Throughout history, women have excelled in the healing arts. Yet they have been continuously persecuted for their special brand of medicine--usually folk oriented. Only now are women at the forefront of the holistic health care revolution. This book by Elisabeth Brooke offers a compelling and wise version of this phenomenon from priestess-healers in Egyptian temples through modern-day practitioners of therapeutic touch.
Women shamans--the sangoma of southern Africa and the curanderas of New Mexico--carry on the ancient tradition of omen shamans using divination, herbalism, and exorcism as their healing tools. Brooke looks at the caregiving ministries of early Christian deaconesses and monastic leaders such as Hildegard of Bingen who used the laying on of hands, prayer, and amulets in their work with the sick. Other areas covered include the vocation of midwives and the important work of women nurses in hospitals. The beautiful design of this book makes it an ideal gift to a woman's center or a local library.