Spring Medicinal Plant Walk Schedule for 2012

Mark your calendars now friends- the dates for the spring 2012 medicinal plant walks have been set! register for one, or save money and register for 4 at once with a savings of $20!

Desert Valley Early Spring

February 18, 2012 

9 am – 1 pm  - $30

Foothills Late Spring

March 10, 2012   9 am– 1 pm  - $30

Desert Valley Trees

April 21, 2012  9 am – 1 pm  - $30

Mid-elevation Mountains

May 19, 2012  9 am– 1 pm -  $30

Mountain Tree Walk

June 2, 2012  8 am– 2 pm -  $40

Directions and location upon registration, but we'll be staying in the low desert exploring the washes and desert foothills!


Want to join in the plant walks every month?
Pre-Register for 4 walks for just $25 a piece! $100 total- join any plant walk scheduled in the next year!

4 Plant Walks- $100

Early Registration for Weaving the Wheel of the Year is Dec 15!

"The mother of us all, the oldest of us all, Hard, splendid as rock, let the beauty you love, be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth"~ Rumi ~

The Early Bird registration date for Weaving the Wheel of the Year is approaching this week!  Anyone who registers by Dec 15 is going to receive a sweet welcome gift package right around Yule time!  If you've been thinking of joining in for the journey, don't wait, and get started with your connection to yourself- to the Earth- and to Spirit in the season of Yule!  

Weaving the Wheel Monthly Payments

Monthly Payments : $125.00USD - monthly

 

Weaving the Wheel - Full Payment

Full Payment $1,425.00 USD

 

Weaving the Wheel of the Year

Do you feel the seasonal shifts of the Earth in your heart, bones, and spirit?

Are you yearning to find meaningful ways to connect with and honor these energies of the Earth and your spirit?

Do you have a sense that the power and magic of the Earth and the plants is something you could tap into for your healing and well being?

Do you notice the ways that certain plants seem to become more vibrant and powerful at different times of the year?

Would you like to learn practical and effective ways to nourish and prepare your body, your home, and your spirit to live in tune with these seasonal cycles and shifts through food, herbal medicine, ritual, and community?

Do you feel like a kitchen goddess, who enjoys brewing up pots of soup, creative meals, herbal brews, and magical potions for your family and friends?

Are you ready to dive whole-heartedly into all this and more?

Then join me on a powerful journey deep into the medicine and power of the seasonal shifts that our beloved home, Earth, moves through each year. I have spent many years as an herbalist wandering the wild lands of the west- the deserts and mountains, and the east- forests and fields, watching, sensing, and learning about how the seasons, and the seasonal shifts effect our biology, our spirits, and our life journey. I have sat with the plants and learned so much from them through personal experience and communion. They have shared how to spiral into the energy of each season with plant medicine, with appropriate foods, with ritual and ceremony, and nature awareness. My life has been deeply changed and fully nourished by sitting on the Earth and feeling her power and her moods. Now I would like to share this experience and journey with you- so that you too may be deeply nourished from Gaia’s healing plants, foods and energies.

In this unique program you will receive an in-depth, hands on and heart-centered lesson and herbal medicine for each quarter and cross quarter day for a full year. That is 8 lessons and 8 seasonally appropriate herbal medicines to help you balance and attune to the energies of the earth happening around you and within you. Plus access to a community of like minded spirits, and specific practices and suggestions for you from me as you explore!

You will recieve every 6 weeks (8 times per year):

• 1 seasonally appropriate herbal medicine to help you attune and adjust to the seasonal energy (2 oz tincture, 2 oz tea, 1 plant or flower essence, 2 oz oil or salve)
• 1 surprise gift for your ceremony, practice or celebration of each season
• A lesson jam packed with information about the seasonal energies present at each quarter and cross quarter day, plants and herbal medicines that can support you in each seasons energy and work, seasonally appropriate activities to do alone or with your family, journaling questions and more.
• Periodic emails highlighting special natural events, shifts, and resources as you work within the program.
• Access to a private community web space to share your discoveries, challenges and inspirations and stay in touch through the years changes.
• A private teleconference for participants only each 6 weeks with Darcey on a seasonally appropriate topic and Q&A session.

