The Wise Woman Tradition is fine. I am happy. Thrilled. Gratified. Delighted.
And there is no more for me to say about it.
What I said 35 years ago is still valid, effective, coherent..
There are those claiming to represent the Wise Woman Tradition who are not being true to its precepts of acceptance, simplicity, and deep listening.
Misinterpretation is inevitable.
I have no power, no authority, no say in that.
I have no need or desire to redefine the Wise Woman Tradition or its ways.
I have done that already.
"I see the wise woman. She is old and black and walks with the aid of a beautifully carved stick."
In "Healing Wise" I define the Wise Woman Tradition as:
• Non-binary. Both/and rather than either/or.
• Motherline Medicine is an expansion of the Wise Woman Tradition, not a replacement. The Wise Woman Tradition continues on.
• I am adding Motherline Medicine as a better way to explain my vision of the relationship between women, herbs, the earth, each other.
"The Wise Woman Tradition exists within each of us; it exists within you and comes to life through you."
• Invisible. Hard to perceive because it is ubiquitous.
• Because it includes all women. And women are unseen, unheard, unprotected.
• Because there is no structure, no hierarchy, no approval from outside.
• Motherline Medicine is louder, more visible, more clearly stated. Not hidden. Not devious. Still unstructured, without experts, all of us together, heart to heart, powerful within ourselves, supportive and attentive to each other.
"Nourishment is the great grounding root and green leaf of the Wise Woman Tradition."
• Nourishing.
• Not just with food. Not just with nourishing herbal infusions.
• Nourishment is a three-legged stool. One leg is indeed what we eat and drink. One leg is simple ritual. And one leg is listening/being heard.
• Motherline Medicine underscores healing by nourishing and adds living in nourishing community, understanding the nourishment of the Motherline, and expressing that in our relationships with each other.
"Pains, problems, diseases, illnesses are not fixed, or cured, or even brought into balance, but honored, supported, respected as true, nourished, and added to the individual's unique wholeness."
My expulsion from a conference supposedly devoted to the Wise Woman Tradition cannot be fixed or remedied or cured or mediated. It my desire to accept that it happened and honor it. To look for the ways to respect and embrace what seems to be rude, uncaring, ego-driven, power-hungry, vicious, nasty, churlish, crass, brash, impolite, brusque, ungracious, and insolent. Thus, Motherline Medicine. A chance to define ourselves as herbalists who care for each other.
• A void. Empty. Nothing.
• "The void is woman power: simultaneously full and empty, dynamic as well as relaxed, satiated yet endlessly consuming, unfillable, unquenchable, insatiable, wild."
• I give my life, all my experiences, especially those that distress me, to the Great Void, the Great Mother, the Great Mystery.
• And I am given Motherline Medicine. From my willingness to know nothing, a new knowing arises.
"There is no pain in the heart but the breaking of the barriers to love."
To be continued.
I walk in beauty.
My heart beats as one with the earth is heart.
My breath is a giveaway dance with the plants.
Green blessings surround me.
Comments