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🕊️ What Is A Medicine Woman?
- Stella Dove PDCH MBSCH
- Aug 12
- 9 min read
Updated: Nov 24
In every culture, there have been women who walk between worlds.
Women who carry the remedies for both body and soul.
Women who listen with their whole being , not just to words, but to the tremble in your voice, the heaviness in your breath, the stories your body has been holding for years.
They are the ones who do not rush you.
Who do not “fix” you.
Who refuse to see you as broken.
Instead, they walk beside you while you remember who you really are.
The title Medicine Woman is often misunderstood in our modern world. Some imagine a fringe figure, shrouded in mystery, far from reality. But in truth, the Medicine Woman has always been part of the fabric of human life - a healer, a guide, a witness, a keeper of ancient ways adapted for the present.
A Medicine Woman may work with herbs and plant medicine. She may work with hands-on healing, energy work, or breathwork. She may guide you into altered states of consciousness for deep release. She may sit in stillness with you, holding a silence that is anything but empty.
The tools vary. The essence does not.
Today, my medicine is Emotional Recalibration; a blend of hypnotherapy, somatic practice, inner child healing, and trauma integration. It is not “alternative” to medicine - it is complementary to life. It is a return to wholeness, layer by layer, by releasing the shade from your light until you shine in your full brilliance.
When you sit with me, you will never be told you are powerless.
You will never be rushed through your grief, your rage, your numbness, your remembering.
I will not walk ahead of you, pulling you forward.
I will not walk behind you, pushing you along.
I will walk beside you, matching your pace, until the ground feels steady beneath your feet again.
In a society obsessed with quick fixes and “positive vibes only,” the Medicine Woman reminds you that your healing is not linear, not performative, and not for public approval. It is sacred work. It is yours.
If you have been longing for a space where your truth is safe, your emotions are welcome, and your story is honoured without judgement — this is the work.
Read the full blog below to explore the ancient roots and modern role of the Medicine Woman, and discover how this path of deep witnessing and soul restoration can serve your own journey.
A Medicine Woman’s Prayer
I will not rescue you,
for you are not powerless.
I will not fix you,
for you are not broken.
I will not heal you,
for I see you, in your wholeness.
I will walk with you through the darkness
as you remember your light.
What Is a Medicine Woman? If you’ve tried everything - therapy, coaching, medication, meditation - and still feel something untouched inside you, this is the work you’ve been circling toward.
The figure of the medicine woman is older than our language for her. She isn’t defined by a uniform or a set of initials. Her power doesn’t come from a certificate on a wall but from devotion to the art of healing the whole human - body, mind, nervous system, spirit, and story - as one living weave.
Why Was the Medicine Woman Vilified?
The Medicine Woman represented power, healing, and knowledge that could not be controlled - and that frightened the systems built on control.
Historically, the “medicine woman” - whether she was called a midwife, herbalist, seer, or wise woman - was rooted in community. She held generational knowledge of the body, the earth, and the human spirit. She knew how to bring life into the world, ease pain, and restore health without the permission of rulers, priests, or doctors.
When patriarchal, colonial, and religious powers rose, this independence became dangerous. A woman who could heal without a license, speak truth without a pulpit, and influence without a crown was a threat.
Centuries of vilification followed:
The Witch Hunts (15th–18th centuries): Hundreds of thousands of women - many healers - were accused of witchcraft, tortured, and executed. Healing knowledge was reframed as devil’s work.
The Rise of Institutional Medicine: Male-dominated medical systems pushed midwives and herbalists out, branding them as untrained, unsafe, or superstitious to centralise authority.
Religious Suppression: Spiritual and earth-based healing practices were demonised, particularly by Christian missionaries and colonial regimes, erasing indigenous and local knowledge.
She wasn’t just a healer - she was an uncontrollable healer.And in systems built on dominance, what cannot be controlled is often destroyed, shamed, or made invisible.
Even now, the echoes remain: dismissing somatic work as “woo-woo,” belittling intuition, or devaluing any form of care that doesn’t fit the sanctioned model.
Healing in Many Languages
Today, healing speaks in many dialects:
Conventional medicine: diagnostics, interventions, the life-saving brilliance of science.
Talk therapies: giving shape to the unseen, making meaning, integrating story and self.
Somatic practices: letting the body release what the mind can’t think its way out of.
Spiritual and energy work: tending intuition, soul, ancestry, and the subtle layers that shape wellbeing.
Each has strengths. For many people, the deepest transformation happens when these paths are woven, not pitted against each other. The medicine woman stands at that threshold - not as a replacement for doctors or therapists, but as a bridge.
Why She Is Still Needed
We live in a world that rushes grief, medicates heartbreak, and asks us to “move on” before our bodies have exhaled. Symptoms get managed; stories go unheard. But pain that isn’t witnessed becomes a knot the nervous system keeps guarding.
The medicine woman works differently.
She won’t drag you toward a false “positive.”
She won’t shame your pace.
She treats your story as sacred, not a problem to erase.
Her work isn’t about erasing pain; it’s about walking with you through it - slowly, bravely - until you meet the part of you that was never broken.
What a Medicine Woman Actually Does
What Is a Medicine Woman? To some, she’s an herbalist or midwife; to others, an intuitive who reads the body like a map. In truth, she’s both and more.
She:
Holds a safe, unwavering space so your system can soften its guard.
Listens for the thread beneath the symptoms - the grief, fear, belief, or boundary that needs tending.
