The Wise Woman tradition of healing is not new, and is based on nourishing and tonifying women through the menopause rather than aiming to fix them, balance them, affect their hormones or sedate their symptoms. It views the menopause as a positive rather than a negative event.
      Rather than the usual hormone-rich herbs recommended during the menopause, The Wise Woman way focuses on nourishing and tonifying herbs such as nettle (Urtica dioica), red clover blossoms (Trifolium pratense), oatstraw (Avena sativa), comfrey leaf (Symphytum uplandicum x), motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), dandelion root/leaf (Taraxacum officinale) and burdock root (Arctium lappa).

Comfrey

      Backing her claims up with comprehensive research references, the author states that hormone-rich herbs might actually be contraindicated for some menopausal women. She highlights two menopausal myths – the belief that menopausal symptoms are caused by a lack of oestrogens, and that low-fat, soy-rich diets are healthy. She discusses in detail why neither are true.
      She recommends that the menopausal woman should be following a high-fat, cholesterol-rich diet, in which animal fats can be obtained from meat, but also from full-fat yoghurt, and cheese, butter and eggs. Instead of soy, miso and tamari (shoyu) are suggested, as well as foods high in phytoestrogens. A brief case study is presented to illustrate the point.
      The author describes how to make nourishing mineral-rich herbal infusions to combat menopausal symptoms and fortify and protect the body’s systems, specifically with stinging nettles, oatstraw, red clover and comfrey leaf. Tai Chi and yoga exercises are also recommended to keep the body supple, but they are also thought to help maintain optimum postmenopausal levels of oestrogen and progesterone.
      Appendices are attached giving mineral data for 14 herbs commonly used in the Wise Woman tradition.
      Susun Weed is an author, lecturer, correspondence course supervisor and editor-in-chief of Ash Tree Publishing. She also trains shamanic and herbal apprentices at the Wise Woman Center, for which she provides contact details.

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