Healing Wise
The Wise Woman Tradition
of Herbal Medicine
by Corinna Wood
“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. She can be reached at (828) 669
1310 or at www.redmoonherbs.com.
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
http://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
with Susun Weed in Woodstock, NY
Enrollment limited to
ten women.
For ages 14 and up.
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
* Tarot reading with Susun
* 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.
Blessings,
Karen Joy
www.susunweed.com