Natural Fertility Management
   In the mid 1980’s an Australian natural therapist, Francesca Naish, pioneered a method combining the lunar fertility cycle, mucus observations and basal body temperature in addition to charting other influences and symptoms such as moods, libido, sexual activity, appetite and bowel activity, skin and hair condition, fluid retention, concentration, breast tenderness, sleep patterns, abdominal pain, energy level and other lifestyle factors. Naish has now been studying female fertility for over 27 years and has trained over 300 other practitio-ners in Australia, UK, USA, NZ, South Africa, Malaysia and Singapore in her unique system of Natural Fertility Management.
   This system can be used just as effectively for timing conception as well as for avoiding conception, but in addition to that, I believe the greatest advantage of all is simply to help women understand their biological workings, their psychological workings and the interconnections between these two aspects. Natural Fertility Management is a holistic, non-invasive, non-medicinal and very inspiring approach, and I recommend to all women that they search out a source of information on this subject and discover a teacher in their area who can guide them in this method of self education. Books which have been of great assistance to me, as well as some organisations in this field, are listed in the appendixes –“Suggested Further Reading” and “Resources and Contacts”.
   Initially, when most women take up this method, their normal ovulation cycle and their lunar fertility cycle may not be in synchronisation, meaning there can be two times in any month when ovulation can occur, which creates a larger window of abstinence needed for contraceptive purposes. Even beyond that very practical reason, it is ideal to have these two cycles in synchronisa-tion. And this can in fact be done. I have done it myself and seen it done many times by other women who have taken up this system.  
   How does this happen? In a nutshell, a woman must begin to get her reproductive system back to optimum health and by adopting a regime of daily observances. Over a period of some months, your usual cycle either catches up or drops back to coincide with the lunar cycle. From that time on it is a very simple process of keeping the two in tune by the same daily regime.
   So what are these observances? The routine simply involves waking up each morning, and before getting up or having anything to eat, drink, smoke, or kiss, reaching over to your bedside table, and

taking out your basal body thermometer, shaking it down, putting it under your tongue and lying there for another 2 minutes – being careful not to go back to sleep or roll over and break it off in your mouth! You then write this temperature onto a special fertility cycle chart – as shown in Figure 10, on page 98 – and then get on with your day. At several times throughout the day, usually when going to the toilet, you check the consistency of your vaginal mucus making a mental note of it. Each evening before bed, you note down on the chart your mucus observations along with some other physical and psychological conditions listed on the sheet. What could be simpler? It all takes about 5 minutes, involves no pills, very little cost (only a thermometer and your lunar cycle charts), no side effects, just you, your body and your mind.
   This daily regime, which may initially take a bit of reading, study and practise, will soon become instinctive and intuitive as you gradually learn how to listen to and work with your body. As you become familiar with the signs and symptoms, a year or so later you will find you need no regimes, no thermometers, no bedside charts, no condoms, no pills, but only self awareness to know where you are in your cycle.
   If you would like to learn this system, it is advised to arrange a consultation with a qualified Natural Fertility Awareness instructor where you can have your Lunar Fertility Chart prepared. This information is then combined with the daily observation and charting methods. Below is an example of a sympto-thermal chart for plotting natural fertility awareness.

The Psychology and Spirituality of Fertility
    I often find that communing with nature brings me back to the simple understandings about myself and life in general. Discovering imagery and cycles in nature can help us connect with our own phases of fertility, and what better symbol than Sister Moon. The analogy below is only intended to be symbolic of a woman’s fertility cycle in general, and not meaning to infer that everyone should have the same cycle as described. But once you know your own lunar phase, and if you are following your lunar charts, watching for the phases of the moon to approach your personal ovulation time is a great method of developing that intuition and synchronisation with nature.
•   Starting with the arrival of the new moon, the follicular phase of the ripening egg and the womb’s preparation for conception, is the waxing moon, growing each night in anticipation for something to culminate.