice how your cycles are getting heavier and heavier, and more and more out of sync. Enormous amounts of blood leave your womb, sometimes, alarmingly so. You may think as I did, how that amount of blood loss is a sign that you are nowhere near the menopause. It wasn't.

Erratic, heavy periods are a sure sign that you are well and truly in the process of entering your Initiation into Wisdom. Now is the time to pay attention, and to be present to what will one day be your last period.

This is when I should have started to collect my blood and keep it till the next cycle began. That way, I would always have the swan blood in my vial. This is the point I wish to raise, should you be interested in keeping the last of your blood. I did not know how suddenly my cycles would stop. Yes, there was a sense of a weaning off process, but also this would often coincide with an unexpected downpour that lasted ten days straight.

I feel it's a beautiful and honouring thing to do for yourself, to collect the blood of the swan phase, and to enshrine it in some way. I really wish I could have known, what I know now, and so, I pass this women's wisdom onto you.

You never know which one is your last. Every cycle could be your last precious gift.