Wise Woman Tradition

Wise women were during medieval periods in Europe women who possessed knowledge, passed down through generations, of traditional or folk medicine. They dealt with all kinds of illnesses and medical conditions, including childbirth and, in some cases, abortion - though their knowledge and skills were by no means restricted to women’s health. Wise women also used many practical herbal remedies, drawing on plants and the rest of the natural environment, which they knew well. The folklore wise woman tradition in Europe declined with the urbanisation.
The Wise Woman Tradition is also a New Age approach to health. The term is used by Susun Weed in her lectures and books. The concept is intended to offer a view of health that is female-centered and empowering for women. It places itself in contradiction to orthodox medicine and most Complementary and Alternative Medicine practices, which, Weed claims, are based on male viewpoints that disempower women.
In its self-presentation, the Wise Woman Tradition contrasts itself to two other traditions of healing, which it names the Heroic Tradition—that sees people as dirty and in need of cleaning—and the Scientific Tradition, that sees people as parts and machines to fix. In the Wise Woman Tradition health is viewed as a spiral, ever-evolving, always returning to itself, but never at the same place. It shows health as a flexible state, never static.
The Wise Woman Tradition claims to draws from the wisdom passed down for generations. The approach to health resembles the practice of traditional healers in many cultures (native American tribal cultures, indigenous Indian cultures in South America), such as shamans, witches, and lay midwives. It is a term and an approach now used amongst many who practice herbalism, as well as other fields such as midwifery and life counseling.
The Wise Woman Tradition emphasizes putting the responsibiliy and power of health into the hands of people. Though some use it in their approach to helping others, at its core is the idea that we are all healers inside, and have at our doorstep all we need to care for ourselves and our loved ones.
The approach uses the symbol of the spiral to encapsulate the belief that life is spiraling, ever-changing while disease and injury are doorways to change. Where good health may be freedom from disease, but it is also openness to change, flexibility, and compassionate embodiment, even when dancing with cancer or healing from a serious accident. Uniqueness rather than normalcy. Not a cure, but an integration; not the elimination of the bad, but a nourishing of wholeness/health/holiness .

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