If you are ready to discover your deep and powerful connections with the rhythms of the Earth and her seasons through herbal medicine, healing foods, and time spent on the Earth, then join me today for this amazing journey!

Program begins on Imbolc/St. Brighid’s Day, February 1, 2012 and continues through mid January 2013. Space is limited in this unique and transformative journey, and will close early if all the spaces fill before the deadline!

Registrations accepted through Jan 15, 2012.

Join me today for an amazing journey into Earth, Self, Plants and Connection!

Ready to sign up right now!? 

Register Here!

Class: Love Medicines: Herbs for the Heart, Love, & Romance

Class: Love Medicines: Herbs for the Heart, Love, & Romance

Friday, February 10, 2012, 7:00 -9:00 PM

The Power of 9

729 N. 4th Ave., Tucson, AZ 

Join herbalist Darcey Blue for an evening exploring and experiencing the plants that serve us in our LOVE. Plants can help us center our consciousness in the heart, open the heart to love, heal and soothe heartaches, stoke the fires of love and passion, and increase the power of the senses.

Come learn about these special plants, essences, aromas and foods that are heart healers, heart allies & aphrodisiacs and how they can support your heart in Love and beyond. We will be tasting and experiencing the herbs first hand!  Be prepared for a sensual treat!

$35

Prepayment and register by contacting Darcey Blue -shamana.flora@gmail.com

Class:The Art of Healing Herbal Tea

The Art of Healing Herbal Tea

Saturday, February 4, 2012, 2:00 pm - 5:30pm

The Power of 9

729 N. 4th Ave., Tucson, AZ 

Join herbalist Darcey Blue for an afternoon learning the secrets of blending delicious and effective herbal tea blends for daily nourishment, family wellness, acute care, and pure pleasure! 

We will learn about what kinds of plants are best used in tea form, various tea preparation methods, how to blend for taste, recipes, basic formulation techniques, herbal energetics and each student will get to take home a tea blend that we make during the workshop!

 Plus we'll get a chance to taste various herbs and tea blends! An herbal tea party! Tea making supplies provided at the workshop, please bring your own mug for our tea tasting party!

$35, includes tea making supplies

Prepayment and register by contacting Darcey Blue -shamana.flora@gmail.com

Plant Medicine Journey Circle - January 26, 2012

Plant Medicine Journey Circle - January 26, 2012- 7pm

Join Herbalist and Plant Whisperer Darcey Blue for an evening exploring the world of the plant spirits. Learn about communicating with and understanding the messages and guidance the plants have for us, and using the plants as spiritual healing allies. We will use various techniques to guide us into the ways of the plant spirits, including drum journey, plant essences, sensory experience, and plant oracles. No experience necessary, this circle is open to all, regardless of experience with plants, herbalism or shamanism. We will explore and experience the plants together. We will delve deeply in how to approach and use plant spirit medicine as a healing tool for yourself and loved ones, including how to prepare plant essences, work with plant spirits in journey work, medicine bags, oracles and more. We will work with a new plant each (monthly) session, no two will be alike! Focus will be on plants growing in the Sonoran desert bioregion and Sky Islands!

Offered by Spirit guided donation.

At the Institute for Shamanic Arts in Tucson, AZ

http://www.meetup.com/tucson-circle-for-the-shamanic-arts/

Medicine of the Heart: Cacao Ceremony and Journey

Medicine of the Heart: Cacao Ceremony and Journey

Jan 21, 2012

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Join Darcey Blue, herbalist and plant whisperer, of Blue Turtle Botanicals, for the first healing ceremony for the Heart with the medicine of Cacao. Cacao, in its unrefined state, is a rich source of antioxidants, minerals, and compounds that activate the heart, the blood, the mind, and spirit. The medicine of Cacao is well known in our culture, but has been dulled, refined and watered down. Literally. Come and experience the power of true cacao. There is a reason it has been called ‘Food of the Gods’ and was used regularly by indigenous peoples of the Americasfor ceremony. In this heart opening workshop we will sit in circle to create sacred space for this plant spirit and its work, and share a drink of cacao in a form you have likely never tasted before. We will use drum, journey, voice and movement to explore the teachings and healing that Cacao has for YOU at this time. Be prepared for heart opening, recovering/uncovering, deep feeling and engaging the physical senses. Your focus, intention and spirit and heart’s desires will be magnified. Use this time to journey into YOUR heart.

