"Three central contributions to the understanding of reproduction came from ‘’Blood Magic’’. First, it definitively challenged the image of a universal taboo which operated in the same way in all societies. Second, it argued persuasively against the idea that menstruation was marked because it was always linked to female subordination, based on associations with nature, the domestic, or the undervalued. Third, with nuanced case studies it demonstrated how menstrual fluids could be used in empowering ways, in love magic, in specially esteemed forms of cooking, in establishing and coordination a ritual calendar, and in providing images of creation and transformation. That volume did not, however, veer into the New Age fashion of glorifying menstruation, eclipsing mention of its reported dangers, or purging cultural associations with death, disease, and loss (cf. Owen 1998). Since menstrual bleeding is both a sign of continued fertility and of the failure to conceive in a particular month, its regulation is of great importance to female reproductive health, and a recently published volume (Van de Walle and Renne 2000) brought together work on the medical history of menstrual regulation and the “native science” of female fertility, especially its relation to herbalism. Many herbs were used as both emmenagogues (to bring on menstruation) and abortifacients (to terminate pregnancy), and the fundamental ambiguity about the purposes for which they were employed seems to have been an important element of their popularity."