Classes • Sept. 3-6, 2021 – Womens Herbal Symposium

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Classes & Teachers

Seed saving is a practice in resliency and independent food culture. In this class we will immerse ourselves in the hands-on process of cleaning seed. We will go over the different techniques for harvesting, saving, cleaning and long-term storing (seed banking) of seeds and discuss the radical importance of this sacred act. We will talk about how to identify seeds on plants, cross-pollination/seed purity, breeding techniques and mostly enjoy the process of sitting in circle and doing the work together. We'll have mutiple types of seeds/varieties including medicinal herbals, flowers and veggies to work on and each intensive participant will walk away with a seed bank starter set.

Bibiana Love

1. Poke It On Up

Copperwoman

1. Music is the Medicine: CircleSong with Copperwoman

Join Copperwoman, in singing songs that nourish feelings of closeness and unity, and assist in raising vibration, creating a fertile ground for prayer and healing. Copperwoman "catches" songs that emerge out of the energy and common experiences of our growing beings. They inspire us with wisdom and insights and rise from a place of core connection. Songwords will be on the handouts page for those who register for the day or weekend. The songs are easy to learn and nurture our feelings of being earth family. Music IS the Medicine!

DeAnna Batdorff

1. Weekly Restoration - pre-recorded

EagleSong Evans Gardener

1. Cooling Fire: Meeting Inflammation Head-on with 3-Remarkable Trees all levels

Willow, Linden and Cottonwood are wise to fire. Learning how and where they grow will help you become wise in meeting inflammation head-on in your body and life. Trees are remarkable habitat bio-engineers. Your body is a complex habitat that you can cultivate for well-being, using compounds these trees use for creating health and wholeness wherever they grow. Bio-flavonoid rich, anti-inflammatory, pain relieving, immune enhancing, easily accessible and easily transformed into simple effective remedies, these 3 trees are plant allies to cultivate, know and use. You will learn to make & use 3 simple, effective herbal preparations made with these trees.

2. Hawthorn: A Generative Genus all levels

Are you ready for an adventure that ignites courage, brings the deep-peace of heartfelt connection and nourishes spirit's home? You're invited to join EagleSong Gardener on an adventurous local/world tour of the Crataegus genus. You'll meet hawthorn, 'sovereign of boundaries', in her incredible distribution around the planet. And, learn how to find haw in your own bio-region. You'll discover how 3 different cultures engage hawthorn energy for improving daily life. And, how you can use hawthorn safely, wisely and effectively in your own home. After this class, you'll want to find her near you and bring the generative medicine of hawthorn into your daily life…

3. Hands-On Hawthorn Medicine Making all levels

From teas, infusions and decoctions, to jams, jellies and chutneys, all the way to extracts, cordials and elixirs, Hawthorn is ready and willing to engage your creative impulse! Considered a “heart food” and heart remedy of excellent proportion by herbalists in several traditions, and one of the herbs which, brings me great joy in tending, I set myself to finding as many ways as possible to bring hawthorn into our daily diet. In this fast-paced hands-on demonstration, you'll learn different methods for bringing hawthorn fruit, flowers and leaves alive in your life. Be forewarned...It's simple, messy and fun! You might even laugh...hawthorn is known for that!

4. Cultivating Medicine of Place all levels

Imagine your home garden as your habitat, a place that actively cultivates your well-being as you tend it. By choosing plants and practices that support you, life on the planet, and bring joy, you begin cultivating medicine of place. With more opportunities to work from home, and more challenges procuring fresh, well-grown herbs, there has never been a better time to bring your medicine home. Dedicated to getting people back in the garden for health and enjoyment, EagleSong shows you how to engage nature as an ally. Using her No-Dig garden approach and the BOCA No-Turn-Compost System, at 70, she still maintains RavenCroft Garden, the 30-year teaching garden surrounding her home. "When I was younger, I liked to dig, now...not so much, though, I find I still like to eat and have the occasional need of a remedy”.

Gwen Jensen

1. Flower Essence Introductory Workshop, in 2 parts ~ beginning

Join us as we delve into the vibrational healing powers of flower essences. We will make a flower essence or two together. We will discuss how flower essences affect the physical body, the emotions, the energetic body, the spirit and indeed the whole experience of life. Explore the many ways to pick an essence including muscle testing, pendulums, intuition, plant spirits as well as working with the many books available on the subject. We will also learn about blending together personal formulas and the variety of ways to incorporate flower essences into your life.

