HOME - Pearl and Thistle

book cover with golden sun behind gold blue wave pattern which reads: Christina Valenzuela- The Language of Your Body: Embracing God's Design for Your Cycle

New book: now available!

What good can we find in our cycles, especially when we ponder the fact that both men and women are equally made in the image and likeness of God? The Language of Your Body delves deep into this and other groundbreaking questions, using the wisdom of saints like Hildegard von Bingen, Pope John Paul II and Thomas Aquinas to explore this unique, fundamental aspect of God's design for female bodies.

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here's the thing:

Fertility is just one piece of God's design for cycles.

here's the thing:

Fertility is just one piece of God's design for cycles.

We spend a ton of time as a Church talking about fertility and family planning - as we should!

But I think we leave out a large portion of the Body of Christ when we limit our conversations to "just" family planning.

We spend a ton of time as a Church talking about fertility and family planning. (As we should! It's a core part of our beliefs about God's design for the body.)

But I think we leave out a large portion of the Body of Christ when we limit our conversations to "just" family planning.

Girl sitting on floor with skateboard with orange background

What about teens?

Our girls need to know about the goodness and dignity of their female bodies, because society isn't telling them. When we hold off on cycle awareness until fertility, we rob our daughters of vital information about their health, thinking painful periods and crippling bleeds are normal (they're not).

What about teens?

Our girls need to know about the goodness and dignity of their female bodies, because society isn't telling them. When we hold off on cycle awareness until fertility, we rob our daughters of vital information about their health, thinking painful periods and crippling bleeds are normal (they're not).

Young woman wearing a black shirt laughing outside

Young woman wearing a black shirt laughing with pink background

What about single women?

Unmarried women have cycles, too, and our natural hormone fluctuation affects mood, sleep, energy levels, and health. How much happier and holier could we be in all our relationships - including with ourselves and God - if we knew and embraced how cycles affect our whole selves, regardless of fertility?

What about single women?

Unmarried women have cycles, too, and our natural hormone fluctuation affects mood, sleep, energy levels, and health. How much happier and holier could we be in all our relationships - including with ourselves and God - if we knew and embraced how cycles affect our whole selves, regardless of fertility?

A nun laughs and pokes her head out from a group of school-aged girls

A nun laughs and pokes her head out from a group of school-aged girls with pink background

What about women in consecrated life?

Yep, nuns have cycles, too. Imagine how much more energetically these incredible women could serve the Church if they were armed with information on maximizing the natural rises and falls in cyclical community life.

What about those in consecrated life?

Yep, nuns have cycles, too. Imagine how much more energetically these incredible women could serve the Church if they were armed with information on maximizing the natural rises and falls in cyclical community life.

Middle-aged woman with short curly hair wearing a gray cardigan smiles in a grassy field

Middle-aged woman with short curly hair wearing a gray cardigan smiles with a green background

What about women in challenging situations?

When we stop at fertility, we leave out so many women who still have cycles: those experiencing infertility, facing a health crisis or the death of a spouse, or approaching perimenopause - all of whom deserve the same information about their bodies and cycles that cycle awareness provides.

What about women in challenging situations?

When we stop at fertility, we leave out so many women who still have cycles: those experiencing infertility, facing a health crisis or the death of a spouse, or approaching perimenopause - all of whom deserve the same information about their bodies and cycles that cycle awareness provides.

Two seminarians in white cassocks smile at the camera in sacristy

Two seminarians in white cassocks smile at the camera with blue background

What about the WHOLE CHURCH?

Imagine what the Church would be like if we not only invested all of this important educating in women... but we had the expectation that this information would be a basic part of: forming our young men (including priests!), pastoral support ministries, RCIA preparation, and any place where crucial questions of body-soul integration touch the hearts of the Faithful.

What about men?

Imagine what the Church would be like if we educated our sons on how to respect and help women during their cycles, included men in charting basics so they can make informed decisions TOGETHER as a couple, and even shared NFP with priests so they can better promote it in the Church.

Here's my dream for the Church...

Lifelong education about the goodness of our bodies in God's design that:

Begins with accurate (age appropriate!) cycle education even before girls get their first period...

Extends to charting for health...

Adds in fertility for NFP...

And continues in the form of robust parish support to meet all the changing needs of couples through their fertile years.

COUNT ME IN!

"The Church needs to do more to support NFP."

Trust me, I said that for years, too. As someone who got thrown out of a doctor's office for refusing birth control and then struggled to find an instructor who could teach me NFP, I experienced the gap between Church teaching and practical help firsthand.

But then I took a deep dive into Church teaching and realized the answer to better NFP support has been in place since the very beginning...like literally since Genesis 1.

And what's more? The Church has been saying this all along - we've just stopped talking about it.

So I am.

The answer is

body literacy

The story of Creation is knit throughout your entire body. What I do here at Pearl & Thistle is teach you how to read God’s design for your body (body literacy) so you can take part in the story He has for you.

It combines Theology of the Body with science to illustrate how our cycles are telling us more than just fertile signs.

Most importantly? Body Literacy is for everyone, not just married couples. Because when we limit the conversation to just fertility awareness, we end up leaving out a large portion of the Body of Christ.

Here's what that looks like at Pearl & Thistle:

We boldly proclaim the goodness of our bodies, even when it doesn't always feel good.

We believe that body literacy is for all ages and stages, not just family planning.

We teach how our cycles aren't just a part of our physical make-up, but are also aids to holiness.

Here's what Pearl & Thistle offers....

Our unique incremental learning system begins even before the start of a girl's first period, growing and adding layers of "body literacy" as her needs change-- through puberty, adolescence, young adulthood, and all the way into perimenopause (...including NFP instruction for family planning as well)!

EXPLORE COURSES FOR INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES

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EXPLORE OPTIONS FOR GROUPS

By the way, Pearl & Thistle is for you...

...even if you don't match the "couple walking in a field of sunflowers" advertisement for NFP.

...even if you're a parent who desperately wants to avoid these conversations because you're pretty sure you'll die of embarrassment.

...even if you've felt disqualified from being part of the conversation in the past because of your age or stage in life.

...even if the world has told you that your body is broken, and you've believed it.

This place is for you: to grapple with these things, to have a voice in the conversation, and hopefully come out holier on the other side.

Don't mistake my talk about periods being a call to holiness as sugar-coating the truth, though: they're a literal bloody mess. And many of our experiences have involved a lot of pain, fear, or shame when it comes to this topic.

But in all my work with women and families over the years, I've noticed that there is something in our heart, soul, and mind that wants to be able to claim this bodily function for good. Because God made our bodies and called them good, which includes our cycles.

"Body stuff" isn't easy. But it's holy. Because God made it holy.

READY TO EMBRACE MESSY HOLINESS?

Hi, I'm Christina, and I never thought I'd become the Catholic menstrual cycle lady, but here we are.

In my decade+ of being a fertility and cycle educator, I've worked with so many women felt unnoticed by the Church when it comes to NFP.

The conversations tend to center around family planning and chastity, which are two extremely important topics, but don't always match our own experience and needs (or our children's).

My experience? Getting thrown out of a doctor's office for refusing birth control postpartum. Learning so much about my body as an adult that I should have learned about as a kid. Navigating awkward conversations about periods and fertility with my own daughters.

And I wanted to create a space - and resources - for others experiencing these same things.