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    WiseWoman Traditions

    Weeds in Your Garden? – Bite Back! I always say the gardener’s best revenge is to eat the weeds. I’ve been doing it for thirty years and can testify that my health and the health of my garden has never been better. Here are a few hints for gardeners who’d rather eat their weeds than hate them (and for non-gardeners who are adventurous enough to try out nature’s bounty). View your weeds as cultivated plants; give them the same care and you’ll reap a tremendous harvest. Harvest frequently and do it when the weeds are young and tender. Thin your weeds and pinch back the annuals so your weeds become…

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    WiseWoman Traditions

    Take Heart from Hawthorn Its many common names include whitethorn, hagthorn, ladies’ meat, quickthorn, maytree, and mayblossom. Its magic and medicine are ancient and memorable. From the earliest records, hawthorn is one of the sacred trees. Hawthorn is the sixth tree of the Ogam cycle, Hath. Hath precedes Quer, the oak, center tree of the cycle of thirteen. Hawthorn is said to guard the hinges and to oversee crafts. A branch of flowering hawthorn placed in studio or workshop is believed to make the craftsperson skilled and successful. Hath shuts what is open and opens what is shut. Her magic, like her medicinal effect, is slow but long lasting. The…

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    Wise Woman Traditions

    You Can Have a Green Ally! Herbal medicine is people’s medicine. So why don’t more people use it? Because it can seem complicated and scary, for starters. That’s the reason I urge you to use herbal medicine simply — one herb at a time. And that’s a good reason to have a green ally: one plant that teaches you the fundamental principles of herbal medicine. Herbal medicine is spirit medicine as well as body medicine. Our green allies tend our souls along with our sores. So why don’t more books and courses talk about plant spirits? Or, if they do, why do they divorce it from herbal medicine? Because it’s…

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    Wise Woman Traditions

    Hot Colds and Cold Colds – Winter Health Winter is coming. So are colds and the flu. Here are some tips for preventing these viral illnesses. And for getting well fast if you do get sick. Preventing colds and the flu can be summed up in three words: Wash your hands. The viruses that cause colds and the flu most readily enter our bodies by means of our hands. Wash your hands after shopping. Remind your children to wash their hands as soon as they come home from school. A little “hysterical hygiene” goes a long way to keeping colds at bay. Of course, there are herbs that can be…

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    Wise Woman Traditions

    Frolicking with the Fairies My friend Elsa always talked to plants. I thought she was crazy. Safely insane, but definitely disassociated from reality. Until the plants laughed at me. Autumn of 1980, returning home from a rare dinner out after a healing intensive at my land in the Catskills, I stopped to get my mail. An unusual envelope contained a $500 money order, signed “Mother Nature” and this note: “It’s my birthday and I could think of no better gift than giving you the means to build a shelter for your teaching.” How wonderful. How perplexing. Even way back then, $500 would not put down a floor, let alone walls…

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    Wise Woman Tradition

    What’s Science Got to Do With It? Once upon a time, healing was considered an art. Healing was understood by all to be a complex interaction between the patient, the healer, the community of living people, the communities of the plants and animals (and insects and rocks and fish), the communities of the non-living people (such as ancestors, spirit guides, and archetypes) and that mysterious movement known by so many names: Creator, God/dess, All High. The healing arts included a keen knowledge of human behavior, a thorough knowledge of plants, a flair for the dramatic arts, especially singing/chanting and costuming/body painting, and a comprehensive knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry.…

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    Wise Woman Tradition

    The Goddess is Alive in Every Woman The True Story of How She Came to Be, How She Disappeared, & How She Returned In the beginning, everything began, as it always does, with birth. The Great Mother of All gave birth, and the Earth began to breathe. Again, and again, and again, the Great Mother gave birth. And the plants began to breathe and the animals began to breathe and the two-legged ones began to breathe. All forms of life began to breathe. To breathe, to live. In the air, on the land, in the water, and even in the fires of deep sulfurous vents where light never shines, all…