Psilocybin is a medicine that aids people, animals, plants, and fungi in weaving and perceiving connection. There is a special power to be found in working with Psilocybin in wild places, Seán will share how this medicine helped him connect with the living mind of the forest, and ideas and guidelines of working with this medicine to deepen your own connection with the other-than-human worlds around us.
Lúnasa is the ancient fire festival that marks the harvest of the first fruits and grains and the beginning of summer's dying into winter. In the season to come, flowers will give way to fruit and seeds, the leaves of all but the evergreens will die and fall away, and plants will sink their energy and their consciousness down into their roots. This is a time for celebrating and giving thanks for the harvest – but also for taking stock of what is at hand, what must be preserved and put away, what must be let go, and what must be planted in autumn to bring forth new life in spring. We will explore the magic of late summer and of the plants of this season – Rowan, Goldenrod, Blackberry, and more!
Opening airways and blood vessels, releasing tension, and focusing the mind, Lobelia prepares the way for healing to flow. This much maligned plant is one of the most important and versatile medicines available to us. Learn how to bring Lobelia into your life and your practice.
Is beatha é uisce – water is life. In the old Irish worldview, all the waters of this world flow from a well in the Otherworld. Join Seán for an exploration of old tales and traditions about holy wells, wild waters, Hazel trees, and the Salmon of Wisdom – and new ways of living in the light of these ancient understandings.
Sovereignty. Liberty. Freedom. What do these words mean? True sovereignty arises from wedding the land. True liberty means blossoming forth according to our nature. True freedom emerges in community, balancing liberty and responsibility to each other. On the eve of Independence Day, we will explore what ancient ancestors, the Otherworld, and the other-than-human world can teach us about sovereignty, liberty, and freedom.
Psychedelic/neurognostic medicines have a tremendous capacity to open the mind to other worlds, new possibilities, and different ways of being. A certain degree of disorientation is a natural part of that process – but sometimes it can be overwhelming. Drawing on his experience doing first aid for psychonauts at festivals who had a bit “too much too fast,” Seán will share how Passionflower, Skullcap, Wood Betony, and other plant allies can help soothe the freaked out and the frazzled. And he will share his perspective on spiritual and magical safety when exploring the realms that these medicines reveal.
The Solstice sun blazes brightly at noon, and at night bonfires blaze on the highest hills. The ancient festival of Midsummer is a celebration of both the vitality of this world and the magic of the Otherworld. We will explore the medicine and magic of the plants of this season: the bright solar nature of St. John’s Wort, the shimmering silver spirit of Mugwort, and more!
In the popular imagination, serotonin is the "happiness chemical." But this molecule is far more complex than that descriptor suggests. An ancient compound first created by bacteria at the time when life on Earth had just begun to breathe, serotonin is first and foremost a molecule of connection. Serotonin flows and synaptic networks branch in fractal patterns that resemble the patterns in nature. It opens the gates that allow sensory information to flow in, and helps us recognize complex patterns in the world around us. In this class, we will look at the roles serotonin and structurally similar compounds play in the plant and fungal realms, and how these insights can help us understand the true nature of this neurotransmitter in our own bodies.
Anxiety. Depression. Fatigue. Brain fog. Shortness of breath. Cardiovascular disease. High blood sugar. Almost a third of COVID-19 survivors deal with these symptoms and more for months or years after they recover from the acute infection. More still suffer in silence, not seeking help. Drawing from his own experience of recovering from COVID-19, and his experience helping clients navigate the illness, Seán will share herbal strategies for dealing with "Long Haul COVID." He will also talk about the relationship between Long Haul COVID and other conditions like chronic Lyme disease and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Scent is one of the primary ways we experience the touch of the world upon our senses. Our bodies evolved to recognize the scents of aromatic plants as a sign that our wild kin are near and trying to speak with us. In this class, we will explore the roles aromatic compounds play in the lives of plants, and the roles they can play in augmenting the work of our immune systems and balancing our nervous and cardiovascular systems. We will also look at the differences between the light aromatic compounds common in the leaves and flowers of plants and the sticky, heavy aromatic molecules of resins. And we will explore ways of working with aromatic plants in magic and ceremony to purify spaces, open hearts, shift consciousness, and send prayers to the spirit realm.
Psilocybin, a miraculous molecule produced by Psilocybe spp. mushrooms, is showing amazing promise in helping people struggling with conditions ranging from depression and addiction to inflammation and chronic pain. This class will provide a clear and accessible introduction to the new science around how psilocybin changes our neurochemistry and the very structure of our brains. We will put this knowledge in the context of the biology, ecology, and spiritual presence of the mushrooms themselves, and explore what it means to work with this medicine in intentional and respectful ways.
An old Irish poem about the nature of health and wisdom speaks of a person being born with three cauldrons within their body: the Cauldron of Incubation that contains the spark of life, the Cauldron of Motion that governs our experience of the world and the ways we navigate it, and the Cauldron of Wisdom that is the source of poetry and inspiration. The ways in which this understanding guided the practice of medicine have long been lost, but we can use the poem as a starting point in beginning to reconstruct them in ways that make sense in our contemporary lives. In this class, we will explore the nature of each of these three cauldrons and speak about herbs that can help us tend to the health of each of them.