This will be an interactive class and if you bring a sterile, clean bottle you can take one home.

This class will be geared toward those with little or no experience with flower essences but all are welcome to come and share their experiences.

Heather O'Connell

1. TBA

Holly Calica

1. Aches, Pains & Strains: Living with Muscular-Skeletal Problems

Jamie Della

1. Are You a Ritual Herbalist? all levels

Jamie hadn't heard the term Ritual Herbalist until her friend, Kris Knapp, used it to explain the validity of her herbal allies practice to Jamie's sons. They were complaining that since she has no multi-year degrees or certificates of herbal studies that she wasn't really qualified to talk about herbs. Ah, but you see, a Ritual Herbalist reminds us of the magick of empirical knowledge. This wisdom is gained by interacting with the Spirit World of plants in conscious conversation. Sitting with plants, listening to their vibrations, seeing their smells, and instinctively knowing how to match their energy with the trials and joys we face - slowly, every day, we learn. A Ritual Herbalist bonds with her plants, whether she grows them or simply whispers her secrets to them. A Ritual Herbalist is one who matches vibrations with plant allies for manifestation. Are you a Ritual Herbalist? Do you know of Animism and the personalities of different herbs, plants and trees? If so, then please join this conversation. We will close with a guided meditation to empower the Ritual Herbalist in us all.

Jessica Clark

1. Medicine of the Hive: Working with Our Honey Bee Sisters for Health and Healing, parts 1 & 2 ~ intermediate

We will take a look at the world of honey bees and their relationship to natural medicine. We will explore:

How they live, and how they create the colonies in which they live and grow
- How these living conditions naturally create many products which are used as medicine by humans and animals (wax, honey, propolis, etc)
- Each medicinal component, what it is used for by the bee, and how it is used by humans
How to extract propolis for optimal extraction
Using Honey as a menstruum (solvent for making extracts)
Many uses of bees wax
Royal jelly, and other lesser known bee products (stinging, bees themselves, the whole hive, mead, etc.)

We will also get a bit into historical usage of bee products and how it differs today, care, sustainability and the current struggle of the bees, spiritual aspects of bees and beekeeping, a word on bee shamanism, and our evolving relationship to this incredible creature.

Karin C. Uphoff

1. Caring for Your Kidneys

2. Natural Eye Care

3. Holistic Healing for Head Injuries

Larissa Montfort

Tara West

1. Drum TBA

Reem Kahlil

1. Intensive: Indigo Workshop

Shereel Washington

1. Ka Hula - A Basic Hula

In this class we will explore and learn basic steps (wawae) that is foundation in all hula lineages:

Kaholo
Ka'o
'Uwehe
‘Ami
Hela

Before Western contact, hula was danced for social enjoyment but its chants also preserved epic tales, myths, history and philosophy. Multiple tales describe the mythic beginnings of hula but the most-often heard is probably that of Pele and her sister Hi`iaka. Laka, the spiritual patron of hula, is more prominently associated with hula and was symbolized in the halau (hula school). A dancer's rigorous training and performance were taken seriously with dancers paid and materially supported by the ruling ali`i.

There are many other basic steps, but we will explore these ones and understand body mechanics, rhythm, and timing to execute them well. This class (papa hula) will be accompanied by using a traditional double headed gourd implement (ipu heke). Please come dressed in comfortable work out clothes. Mahalo!

2. A Beginning Herb Class: Simple Extractions- Water and Spirits

3. Greens: Food of the African Enslaved People in America

Simone Oliver

1. INTENSIVE: Lymphatic Breast Care all levels

The lymphatic system is called Rasa in Sanskrit, meaning the river of life. Keeping this river flowing allows our tissues to receive nourishment, which is the secret to being and looking healthy. Our lymph fluids allow hormones to get from one endocrine gland to another and play an important role in our reproductive health. The lymphatic system is also called the Immune system, which we all know is important for fighting foreign invaders and staying healthy. There will be demonstrations on how to map the lymphatic system in your body with an emphasis on breast health. There will be time for Q &A about our breasts and immunity and what tools can support change and prevent diseases. Students will leave having a clear understanding of the lymph system and how to keep it and their breasts healthy.