Guides you to reclaim agency so healing is done with you, never to you.
Helps you weave the wound back into the tapestry of your life, not as a scar of shame but as a seam of strength.
My Work as a Modern Medicine Woman
In my practice, I work with Emotional Recalibration Therapy - an integrative, trauma-informed approach for heartbreak, grief, burnout, and trauma. It blends hypnotherapy, somatic recalibration, and inner child work within a clear arc I call the Four Chambers of Emotional Healing:
Emotional Recalibration — Teaching your body to feel safe again so it can release what it’s been bracing against.
Sacred Boundaries — Reclaiming your no, restoring self-respect, and healing people-pleasing at the roots.
Coming Home to Yourself — Shedding roles and masks so your authentic self can breathe again.
Truth. Presence. Expression. — Speaking your needs, trusting your voice, living aligned with your values.
This isn’t bypass. We don’t “think positive” over pain. We let the body speak, and we learn how to listen.
Alternative vs. Complementary (and Why Words Matter)
Labelling this work “alternative” pushes it to the margins, as if the soul has nothing to do with health. I see it as complementary — a partner to medicine and psychology. Many of my clients work with their GP, therapist, or specialist alongside Emotional Recalibration. It’s not either/or; it’s both/and — because you are a whole person, not a set of parts.
Why This Path Is Different
The dominant story says: you’re broken, someone else will fix you, and healing is something done to you. My work rejects that.
You are not broken. You may be carrying pain, grief, or shame — but they are not your identity. Healing does not require handing over your power; it requires remembering you have it.
So I don’t promise quick fixes. I offer truth, steadiness, skilled guidance, and a container sturdy enough to hold your deepest feelings without swallowing you whole. In that steadiness, bodies soften. Breath returns. Boundaries strengthen. People who felt numb begin to feel again — not as a flood, but as a tide they can navigate.
The Gift and the Responsibility
What Is a Medicine Woman? To sit with someone in their most tender places is a privilege I don’t take lightly. I’ve watched a single breath change a face. I’ve seen shame loosen its grip when finally spoken aloud. I’ve seen grief become devotion — not a weight, but a way of loving what cannot be lost.
This is not glamorous work. It is sacred work. It’s slow, human, honest. And when a client leaves with a steadier voice and a softer jaw, I’m reminded: the medicine was always theirs. I just held the lantern while they remembered the path.
I do this work for women like Rachel.
Her words are sacred, and I share them with reverence.
My Experience with Stella
After losing my child suddenly and unexpectedly, I was completely broken. I didn’t know how to live with the pain or where to even begin.
Finding Stella has changed my life. She has a rare gift. She’s intuitive, gentle, wise, and incredibly knowledgeable. She seems to understand exactly what I need, even when I can’t express it myself.
For the first time in years, my body has started to feel safe after experiencing deep trauma. I trust her with feelings that once felt too heavy to carry. Stella has been helping me not only hold my grief but also gently heal parts of myself that were hurt long before my loss.
Through our sessions, especially the hypnotherapy - I leave feeling a little lighter, a little stronger, and more able to carry my grief with compassion rather than fear. Guided by Stella, I’ve even begun to feel moments of joy and hope again, feelings I never thought would return.
I am deeply grateful for Stella. Words aren’t enough to express my gratitude for the way she has helped me find a sense of peace in the midst of heartbreak.
Thank you Stella, your care and guidance to those “light bulb moments” have truly changed my life 🖤🤍
Rachel's words remind me the medicine was never mine to give - only to hold while she found her way back to it.
This isn’t about validation or praise; it’s proof of what happens when the feminine is allowed to heal without apology.
Rachel is the embodiment of the medicine - her courage the quiet answer to everyone who still doubts this path.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Medicine Woman?
A Medicine Woman is a healer and witness who tends body, mind, nervous system, spirit, and story as one weave. Tools may include herbs, somatic work, breath, energy work, trance, and deep listening; the essence is safe, steady, non-rushed care.
Is a Medicine Woman the same as a doctor or therapist?
No. This work is complementary, not a replacement for medical or psychological care. A Medicine Woman can collaborate alongside your GP or therapist to support integration, regulation, and meaning-making.
What does a Medicine Woman actually do in a session?
She holds unwavering, judgment-free space; listens for the thread beneath symptoms; supports nervous-system safety; and guides you to reclaim agency so healing is done with you, not to you.
Why has the Medicine Woman been misunderstood or vilified?
Historically, women’s community-held healing threatened systems of control. Witch hunts, professional gatekeeping, and religious suppression displaced midwives, herbalists, and wise women, framing embodied knowledge as suspect.
How is Emotional Recalibration part of this path?
Emotional Recalibration blends hypnotherapy, somatic practice, inner-child healing, and trauma integration to teach the body safety again, soften survival strategies, and restore voice, boundaries, and presence.
How do I choose the right Medicine Woman for me?
Trust your body’s cues: look for felt safety, clarity, consent, pace that honours “no,” and willingness to collaborate with your existing care. You should feel respected, not rushed or performed at. Your pace will be honoured. Your no will be welcome.
If previous approaches helped but didn’t reach the roots - if you’re ready for healing that sees all of you - consider this your invitation.
You are not too much. You are not broken. You are becoming.
Soothe your system and reconnect to your body and breath.
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Always Remember -
You are not too much. You are not broken. You are becoming.
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