Wise Woman Studies with Corinna Wood
Gathering women together in celebration of our connection with the earth, Corinna Wood supports women who long for a deeper, clearer sense of self.
She offers earth-based, woman-centered tools to ground women in their own innate wisdom, needs, and desires. Her teachings draw on earth wisdom of our foremothers—the shoulders on which we stand—to navigate the challenges women face in the world today.
We asked Corinna how she started her work honoring women and the Earth.
“I became an herbalist in the Wise Woman Tradition at the age of 22, initiated by Susun Weed and a beloved patch of nettles. Soon after, I taught my first herb walk, and I’ve have been teaching classes and programs on women’s health and herbalism ever since,” she told us.
After making more herbal medicines than she could possibly use herself, Corinna co-founded Red Moon Herbs in 1994 with Jessica Godino and ran it for 20 years until passing on the baton to Jeannie Dunn.
“I dreamed of gathering women together in celebration of our connection with the earth and plants,” said Corinna. And thus, in 2004, the Southeast Wise Woman Herbal Conference was born. Beginning with 200 women that year, the conference grew to over a thousand women strong—the largest herbal conference in the country.
She described her continuing journey this way.
“Fifteen years later, I entered my menopausal metamorphosis and decided that I wanted to devote more time to my teaching. In my personal life, I was also an early member of Earthaven Ecovillage, collaborating to bring our community vision into manifestation. Those around me say I’m a dreamweaver of wo-manifestations—a force of nature, creating legacies in my wake.”
There have of course been struggles along the way. At the same time as Corinna was creating with an outward focus, she was navigating some difficult relationships, overcoming old traumas, and experiencing the physical impacts on her body and well-being.
“While I was doing big things in the world, I was grappling with a lot inside,” she acknowledged.
Drawing on the principles of the Wise Woman Tradition, feminist spiritual psychology, and nonviolent communication, she turned her gaze inward. Corinna synthesized diverse concepts to map out what was going on inside.
“To address questions like, ‘What does the nitty-gritty of self-love really look like? Why do I find myself in the same relationship dynamics over and over? How were my internal beliefs formed–and how do I update them in a happy, healthy way?’
“My process of self-mapping brought me back home to myself.”
And as she enters her fifties, she says she feels “healthier and happier than ever. Fully alive, free and deeply grounded in myself. I have gathered the “tools” I’ve discovered into a medicine kit to share with you for your journey on your own Wise Woman path.”
For that is the nature of all Wise Women: to gather the tools they need for their own journeys.
Wise Woman Studies with Corinna Wood, www.corinnawood.com