There is strength in a river that is flowing

Terri Tall Tree

1. Herb Walk

2. Making Elderberry Syrup

3. Mullein Candle Making for all ages, little to big, young to old

4. Hey White People, Let’s Talk About Race ~ all levels

Crones

Linda Glazier

Stephanie Root

1. TBA

Mid Kids ages 7-11

Athena Redwood

1. Pirateology

Ami Wruck

1. Seed Saving for Mid-Kids, ages 7-11

Have you ever wondered about the POWER of a seed? Seeds are everywhere! We sometimes forget to see them, care for them, and often eat them, plant them and desperately need them in our world. In this class, you will learn how to be a caretaker of the seeds. We will learn how to see and find seeds, harvest them and clean and store them. We'll work on cleaning some seeds and you'll get to take home a bundle of seeds to start your very own seed bank.

Lauren Ari

1. & 2. Mother Earths Mud, offered twice for ages 7-11

Laurie Adams

1. Leaf Rubbing Faeries and Flying Creatures, ages 4-12

We would gather leaves to make rubbings with crayons, positioning them on the paper to become the wings of faeries, bees, dragons, or whatever other flying creatures the kids wish to create.Then we would fill in the details of the rest of each creature with crayon and complete the art piece with watercolor paints creating a resist-style piece of colorful art.The veins and patterns of leaves are extraordinarily similar to the texture of a delicate wing, it is fun and gratifying to use their natural likeness to inspire a detailed illustration. Students can have the option of choosing a medicinal plant leaf and then allowing the spirit of that particular plant to inspire the healing creature which they portray. This is enjoyable for kids ages 4-12, and is a beautiful way to connect with the plants and then let your creativity run wild.

2. Plant Spirit Fantasy Play, youngins of all ages

Each of us would pick a plant which we would like to embody. We'll talk about the aspects and personality which we associate with our plant, and I will offer body/facepaint to accent these aspects and help us incorporate their medicine, beauty and magic. I can also have a variety of props/dress-ups to help personify the plants. We can then start to interact as our plant personalities: Who lives in the woods? Who dwells in the garden? How do we help each other, and our human friends? How do we change through the seasons? How do we scatter our seeds? Participants will have time to play out their roles with one another, and if they desire, create a small skit that can be shared with an audience. Kids will be encouraged to carry their plant spirit with them back out into the gathering and the world beyond, infusing the gathering with their beauty and magic… This activity is fun for youngins of all ages, I imagine even a few parents will partake in the fun...

Young Women ages 12-21

Heather O'Connell

1. Plant Journey TBA

Jamie Della

1. Journey Into Her Writing class for young women, ages 12-21

Through free writing, friendship, and mirror work, the Journey Into Her Writing class will help us connect with the natural world and the wellspring of Women’s strength and beauty. Sisters, the Divine Feminine lives and breathes as you. She is the whisper of the moon, the richness of soil, a beacon of light and eternal source of all healing. Creative writing can help us tap into and honor the wisdom of our bodies, our lives, and our experiences. Positive affirmations and mirrors will be incorporated to reflect and uncover the light within our spirit. By giving voice to our unique perspective, this class will help us discover strength and a fierce self-love.

Terri Jensen

1. Dragon Time for newly menstruating young women

Welcome maidens, to the Circle of Women! Join us in celebrating the beauty and strength of this phase of your life, the time of your bloods. We will explore ideas and feelings, hear stories, make things to care for ourselves and prepare for the Maiden’s Rites of Passage Ceremony to be held Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. Any young woman who would like to go through the Maiden Ceremony must attend this class.

2. Mullein Candle Making for all ages, little to big, young to old

Other Activities

1. Medicinal Plant Scavenger Hunt Facilitated by Terri Tall Tree

How well can you identify your medicinal?

There are medicinal plants scattered all over our camp area. Can you find them all?

There are two levels to play this game, Beginner and Advanced.

All players will get a full list of the medicinal plants around camp.

The advanced players will go first. They will have until Saturday evening to find as many unlabeled plants as they can. Sunday morning the plants will be labeled and the beginning players will have until Monday morning to find all the labeled plants they can. Prizes will be given.

Early Morning Classes