Share the Talking Stick

Womb Visionary DeAnna L'am

Womb Visionary DeAnna L'am

Susun interviews DeAnna Lam.
Fondly known as 'Womb Visionary' DeAnna L'am is a speaker, workshop leader, author, and a trailblazer in helping women worldwide harness the spiritual forces hidden in Menstruation and Menopause. She has been leading workshops and certifying facilitators, nationally and internationally, for over 30 years.



this episode Q&A includes:
• bathe wounds in yarrow tincture, soak gauze in...
• honey is a healer of wounds- helps skin come together...
• never one way to do something
• cannot do much wrong when using nourishing and tonifying herbs..
• The complete herbal handbook for farm and stable Book by Juliette de Baïracli Levy..
• connecting with ancestors through trance, find an ancestor who was a healer, don't throw away any of it, believe what you get..

Sacred Elderwoman Sacred Womb Mystery

Sacred Elderwoman Sacred Womb Mystery
excerpt from “Healing the womb, revealing the feminine”


Written & Illustrated by Roslyne Sophia Breillat

  The inner mystery of the feminine dwells silently within the sacred womb of the Earth and within the sacred womb of every woman. Revered by the ancients, and honoured by Indigenous tribes, this wondrous feminine mystery is dishonoured and ignored by the outer identification of contemporary patriarchal civilisation. Every woman’s purpose is to be wholly and holy feminine, to rest within the gentle love, profound wisdom and shining light of this sacred womb. And yet, how many listen to this exquisite silence of her call, how many reverently respect, nurture and support the miraculous birthing of pristine new life that she carries within her womb, the infinite power of love that her female body inherently bestows?
 
  This inner womb mystery of the feminine is deeply mystical, receptive, surrendered,  beautiful, sacred, spiritual and wise, a creative power that is innately attuned, every moment, with the ancient and immortal womb power of the Earth. And yet, patriarchal civilisation, through its fear of female power, through its need to dominate and control the feminine and dominate and control the Earth, has cast many many dark shadows, many layers of untruth over this mystery, many concrete barriers and structures that cause a woman to deny, fear and doubt her purpose, her essence, her power, especially when she reaches her menopausal phase. If a woman has overly identified with contemporary society’s dishonouring of the sacred feminine, her emotional insecurities will intensify when she reaches the beginning of her wise Elderwoman years. And if she welcomes and embraces the transformative arising of her wisdom during these years, she will experience a deep spiritual opening of her sacred womb power as the ancient mysteries of the female Elder are revealed within her womb. 
 
  These wise and ancient mysteries of the feminine were passed from womb to womb, from heart to heart, intricately weaving the tapestry of life with sacred threads of communing, of belonging, of being. These flowing threads linked many generations of mothers and daughters and grandmothers, wise Elderwomen who gifted the integrity of the womb’s intuitive inner knowing to their communities, their villages, their tribes. Through their sacred connection with the land’s magical secrets and revelations, through the healing power of her herbal plant medicine, through their songs, dances, crafts, their replenishing and healing recipes, their menstrual, birthing, sexual, mothering and menopausal wisdom, these wise Elderwomen of the Earth bestowed this wisdom to all generations, through living and loving within the intimacy, sacredness and gratitude that attunes woman’s womb with the Earth’s womb.

  Contemporary society is extremely inharmonious, unbalanced, outer, solar, yang, and so very afraid of the deep and dark lunar yin essence of the inner feminine mystery. In order to sustain itself, it needs woman to travel a linear masculine path of straight lines, structures, achievements, time frames, directions, plans, lists and goals. It does not want her to live and love within the magically mysterious circles and cycles of her sacred womb, for her wild power has long been feared by the patriarchy as threatening, especially when she enters the mature and wise phase of her inner mystery. When she reaches her menopausal years, she is preparing to welcome a deeply intimate inner metamorphosis, preparing to live as the wise integrity of the Elderwoman, so beloved and revered in ancient civilisations. Standing upon her threshold of wisdom and freedom, ready to dive deeply into the ocean of her womb power, she is preparing to welcome the potent fire of her inner menopausal muse.
 
   A woman is naturally the custodian of the sacred womb and of the sacred Earth and and a man is naturally the protector of the sacred womb and of the sacred Earth. What can the tarnished mirror of this patriarchal society reflect to her, offer her, as she embarks upon this most profound spiritual transformation of her life? Botox, hair dye, a facelift, medication, drugs, collagen injections, valium, artificial hormones, a fix, a cure? A mega dose of toxic medicine to help her deny, numb, suppress, dishonour, ridicule, pretend, control and ignore the magnificent essence of her menopausal wildness, the unfathomable profundity of her menopausal power?  
 
