An interactive data artwork

Mensis

A cycle you can see, hear, and feel.

Welcome to Mensis.

Drag the moon around the ring—or use the arrow keys—to move through a menstrual cycle. Watch the glass gather what has flowed, listen as the phases change, and notice where a real cycle departs from the perfect circle behind it.

28-day reference, not a rule
Illustrative flow model Illustrative

Research data — mcPHASES
Clinical guidance — ACOG
Illustrative model — flow and vessel

Drag along the ring, or use the arrow keys.

25 mL illustrative vessel marker

Illustrative flow model

Incoming water and displayed volume are illustrative—not measured participant blood loss.

Disturb the water

Symptoms can change how a cycle feels, even when the calendar looks orderly. Try an illustrative body signal.

Illustrative sensory metaphor—not measured symptom severity.

Day: 3 of 32
Phase: Menstrual
Flow today Illustrative: ~7 mL
In the glass Illustrative: ~25 mL~1.0 vessel equivalents (25 mL illustrative marker)

Dark moon. Bleeding begins and the glass starts to gather (illustrative model).

Volume

The sound is an artistic sonification of cycle position and phase—not a recording of the body.

Ask Mensis about this phase

Choose a cycle day and a few symptoms for a short educational explanation.

Cycle day (1–32)

Choose up to 4. Phase on Day 3: Menstrual.

Educational only—not medical advice. Symptoms vary from person to person. If something feels severe, sudden, or disrupts daily life, talk with a trusted adult or healthcare professional.

The data

The mcPHASES study followed 42 Canadian adults and recorded 192 complete cycles. Its reported average phase durations:

Menstruation: 6.2 days
Late follicular: 7.7 days
Ovulation / fertile phase: 7.3 days
Luteal: 10.4 days

Because the ring uses whole days, phase boundaries are visually rounded from reported averages, giving a 32-day ring (6, 8, 7 and 11 days). Blood-volume measurements were not included in mcPHASES. The flow shown here is an illustrative model. Ovulation is shown as an estimate, not a guaranteed day.

mcPHASES collected daily self-reports including pain, stress, and sleep experiences. The water responses in Mensis are artistic interpretations, not reproductions of individual participant records. Bloating is shown as an illustrative body experience, not a summarized mcPHASES measurement.

Adolescents: cycles typically range from 21–45 days, and bleeding lasts 7 days or fewer (ACOG).

How to read this

The moon ring is time.
The glass is cumulative flow.
The outer marks show the illustrative daily flow pattern.
The dashed circle is a 28-day reference, not a rule.
During illustrative bleeding days, water enters the glass as flow is added to the cumulative total. The Body Weather controls do not alter the data; they show how symptoms can interrupt the experience of an otherwise orderly-looking cycle.
At the end, the glass pours out as a poetic transition into the next cycle.
The changing sound is an artistic translation of phase and movement.

Why the moon?

The moon is used here as a cultural and linguistic metaphor, not as a biological clock or prediction system. Menstrual cycles do not reliably synchronize with lunar phases.

“the moon, the governess of floods”—A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2, Scene 1

Sources

Point a phone camera at the code to open this page. Everyone gets their own moon and glass to move.

Link in this code

Illustrative and educational, not medical advice.