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 Feeding Our Fire
with ALisa Starkweather
September 23rd, 2007
Wise Woman Center, Woodstock NY
Register online, or mail to:
PO Box 64 Woodstock NY 12498
1 day: $75-85. $25 deposit.
ALisa Starkweather will be teaching Feeding Our Fire to Move the Mountains, Ride the Waves and Fly at the Wise Woman Center on Sunday, September 23rd. She shares a personal response to a woman who was asking her how we come to love and accept ourselves as women who want to be empowered in this world.
Learn more about and register for this teaching
For me this is not only my work in the world with others, but also my personal quest and journey as a woman. It begins as a question which is who is the “I” that is wanting acceptance and love? The first assumption may be that we know who we are accepting but since we also intuitively know that we are a mystery and there is more to us than is in our consciousness, we may hold out suspecting that to “accept ourselves” would be too limited with what we know so far. Accepting “ourselves” might be a lie because we are only accepting the part of ourselves that we know and “approve of”. All along we may suspect that to accept ourselves might be a bigger sphere than we presently know. A metaphor of this might be the leaf eating caterpillar worm who innately knows yet doesn’t know that one day in its destiny it will liquefy and become a flower nectar eating butterfly. But of course it is easy for us to think why not? Let’s accept us as the caterpillar form now in the ultimate knowing (and not knowing) that we will continue to evolve and become ever more beautiful!
read the entire article, click here |
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 Mother and Child
Mystic Pop Interview
Susun Weed & Devra Jacobs
Devra: Because some readers may not know much about you, I thought we could start off with you giving me a brief history of you and your work.
Susun: I was born on the shores of Lake Erie. My conception, in 1945, arose from a world-wide desire for peace. When I was two, we moved to Dallas Texas; too hot and dry for me, but perfect for my mother, who had sinus problems.
In my sophomore year, my chemistry lab partner Phoebe responded to my complaint that high school was a waste of time by suggesting that I just leave and go directly to college. So I took the SAT’s, finished in the top percentile, and then had to choose between MIT, who insisted that I take a remedial chemistry course that summer, and UCLA. Thinking chemistry would never be that important to me (ha, ha), I chose UCLA.
Devra: Little did you know.
Susun: I spent three wonderful years at UCLA, met the father of my daughter, and became pregnant. When I was seven months pregnant, we moved to Manhattan. I was absolutely adamant that I was going to have a natural child birth and breast feed my baby. To say that right now in 2006 is not much, but 40 years ago…
read the entire article, click here |
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 Empower Yourself
About Food
excerpt from Travelers Joy
by Juliette de Bairacli Levy
The true traveler eats simple meals, the sort of foods the nomads carry in their packs.One is reluctant to give up long hours of every day to the cooking of heavy meals, when the world outside is shining and beautiful and alluring and always ready to yield new discoveries. In any case it is not possible to cook elaborate meals over a wood fire, and that is the only cooking media of the primitive faraway dwelling unless one cares to use a kerosene stove–an unpleasant heating and cooking companion in the home, and a thing which I avoid.
Contrary to popular belief, big rich meals do not create energy for the consumer. One only has to recall how after a heavy feast, such as at Christmas, one feels cold and lethargic and want to keep close to the blazing Yule log for warmth. Whereas while fasting, one’s energy and mental alertness are at a high pitch. During travel there is always an occasional feast at a tavern, for richer meals combined with entertainment–at the meeting with other travelers and the local people; and always the hope that Gypsy musicians my be found there, the Gypsies with their violins, or guitars, or harps.
read the entire article, click here |
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 Wisdom Keeper
Stories of my Ancestors
Sacred Council Fires
The path that lead away from the Red Road
by Waynonaha TwoWorlds
For thousands of years indigenous people have held council fires. The Sacred Fires are kept from one generation to another, the wisdom passed on to our children and grandchildren. Our Elders, who spoke the wisdom, were revered and cared for as they were the heart of the people. If the Elders are not here to share the wisdom then our people and their ways will be forgotten as many Nations now are.