  Where is her shaman, her healer, her guide, her teacher, her guru, her muse? She is within her sacred womb mystery. Where is the shining light of the pristine mirror that reflects the loving truth of her sacred menopausal wisdom? This mirror is within her heart, this mirror is within her womb, this mirror is within the Earth. This mirror is within the sacred feminine essence that so lovingly and so sweetly and so powerfully calls her into the fiery cauldron within the infinite depths of her sacred menopausal journey. This mirror is within the sacred light of the Queen of her menopausal realm, She Who Holds her Wise blood inside, She Who Knows All.

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Sophia (Roslyne Sophia Breillat) is a wise woman who lives, writes, and paints from the heart. Her prolific articles and paintings embrace the wisdom and grace of the female essence and the beauty of the Earth. She is acknowledged as a powerful and courageous writer whose creative work features in many international websites and magazines and her website is an abundant offering of female wisdom that nurtures and inspires. Sophia is the author of two books, WOMB OF WISDOM, THE SACRED JOURNEY OF MENOPAUSE and HEART OF THE EARTH, NURTURING THE SACRED FEMININE. Both of these books can be ordered directly from [email protected]

Email: [email protected]
Website: www.wildheartwisdom.com
 

Sophia offers two courses at the Wise Woman University:

~ Being Woman ~ (detailed description of Being Woman online course)

This six week online course provides a sacred and nurturing space where woman can learn to surrender more deeply to the natural receptivity of the female psyche. "...so blessed to have had gentle words of encouragement and support from you through the "Being Woman" course at W.W.U.... You have inspired me to continue my quest... Thanks so much!"

~ Dawning of Wisdom ~ (detailed description of Dawning of Wisdom online course)

Throughout this series of lessons she will learn to trust the innate flow of her intuitive nature and to listen more intimately to the wellspring of her inner source. And we will explore together how to live more fully as the embodiment of the feminine essence within the structures of a masculine civilisation.

"I LOVE your class, it is beautiful and thought provoking and well done... Thank you Sophia for your role as wisdom keeper, confidante and mentor."

Free Red Tents Summit

Red Tents In Every Neighborhood's – Free Global Summit:

A Native American saying proclaims:
“At her first bleed a woman meets her power. During her bleeding years she practices it. At menopause she BECOMES it.”

My colleague DeAnna L'am made a life study of this journey and she wants to share it with you freely...

When you started menstruating - you probably weren't welcomed, honored, or celebrated... yet - Menopause is a chance to do it DIFFERENTLY!

DeAnna and I invite you to bring the Sacred Consciousness that was lacking from your 1st blood, to the journey toward your last one, and beyond...

I am honored to be a speaker on DeAnna's 3rd Annual FREE Summit: Freedom in our Wisdom Years!

Join us Freely to:
• Listen to Womb Wisdom
• Honor the journey toward your
Freedom Years
• Embody your True Essence

I'm happy to be one of many leading visionary women who will share daily videos with you, which you can watch from the comfort of your home!

This is for You if:
• You're still cycling
• You are in pri-menopause
• You are going through menopause, or are Beyond it...

If you're still cycling - You would deepen appreciation for your Flow, and learn to embrace its gifts deeply, (knowing they will not continue forever...)

If you are in pri-menopause - You would get tools, skills, and inspiration for a smoother and more conscious journey toward Menopause.

If you are going through menopause, or are Beyond it - You would learn how to become the Queen of your Life!

Click for our inspirational line up & Reserve your Free Spot Now!

 

The Hot Flash Pillow™

The Hot Flash Pillow™

www.hotflashpillow.com

The Hot Flash Pillow™, a product so extraordinarily soothing and effective in relieving hot flashes that it’s likely to become your new “best friend.”  The Hot Flash Pillow™ offers a quick “pick-me-up” anytime a hot flash strikes.

No matter what you choose to call it – a power surge, personal summer, hot flash, hot flush, menopause, perimenopause, the change, the change of life, vapors, night sweats or any other name – the bottom line is hot flashes and sleep disturbances affect millions of menopausal and perimenopausal women, not to mention a significant population of breast cancer survivors! 