$25
 at The Power of 9

729 N 4th Ave, Tucson, AZ

Please register by Jan 20, contact Darcey - shamana.flora@gmail.com

Talking to Trees: Exploring the Medicine of the Tree Nation ONLINE INTENSIVE starts October 1!

Talking to Trees: Exploring the Medicine of the Tree Nation

8 week online intensive

$150-$200 sliding scale

 October 1, 2011- November 26, 2011

Back by popular demand!  I have had several folks request another run of Talking to Trees- so here's your chance! 

Grandmother of Oak trees

Join herbalist, tree lover, and wild woman Darcey Blue for an online intensive all about the Trees!  8 weeks of lessons, personal correspondence with Darcey, and community of sharing and learning for the duration of the course!  

• Learn about 20 of the major medicinal trees of North America

o Ecology and biology

o Energetic, medicinal and practical uses

o harvesting, preparations, medicine making

o Tree essences

o folklore and more

• Make your own medicinal oils, tinctures, teas and smudges

• Learn how to identify and work with trees unique to your bioregion

• Share experiences and learning with other herb students, herbalists and plant lovers.

Weekly lessons sent via e-mail, and group discussion on an e mail list forum is expected as part of the course. Please plan to devote 2-4 hours of time per week to this intensive.  Readings, journalling, time spent with trees around you and medicine making assignments all take time.  This is a hands on and experiential intensive, you will get out of it what you put into it.  The best way to learn about plants, including trees is to spend time with them, around them and getting to know them.  Please be ready to dive in with excitment!  

Some additional books and supplies are required for the course.  Syllabus available upon request.  

Please register with a $50 deposit by Sept 30, 2011 by e mailing shamana.flora@gmail.com

Space is limited, so register as soon as you are ready to commit!  

Full course payment expected by Oct 1, 2011 unless a payment plan is previously arranged.  No refunds available after Oct 8.

Save your spot in the course with a deposit now!

Nourishing the Wild You- Food, Energetics and Nourishment Online Intensive

Back by popular demand in 2011!  I will only offer this course once this year, so get in while the getting is good!
Class size is strictly limited to 20 students!  Last year 45 students enrolled!  Don't miss out!

Join Herbalist, Nutritionist, and food lover, Darcey Blue French of Brighid's Well Herbs (www.brighidswellherbs.com), for an  8 week online intensive course on the energetics of food, true nourishment, nutrition, relationship with place and food, nutritional healing and more.

*Learn about the ways traditional healing systems such as Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine see food energetics, and use food as healing tools on a day to day basis.

* Explore your relationship with food, your body, what you eat and why.

* Discover your natural physical constitution, and how you can use food to help you stay balanced.

* Be prepared for a deep exploration of food and our relationship to it, this can be uncomfortable and emotional, as well as enlightening and sensual. Food is a deeply influential factor in our psyche, social interactions, and cultures. All students are expected to be sensitive to others and compassionate and respectful.

*Appropriate for food enthusiasts & practitioners alike.

*Very HANDS ON, expect to be preparing foods, meals and weekly assignments for the duration of the course. This is an EXPERIENTIAL class, not just book work. I will provide resources and readings, but the bulk of the work will require the actual preparation and consumption of food.

* This is not a cooking how to class. You should feel comfortable cooking and working in your kitchen. There will be recipes and ideas shared during class discussion, and pointers and questions are always acceptable.

*Requires access to e mail and the internet on a weekly basis. Class discussion is a part of the learning process.

*Weekly telephone conference session with Darcey and other students for discussion, questions and sharing.  

*some additional texts/books suggested in addition to course fee

Arrangements may be available for those with limited access. Please inquire.

 Payment in installments is available by request.

Please register by emailing Darcey at shamana.flora@gmail.com or calling 520 429 2654.

