My first exposure to herbal medicine was in 2004 with Kat Maier in Charlottesville Virginia. I was so excited by her offerings that I signed up for her 9-month apprenticeship program.
The training included anatomy and physiology, plant biology, and book knowledge. Kat also included the spiritual side. There were ceremonies and activities to help us create a deeper relationship with the plants we were studying. We drank herbal teas in class, got our hands dirty in Kat’s gardens, went on field trips to see plants in the wild. At the end of every class day, we circled up and sang songs of thanks and respect for the plants and their wisdom.
One of my most favorite things I learned to do in Kat’s program was a plant journey. This is where you sit with a plant, give it your full attention, get its permission, and then carefully draw it, inviting messages and impressions from the plant’s spirit to enter your awareness.
Doing this exercise in a group is wonderful because we were able to see the similarities between our individual experiences of the same plant. This gave me more confidence in my “knowing” that made me feel downright magical.
Incorporating astrology with herbalism
Another thing that feels a bit like magic is the birth chart.
As practitioners, we know that what works for one person may not work for another.
As a student of herbalism, my hunch was that the birth chart would reflect this bio-individuality. That it would give me a lot of useful clues and insights to direct me to the remedies a person needs in order to truly get better. So I took this on as my class project for my herbal apprenticeship.
It took me many more years and an education in holistic nutrition to feel like I truly understood these connections. In many ways, this course is the completion of that class project from almost 20 years ago.
The full workshop is three classes and includes a “crash course” to get you up and running fast with a few simple medical astrology tips that you can start using right away. In the 3-part series, you’ll learn how to use astrological information to:
- narrow and focus your choices for clients
- make personalized formulas that work
- get to the root of the issue faster
If you sign up for the three-class series, you’ll also get exclusive access to my brand new 2022 Garden and Kitchen Companion [beta] – a Lunar calendar detailing the best timing for gardening and medicine-making tasks.