What Is A Wise Woman?

Imagine a woman who authors her own life, a woman who exerts, initiates and moves on her own behalf...who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and to her wisest voice...a woman who sits in circles of women [and] who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets...imagine yourself as this woman! (From Imagine A Woman by Patricia L. Reilly, 1995)

THE WISE WOMAN TRADITION © Susun S. Weed The Wise Woman tradition is invisible. Without healers, without diseases, without cures, without certificates, without guarantees, it exists. It has no rules, no right answers, no promise of life eternal. The Wise Woman tradition is a spiral of uniqueness, everchanging, like a woman, steeped in and rising out of the blood mysteries, the wisdom of womb-ones, the knowledge of those who hold their blood inside. The Wise Woman tradition honors the ordinary and avoids the exotic, works simply and steers clear of complication, accepts failure, chaos, and the eternal void with humor instead of fear and dread. The Wise Woman tradition is compassionate and heart-centered. It honors the Earth. It is local and ecological and urges us to use our dooryard weeds instead of the latest miracle herb from far away. The Wise Woman tradition maintains that health is best defined as flexibility and that deviations from normal (that is, problems) offer us an opportunity to reintegrate parts of ourselves that we have cast out, emerging healed/wholed/holy. Illness is understood as an integral part of life and self-growth, with healer, patient and nature as co-participants in the healing process. This is in marked contrast to other traditions of healing. In the Scientific tradition the doctor is highly visible and the patient is reduced to a body part or a disease designation. In the Heroic or Holistic tradition, the healer is the one who knows the right way to do things and the patient must follow the rules in order to get well. Most so-called alternative medicine comes from Heroic traditions, which emphasize fasting, purification, colonic cleansing, rigid dietary rules, and the use of rare botanicals in complicated formulae. Metaphysical healing also is applied that way: It views illness as a failure rather than a natural and potentially constructive process. The Wise Woman Tradition reminds us that wellness and illness are not polarities. They are part of the continuum of life. We are constantly renewing ourselves, cell by cell, second by second, every minute of our lives. Problems, by their very nature, can facilitate deep spiritual and symbolic renewal, leading us naturally into expanded, more complete ways of thinking about and experiencing ourselves. The Wise Woman Tradition encourages us to work towards good health from the inside out. And to remember that our healing choices influence not only ourselves but the entire planet. THE WISE WOMAN TRADITION IS A SPIRAL © Susun S. Weed The symbol of the Wise Woman tradition is a spiral. A spiral is a cycle as it moves through time. A spiral is movement around and beyond a circle, always returning to itself, but never at exactly the same place. Spirals never repeat themselves. The symbol of the Wise Woman tradition is the spiral. The spiral is the bubbling cauldron. The spiral is the curl of the wave. The spiral is the lift of the wind. The spiral is the whirlpool of water. The spiral is the umbilical cord. The spiral is the great serpent. The spiral is the path of the earth. The spiral is the twist of the helix. The spiral is the spin of our galaxy. The spiral is the soft guts. The spiral is the labyrinth. The spiral is the womb-moon-tide mobius pull. The spiral is your individual life. The spiral is the passage between worlds: birth passing into death passing into birth. The path of enlightenment is the spiral dance of bliss. The symbol of the Wise Woman Tradition is a spiral. Twelve is the number of established order. One step beyond is thirteen, the wild card, the indivisible prime, the number of change. Walk a spiral, you will inevitably come to the unique next step, the unknown, the thirteenth step, the opportunity for change, the window of transformation. The thirteenth step creates the spiral.

A Wise Woman is the collective consciousness of all women.   She has the inner wisdom of her mother, grandmother and great grandmother and also the wisdom of her inner divine girl child.   Knowing comes from both her heart and head, for a Wise Woman is in tune with that instinctual place deep inside…her intuition.   A Wise Woman is an ageless beauty who honors and nurtures the feminine energy in herself as well as all living things.   She is in tune with the natural rhythms and cycles, both hers and those of our Mother Earth, and lives her life accordingly.   A Wise Woman knows hear heart and follows it. A Wise Woman celebrates life.

What Is The Wise Woman Tradition?

Reprinted with permission. Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ashtreepublishing.com or contact:   Susun Weed PO Box 64 Woodstock, NY 12498 Fax:  1-845-246-8081 For permission to reprint this article, contact us at: susunweed@herbshealing.com Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her ground-breaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative. Susun is one of America 's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at www.susunweed.com