Herb Wife (Zalusieva)

I've been having some time consuming projects, so this one comes with a great delay.
We are used to seeing healers as physically weak individuals - hey, they are the ones you have to protect from being hit directly but I present to you - the Latvian healer - a woman with some balls.
Being so close with the nature, it seems illogical to make her weak while nature is a strong force to be reckoned with. Also the specifics of the profession require some body strength - a lot of running around, working in the fields, also tending to the rituals. 
For Latvians almost all of the healing rituals are connected to the bath-house. Somebody who is called "pirtnieks" in Latvian and apparently "bath-house attendant" (since there is no specific term) in English is also a healer - using specific herbs for specific needs. Herbs are being burnt in the hearth, boiled into teas and also used for little "brooms" or  besoms - that are used for massaging. Or hitting/spanking to be more accurate While it sounds incredibly sadistic, it is actually very pleasant and healthy Anyway, that requires quite a lot of energy meaning the healer just can't be weak.
For the outfit I used mostly Livonian (Līvu) stuff, using yet another opportunity to fangirl over the turtle brooches with chains - very typical for Livonians, Finno-ugrians and Scandinavians.
Also I found out I was wrong about the quantity of jewelry worn by ancient Latvians - the actually wore as much of it as they could. Jewelry had signs engraved on it therefore it provided protection, especially for hands - they were one's most important tools. Here you can see a a pair of spiral bracers (used by healers and soothsayers) and a bracelet with the round grass-snake symbol of it (symbol of healing magic).
Some fun things about Latvian practical magic/healing:
Back then people didn't know about bacteria and viruses so it was believed that illness was caused by spirits possessing the body (or more likely - the illness was seen as an evil spirit itself, in texts about Latvian mythology Fever and Plague are listed along with other bad creatures).
How to get the illness to leave the body? By grossing it out! Ill Latvians were fed some vile stuff, or were rubbed with dried mice and dog poop - if I was a spirit - i'd leave a body smeared with dog crap
Thankfully, more traditional methods were used as well, but seeing this approach to healing, you can easily make an educated guess that this lady has got a strong stomach

The sign in the background is the sign of Saule - Sun. It is a symbol of life and energy. All together it is a quite feminine sign, though the sun does not discriminate and shines equally on everyone. When drawn as a square it also becomes a symbol of Home - safety, shelter.