June 2004
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Volume
4 Number 6
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What's Inside Weed Wanderings this Month...
INDEX |
CHILDBEARING & MOTHERING
| YOUR INTUITIVE DREAMS |
EMPOWER YOURSELF
WISE WOMAN WISDOM | ANTI-CANCER
LIFESTYLE | MENOPAUSAL
YEARS | FEATURED
LINKS
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Healing
Wise ...
The Wise Woman Tradition
of Herbal Medicine
by Corinna Wood |
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“Mommy, plantain poultice!” My two-year old has
fallen and hurt his knee, and he’s pointing to the plantain
plants that grow at our doorstep, one of the most common weeds
around. He wants me to make another fresh compress because
it has helped him so much in the past.
For children and adults alike, it is easy to learn about
the edible and medicinal uses of plants. This ancestral knowledge
comes naturally to us; it is our birthright. The ancient practice
of using common, local plants to heal is at the core of the
Wise Woman tradition. This lineage includes village healers,
community midwives, and family herbalists. The Wise Woman
tradition is based on nourishment and self-love, rather than
seeing disease as our enemy or the body as dirty and in need
of cleansing.
As
Susun Weed writes in Healing Wise: We are all healers
in the Wise Woman tradition. Self-healing and self-loving,
we co-create healing with our allies. Our allies are our problems;
they bring us gifts of wholeness. Our allies are wise women;
they support us in our transformation. Our allies are green
allies, wild plants; they supply us with optimum nourishment.
Although doctors, shamans and medicine men have more prominence
in our cultural history, the common healers, especially for
women’s health concerns, were women. It was women, as
it is today in tribal cultures, who attended pregnant women
and sick children, and who nurtured the beginning and the
ending of life. Part of the reason that wise woman ways are
so often overlooked is that much of this work is invisible.
A wise woman prevents illness by cooking nourishing meals
for her family, or building stamina with daily herbal teas.
The wise woman cooks a root stew for her family in the depth
of winter, makes salads with wild spring greens, garnishes
the summer festival platters with edible flowers, and harvests
berries to feast on in fall and to dry for the long winter.
How did this ancient tradition get broken? In Europe, it ended
with mass “witch burnings.” Almost everyone knows
of the Holocaust of World War II, but few people know of the
extent of the witch burnings, which spanned the 1300’s
to the 1600’s. As Jeanne Achterberg writes in Woman
as Healer, “Witches, also known as wise women (femina
saga), were accused of the ‘crimes’ of aiding
the sick, birthing babies, and caring for the dying.”
Under
the influence of the Church and the newly formed male-dominated
medical establishment, the word “witch,” which
originally meant “wise one,” became a term of
scorn. It took a reign of terror lasting several hundred years
to radically alter a way of life thousands of years old. Millions
of women who carried the healing lineage were systematically
killed (see The Church and the Second Sex by Mary Daly).
The ancient cloak of women’s wisdom is being re-woven
as we take back responsibility for our healthcare. Some say
we have a cellular memory of the ancient ways; we did them
for so long, they are practically instinctual.
Do you remember the Wise Woman? She brings a bag of herbs
for the young woman beginning her mooncycles to ease the cramping.
She is the midwife who visits the expectant mother and speaks
to her of transformation into motherhood, of surrendering
to the process of birth.
She is the one who strokes the arm of the laboring woman
and says, “I know it hurts.” She is the one whom
that mother calls upon as she becomes a crone herself, for
teas to ease the hot flashes. And it is she who sits on the
bed of the aging elder and speaks of death, offers porridge
to ease the belly and herbal spirits to calm the mind.
We can each reclaim the wise woman inside of us. As we heal
ourselves and our loved ones with compassion. As we learn
the plants that grow where we live and raise our children
and grandchildren in that way of life. As we remember the
ancient ways.
Corinna
Wood has opened the hearts of thousands to the
wisdom of the plants and their own bodies. She is director
of Red Moon Herbs, making herbal medicines from fresh, local
plants, with a focus on women’s health. Corinna’s
background includes an extensive apprenticeship with Susun
Weed in 1993 as well as a B.S. in Biology. Corinna is certified
as an herbalist, a fertility awareness teacher, and also in
permaculture design. Corinna lives with her family at Earthaven
Ecovillage, an intentional community in Black Mountain, NC.
Study with Susun Weed in the convenience of your home! Choose
from three Correspondence Courses: Green Allies, Spirit &
Practice of the Wise Woman Tradition, and Green Witch - includes
audio/video tapes, books, assignments, special mailings, plus
personal time. Learn more at www.susunweed.com
or write to: Susun Weed PO Box 64 Woodstock, NY 12498
For permission to reprint this article, write to: susunweed@herbshealing.com
Welcome sisters, you are invited to join us, announcing:
Green
Goddess Apprentice Week
Two one-week apprenticeships for aspiring herbalists who want
to learn from and play with the Green Goddess. And for past
apprentices to share their wisdom and knowledge. Here in the
safety of the Wise Woman Center we will play with the fairies,
dance with the devas, sing with the stars, and reweave the
healing cloak of the Ancients. We hope you can join us!
