What is a Modern Day Medicine Woman?

The Modern Day Medicine Woman is an ancient archetype that represents the gifts of healing and vision that were once an integrated and celebrated part of the community.

She served her community in a variety of ways as a wise woman, midwife, herbalist, seer, priestess, teacher, counsellor and healer to name a few. The Medicine Woman knew her gifts intimately and used them to help those around her and her gifts were revered and honoured by those lives she touched. She knew how to weave the masculine and feminine energies, connect with nature and its natural cycles, and use rituals and ceremonies. She used her medicine (her gifts) to tend and care for others mind, body and spirit.

For a long time across many cultures, it's an archetype that has been surpressed, denied, condemned, punished, distorted and ostracised until it became mostly forgotten, even within the women themselves.

Yet this archetype is going through a revival right now. These gifts that are embedded into our DNA are being reactivated, as well as healing the wounds that have kept us in fear of them being seen in the world.

How do you know if you are a Modern Day Medicine Woman?

Do you feel a deep calling from within? A call to more, but not in the desire for more 'things' but in a desire for more connection, a deeper experience of yourself and life? Do you feel different from many around you, like you see the world differently and have an intuition and inner knowing that can't be explained?

These are some of the signs that your medicine is wanting to be discovered and fully embodied.

There's also a good chance that you are already living out your medicine as a teacher, counsellor, therapist, nurse, practitioner, ceremoney holder, entrepreneur, social activists and artists etc, especially if you feel this has been a natural calling that you have followed.

The risk of being a Modern Day Medicine Woman and not fully connected to your medicine and Mother Earth, as well as potentially the wounds of our past generations being activated in our system, is that we can become burnt out, exhausted and lonely.

Why is the Medicine Woman important?

We currently live in a world that is heavily dominated by the masculine way of operating, which has it's place, but we have lost the authentic and joyful expression of feminine power.

Intuition, healing, magic, mystery and veneration for the Earth and humanity is innate to the Medicine Woman. It's why it is so important to fully embody your medicine and honour it by practising it in the world.

I also totally understand the fear, resistance and confusion that accompanies this journey. It can uncover wounds we didn't know existed and trigger our survival response as we begin to fully step into our power. And yet, we won't be fully satisfied, fulfilled or feel free, without embodying our medicine.

How to embrace your Medicine

Your medicine will be unique to you and so will its expression into the world. There's a few steps that can really help you to get started on this journey of embracing your medicine:

1. Give yourself permission to be different

This journey will mean embracing that you have gifts that others you know may not possess. So it is ok to give yourself permission to be different. To want different things in life to those around you. To see things and experience life differently. Here's a short podcast episode on doing just this :)

2. Build your connection to your medicine

You will only be given what you can handle, so don't be afraid to investigate, be curious and get to know your medicine. Explore different ways of connecting with it e.g. do a Shamanic journey, attend a drumming circle, see if you are drawn to something creative, is there something you have always wanted to learn/ know more about? Give yourself permission to go explore. Trust that you will be guided to find the right resource/person/community to assist you.

3. Develop your intuition

Your intuition/inner wisdom/connection to your higher self is one of the greatest assets you can access on this journey. Whilst we know it's not actually a muscle, it works in a similar way. The more you actively use it and engage it, the more developed it gets and the more it will automatically work for you.

4. Find some like-hearted souls

I am the first one to talk about the uniqueness of this journey and the importance of building the connection to yourself, but I also recognise that this can be a lonely and confusing journey at times which can be helped by others who are walking a similar path. Be open to discovering new groups/communities and where that isn't possible, surround yourself with podcasts, YouTube videos and books from people who inspire you/you feel a connection with. I will shortly be founding an online community for those walking this path, if you feel the call to, be the first to find out more here.

My journey embracing being a Modern Day Medicine Woman

I always felt like a 'different kid'. Like an old soul in a young body. I was eternally curious, wise beyond my years and a natural listener. I remember as a teenager being drawn to the spiritual but fearing what it was all about. I came from a traditional family in England and found my community in the Anglican church for many years which funnelled my spiritual exploration into Christianity. Whilst I had a curiosity about Shamanism back then, it was deemed as something evil and so I didn't delve into it any further than a bit of internet research. The church, however, did help me to embrace my intuition and I often led a weekly group where I would decide on the theme and resources purely from following my intuition. It always turned out to be deeply impactful and profound.

Whilst it would take me until my mid-thirties to fully embark on a Medicine Woman journey, I can see the threads that ran through my life. I'll share here as they may resonate with your journey too:

• I accidentally 'fell' into a journey as a counsellor at 18 years old (after a failed dream of becoming a pilot) as I was volunteering at a local counselling charity and got approached by the manager to begin their training course because she 'saw' something in me. I always felt a deep desire to help others, serve and contribute. It always felt like I was a part of something bigger than myself.

• I've always had a love of nature and the outdoors. I was the kid that was outside all day whenever possible (only coming home for tea or before it got dark). I would while away hours on my own at the bottom of my grandparents garden caught in my own imagination and crafting daisy chains. As soon as I could drive I would take myself off to explore new areas on foot on my own, loving nothing more than intuitively going wherever I felt called to.

• I've had many experiences of pivotal 'awakening' moments throughout my life (aka my intuition). They saved me at points when I was about to lose myself. For example, I remember a light bulb moment during my first marriage which provided the clarity and strength I needed to leave and begin a whole new life for myself in a new place with no savings and just a sofa bed and fridge to my name.

• I can look back over my life and chart the flow and difficulty with when I listened and followed my intuition and when I didn't.

• I started my own wellbeing centre discovering my gift of healing and creating a safe and relaxing space for people, although without being grounded in my medicine back then, I became burnt out, exhausted and resentful.

Common Blocks to Embracing our Medicine

1. Fear

The fear can run deep! As we seek to fully embody and integrate our medicine and gifts within ourself and bring them into the world, we are not only dealing with the usual fear of judgement and misunderstanding, but years of persecution and mistreatment of our ancestors too.

2. Lack of understanding

We don't know what we don't know, and so of course it feels safer and more comfortable to stay in the known (even if it's not what is making us truly fulfilled).

3. Not knowing where to begin

This is a journey like no other and it can be hard to know where to begin or how to get started in exploring your medicine. You might even try out a few different spiritual groups but end up feeling like you don't fully fit in there either. I know this was my experience and it held me back from exploring more for a long time.

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