Cycles of Belonging: honouring ourselves through the sacred cycles of life

by Stella Tomlinson

An embodied feminine and feminist psycho-spiritual path for women to reclaim their inner wisdom, follow the callings of their soul, and come home to a profound sense of belonging to the seasons and cycles of life.

Cycles of Belonging : Honouring ourselves through the sacred cycles of life is a guide to unlocking the powers of cyclic living to lead a more fulfilling, meaningful, and wholehearted life through six sacred temples of Each Temple explores the energies of each cycle, their healing gifts and shadows/challenges, together with practical suggestions on how to work with the cycles, including journal prompts, rituals and blessings, as well as magical words of poetry and soul guidance.

A beautiful book on flowing in rhythm with the sacred cycles of life.
– Rebecca Campbell, bestselling author of Rise Sister Rise

Sometimes, when we feel tired, stressed, disconnected or frustrated we just need a friend like Stella Tomlinson and her beautiful book. Cycles of Belonging takes you gently by the hand, guiding you into and through great temples of the seasons, the moon and the goddess. This book is an invitation to find the possibilities of presence and healing we can all benefit from. Practical and beautiful magic indeed! Thank you, Stella!
– Sarah Robinson, bestselling author of Yoga for Witches, Kitchen Witch

Cycles of Belonging is a beautifully compiled book that captures the essence of the feminine energy, the energy of Goddess, which is part of everyone's life, whether you know it or not. The awareness of the cyclical (opposed to linear) nature of life is a gift which invites a different way of being than we are used to in our patriarchal society. With welcoming us into the different 'temples of belonging', which range from the intimate (breath/sacred blood) to the communal (seasons/archetypes), Stella offers both valuable insights and practical tools to explore these different cyclical ways of how we can experience our lives. Offering reflections on the shadow side of each of the cycles, journal work and rituals to perform, Cycles of Belonging can be a reference book as well as a useful tool to help you build a daily practice...
– Marion Brigantia van Eupen, tutor of the Brighde-Brigantia trainings, co-organiser of The Glastonbury Goddess Conference and co-founder of The Temple of Avalon

Cycles of Belonging is a beautiful reminder of our innate connection to nature – our nature – and a remembering of the ever-present energy of the feminine. With awareness of the cycles in us and around us, Stella guides you to flow with life rather than compete against it. It's a book for any woman who feels out of alignment in this overly masculine energetic world and craves a return to herself.
– Lyn Thurman, author, oracle creator and priestess

In friendly sisterly style this book shows you how to integrate the embodied rhythmic patterns of your own experiences with the wider seasonal cycles of the living Earth and the turning a simple way to live in sacred harmony with life herself. For those beginning to tread this path I recommend this guide.
– Uma Dinsmore-Tuli PhD, author of Yoni Shakti and Nidra Shakti

Genres: Nonfiction

278 pages, Paperback

Published January 31, 2022

About the author

Stella Tomlinson is an author and poet whose work is now dedicated to honouring midlife and menopause as a sacred psycho-spiritual rite of passage.

Her offerings draw on her own healing journey and 25 years’ experience in personal and spiritual development through meditation, yoga, mindfulness, energy healing, menstrual cycle awareness, Goddess and nature spirituality, positive neuroplasticity, inner child healing and tending grief. She’s been teaching and writing since 2011.

Stella is the author of five books supporting women's emotional and spiritual wellbeing: Her Soul Is Ablaze (2025), I Am With You (2023), Cycles of Belonging (2022), Whispers From Mother Earth (2020) and Peace Lies Within (2018).

When she’s not writing or reading, you’ll find her playing with her black cat Luna, walking in woodland, taking pictures of flowers and sunsets, gazing at the moon, sipping herbal tea (or the occasional stout), communing at the altar in her tiny temple, or taking a yoga nidra nap. She lives with her husband in Hampshire, UK.
Find out more at: stellatomlinson.com

Reviews

[Sarah Robinson]

I pre-ordered this wonderful book, and it is a delight to have it in my hands! Cycles of Belonging takes you gently by the hand, guiding you into and through great temples of the seasons, the moon and the goddess. This book is an invitation to find the possibilities of presence and healing we can all benefit from. Practical and beautiful magic indeed! Thank you, Stella!

[An]

Delightful book filled with gentle, soulful guidance on embracing the different cycles of our lives and coming home to ourselves.

4.5☆

[Lydia Collin]

Cycles of Belonging is one of those books that doesn’t just speak to you it feels like it remembers you. Stella Tomlinson writes with a gentle fierceness, inviting women back into rhythms many of us were never taught to honour the rise and fall of our breath, the ebb of our menstrual tides, the steady pulse of the sun, and the mystical pull of the moon.
What I loved most is how deeply human this book is. It doesn’t preach or push it guides. Each Temple feels like entering a sacred space within yourself, where Tomlinson’s words offer both comfort and clarity. She acknowledges the shadows exhaustion, disconnection, overwhelm as honestly as the gifts, and somehow you end each chapter feeling seen, softened, and strengthened at the same time.
The practical rituals, journal prompts, and poetic reflections make the experience personal, not theoretical. It’s less a book and more a companion for any woman craving a sense of belonging to her own body, to her sisters, and to the natural world.
Reading Cycles of Belonging felt like remembering a language I didn’t know I had forgotten. It’s warm, wise, and quietly revolutionary an invitation to return home to yourself.

[sophie powell]

This book was pretty much exactly what I was looking for - I was looking for a book about how women’s cycles vary energy levels and how to live according to them rather than old societal habits. This also looked at the lunar cycle, breath, seasons, and life as a whole. I really liked how it described cyclical living, how to implement each element, and made me see everything holistically. It was a bit of an adjustment for me having it written the way it was, and I’m not normally one for visualisation, but in this case I really liked it. I also think the order of chapters could have been shifted around a bit to make it more digestible. That said, it’s the first non-fiction book I’ve finished in forever, and I’m already telling people everything I’ve learned from it. I’d only recommend it to pretty open minded people though :)

[Madelyn Miley Passmore]

I enjoyed the general concept of this book. Paying attention to and honoring the natural cycles of life. There’s a chapter on the breath, the menstrual cycle, the moon, the seasons, and a woman’s life cycle. The book has a lot of repetition by nature. I enjoyed the soft predictable cadence. I was sorry that I didn’t like the author very much. She just seemed a little too salty and abrasive to me. Lots of preaching against the patriarchy, white privilege, religion in general, she even has a holier than though attitude about yoga. She just seemed a little too serious for my taste, and not very joyful or lighthearted, which is generally what I’m going for when I reach for this type of book.

[Gabriella]

Really insightful book! Highly recommended ✨ I have the e-book version, but I recommend having it physically, since it is more convenient to have it on hand to revisit the journal prompts, rituals and other powerful ideas she suggests!

[julie]

I really enjoyed this. I read it on Kindle, but it's now in my paper wish list to refer back to at different times of cycles.

[Angela]

This book came to me at the right time. I like her addition to the Maiden, Mother, Crone archetypes. She has 5: Maiden, Lover, Mother, Queen, Crone.