wise women
Crones with knowledge
Wise women is the plural of wise woman, a term for female healers, herbalists, or folk practitioners in traditional communities—women consulted for remedies, midwifery, or counsel.
The term carries associations with pre-modern village life: The wise women knew which plants eased childbirth.
It can sound reverent or euphemistic, sometimes overlapping with witch in historical contexts.
- old wivesElderly women passing lore
- cunning folkTraditional rural magic workers
- hedge witchesSolitary rural magic practitioners
- folk magicTraditional supernatural practices
- sageWisdom keeper or seasoning
healer · grandmothers · elder · herbalist · herbal remedies · oracles · seeress · midwives · birth and death · prophets · matriarchs · goodwife · doctress · knowing · keeper of secrets · counselor · diviner · roots
- folklorefairy tales, fairytales, folktales, folk tales, folk tale
- witchcraftwitch, spell, spellwork, witches, spells
- Biblical WomenEve, Mary, Ruth, Sarah, Rachel
- Danish folklorefolktales, trolls, elves, ghosts, giants
- folk magicspell, spells, hex, hexes, curse
- Germanic FolkloreBrothers Grimm, folktales, Valkyrie, Valhalla, sagas
wise womenfools
Idiots or deceives
simpletons · dimwits · scatterbrains · dunces · idiots
wise womenwitches
Practitioners of dark magic
poisoners · cursers · hexers · sorceresses · hags
wise womennovices
Inexperienced newcomers
apprentices · uninitiated · greenhorns · neophytes · ignoramuses
wise, wisdom, women, unwise, wisely, otherwise, unwisely, wisecrack, wiseacre