As I have stated here before, I studied with Susun Weed, taking her full 6 week live-in apprenticeship which left me able to call myself a Wise Woman Herbalist. OK, that's nice, what does THAT mean? Wise Woman Herbalism is a style of herbalism based on nourishment in every sense of the word. For the most part we strive to teach those who come to us to care for themselves. You don't get big-name-famous doing things like that. But that is indeed the POINT.
Over so many centuries, the teachings and the healing and the use of the nourishing plants were handed down and around by the women of the tribes, of the villages, and of the woods. All rather quietly. It has often been said that women living closely together in a tribe would all bleed at the same time and would be sent off to the Moon Lodge. In some history books it is said that this was done by the men to send the women away while they were 'unclean'. Oh excuse us.....it was the time when the women would share the things they know freely with each other, and as the daughters came of age they would learn by listening during the Moon Lodges.
That's the more peaceful scenario. During other periods in history, any woman caught helping or healing anyone could be accused of being a witch and she and often even her 'patient' would be arrested and tortured and killed. While most of the torture was aimed at getting the woman in question to confess to BEING a witch, often the torturer would also try to elicit her healing secrets. (This was one of Susun's favorite stories.....) Now, let's think about this a minute. If some witch-hunter is pulling your fingernails out and asking you to 'share' your healing secrets, are you REALLY going to give him the accurate cure for herpes? It's a bit more likely that you're going to be leaning towards his needing a Cayenne Enema.....and sure enough, this led to a great deal of erroneous information that went into print around that time. So watch yourselves with those olde herballes! Here's an interesting web site that pretty
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Barbara Hall's Weeds & Wild Plants topic, please visit the Discussions page.