Leaves kissed with silver moonlight, Mugwort is a plant of hedgerows and roadsides – liminal places. Mugwort helps those too anchored in this world open to dream and vision – and helps those who wander out into the ethers to ground back into their own bodies. Join as we explore the medicine and magic of this powerful plant ally.
Our kidneys are complex organs involved in the way water flows through our bodies. They filter out waste, regulate blood pressure, balance the minerals in our bloodstreams, and help to produce red blood cells. They also help maintain the health of our bones and our connective tissues. We will explore both the physiological and the metaphysical roles our kidneys play in our lives, and talk about herbs that can help nourish, support, and restore the kidneys.
The Nightshade family is full of plants that shift sensation and consciousness in ways so powerful that whether they bring medicine or poison, blessing or curse depends deeply on the ways we approach them. Perhaps none of these plants is more full of contradictions than Tobacco – a sacred plant of the Americas that became important in the folk magic of distant lands it was introduced to, but also has spurred a global health crisis. In this class, we will put judgement aside and try to speak of Tobacco on the plant's own terms. We will explore both responsible ways to work with the plant and strategies for navigating Tobacco addiction.
On this Sunday between Imbolc and Valentine's Day, we explore the medicine and magic of three plants which help us find joy and presence in embodiment: Kava, Damiana, and Blue Lotus. We will weave together contemporary science, folklore from the homelands of these plants, and understandings of the states and sensations they evoke to talk about the blessings they can bring individually and together.
At Samhain, blessing and fertility flowed down from this world into the Otherworld, beginning the dark season of the old Irish year, that will end at Bealtaine when life comes flowering back into this world, flowing upward from below. The festival of Imbolc marks the midpoint of the dark season, when the lengthening sunlight reaches down through snow and earth, and, often invisible to us, life begins to stir – like the moment of "quickening" when the mother first feels the child moving in the womb. Weaving together folklore and spiritual ecology, we will explore the meaning and the blessings of this ancient holiday.
Striking and majestic in their beauty, Birches are abundant throughout northern forests. We will explore the medicine and magic of Birches, drawing from Irish and Norse tradition as well as Traditional Western Herbalism.
Our livers process much of what we take in from the world – whether in the form of chemical inputs from our environments or in the form of the hormones that we produce in response to our experiences and emotions. In this class, we will explore the physiological and esoteric functions of the liver, and discuss some of the plants and fungi that can support our livers in all seasons.
Walking among evergreens in winter, their scent invites a deeper breath. In this cold, wet season we will explore the medicine forests offer for our lungs.
The word "courage" comes from the Old French word for "heart." When hope is hard to come by, our wild kin offer encouragement. Join us as we explore plant medicines that can help us take heart in difficult times.
The image and the concept occur again across disparate cultures throughout human history: a great tree that grows at the heart of everything, connecting many worlds. As we prepare to begin the new year, we will explore the ways that connecting with a living tree can help to re-root your own cosmology and find ground, center, and new meaning in your life.
Near the mouth of the river that the Irish have always understood to mirror the Milky Way stands an ancient burial mound whose dark inner chamber is illuminated by a ray of light at dawn on the Winter Solstice. On the eve of the Solstice, we spend time with the tales of two mythic figures conceived in that burial chamber – Óengus Óg and Cú Chullainn -- and delve into what their stories tell us about darkness and light, and about this world and the Otherworld.
The English word "solstice" and the Irish word "grianstaid" both refer to the times of the year when the sun seems to stand still in its place on the horizon for days. As we approach the Winter Solstice, we explore the importance of times of stillness, of fallowness, of darkness, and explore plants that can help us embrace these ways of being.