Menses occupies a surprisingly rich and multi-layered position in the depth-psychology corpus. The term is encountered along at least four distinct axes: etymological-symbolic, anthropological-mythological, clinical-phenomenological, and psychobiological. Jung and his school approach menses primarily through its symbolic resonance with the moon, tracing the shared Indo-European root that links the words for moon, month, mind, and measure—a philological argument made most explicitly by Edinger in his reading of the Mysterium Coniunctionis. For Jung himself, the menstrual cycle grounds the archaic connection between woman and the lunar principle, generating a complex of taboo, instinct, and transpersonal meaning. Hillman introduces Aristotle's treatment of the catamenia as a key moment in Western intellectual history: the philosophic subordination of female seed becomes, for Hillman, the foundational ideological move that devalues feminine generativity. Clarissa Pinkola Estés reclaims menstrual symbolism as the origin of alchemical color-symbolism (black, red, white) and reads the menstrual cycle as the prototype of transformative process. Marion Woodman and Karen Signell attend to its somatic and psychological rhythmicity as a vehicle of feminine self-knowledge. Daoist sources add a further dimension: the cessation or redirection of menstrual flow appears as a primary technology of inner alchemy. The contemporary clinical literature treats menses as a hormonal inflection point modulating ADHD symptomatology. Across these registers the term functions as a crux where biology, symbol, cultural suppression, and spiritual practice converge.
In the library
13 passages
The root of that word got transmitted to Latin and generated the Latin word mensis which means month. You can see there the root of our word menses or menstrual periods. The same root appears in the Latin word mens, meaning mind
Edinger demonstrates that the shared etymological root linking moon, month, menses, mind, and measure reveals the feminine principle as the psychic source of time, measure, and intellect.
Edinger, Edward F., The Mysterium Lectures: A Journey Through C.G. Jung's Mysterium Coniunctionis, 1995thesis
the female does not contribute semen to generation but does contribute the matter of the catamenia [menses], or that which is analogous to it in bloodless animals... Besides the physiological evidence for his view (cessation of menses during pregnancy
Hillman exposes Aristotle's embryological argument—that the female contributes only menses as passive matter—as the classical foundation for theories of female inferiority in Western intellectual tradition.
Hillman, James, The Myth of Analysis: Three Essays in Archetypal Psychology, 1972thesis
whether alchemy was a later effort to create a vessel similar to the uterus and an entire set of symbols and actions that would give some proximity to the cycles of menses, gravida, delivery, and nursing
Estés argues that alchemical symbolism—including the black-red-white triad—likely derives from the menstrual and reproductive cycle, positioning menses as the archetype underlying alchemical transformation.
Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph D, Women Who Run With the Wolves Myths and Stories of the Wild, 2017thesis
the cessation of the menstrual flow in women is the same as the retention of the semen in men. In both cases, loss of an essential substance is stopped and with it, as stated frequently in the texts, the loss of original energy.
Daoist inner-alchemy practice treats the redirection of menstrual flow as the structural equivalent of seminal retention—both constitute a reversal of natural downward loss toward the cultivation of an inner energy embryo.
woman in her actual physical makeup is in some way related to the moon, with her moon-cycles of menstruation. Thus we find menstrual taboos that have been put upon woman throughout the ages. Primitive man felt that at such times the woman was peculiarly under the influen
Jung grounds the universal phenomenon of menstrual taboo in the archaic perception that the menstruating woman is under a heightened lunar influence, making her both powerful and dangerous to the surrounding collective.
Jung, C.G., Dream Analysis: Notes of the Seminar Given in 1928-1930, 1984thesis
much of modern women's premenstrual crankiness is not just a physical syndrome but is equally attributable to her being thwarted in her need to take enough time away to revivify and renew herself.
Estés reframes premenstrual tension as a frustrated instinctual need for cyclical solitude and renewal rather than as mere physiological dysfunction.
Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph D, Women Who Run With the Wolves Myths and Stories of the Wild, 2017supporting
With menstruation a new form of existence sets in... The onset of menstruation stimulates the development of t
The early Jung observes that the onset of menstruation can trigger or reactivate autonomous psychic complexes, presenting it as a developmental threshold with clinical consequences.
Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904supporting
Women's monthly cycle, with its natural rhythm of emotions, helps us stay in touch with unconscious feelings we might not otherwise know.
Signell presents the menstrual cycle as a natural psychological rhythm that provides women repeated access to otherwise inaccessible unconscious material.
Signell, Karen A., Wisdom of the Heart: Working with Womens Dreams, 1991supporting
When sexual intercourse was forbidden during menstruation, this was not because a woman was to be regarded as dirty or disgusting. The period of abstinence was designed to prevent a man from taking his wife for granted
Armstrong argues that Rabbinic menstrual restriction encodes a positive relational intention rather than a devaluation of women, reframing the taboo as protective of marital depth.
Armstrong, Karen, A History of God, 1993supporting
Symptoms were perceived to change severely, particularly during the mid-luteal phase and menses, with additional negative impacts to quality of life.
Current clinical research identifies menses as a period of heightened ADHD symptom exacerbation, pointing to the estrogen withdrawal mechanism as a modulating factor.
al., Osianlis et, ADHD and sex hormones in females: A systematic review, 2025supporting
Reported increase in inattention immediately before menses despite medication use
Case-level clinical observation demonstrates that menses-proximate hormonal shifts can override the efficacy of psychostimulant medication in ADHD-diagnosed females.
al., Osianlis et, ADHD and sex hormones in females: A systematic review, 2025supporting
Exclusion criteria were: irregular menstrual cycles, menstrual cycles shorter than 25 days or longer than 35 days, amenorrhea, severe premenstrual syndrome
This psychopharmacological study uses menstrual cycle regularity as a methodological control variable, treating the cycle as a significant confound in stimulant-response research.
Justice, Angela J.H., Acute effects of d-amphetamine during the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle in women, 1999aside
five or more of the following symptoms are present during the final week before the onset of menses and start to diminish within a few days after menstruation
Clinical study operationalizes DSM-5 PMDD criteria in relation to ADHD comorbidity, using menses onset as the temporal anchor for defining the symptomatic premenstrual window.
Lin, Pai-Cheng, Comorbid Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, 2024aside