Learn more here: http://www.hotflashpillow.com/

"Everyone ought to have a little Mother around the house"

"Everyone ought to have a little Mother around the house"

Motherwort - Leonurus cardiaca

Excerpt from: NEW Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way

Also called: Herzgespan, Agripaume cardiaque, Yi Mu Cao.

"Everyone ought to have a little Mother around the house," grandmother Edith would frequently say. The Mother she meant is motherwort, a locally common weed and a treasured ally to women stressed by menopausal problems. Grandmother Edith's love affair with motherwort began when her hot flashes knocked her out in the supermarket, continued as it mended her husband's heart, and grew and grew as her five daughters found relief from PMS and menstrual cramps, constipation and the crazies with the help of the little Mother, motherwort.

Use motherwort regularly during your menopausal years to:

o Lessen the severity, frequency, and duration of hot flashes
Motherwort regulates and tonifies the functioning of the thyroid, blood vessels, liver, heart, and uterus. For best results use 5-25 drops of tincture daily for 3 months. But don't neglect to try a dropperful (in a splash of water) even after a flash has begun.

o Relieve faintness with flashes
Motherwort is traditionally used to relieve shortness of breath and congestion in the respiratory passages. She invigorates the circulation and increases oxygen in the blood. Use 15-25 drops of tincture as soon as you feel faint or dizzy.

o Ease stressed nerves, relieve anxiety
Motherwort calms, supports, and strengthens you the way the smell of your mother did when you were very young. Used regularly, motherwort feeds your nerves and your good common sense, relaxing and unclenching any held tension. Motherwort is not sedating, but calming, leaving you ready for action, not flying off the handle or bouncing off the walls. Ask motherwort to be your ally in tough times, in shaky times, in enraging times, in scary times, in depressed times, in grief-filled times. Try 10-20 drops as soon as you feel your nerves starting to fray or just before a stressful event. Repeat every five minutes if needed.

o Relieve insomnia and sleep disturbances
Use motherwort's high-calcium calming effect when you are awakened by night sweats and have difficulty getting back to sleep. Keep a glass of water and a bottle of motherwort tincture by your bed and take 10-15 drops and a swallow of water as soon as you wake, even if it's three times an hour. Motherwort eliminates the nightmares some women experience with their menopausal Change.

o Strengthen the heart, reduce palpitations and tachycardia
Motherwort calms a rapidly beating heart with readily usable minerals, trace elements, and an alkaloid exceptionally tonifying to the heart (and uterus). The German herbal doctor, Weiss, uses motherwort tincture for those with functional heart complaints. The botanical name translates as "lion-hearted." A dropperful/1 ml motherwort tincture acts quickly to ease palpitations and tachycardia. Regular use lowers hypertension, and sets you up to be a hale-hearted crone.

o Eliminate menstrual cramps

o Relieve uterine pain
Motherwort tincture is my favorite remedy for women with uncomplicated menstrual cramps. I find 5-10 drops usually eases cramps in five to ten minutes. Repeat every ten minutes as needed. Motherwort encourages strong (but not crampy) uterine contractions, which strengthen the uterine muscle. So the more you take motherwort to ease your cramps, the more toned your uterus becomes, and the less likely cramps are in the future.

o Restore thickness and elasticity to vaginal walls
Motherwort brings blood to the pelvis and thickens all tissues there (bladder, uterus, vagina). Noticeable results occur within a month of taking 10-15 drops daily.

o Lift depression
A dose of motherwort first thing in the morning is far kinder to your system than coffee and helps you ease into the day with a renewed sense of life.

o Reduce water retention, edema
Small, frequent doses of motherwort will reduce bloat in a few hours. For chronic care, use a dropperful/1 ml a day for 3-6 weeks.

o Relieve constipation and extend life
There is a Japanese saying about the heirs of those who take motherwort: they are grumpy because they must wait so long for their inheritance. But does it really work? A small dose (5-10 drops as needed) does ease gas pain, encourage regular elimination, and improve digestion. That alone would make anyone want to live longer.

Bitter with minerals and alkaloids, motherwort is unwelcome in salads and nasty as an infusion, so it is used as a tincture, vinegar, or syrup. In Oriental herbalism, Yi Mu Cao is cooling, pungent, bitter.
Dosage: Tincture of fresh flowering plant, 15-25 drops, 1-6 times a day.
Vinegar of fresh plant, 1-2 tablespoons/15-30 ml, as desired.