About the Instructor:

Darcey Blue French is an herbalist and food lover, who has over the years explored various ways of eating, interacting with food and preparing food. Educated as a Clinical Nutritionist at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism in 2008, she has been in private practice since that time. She has experience in Ayurvedic Cooking, Vegetarian, Allergen Free, Primal/Paleo diets and the philosophies of Dr. Weston Price. Food is far more than fuel, and Darcey is passionate about food that not only nourishes the body, but also the spirit, and tastes wonderful too. She works closely with plants, both wild and cultivated that provide both food and medicine. She is an avid forager of wild foods, gardener of organic vegetables, and is passionate about local and sustainable food systems, and how our relationship with the land, nature and wilderness impacts our physical and spiritual health and wellbeing. She truly believes that one cannot separate the health of the people from the health of the ecosystem in which they live.

Intense, vibrantly wild and alive!

REPOST FREELY!! PLEASE & THANK YOU!

Discovering Herbalism :Classes in Avon, Maine

January 29-30, February 19-20, March 12-13, April 23-24, May 14-15

Summer and Autumn Dates TBA

$100 - $150/month, payment plans and thoughtful barter proposals will gladly be considered.

Sean Donahue and Darcey Blue French are offering an opportunity for beginning and intermediate herbalists to develop or deepen their relationships with the healing plants of New England through a series of weekend intensives at our home in Avon, ME.

Through lectures and discussions, readings, meditations, ceremony, and direct experience, participants will learn about:

* Listening to and learning directly from the plants themselves

* The art and ethics of wildcrafting

* Making herbal medicines

* Understanding the energetics of herbal medicine and of the human body

* Nourishing the body, mind, and spirit

* Therapies for chronic and acute injury and disease

* Working with plants in ceremony and magic

* Plant identification and Materia Medica

* Establishing herb gardens

For more information or to register, e-mail herbalists@brighidswellherbs.com

Floor space and limited couch or bed space will be available for those traveling. 

Breakfast will be provided.  Lunch and dinner will be potluck.

Preliminary Syllabus for Magic & Medicine of Plants: Year long online herbal study

We've got the preliminary syllabus for the year long online herb course ready, and here it is!  Ifyou've been thinking about taking this course, now is the time to register! 
with Darcey Blue French and Sean Donahue November 1, 2010 - October 31, 2011
Plants are our ancestors and teachers.
Throughout history, people have looked to them for healing, guidance, and transformation.

In this year long course, herbalists Sean Donahue and Darcey Blue French will help you connect with the wisdom, magic, and living medicine of the plants growing around you.
Our proposed syllabus is posted below -- but is subject to change.
Tuition will be $75 a month (or $750 if you pay for the entire year in advance.) Students will also be expected to purchase herbs and books for the course.

Please register by October 25 2010- herbalists@brighidswellherbs.com


November


Origins: The Shamanic Roots of Herbalism

Plants as ancestors and teachers

How the plants speak to us

Shamanic journeying

Vitalism and the vital force: the world is alive

Finding a plant ally

Research project: Trace your ally through history and folklore

Samhain

The third harvest

Death and the healer

The underworld

Medicine making: Infusions — hot and cold, long and short

December

Awakening the heart

Anatomy of the spirit — Chinese, Ayurvedic, Celtic, Huna

Three centers of consciousness

Heart-centered consciousness

Plants from a heart-centered perspective

People from a heart-centered perspective

Treating the person, not the condition

Finding your plant ally’s unique personality

Yule

Stories of descent and return

Bringing messages back from the dreamtime

Evergreens

Medicine making: Decoctions

JANUARY

Energetics

Constitutions — Ayurvedic perspective

The body as ecosystem

Samuel Thomson and the Physiomedicalists

Energetics of herbs — hot and cold, wet and dry, stimulating and relaxing

Energetics of conditions — six tissue states

Herbal actions

Energetics of your ally and how your ally effects different constitutions and tissue states

