A Healing Practice from The Wise Woman Tradition: Communing with Plants
The contribution comes from Naomi Shiffman, lover of politics and activism. She is a wilderness-as-healing enthusiast who currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
The Wise Woman Tradition, focusing on integration and nourishment, and insisting on attention to uniqueness and interconnectedness, is a new way to heal that is also the most ancient healing way known. A way that follows a spiral path, a give-away dance of nourishment, change, and self-love.
Iyar is about healing. As a society, we’ve lost contact with our ancestral healing traditions, which writer Susun S. Weed describes as “The Wise Woman Tradition.” This is the healing tradition of our mothers and grandmothers, of Sarah, Rachel, Leah, and Rivka. It is a tradition that lives in all of us and can be re-awoken, if we listen closely and live out its teachings.
The Wise Woman Tradition is about nourishing ourselves, rather than about detoxing or cutting things out. When we talk about nourishing, we’re talking about adding elements that enrich, grow, and heal our bodies, hearts, and minds. In the Wise Woman Tradition, we ask, “What is needed? What are our bodies, hearts, and minds asking for?”
“What is needed? What are our bodies, hearts, and minds asking for?”
This tradition relies on a combination of indigenous plants, foods, Western medicine, and deep inward curiosity and reckoning. More than anything else, it asks us to surrender to our intuition about what’s needed, and truly listen to what’s being asked for.
I spent last year in Israel trying to heal my relationship to this place, a relationship that’s complex and sometimes painful. Though I was born there, I grew up in California and have felt a deep yearning to figure out what role I’m supposed to play for this land, and what role it is supposed to play for me. During my time in Israel, I connected to a wise woman in my line, my grandmother (z”l), by translating her autobiography from Hebrew into English. I deepened my spiritual and prayer practices, and spent lots of time outdoors.
One of the most powerful practices in my healing process was working with a teacher in the Wise Woman Tradition to develop my intuition about the medicinal uses of the weeds and wildflowers around me. Our intuition becomes stronger the more we use and rely on it. For me, developing intuition about how to use plants medicinally to treat physical and emotional ailments has strengthened my trust in myself and the Universe around me. When I say “the Universe,” I mean whatever power makes the sun rise, the seeds bloom, and the rain fall; whatever it is that’s holding this whole thing together.
Develop Your Intuition About The Plants Around You
Try this exercise to develop your own intuition about the plants around you: Go on a walk outdoors. Notice which plants you’re drawn to. When you feel a strong pull to a particular plant, stop and really take some time with it. What is its stage of life? What are the textures of its leaves, flowers, and fruit? What do these different parts of the plant smell like when you crush them between your fingers?
Then ask yourself, What are the qualities of this plant? What would I use it for, and how? How do I think it would nourish me? Trust what comes to mind. The self-doubt may be loud, but listen to your instincts; try not to immediately assume you’re wrong.
If you’re feeling particularly curious, you can try to identify the plant using an app (Plant-O-Matic covers most plants in North America) or by searching plant identification websites. The more specific you can be about the location where you found the plants, the better. Be aware most plants have a variety of medicinal purposes, and no two people react to any one plant in quite the same way.
Try Making a Tincture From The Plant
If you feel a strong connection with the plant, and you’ve verified that it isn’t poisonous, try making a tincture from the plant.
DO NOT MAKE A TINCTURE FROM A PLANT YOU HAVEN’T IDENTIFIED AND VERIFIED IS EDIBLE. Getting poisoned is not fun.
Tincture Making Instructions :
Find a container with an airtight lid. Fill the container with your plant — use the flowers and leaves rather than the stems or roots. Don’t be afraid to really pack the container with the plant, but make sure there’s space left for some liquid.
Fill the container with mixture that’s 45% alcohol (I use 100-proof drinking alcohol) and 55% distilled water.
To avoid mold, make sure the leaves, flowers, or stems are entirely submerged in the mixture and that the container is filled all the way to the top.
Secure the airtight lid on the container.
Let the mixture soak for two weeks. Then, strain out the plant material. You now have a tincture!
Drop a bit of the tincture under your tongue, sit back in a comfortable position, and observe. How do you feel after 15 minutes? An hour? What happens if you take the tincture every day for a week?
Use Journaling As A Tracking Tool
Journaling about this experience can be a powerful way to track your relationship to this plant, and any other plants you choose to experiment with. Some potential questions:
What comes up for you, both physically and emotionally, when you interact with this plant?
What parts of your body do you feel the most aware of after interacting with this plant?
Are you more able to release emotions? What kinds?
What insights are you receiving?
Again, lean into what comes up for you instinctually. The self-doubt voice may be strong—“Is this really the plant, or am I just imagining things?” Truthfully, it actually doesn’t matter. The healing comes from a combination of the process of relating to the plant, what’s already in you, and of course, what your body, heart, and mind are asking for.
By developing your intuition in this way, you’re beginning to tap into the healing traditions already in your blood and lineage. Welcome to the beginning of your lifelong journey.