Usnea is a lichen that provides medicine for the trees of the forests that are the lungs of the world – and for our own bodies as well. We will explore the deeper nature of this medicine, the ways it threads weave us back into relationship with the wild, and the connections between Usnea and the Green Man who embodies the verdant life of the forest.
We are trained in this culture to think of fate and prophecy as immutable. But visionary medicines can help us perceive the shimmering threads of the Web of Wyrd – and shift them to reweave fate. In this class, we explore that potential.
Elfdock is an old name for Elecampane that suggests the plant's relationship with the Otherworld. We will explore the connections between the medicine of this bright, beautiful plant and its magical associations.
Skunk Cabbage rises from deep beneath the muck of the swamp, melting its way through the ice. Its return heralds the coming of spring and the waking of the Bears. In this class, we will explore the relationship between Skunk Cabbage and the Wild Redeemer – the one who brings back the lost wild magic of the world.
Plants have long offered spiritual protection in perilous times to those who approach them with devotion and respect. In this class, we will explore herbs traditionally understood as protectors of the spirit including Wood Betony, Wormwood, and Devil's Club.
Drawing from the insights of Stephen Buhner and William Stafford, we will explore the concept of following the golden threads that run through our lives – and the way these threads connect us with the life of the world.
Daoist medicine sees the heart as the seat of our consciousness and the pericardium as its protector. We will explore western herbs that can help to support the "heart protector" in order to allow us to experience healthy connection.
In ancient Ireland, poets gave languages to the auguries they gleaned from their contact with the wild world and the Otherworld. Join us on the feast day of Brighid, who blesses and inspires poets, as we explore what their way of seeing and speaking and being can show us about connecting with the dreaming of the Earth to find our way forward in perilous times.
When the body spikes a fever, we use diaphoretic herbs to help the heat move through and out of the body. Many of these diaphoretic herbs also have strong magical and spiritual associations. Can they be relevant for helping when a spirit fire is "burning in the head? Join us as we explore the spiritual applications of diaphoretic herbs – and learn a bit about fevers in the process.
Ayurveda speaks of herbs that can "scrape clear the subtle channels of the mind." More recently, science has begun to speak of the ways the brain clears its own channels and the importance of things like the microglia and the glymphatic system in cognitive health. We will explore the biology and the energetics of clearing the brain and the mind of the residues of past thought and feeling and talk about herbs which may support these processes.
Popular culture tells us that dopamine is primarily a molecule of reward and pleasure – but it is far more than that. Dopamine is the molecule that motivates us to move in the world in the ways we have trained our nervous systems to find meaningful. Join us as we explore the nature of this molecule and review herbs that help us utilize dopamine more effectively and practices we can combine with those herbs to help us cultivate meaning in our lives.