In times before the coming of the boat people we sat in peace, listening, to our Elders speak. The “words that come before all things” were held by the Keepers of the Wisdom. Great respect was given when the elders shared the sacred ways of life. Even down to the smallest child they learned to listen when the elders spoke.
read the entire article, click here |
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 Wise Woman Wisdom
HERBAL PHARMACY
Making Infused Oils
by Susun Weed
In your herbal pharmacy you transform fresh and dried plants into herbal medicines. Learning to identify and use the common plants around you is easy and exciting, beneficial and safe. Making your own medicines saves you money if you follow the Wise Woman tradition of using local herbs, free for the taking.
Even one day’s work in field, forest, and kitchen can provide you with many years’ worth of medicines. When you make your own, you know for sure what’s in it, where it came from, when and how it was harvested, and how fresh and potent it is.
Dried herbs are best for the infusions recommended in this book. Stock your herbal pharmacy with your own foraged or cultivated dried herbs; expand your resources and experiment with new herbs by buying dried herbs from reputable sources.
read the entire article, click here |
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 Anti-Cancer Lifestyle
Mammograms: Costs to Society
by Susun Weed
Yearly screening mammograms aren’t cost effective to society nor are they safe environmentally. The Southern Medical Journal reports that the cost effectiveness (defined as the number of dollars spent so one person can live one year longer) of mammograms for women under 55 is $82,000.19 A recent analysis found that it cost $195,000 to detect one breast cancer using screening mammograms.
Dr. Charles Wright of Vancouver General Hospital estimates that the cost of saving one life by mass screening is $1.25 million (Canadian).
The mammography industry could gross $1 billion per year if every woman aged 40-49 was screened yearly. Less than 10 percent of all breast cancers occur in women that age. Choosing screening mammograms means I choose to contribute to the stream of low-level radioactive waste leaving hospitals.
read the entire article, click here |
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 Goddess Speaks
Visions, Feathers and Nests
by Liz Nicholas
(ezine featured artist)
How lucky we are to be surrounded by so many amazing life forms! The past few years, I have found myself drawn to many things of which I realize now; I have frequently taken for granted. The clarity of the sky, the billowing of the clouds, the sounds of nature, and of course the mystery and connection we all have to the plants, trees and all the little creatures who live in or around them.
This reality becomes a backdrop to color my heart, and my paintings. The world, (and nature), becomes an inspiration and a gift with the introduction of the intricacies and artistry radiating from abandoned nests and pieces of a broken egg strategically placed on the ground after the hatchlings burst free for the first time. All these gifts are always mysteriously left in my path. Is this by accident – of course not. These are the forces which continue to draw my eyes to the sky both in daylight and at night time leading me down my life’s path. I hear the melody of the songs from above, I see the floating of a feather or a leaf on its way down to the ground, and I feel something resonating deep in my soul, about this “big mystery” as I gaze at the sparkling planets above.
read the entire article, click here |
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 Grandmother Gaia
Dragonfly Wings
by JoAnne Dodgson
Maia woke up with a start, her heart racing. She got out of bed and fumbled through the darkness, trailing her hand along the wall searching for the light. Blinking against the brightness that suddenly filled the room, she brewed herself a cup of chamomile tea, hoping to soothe herself back to sleep and leave behind the troubling dream that kept waking her up in the middle of the night.
The dream was always the same. There she was, standing on a moss-covered cliff watching the ocean waves crash against the rocks far below. A golden dragonfly with glistening wings suddenly appeared. The dragonfly hovered high above the ocean, just beyond her reach, mysteriously calling to her. She felt an irresistible urgency to catch it, to claim it, to keep it for her very own. Staring intently at the dragonfly, Maia took several steps back and then ran forward as fast as she could. She leapt off the cliff, desperately reaching out for the dragonfly. She caught it, cupping it between both of her hands, feeling delicate dragonfly wings fluttering against her palms. Her delight turned to terror when she suddenly realized there was no longer any ground beneath her feet.
read the entire article, click here |
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 Healing Wise
Learning Herbs Interview 1.5
Susun Weed & John Gallagher
continued from last month….
