What is the Wise Woman Tradition, and why is it important? Herbalism is a multi-faceted discipline, with many different perspectives. I follow the Wise Woman Tradition of herbal medicine, and it feels important to share with you what that is and why I chose this tradition to dedicate myself to since we are journeying together.

The Wise Woman Tradition follows the Wisdom of the Body as well as the Mind. Wisdom is not something you learn through books, but is something you embody by living. Our bodies have so much to tell us. Wise Women listen to their bodies.

The Wise Woman Tradition seeks wholeness through nourishment above all else. We do not fracture ourselves into unrelated categories. We are one being, whole and complete in every moment. We refuse to see ourselves any other way. If pieces of our souls split off through trauma or abuse, we call them back ceaselessly, increasing our love of all parts until every aspect of our being feels welcome and cared for.

The Wise Woman Tradition is integrated. We welcome all forms of medicine. We always begin with the most gentle approach. We choose harsh and invasive herbs, drugs or scientific procedures with our eyes wide open, we understand that we are choosing to be alive. We never stop advocating for ourselves. We assume total responsibility for our own healing. Anyone who helps us has been invited. We nourish ourselves always on our healing journey.

The Wise Woman Tradition celebrates life and death. We welcome all stages of Birth/Death/Birth in gratitude. We consider all stages in life to be sacred. We accept the power and magic of every change. We realize that discomfort, illness, pain, death are not failures. They are teachers. We honor every living being on our planet. Nothing is toxic or useless. Something eats everything on our planet. We seek the pattern of Life. We do not fear death. We welcome it as a transition into the mystery.

The Wise Woman is inclusive. Any gender can be a wise woman. We honor women’s wombs as the bearers of life. We reclaim the truth that every person is worthy and whole. We honor the suppressed and forgotten wisdom of our ancestors. We honor the women’s wisdom from every culture, every people. We seek to liberate all people, starting with ourselves.

The Wise Woman Tradition is empowering. There are no heroes, no saviors. We are brave enough to take total and complete responsibility for ourselves. We refuse to be victims. We write our own stories, and do not allow anyone to turn us against ourselves. We are powerful. We are the Wise Woman, the one who transcends time and births us all.

In the Wise Woman Tradition, there are several medicines. Mind Medicine. Story Medicine. Lifestyle Medicine. Plant Medicine. Drug Medicine. Deep Medicine. As a green witch and farmer, my focus is on plants, both wild and cultivated, though I integrate all medicines available to me into my healing path. When using herbal medicine, we focus on simple remedies, not formulas. That is, we seek to get to know plants one at a time, building a community of herbal allies we have cultivated relationships with. This means not using more than two or three herbs at one time, ideally just one. We seek the common plants that are local to where we live whenever possible. We embrace weeds as medicine, and know that the most nourishing remedy is the one you make yourself with the wild plants right outside your door.

This is the Wise Woman Tradition, and I invite you into wholeness and nourishment right here, right now.

In Love,

Susan Marie

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The Wise Woman Tradition was taught to me by Susun Weed. This article was deeply inspired by her book “Healing Wise”. For more information on the Wise Woman Tradition, I encourage you to read her book. You can find it here.