"I learned more from spending one day with Susun than
I have in months of study with others."
The fee includes all meals, lodging, instruction, textbooks,
and supplies.
* Organic vegetarian meals (dinner Monday through lunch Sunday)
* Camp site or shelter in our tipi or studio
* Twenty hours of class time with Susun
* All supplies, including materials for making herbal medicines,
and textbooks valued at more than $100: Field Guide to Wildflowers
(Peterson)
Healing Wise (Susun Weed)MoonDays (Premo-Steele)
City Herbal (Silverman)
Witches, Midwives, Nurses (Erenreich)
Natural Health Bible
* Classes with visiting teachers and past apprentices
* Campfire singing circles
* Yoga instruction
* Tai chi instruction
* Moon lodge gathering
* Talking stick ceremony
* Optional initiation as a green witch
During your Green Goddess Apprenticeship you will also:
* Learn how to identify plants
* Learn how to use common plants for food and medicine
* Learn about plant families and botany
* Make one or more herbal remedies to take home
* Enjoy Goddess archetype presentations
* Go for walks in the woods
* Connect deeply with plants and the planet
* Be supported by the spiral of sisters
In addition to studying you can:
* Swim in the pond or the river
* Paddle the canoe
* Visit Woodstock, Colony of the ArtsSchedule
Your Green Goddess Apprentice week begins at noon on Monday
and ends about 4pm on Sunday. You may arrive as early as 11am
if you wish to settle in first. If you are flying in, please
check with us about options for arriving early or staying
later. There is a $5 pickup fee to get you from the bus in
Woodstock or Saugerties.
Our days begin with breakfast (out from 8:30 until 9:30),
followed by class (10am - 1pm), then lunch and talking stick
(1:30 - 3:30), afternoon class (3:30 - 6pm), dinner (6:30
- 8pm), and finally evening campfire circle of stories and
songs (8pm - 10pm). On Monday, we will choose our goddess
archetypes and our green allies and pick a wild salad for
an early dinner. On Friday, we will also eat one hour earlier
since the moonlodge starts at 7pm. On Sunday, we will have
a lavish high magic ceremony followed by a late lunch and
a final talking stick. Many surprises await us on all the
days in between.
To
Register
Please send your name, age, address, phone number, e-mail
address, and letter of application (words or images) with
your $100 deposit -- which will be returned if we cannot accept
your application. A color photograph is helpful if you can
include one. Tell us which week you wish to attend and whether
or not you could come to the other week if your first choice
is full. Payment for this event may be made in installments
charged to your credit card. All Green Goddess Apprentices
must be paid in full ten days prior to their arrival.
Mail your application to :
Wise Woman Center PO Box 64, Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax questions to: 1-845-246-8081
Work-exchange
There are three work-study positions open at each Green Goddess
Week. Each position requires 50 hours of work over an eight
day span (the seven days of the green goddess week plus the
day before it begins or the day after it ends) plus a payment
of $500. You will not miss any class time if you do work exchange;
you will be busy from 8am to midnight. To apply for one of
these positions, please write. Tell us of your willingness
to work and your desire to participate.
You may use work-exchange credits from any work exchange weekend
toward this event.
Past Apprentices
Are you a past apprentice of Susun's? If so, you qualify for
a special discount at the Green Goddess Weeks. All past live-in
apprentices may come for two days and nights free; further
days are half price at $70 each, or $50 plus 3 hours of work.
(Offer good only to apprentices who graduated.) If you completed
a live-out apprenticeship, you may take 25% off , bringing
your cost to $600-750 for the week.Class Size
We will accept ten students in this program, plus three work-exchange
students, plus apprentices who may be here already as well
as visiting apprentices. Please register early.
click here for more information about Green
Goddess Apprentice Week
Blessings,
Karen Joy
www.susunweed.com
To register for Wise Woman Center workshops and intensives,
send deposit (see specific workshop for deposit amount) and
indicate which workshop you want to attend and contact info:
Wise Woman Center PO Box 64, Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax questions to: 1-845-246-8081
You may also choose to pay by credit card:
www.wisewomanbookshop.com
Please send us email,
to confirm availability, before registering online.
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©Susun Weed -Wise Woman Center
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INDEX | CHILDBEARING
& MOTHERING | YOUR INTUITIVE DREAMS
| EMPOWER YOURSELF
WISE WOMAN WISDOM | ANTI-CANCER
LIFESTYLE | MENOPAUSAL YEARS | FEATURED
LINKS
|