Part 1: Empowering Modern Women's Health: Lessons From Ancient Ecuador

Preface

Women today are often seeking ways to empower themselves regarding their health, searching for answers to understand the root causes of their symptoms, and wanting to explore non-invasive healing options for their bodies.

This article is the beginning of a series exploring a historical era when women were empowered and benefited from the wisdom of an ancient women's medicine system developed over thousands of years by and for women. Part 1 focuses on the cultural history, social structures, and belief systems that provided crucial support to Cañari women in developing this system in Cañar, Ecuador.

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Exploring this time period helps us better understand the current state of women's health, often characterized by more questions than answers and a rising wave of despair and frustration among women that they do not have control over their health.

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​Introduction

Cañar, Ecuador, in the heart of the Andes Mountains, was home to revered medicine women known as Priestess-Physicians. There is no historical record of a written language used by the ancient Cañari people. Their history and knowledge have been primarily recorded through oral traditions. However, archaeological findings suggest that the Cañari had a presence in the Andean Mountains of present-day Ecuador that dates back thousands of years before the rise of the Inca Empire and Spanish Conquest.

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Women's Medicine System

In ancient times, the Priestess-Physicians were widely respected for their advanced women's medicine system, cultivated over a millennium. Women having a distinct medicine system, rather than a subcategory field within a broader medical framework, empowered them to acquire a wealth of knowledge and develop highly effective non-invasive techniques targeted to address female symptoms. Written historical records from the 14th century suggest a separation of medical practices based on gender. However, oral traditions indicate a clear and distinct segregated medicine system for women, acknowledging their anatomical differences from men, predating the 14th century.

​The Priestess-Physicians primarily cared for women and girls. Dedicating themselves exclusively to understanding female anatomy and women's symptoms, they developed advanced non-invasive bodywork techniques, making surgical procedures a last resort. They offered life guidance, addressed spiritual well-being, cultivated medicinal plants for herbal remedies containing active ingredients found in many modern medications, and provided comprehensive midwifery services.

Advanced Fertility Knowledge & Pregnancy Care

Establishing a women's medicine system paved the way for advanced midwifery techniques. Services provided by Priestess-Physicians included menstruation regulation, crucial for fertility and natural conception. They offered pregnancy preparation to ensure healthy fetus development, increasing the likelihood of full-term pregnancies and natural births. Additionally, they provided comprehensive post-natal care to minimize the risk of post-pregnancy symptoms. The development of their advanced midwifery practices was significantly influenced by the support mothers and medicine women received from other women in the community.

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Community Support For Mothers & Medicine Women

Community support for mothers came from all women, recognizing all women as caretakers for the children. This collaborative effort enabled every woman in the community to share the journey of motherhood collectively and acquire childrearing skills. This created fulfillment, connection among women, and promoted the well-being of children.

Once a Priestess-Physician had been admitted into the role of medicine practitioner for the community, the women collaborated to create their medicine tools, prepare meals, and ensure their well-being as a gesture of gratitude for their service. This community support from other women allowed the Priestess-Physicians the freedom to focus on helping others and advancing their roles. It also led to the development of highly skilled female practitioners, chosen by other women for their positions.

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Women's Vote For Female Healers

Female equality empowered women in the community to choose their own medicine practitioners, women specializing in female anatomy and women's health. In Cañar, Ecuador, the traditional process for selecting Priestess-Physicians involved a communal vote. They underwent a humble evaluation by the community, where their physical health, intelligence, leadership, skills, dedication, and positive contributions were considered. This cultural practice allowed women, regardless of their family's "financial" standing, to pursue a career in medicine. It promoted highly compassionate and talented female practitioners dedicated to positively contributing to the health and well-being of the community.

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Female Equality

Because the Cañari embraced the duality of both the feminine and masculine in their surroundings, influenced by their spiritual beliefs, gender equality became a prevalent practice. Their social structure, rather than strictly matriarchal, adopted a gender-balanced approach, valuing both women's and men's roles equally in contributing to the community's well-being. In Cañar, Ecuador, this system of equality emphasizes the importance of both genders' contributions without devaluing either. The uninterrupted development and continuity of their women's medicine system over thousands of years have been fundamentally supported by female equality.

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Non-Gender Higher Power

Ancient cultures with advanced medicine systems can be traced back to spiritual or religious beliefs as they were often intertwined. Before the influence of the Inca Empire and the perspectives introduced by Spanish Conquistadors, the Cañari originally acknowledged a non-gender higher power associated with the creation of the universe. In societies with a monotheistic religion associating the creator or higher power solely with male attributes, this influence has often shaped patriarchal societal structures. As a result, the progress of women's medicine has been hindered, restricting women's opportunities to practice it, and leading to the loss of previously acquired medicinal knowledge for future generations.

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Conclusion

Many women today may believe we are working towards a new level of female empowerment, but in truth, we are attempting to rebuild what we once had. However, there is an illusion that this can be achieved within the existing framework that historically has contributed to the imbalance.

The establishment of a freely accessible advanced women's medicine system emphasizing non-invasive treatments calls for a rethinking of our societal frameworks, careful consideration of the foundational principles of women's health care, and recognition of the critical importance of placing non-invasive approaches first and surgical options only as a last option. Without implementing these changes, there is a great risk of completely losing essential ancient women's medicine knowledge. There is no doubt in the author’s view that such a loss will inevitably lead to a prolonged decline in women's health shaping a future where an unfortunate number of women undergo organ removals, depend on lifelong medications, and are left to accept widespread symptoms as normal. In such a world, significant collective declines in pain-free menstrual cycles, fertility, natural pregnancies, natural childbirths, as well as the birth of healthy babies are all commonplace, ultimately endangering the health of future generations.

​Information Sources

This article honors the women who have protected the medicine system we are privileged to practice at Sisa today, many of whom sacrificed their lives. Though many of their names have faded with time, my hope is that their contributions to women's medicine remain influential. May we honor and celebrate the wisdom of these women and learn from the invaluable insights they sought to preserve.

This information is based on extensive historical research, teachings my South American medicine teachers passed down, and personal experiences acquired through traveling, living, and training in women's medicine within the indigenous Cañari culture.

​It is important to acknowledge that a significant portion of original medicine history has been lost or influenced by historical and natural events. Written records of ancient South American history predominantly come from the accounts of male Spanish Conquistadors, as many indigenous cultures did not possess a writing system that we understand today. These records reflect perspectives from eras that emphasized patriarchal superiority, often downplaying the roles of women and their contributions to medicine. It is also important to recognize that new information continues to emerge, shaped by evolving perspectives, technological advancements, and ongoing archaeological discoveries.

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