Together we will explore the medicine and magic of Birch, Raspberry, and Wild Rose through the lens of the power and attributes of Freya, the All Mother of northern Europe, teasing out the shining threads and weavings of connection. We will spend time in lecture/discussion, guided meditations and shamanic journeys, and using our senses and hands to interact with the herbs and craft a medicine to take home - material costs are included in the cost of the workshop. 

The focus of this class will be the myriad ways we can reach out to herbs for solace and inspiration, and we will be framing herbal medicine from the context of trauma-informed care, inclusivity and accessibility. Plants don’t discriminate, they give freely of their medicine to all, and they have much to share with us about finding power where we are and in who we are. 

This hands-on and informative class series will cover practical medicine-making skills as well as discussing in-depth a number of plants that are available in the midwest, how to harvest and prepare them, and what their medicinal and folkloric uses are. Upon leaving each class, we will have hand-crafted a small batch of seasonal herbal medicine you will bring home, and participants will leave with creative recipes to further explore. 

In this three-part series, we will cover the history of the witch’s relationship to poisonous plants of the temperate regions, the rich folklore of baneful plants and their role in mythic consciousness, how to safely interact with and prepare medicines/amulets/more from these herbs, and tending relationship through gardening and practical advice on cultivation.

 

The goal of this discussion and lecture is to face our world's wellness-reality with a steady gaze, with the aim of finding ways to stay healthy. We will be focusing on herbal medicines for their elegance and effectiveness as potent anti-viral remedies. We will cover the history of viruses, their profound intelligence, their important ecological role, how to live in-balance with the viral ecosystems that surround us, and herbal remedies for the immune system.

Many people hold quite vehement beliefs about the nature of these “invaders” and what we as a society should do about them. Examining the layers of belief we hold about invasive plants is an interesting and transformative process, one that can shine a light onto biases that we didn’t even know we were holding, and hopefully bring about a more balanced way of being in relationship with the living world. 

 

In this class we will focus on the deep and transformative power of flower remedies to resolve stress-related emotional and mental challenges, and offer a way back to a more grounded and balanced way of being. We will meditate with flower essences from the Alaskan essence set, discuss how they work to mend and transform our inner worlds, and how to incorporate them into your life, home apothecary, or healing practice.