2024 spiritual herbalism program
a six month journey into the heart of herbal magic + medicine
salt lake city, utah | may through october
our sixth year!
APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED
I am thrilled to announce this year’s spiritual herbalism immersion & apprenticeship program and cannot express how happy I am that we get to meet in person! This is year six of the course and I am bringing some really powerful new offerings to those who take the journey.
Inspired by the old traditions, this course is a mentorship-style presentation with a small group of folks who want to learn and engage as much as you do. Classes are a blend of discussion, demonstration, hands-on, visionary/journeywork, herb walks, crafting, and group ritual.
• SPIRITUAL HERBALISM COURSE •
My work with the plants is rooted in the timeless past and is a reweaving of the magical and medicinal virtues of our green allies. This course brings the ancient herbwise ways to life in the here and now and offers a potent and beautiful system of working with the herbs in service of harmony.
I am one of the only people openly teaching many of the green artes shared in this course while focusing on teaching students to ground their work in ancestral and empirical evidence while centering their own green gnosis. My work with herbal medicine is ritualized, heart-centered, and fiercely animistic. This course isn’t about doing what I do, chasing a piece of paper, or counting hours spent learning; it’s about cultivating and nourishing your own way with the plant spirits and their medicine, magic, and ritual.
Our journey with the plants is informed by their folklore, spirit, and personal guidance along with ancestral, empirical, and data-driven knowledge.
If you want to work with the plants but want to work with them on a deep and spirited level
If you’ve felt that there’s more to who the plants are, what our work with them can look like, and what the depth of ancestral plant connections has always been
If you believe that the plants are ancient and arcane spirits who speak to us, heal us, and empower us
I think you’ll be excited about where we go in this course!
• THE JOURNEY •
We meet once per month for six consecutive months for a full day of learning, sharing, experiencing, journeying, and crafting.
In addition to the 6 formal classes, you’ll also have access to 6 mid-month traditional apprenticeship sessions with me, your cohort, and occasional guest presenters. This is your time to ask questions, go over case studies, review work, test medicines, fine tune rituals, and also to work on your stuff (we all have it!) with the loving support of herbs, your cohort community, and me. As has been the case for the previous 6 years of this course- you will emerge a different person than you were on day one in the best possible way.
Cohort: 6 new students, 2 existing apprentices are able to survey
TA: Lexi Beckstead
Course begins May 19, 2024, with sessions going from 11am-4pm (+/-)
Class One: May 19
Class Two: June 9
Class Three: July 21
Class Four: August 18
Class Five: September 15
Class Six: October 20
Location: Flow Acupuncture & Apothecary in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah
Each of the six classes presents a themed exploration of plant spirit work that includes:
a working topic that informs how we approach magic and medicine in that session
initiation, protection, plenty, connection, intuition, and release
deep and inspiring digs into the ancient ways of vital energetics, actions, organ/system affinities, medicine directions, and tastes with an emphasis on elemental explorations of each. I will be teaching the compass this year- an animistic, elemental language system for working effective herbal magic and medicine
learn not just what the herbs do, but how they do it
medicine crafting - you’ll create a robust remedy and ritual collection by the end of the course
teas, tinctures, oxymels, oils, liniments, ciders, balms & salves, poultices & compresses, teapills
folk magic workings
washes, perfume, sachets, bundles, incense, smoke, oil, bottles, and candles
body systems including anatomy, physiology, common pathologies, and body-mind complexes
digestion, nervous system, endocrine system, immunity, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, reproductive systems, skin, bones, muscles, blood, and lymph
guided journeyworkings
learn to travel by spirit to the green realm where deep plant spirit connections are made
group ritual workings
materia medica; usually 10-12 herbs per session | bioregional allies and more
folklore, ancestral wisdom, clinical data, formulation, stories, case studies, and practical application of the medicinal and magical virtues of individual plants- most of whom grow happily and abundantly right here where we live
focal plant spirit patron for the session
monthly book reading/listening
herb walk in surrounding urban, green, and park spaces centering the identification, communion, stewardship, and honoring of local flora
six apprenticeship sessions
cohort service project focused on crafting mutual aid medicine for folks in our community
access to off-course advanced apprenticeship meetups
Additionally, we’ll cover a tapestry of other supportive topics including green animism, plant sorcery, histories of wortcunning and herbcraft, formulation, plant spirit communications, divination, herbwise ancestral work, plant identity, world tree cosmology, sacred tools, harvesting, tides, charming, grimoire and leechbook texts, spirit vessels, altars & shrines, meditation, journeywork, rituals, and initiations.
