Issue 90 – The Ways of Wise Women

wisdom of women
secrets of generations
hidden in plain sight

By Aeronwy Dafies

The Power
By Cardinal Cox

It is not a secret power
It is a power for the powerless
For the poor – for the outcast
For the old – for the disabled
It is a bringing of hope
It is a brewing of cures
It is a sharing of blessings
But sometimes it is s defence
And defence can be misread as attack
And the jealous and the scared
And the angry and the threatened
Have more traditional
More physical options
For every midwife
Who presided over a stillbirth
For every widowed serf
Whose neighbour’s cattle sickened
For every ancient grandmother
Whose memory failed at prayer
We light a candle at the full moon

Yes

Wise Words
By Harris Coverley

They said dare not ignore the sacred words
That fell so lightly from her sacred lips
Of darkness and the tearing thunder’s rip
To unfortune end I was being lured

But alas I did listen not
And perfect doom was what I got
And future’s glories were impaired
For the ignorance I had dared

with herbal secrets
vitality bestowing
way of wise women
less crude than ways of wizards
less cruel than men’s medicine

By DJ Tyrer