CAUTIONS: Motherwort can aggravate a tendency toward flooding. Do not use daily if you bleed heavily or are easily habituated to substances that make you feel really good. Motherwort is so soothing, so calming, that you may begin to lose some of your own standing and lean too heavily on your Mom.

 

Excerpt from Chapter 2 of : NEW Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way by Susun S. Weed. This section on Motherwort appears as one of seven herbal allies for women in the midst of menopause (pp.113-115). The other six include: black cohosh, chaste tree, liferoot, sage, ginseng, and Dong Guai.

Retails for $16.95. Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com

 

Susun Weed Shares Menopause Wisdom

Wise Woman Wisdom ... Susun Weed shares menopause wisdom.. Interview with Corinna Wood

Becoming butterflies: herbal empress Susun Weed shares menopause wisdom with local herbalist Corinna Wood
New Life Journal; 9/1/2005

Susun Weed, green witch and wise woman, is an extraordinary teacher with a joyous spirit, a powerful presence, and an encyclopedic knowledge of herbs and health. Ms. Weed's four herbal medicine books focus on women's health topics including: menopause, childbearing, and breast health.

Corinna: I want to ask you a couple of questions about menopause. Can you explain how the role of menopausal women is important at this time for our planet?

Susun: Yes. Let's go back to the three traditions we were talking about in the earlier interview (New Life Journal June 05).The Scientific Tradition that seeks to fix broken machines views menopause as a loss of estrogen.And so in order to fix the broken machine, they prescribe estrogen because that is what is missing, according to what they see. Now we know that women who are given estrogen have a higher rate of uterine cancer. So we add progesterone to that to counter the effects of the estrogen. Women who take estrogen for three years increase their risk of breast cancer by twenty percent. Women who take estrogen with progesterone for three years increase their risk of breast cancer by forty percent. All that progesterone does is slow down cellular replication in the uterus, but it increases the rate of cell replication in the breast and probably in the ovaries as well.

The Heroic Tradition comes in and says, no no no, it is not a lack of estrogen, it is too much estrogen. It is estrogen dominance. We are going to give them progesterone. I am so over the top about women's health in the face of the Heroic Tradition. I really fear that we are, by using progesterone cream, creating an epidemic of ovarian cancer. This is a powerful hormonal tonic. It is sold as a cosmetic; the people regulating it have no power over cosmetics. So, basically what is happening is that a very powerful drug is being sold with no regulation at all. The Food and Drug Administration will not approve any progesterone cream for long-term use, even the ones that are given to us by our doctor. The amount of progesterone in the products being sold to women in the health food stores as cream is one hundred times the safe dose as provided by the FDA. The amount that we put on our bodies at one time is one hundred times more than the FDA considers a safe dose.

The Wise Women looks at her body and asks, when I was born was I producing estrogen? And the answer is yes. A women is producing estrogen even in utero, the uterine environment is very high in estrogen. The ovaries of little girls who aren't even born yet are already starting to make estrogen in response to that. We make twenty-nine different kinds of estrogen by the time we are born. We continue to make those twenty-nine different types of estrogen every single day. At puberty, a very powerful estrogen begins to be made, called estradiol. Estradiol is only made between puberty and menopause. It is at high levels for only about twenty-four hours out of the month, because it triggers ovulation. Estradiol is called estrogen by the scientific community, as if it were the only estrogen, even though they themselves will tell you there are lots of other types of estrogen. But they consider the twenty-nine we make on a day-to-day basis weak estrogen and estradiol a powerful estrogen. That is why they are concerned about its lack. I will tell you as a woman, almost fifteen years past my last period, that I am not missing anything. I am still making plenty of estrogen.

One of things that is important to me, as a postmenopausal woman, is to be a butterfly. What do I mean by butterfly? A butterfly is a woman who is a least twenty years older than you are, who you would like to grow up to be. So on my bathroom wall is picture of Karina. When this picture was taken, she was ninety years old, she had celebrated her ninetieth birthday by for the first time in her life jumping out of an airplane with a parachute. That is who I would like to grow up to be! Right next to her is Helen. At eighty, she has just won eight national power-lifting competitions and has set- records in every single one of those. So again, that is somebody I would like to grow up to be.

