For thousands of years knowledge of the herbs and wild plants that could increase fertility were the secrets of the village wise women. But after the holocaust against European Wise Women (the "burning times") and the virtual extermination of Native American medicine women, this knowledge virtually disappeared. In fact, many people erroneously believe that "primitive people" had no means of controlling the likelihood of pregnancy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Menopause, like puberty, is a period of transition and metamorphosis. It consists of three stages: isolation, melt down, and emergence. Each stage calls forth new energies and new perceptions of ourselves. Each stage has different demands, different tasks, and different needs.

Water retention, mood swings, sore breasts, and indigestion are problems experienced by many women in the week preceding menstruation. Here are a few tips from Susun Weed's best-selling book, NEW Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way (Alternatives for Women 30-90) to help ease these discomforts.

It’s big news when a favored medical treatment – HRT for menopausal women – is found to be harmful. But it’s no news to readers of Susun Weed. She’s been blowing the whistle on both scientific and alternative treatments of menopause for nearly two decades.

Susun Weed offers a number of approaches women can use to calm jangly nerves, achieve greater overall calm, and cope on-the-spot with stressful situations.

If having enough energy to earn your daily bread and to get all your chores done is a struggle for you. If you go to bed tired, but wake up even more tired. If you can't get up and go without coffee, or can't slow down and relax without alcohol. If your fatigue is ruining your mood and your friendships. Then it's time to build energy and stamina the Wise Woman Way.

My own experiences in helping women regain and maintain bone density and flexibility have led me to believe that life-style modifications work exceptionally well for motivated women who wish to avoid the risks and expense of long-term pill use. Nourishing herbal infusions, mineral-rich herbal vinegars, yogurt, and seaweed, combined with attention to tonification of the muscles, unfailingly increases bone density and creates flexible, healthy bones and women.

Artemis - Goddess of the herbalist - gives her name to a genus of marvelously aromatic, safely psychedelic, highly medicinal, dazzlingly decorative, and more-or-less edible plants in the Asteraceae family. I love Artemis, and I love her plants.

Winter time is depression time for many women. Perhaps it is harder to look at the bright side when days are short, perhaps the holidays and family demands take their toll on us. Of course, depression can also be triggered by lack of thyroid hormone and by use of steroids, high blood pressure drugs, and ERT/HRT.

Using the Six Steps of Healing Susun Weed discusses ways to deal with digestive distress.