John: Wow! So then what’s tonifiying and this nourishing experience then, is the rhythm of the ritual of the infusion.
Susun: I call them nourishing herbal infusions.
John: OK. You just keep the word “tonifying” out of there.
Susun: Exactly and I have heard herbal speakers say something like, “This is a wonderful tonifying herb which nourishes and stimulates.” And I think, “Are we trying to make any sense here? Or are we just throwing words around?”
John: Well, someone may feel a sense of stimulation if they start drinking nettle after eating a really bad diet, they may feel like, “woah!” [laughs]
Susun: No, they will not. Stimulation means to be pushed beyond the place you can sustain.
John: Right, right.
Susun: Nourishment increases the form, the organ, the organism. Tonification increases the functioning of the form, the organ, or the organism. But stimulus pushes the organ or the organism to function at a faster level than it can sustain. So stimulus always erodes health.
read the interview, click here |
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| Wise Woman Herbal Ezine August 2007 |
HEALING WISE Learning Herbs Interview 1.4
Susun Weed & John Gallagher
MOTHER AND CHILD Feminine Essence
Spirit of Life 1.2
Sophia Roselyn Breillat
EMPOWER YOURSELF About Fire and Weather
Juliette de Bairacli Levy
WISDOM KEEPERS
A Talk with Creator
Waynonaha TwoWorlds
HERBAL PHARMACY
External Uses of Infusions
Susun Weed
ANTI-CANCER LIFESTYLE Mammograms:
Cure Rate is Misleading
Susun Weed
GODDESS SPEAKS Medicine Woman:
The Gaian Path 1.2
Kiva Rose
GRANDMOTHER GAIA Unleashing Love
JoAnne Dodgson
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| Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Wise Woman Center |
A Party at the Colony Cafe on Saturday
When: 6pm-11pm on Saturday, October 6, 2007
Where: The Colony Cafe in Woodstock NY
22 Rock City Road - Phone 845-679-5342
Web: www.colonycafe.com
Who: Lovers of herbal medicine, wild foods, mushrooms, women’s spirituality, the Goddess, and the Earth.
How much: Please donate to our Scholarship fund.
What: A party with delicious snacks, fascinating women, photo memories, and live music.
Contact: no rsvp requested…show up, enjoy, celebrate.
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| Open House at the Wise Woman Center |
| When: 10am-4pm, Sunday, October 7, 2007. Arrive no earlier than 10am. Talking stick at 10:30. We will take a walk with the goats. Cheese, bread, and herbal wines served from noon on.
Where: The Wise Woman Center, Saugerties, NY (Blue mailbox — 416 — on Fishcreek Rd between Rt 212 and Glasco Turnpike/High Woods Road; from the NYS Thruway, take exit 20.)
Who: Past and future apprentices, past and future teachers, correspondence course students, perennial and occassional students, lovers of herbal medicine, wild foods, mushrooms, women’s spirituality, the Goddess, and the Earth.
How much: Please donate to our Scholarship fund.
What: An open house at the Wise Woman Center, a chance to spend time with Susun, the goats, the geese, and the apprentices, a time to reconnect and remember.
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| The Polishing Stone magazine |
| The Polishing Stone magazine offers practical ideas and encouragement for enhancing the quality of our lives, creating community and caring for our world.
~ Special Subscription Invitation ~
New! The Wise Woman Center and The Polishing Stone have teamed up through a Fundraising Partnership. Now you can support the ongoing work of The Wise Woman Center to help women rediscover these ancient Wise Woman ways, passed down through countless generations, while enhancing your own quality of life.
Learn more about the Polishing Stone |
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| HONORING YOUR BELLY - NOW ON DVD |
| Honoring Your Belly DVD Video
This fun and instructional video with Lisa Sarasohn is much more than a set of conventional stomach exercises. This dynamic sequence of belly-energizing moves draws from the wisdom of yoga and other healing arts. Use this 35-minute DVD video to learn these moves, enacting a rite for reconsecrating our womanhood and animating ancient symbols of the Sacred Feminine. Yours for $19.95 plus shipping
learn more about Honoring Your Belly |
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