I recently took a course called “Women, Witches and Healing.” Really! I liked the title of it when I saw it in the course catalogue. Never mind that it’s in the College of Nursing, and I can’t tell the difference between IV tubing and inner tubing. I was fascinated.
My curiosity was further peaked to learn that one required reading was a book called “The Wandering Womb: A Cultural History of Outrageous Beliefs about Women.” Did you know that many ancient writers thought that the womb, called “hustera” in Greek, had a life of its own, and if a woman was not regularly pregnant, she would suffer from “hysteria”? Doesn’t that strike you as hysterical? I know that if I were in a constant state of pregnancy, I’d be hysterical.
Actually, the marathon course running over a period of two. three-day weekends took me on an eye-opening eclectic journey through the feminist perspective on health and healing, from the aspects of history, culture and ecology. Not only had we encountered a parade of brilliant guest speakers but also some brilliant new-age marketers.
The feminist principle of healing and total wellness deals largely with spiritual energy, color, sound and smell. So one of our first speakers gave a short three-hour lecture on aroma therapy, complete with detailed directions to her store that just happened to be about 15 minutes from campus. And during her tirade about the evils of technology, she distributed cards with her email address and website information.
In describing how she developed the ability to actually see people’s energy fields, she pointed right to Zelda, an enthusiastic nursing student whom she said emitted a salient yellow aura of intelligence around her entire body. Small wonder that Zelda came back to class after the lunch break laden with shopping bags filled with scented candles and oils.
I did enjoy her explanation of how essential oils from plants that absorb energy from the earth and the heavens have great powers of healing. But when she passed around samples to smell, the peppermint made me sneeze, the sandalwood made me nauseous and the lavender put me right to sleep. I woke up to the aroma of essential, exquisite and expensive rose oil, a drop of which I lovingly rubbed into my skin. It was meant to awaken my romantic nature, soothe my spirit and lighten my heart. I couldn’t wait to get home, swish through my front door like Loretta Young where my husband would scoop me up in his arms and dance around the living room. Instead, he asked my why I smelled like Tire Kingdom. Then we both became “hysterical.”
Truthfully, the course was a great source of inspiration and knowledge. And I’d developed a deep sense of admiration for the tireless, dedicated nurses I’d met in my class.
In a film we saw titled “Goddess Revisited,” we learned from a panel of luminous feminist scholars that women were the original healers, revered and honored for their powers. Worshippers prayed to female idols. These ancient statues with their generous, ample hips and rounded stomachs made me smile. Unfortunately, once men became threatened by the power of females in the 14th century, the backlash began. And so did the negative public relations. Fold culture became heresy, the healers were now called witches, and four centuries of witch hunting began. To this day, women struggle to regain their voices and their places of honor among medical professionals.
I’m so glad that this course with the funny name caught my eye when it did. And I’m also grateful for the extraordinary opportunity it offered me to spend quality time learning with a group of nurses. They are people who exemplify the strong connection between women and nature, and who strive to become socially responsible planetary citizens and positively impact the world of medicine.
Columnist Ellyn Laub lives in Coconut Creek.