This year’s offering is a distilled and mingled presentation of what was previously Spiritual Herbalism part 1 + 2 and The Green Arte Course.
• ROOTS & FRUITS •
By the end of this course you will be in deep personal relationship to many individual plant spirits, the green realm as a whole, and your own heart of hearts. You’ll have competence and confidence in crafting herbal remedies, researching herbs, working with herbal medicine beyond the reductionist/capitalist systems by employing spiritual energetics and folkloric virtues, aligning the right herbs to the right person for the right healing goal, working plant-based rituals of magic and journey, and communicating openly with the plants. Ultimately, my goal is always to simply teach you how to learn from the plants and their guardians directly.
scroll on for details…
Please read on for details about applying, preparing, and tuition…
This course is open to everyone and has always been a space of celebrated diversity, inclusion, affirmation, and love- oh, and the best kind of really hard work :)
• APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN •
I will close applications when I feel like I have too many to sift through or when I have selected this year’s cohort. There are 6 spots open this year and I generally receive 45 applications.
Applications will generally be accepted unless I don’t feel like the way I do this work is a good fit for your stated goals, you are actively engaged in education that runs too opposite what you’d be learning here, you’ve recently done education that runs counter to spiritual herbalism and haven’t taken much of a break between then and now, and/or the divinations performed for each applicant are all returned in the negative by both myself and my assistant for the course.
The information and experiences I share in this course have been incredibly hard-won by me with over 20 years of intensive study, experimentation, exploration, apprenticeship with elder herbalists, and formal education. I have high standards about the hearts into which I plant these initiatory seeds, just as my herbwise ancestors before me. Traditionally a wortcunner would have one or two apprentices for their entire life, so sacred was the charge of teacher, guide, and facilitator. I take my work just as seriously and hope you will, too.
• PREPARATION •
This course is truly one-of-a-kind and offers information, experiences, insight, and connections not openly offered in any other application-based program. Few people are practicing the old ways of plant spirit work; even fewer of them teach it. I advise attendees to be prepared to work hard for the wisdom and experience they’ll cultivate for themselves AND to be prepared to do deep personal healing along the way. We move at a steady pace but create space for processing and decompressing along the way. You also have access to mid-month sessions which are not active learning groups but just a time to share, reflect, process, ask questions, and connect.
I provide some handouts, but I encourage note taking. I also teach in a repetition style- we’ll cover core concepts many times over, in many different ways, to help deepen your connection to them.
Classes may not be recorded without prior permission due to the sacred & initiatory nature of the materials presented and for the privacy of others in the cohort.
The session days are long but they are broken up with herb walks, activities, tea & treats, crafting, shares, and time outside when weather permits. I need to rest my voice during longer sessions so I try to create diversity in how the day flows. I provide chairs, zafu cushions, and blankets- feel free to bring any creature comforts you like including drinks, snacks, etc.
Classes will be held on a private, shaded patio when weather permits, indoors when it doesn’t. We will be herb walking every session- rain or shine (or snow).
If you have ability needs, please reach out so we can explore ways the space and course can be made more comfortable for you.
• TUITION •
$895
includes classes, walks, optional mid-month meetups, and all in-class supplies and does not include suggested books
Payment is due in full by May 5, 2024
Attendees are accepted in the order they apply, followed by the order they are approved, followed by the order they make deposit payment.
Example: If you apply first, get accepted first, but don’t respond with an acceptance before 6 other people do, you will lose your spot.
A minimum $175 deposit is due at the time of approval which holds your spot in the cohort. If you are unable to pay or attend after admission, your spot will be given to the next person in line.
$175 is non-refundable, the remainder is refundable at 50% until May 1, 2024 at which point all payments made are non-refundable as supplies have been purchased.
You can pay all at once or make arranged payments until May 5.
Ready to begin the journey?
Scroll down to apply. If you have any questions, please reach out to me before applying and I’ll be happy to help!
applications are now closed
please answer every question to the best of your ability. reach out should you need any clarification…