Susun Weed wants a world of healthy women. "That's not easy when normal events such as pregnancy and menopause are treated as diseases," she observes. In response to recent bad news about HRT, more women are turning to alternative practitioners for help with menopausal symptoms. "But most, females as well as males, treat menopause as a problem to be eliminated," says Susun. "The real alternatives are simple, safe, nourishing herbs and foods, not soy isoflavones, progesterone creams, and calcium supplements, which may be as dangerous to health as orthodox drugs." Weed maintains that menopause is as natural as puberty, and, like puberty, creates an altered state that allows us to change our Selves in readiness for increased power and responsibility. Menopause itself promotes health and longevity , for individual women and society as a whole. "The healthier the woman, the more hot flashes she will have," says Susun after listening to more than 50,000 women talk about menopause. As a green witch, Susun approaches herbal medicine as a living manifestation of the Goddess. "Together we will remember the women's mystery stories, flow from our hearts, honor the Earth, and learn how to use wild plants and herbs to create vitality and health before, during, and after menopause. With optimum nourishment, compassionate listening, and simple ceremony, we will dance in the Tao, spiraling through grief and joy, healing and wholing the Wise Woman Way." The Wise Woman Way heals by nourishing the unique individual, not by cleansing away toxins, nor by fixing broken machines. The Wise Woman Way sees all things as interconnected and more than the sum of their parts. Health is flexibility and juiciness, not absence of symptoms. Problems are allies of wholeness; menopausal problems are doorways to transformation. Menopause affects the kundalini and the chakras. Wise women know how to have healthy hearts, strong bones, lots of libido, and keen minds , without taking drugs or supplements. Our weekend together will be created from a basket brimming with possibilities: talking stick and stories, desires and songs, weed walks and herbal pharmacy, the warmth of our women's circle, perhaps a visit to Artemis' wood on the wings of a shamanic journey, a welcome back to the fairies. Susun's dramatic, colorful, yet easy style of presentation, and her clear, simple explanations make it easy for you to remember and make use of what you've learned. Susun delivers profound and practical advice as she entertains and delights. Her powerful presence and astonishing clarity shock, even offend, some, until they realize that Weed teaches from her heart and speaks her truth (and is amazingly well read). You are likely to find some of your own "sacred cows" challenged, perhaps even overturned. Your health and your life may never be the same. You will take away a newfound confidence in your ability to use green blessings: the earth's gifts of food and medicine. You will leave unafraid of getting older and ready to change to the world, the Wise Woman Way.
Susun S. Weed has studied and taught herbal medicine for more than 35 years. Her encyclopedic knowledge of herbs and women's health makes her one of the most respected teachers of our age. As the voice of the Wise Woman Tradition, she has opened tens of thousands of hearts and minds to the magic and medicine of the green nations. Susun is founder of the Wise Woman Center, editor in chief of Ash Tree Publishing, a high priestess of Dianic Wicca, a member of the Wolf Clan and the Sisterhood of the Shields, a Peace Elder, and a devoted goat keeper. Her four books, Healing Wise; New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way; Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way; and Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year, have been used by millions of women and have been translated into German and French. Susun currently sits on the advisory boards of the California Institute of Integral Studies, the Wise Traditions Foundation and the Beltane Papers. She has personally trained more than 200 apprentices and initiated hundreds of green witches. "Nourishing ourselves optimally during menopause allows us to prime the pump for a second fifty years of vitality and health." Susun Weed