Direction of cure: Moving from center to circumference

Medicine making: Baths and hydrotherapy

FEBRUARY

Nourishment

Primal nutrition

Insulin resistance and metabolism

Food allergies

Sleep

Exercise

Spiritual practice/meditation

Gut ecology

Nutritional deficiencies and supplementation

Conditions of the digestive system: tissue states and the herbs that match them

Imbolc

Brighid of the three fires

Nourishing the three fires

Medicine making: cooking with healing herbs

MARCH

Supporting the Immune System

Understanding the immune system

Nourishing the immune system

Immune modulation vs. immune stimulation

Vectors of transmission

Herbs for acute infection

Herbs for chronic infection

Fevers

Allergies, inflammation, and autoimmunity

Ostara

Rejuvenation

Rising sap, blood types, and Southern folk medicine

Seeds

Medicine making: Herbal vinegars

April

Paths of elimination

The myth of the “herbal detox”

Understanding “spring tonics”

The liver: functions, dysfunctions, and therapeutics

The kidneys: functions, dysfunctions, and therapeutics

Lymph and lymphatic herbs

Medicine making: The art and ethics of wildcrafting

Drying herbs

May

Mental and Emotional Health

The biology of stress

Nourishing the nervous and endocrine systems

Regulating the nervous and endocrine systems

Understanding and easing anxiety

Understanding and easing depression

Heartsickness and soul sickness

Sleep and insomnia

Beltane

Ecstasy vs.Fertility

Aphrodesiacs

Leaves

Medicine making: Tinctures and elixirs

June

Muscles and Bones

Nourishing the muscles, bones, and connective tissues

Herbs, nutrition, and muscular development

Acute injuries to muscles, bones, and connective tissues

Chronic problems of muscles, bones, and connective tissues

Midsummer

Elder, Hawthorn, and the Faery Realm

Flowers

Medicine making: Oils

July

Reproductive Health

Nourishing the reproductive system

Menstruation

Pregnancy

Contraception and fertility

Reproductive health for male bodied people

Menopause and Andropause

Sexual trauma and reproductive health

Medicine making: Salves

August

Circulation

The heart revisited

Hemoglobin and Chlorophyl

Nourishing the heart and blood vessels

Blood pressure

Stress and the heart

Peripheral circulation

Connecting the physical, emotional, and spiritual hearts

Medicine making: Flower essences

Lughnasadh

Honoring the sun

Wild nourishment

Fruits

September

Respiration

Breath

Nourishing and strengthening the respiratory system

Asthma

Acute respiratory infections

Chronic respiratory infections

Medicine making: smoking blends

Mabon

Harvest

Fall planting

Honoring and restoring our medicine places

Roots

October

What kind of herbalist are you?

Ethics for healers

Boundaries, protection, and clearing

Personal consultations on next steps on your path

Sharing of allies’ lessons

Medicine making: formulation

Samhain

The underworld journey revisited

Journeying for healing

Entheogens

Talking to Trees: Exploring the Medicine of the Tree Nation ONLINE COURSE

the willow and the ash

Talking to Trees: Exploring the Medicine of the Tree Nation
- 8 week online herbal intensive
$150-$200 sliding scale

• Learn about the major medicinal trees of North America
o Ecology and biology
o Energetic, medicinal and practical uses
o harvesting, preparations, medicine making
o Tree essences
o folklore and more

• Make your own medicinal oils, tinctures, teas and smudges
• Learn how to identify and work with trees unique to your bioregion
• Share experiences and learning with other herb students, herbalists and plant lovers.


Weekly lessons sent via e-mail, and group discussion on an e mail list forum is expected as part of the course. Some additional books and supplies may be needed.

Please register with a $50 deposit by Sept 14, 2010 by e mailing shamana.flora@gmail.com
Payment plans available, please inquire.

Climbin trees....

About Darcey Blue:
Darcey Blue French is an herbalist & nutritionist, wildcrafter, gardener, food lover, Earth lover and wild woman. She was trained as a Clinical Herbalist & Nutritionist at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism under Paul Bergner, and studied under Rosemary Gladstar and Charlie Kane. Darcey has been using and learning from the plants, both wild and cultivated since childhood, and it is her deep love of the wild Earth and its creatures that fuels her passion for healing and teaching about plants, wilderness, spirit, nourishment and healing. She spends her time leading Edible and Medicinal Wild Plant walks, Plant Spirit Medicine groups, teaching herbal and nutritional classes and intensives both in person and online, creating nourishing and delicious meals, wildcrafting and making medicines from the plants, seeing clients and enjoying the wild places on the earth.
Darcey practices in the the Vitalist tradition of herbalism, which fosters the interconnection and nourishment of body, mind, and spirit. Through the use of nutrition, herbal formulas, flower essences, and connection with nature, she aims to support the vitality of all aspects of the human being. She is the co-owner of Brighid's Well Herbs, located in Keene, NH. E-mail today for consultations, herbal offerings, workshops and more!

