Susun Weed - Biography

Biography

Susun Weed began investigating the benefits of herbal medicine in 1965 when she was pregnant with her daughter, Justine Adelaide Swede (the child of Susun and Southy Swede) and living in Manhattan. She has no official diplomas; she left high school in her junior year to pursue studies in mathematics and artificial intelligence at UCLA and subsequently left UCLA during her junior year. She continued to study herbalism and the issues surrounding women's health independently with such herbalists as Juliette de Bairacli Levy.

In 1985 Weed wrote her first book, Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year. It was published as the first title of Ash Tree Publishing in 1986, and is currently in print-April 2011. It was followed by Healing Wise in 1989, New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way in 1992, and Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way in 1996. Weed is a regular contributing writer to the Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women's Studies, and a featured columnist at SageWoman Magazine, a publication devoted to woman-centered spirituality.

In addition to her work as a writer, Ms. Weed offers an apprentice training program in which she oversees the work of students at her farm, teaches students via correspondence, and coordinates the activities of the Wise Woman Center near Woodstock, New York. Weed is a High Priestess of Dianic Wicca, a member of the Sisterhood of the Shields, and a Peace Elder.

Weed's teaching encompasses herbal medicine, ethnobotany, pharmacognosy, psychology of healing, ecoherbalism, nutrition, and women's health issues. She has taught and lectured extensively at medical schools, hospital wellness centers, breast cancer centers, midwifery schools, naturopathic colleges, and shamanic training centers, as well as at conferences. Weed has appeared on television and radio, including National Public Radio and NBC News.