Many people especially in our culture have a fear of the word old. And many people have told me, I don't want to get old. I look at them and ask them, do you understand what you are saying? Because either you get old, or you are going to die young. I want to live to a very old age before I die! I love being alive; I find life so interesting! Every day, I am day older. When we have butterflies in our lives, then we know that getting older doesn't mean losing it. Although there certainly are things you lose. Good riddance to the fear of what other people think: I will do all of the things I was afraid to do before because people would think badly of me.

But answering your question about the role of menopausal and postmenopausal women. Every age has its purpose, and for many of us in westernized culture, the difficulty is that over the past hundred years the path of the post-menopausal women has been removed, and we are less accepted than if we are the menstruating woman, the fertile women. As more and more of us pass through the menopausal passage, we are going to see more amazing older women about whom we can say, that's who I want to grow up to be.

Corinna: Could you tell us a little bit about your favorite herb for hot flashes?

Susun: This is a very loaded question. In the Scientific Tradition, hot flashes are a broken machine that needs to be fixed. You give a woman estrogen and that problem is fixed. In the Heroic Tradition, hot flashes are seen as the result of toxins; you need to get in there and cleanse to make her well.

In the Wise Women Tradition, hot flashes are undisputedly the movement of vital life force energy up through the body through the energy centers. In fact, what I can say is that the healthier the woman, the more hot flashes she will have. To get rid of the hot is to decrease the woman's vitality. I am of the opinion and Dr. Christiane Northrop is of the opinion that how we treat ourselves during menopause is going to affect us for the rest of our lives. This is one of the reasons I say it is so important that menopausal women need time off and do not need to be medicated by anything. I chose to go through menopause with out doing much of anything; I drank my nourishing herbal infusions. I have found motherwort tincture would reduce the intensity and the duration of the hot flash, although I basically didn't even use herbs. I wanted to see how bad it would be. Certainly during the summer it is a lot worse than during the winter. I would have dream after dream of being in a glacier, of walking through it.

In general, when I ask women if they have a problem with hot flashes, they say it's not that bad when I am alone; it is just embarrassing when in public. Which is one of the reasons I say, have time and space to yourself, where you can be up all night if you need to. When you can have hot flashes during the day, and lay down on the floor and go: "Oh no one has ever suffered like I suffer." Believe me, I have been there. I had hot flashes where I was so hot I felt like I have been dipped in boiling water. Sometimes I would cry because I felt so bad for myself. Just as my labor pains were also painful, and I knew that a baby was going to come at the end of those pains, with hot flashes, I knew that the crone was going to come at the end of those flashes.

I have always been willing to endure a certain amount of pain and suffering if I know that I was going to get something valuable at the end of it. I can tell you, giving birth to my daughter was very valuable and she is a very valuable thing in my life. Giving birth to myself as a crone was very valuable to me.

Corinna Wood is the owner of Red Moon Herbs, making herbal medicines business in Black Mountain from fresh, local plants for over 10 years. She did an extensive apprenticeship with Susun Weed in 1993, and continues to carry on the wise woman tradition through local classes as well as making herbal medicines.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Natural Arts
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

http://www.newlifejournal.com/index.shtml

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Menopausal Allies

with Susun Weed

at Wise Woman University

This course will look at menopause as puberty prime, as a metamorphosis, and as the springboard for the last fifty years of our lives. You will mine gems of wisdom from how you dealt with your first puberty, recast your problems as allies during menopausal withdrawal, meltdown, and emergence, and learn how to use herbal allies to create yourself as wise old crone – juicy, vital, vibrant, strong-boned, hale-hearted, and gleeful. 

You will look at the facts behind some of the prevalent myths of and learn which herbal allies are better choices. You will learn about herbal allies for menopause: herbs for dealing with fertility, mood and emotion, sex, hot flashes, sleepless nights, lack of libido, and your own personal problems. I invite you to join our circle, a menopausal moon lodge, as it were, of women honoring themselves and reweaving the healing cloak of the Ancients.

Register for here for the four week online course starting May 3rd!

NEW Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way:

Alternative Approaches for Women 30 - 90
by Susun S. Weed
Foreword by Juliette de Bairacli Levy.
304 pages, index, magical illustrations.
Completely revised with 100 new pages. All the remedies women know and trust plus hundreds of new ones. New sections on thyroid health, fibromyalgia, hairy problems, male menopause, and herbs for women taking hormones. Recommended by Susan Love MD and Christiane Northrup MD.
Retails for $16.95

 

read some excerpts :
Building Better Bones
Kundalini Meditation

Order New Menopausal Years in our Bookshop