Upcoming Fall Online Courses from Brighid's Well Herbs

LISTENING TO THE WILD: AN ONLINE WORKSHOP
September 1 - October 1
Sliding Scale -- $150 - 200

The world is alive and speaking to us. All we have to do is remember how to listen.

We are all born knowing this simple truth, and begin our lives in a world rich with meaning. But in our culture, the voices around us are quickly drowned out by electronic noise, and we are taught to ignore the bits of song we still hear on the wind or risk insanity. Eventually we reach a point where we no longer trust our own senses.

But for some of us the vibrant memory of the world we knew as children is stronger than the fear of madness.

The wildness of our souls can be recovered, just as a forest can grown from an abandoned field.

In this six week online workshop, we will engage in an intense process of connecting with the living Earth and awakening the wildness within themselves.

Through reading, writing, meditation, and direct experience of the natural world, we will explore:

-- Our personal, familial, and cultural histories of relating to the land we live on and the beings that inhabit it
-- Engaging nature through engaging our senses
-- The use of the heart as an organ of perception (drawing from the work of Stephen Buhner)
-- Developing and deepening relationships with the plants that grow around us

Participants will share their experiences with each other and build community through an e-mail discussion list.

This promises to be a powerfully transformational, and at times emotionally intense journey. My goal as a teacher is to provide a safe and supportive space for that work. But I am not in a position to serve as therapist or counselor for students. Please bear this in mind as you consider undertaking this work.

Payment for this class is on a sliding scale from $150 - 200. The price reflects the work that I put into preparing and teaching this course. The higher end of the sliding scale is intended for people who can regularly afford things like eating out, going to concerts, and attending workshops and retreats. For those who are deeply committed to this work but are not able to afford even the low end of the sliding scale I am willing to discuss payment plans and partial or full barter arrangements. If enough people pay at the higher end of the sliding scale, I may be able to offer a few partial scholarships to students who would not otherwise be able to take this course.

If you are interested in enrolling, please e-mail me at seandonahuepoet@gmail.com.

I would like to have a brief, informal e-mail exchange with potential students before the course begins to make sure everyone understands the intensity of this work. A $50 deposit is required by August 20 to enroll in the course.

_____________________________________

Sean Donahue is an herbalist, poet, activist, and witch committed to healing and transformation through connection with the living Earth.

As an herbalist, Sean works primarily with the wild plants of the forests and fields of New England. He views the plants as teachers, helping the body, mind, and spirit learn to correct imbalances that stand in the way of health.

As a teacher, poet, and ritualist, Sean works to connect people with their own wild nature and with the life of the world around them.

As an activist and journalist he has documented the human and environmental impacts of U.S. policies in Latin America, organized against nuclear power and nuclear weapons, trained hundreds of activists in techniques of nonviolent resistance, helped military families tell the stories of how the war in Iraq impacted their lives, and advocated for the rights of medical marijuana patients.

He believes that personal, community, and cultural healing are all deeply intertwined with the healing of our planet.

TRADITIONS OF THE NEW ENGLAND ROOT DOCTORS
with Sean Donahue
Online, October 1 - December 1
$150

In the eighteen and nineteenth centuries, rural New England root doctors blended some of the energetic understandings of British folk medicine with what they learned from Native peoples about the plants around them and developed a system of medicine based on working with and supporting the actions' of the body's vital force. Samuel Thomson of New Hampshire condensed this system into a series of easy to understand principles and practices, and launched a movement that sought to empower people to take their health care back from the physicians of the day whose methods relied heavily on bloodletting and the use of toxic compounds like Mercury.

Building on this foundation, a later generation would develop the science of Physiomedicalism which informs many strains of contemporary herbalism. This course will explore the philosophy, energetic systems, and therapeutics of the New England root doctors and the Physiomedicalists, and look at how we can apply their insights today.