Ancestral Herbal Traditions
A DARK SEASON series exploring Herbal Traditions of the Celtic Isles
Imbolc – Beltaine 2027: Herbal Preparations
Join us for continued exploration into the herbal medicine traditions of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
In this dark season series, running from Imbolc to Beltaine 2027, we will focus specifically on cultural preparations in herbal medicine (think menstrums, solvents).
Rather than looking only at the plants themselves, we look at the container – how are the medicines prepared, extracted and delivered?
This is taking the work of reconnecting to ancestral folk healing traditions a step deeper. What methods were common to this region? Which were shared interculturally? Which were perhaps more rooted in regional tradition, in the land and lifeways of the isles? What can we know, and what remains mystery?
We will explore some of what is known from documented folk tradition, focusing on three types of medicine preparations of our ancestral traditions. This 8 session series includes three live teaching sessions, three coworking/coplaying sessions for research & exploration in the kitchen, and an opening & closing call.
Imbolc season infoshare – Milk Preparations and Peasant Medicine
Spring Equinox season infoshare – TBD
Beltaine season infoshare- Honeys and Sticky Sweetness on our Fingers
Join us this winter as we dive deep into the realms of ancestral healing methods, and weave them into our own lives & practices.
Details
SHAPE OF THE CONTAINER
We will meet 8 times together in this online series from Imbolc to Beltaine 2027. Our opening call will take place in January. We will then meet twice per month from Feb – April as we explore three different common cultural medicine preparations; our completion call will close us out in May.
Monthly rhythm: From Feb – April, we will meet twice monthly. The first session each month will be live infosharing, exploring a specific top of herbal medicine preparation. These will be recorded. The second call will be a coworking & coplaying call – join us as we each research, try out, and otherwise explore the preparation in our own homes. We will share our experiences to close, feeling for whether this is a tradition we might want to learn more about and weave into our lives & practices.
This series is meant to be both a space for sharing cultural folklore & herbalism traditions as well as a space for us all to experiment with our own hands, in our own kitchens.
More Logistics
WHEN & WHERE
We will meet on Sundays from 6-8pm ET / 3-5pm PT
Dates: Jan 31, Feb 14, Feb 28, Mar 14, Mar 28, April 11, April 25 and May 2, 2027.
This series takes place over Zoom.
HOW MUCH
The early bird price for this series is $250
General registration fee: sliding scale $300/450/600
TO REGISTER
Hop onto the waitlist to hear first when this cohort is
open for enrollment in Autumn. Returning students
& waitlist folks will have priority. Space is limited.
join us as we explore & connect with ancestral medicine ways
ABOUT THIS WORK
This offering is rooted in exploring documented cultural research from the Celtic Isles (Ireland, Scotland, Wales). This is a continuation of other classes & programs exploring ancestral healing traditions from of hawthorn and yew. I deeply believe that reconnecting to cultural lifeways supports our personal and collective healing.
This offering is intended for folks of Celtic Isles ancestral lineages, but is also open to anyone interested in learning.
We reconnect with ancestral herbalisms in service to repairing severed cultural lineage, as well as practicing an herbalism that does not perpetuate colonialism or white supremacy.
Do I Need to be a Highly Trained or Clinical Herbalist to Participant? NOPE
This is appropriate for people with backgrounds in herbal medicine traditions of any lineage, TWH or otherwise. Most of us will be people who have some exploration in ‘traditional western herbalism’ on n america. Participants will want at least some basic understanding of herbalism before signing up – though you do not need to be super advanced!
General language will be utilized to make this information accessible to people at various learning points, avoiding technical jargon wherever possible. It is my goal to make this exploration as easeful and FUN as possible.
This is not a clinical herbalism workshop. However, this is also not an intro to herbalism course. We will not be going into basic herbalism principles or foundations in this series. This is a nerdy, highly specific focus on three different common herbal preparations of our cultural lineages.
If this sounds fun & meaningful for you, then join us!
WHO IS FACILITATING THIS OFFERING?
For folks new to me & my work –
my name is rowan (they/them) and I’m a qt herbalist, writer, researcher, somatic bodyworker, big nerd and devotee to plant kin. I deeply believe in justice, radical community care, and embodying our values even under pressure.
The threads of my work include politicized ancestral reconnection for settlers on Turtle Island/N America, queer healing, ritual and devotion with the holy, navigating chronic illness, cultural traditions and ethnobotany, and more. I’m a white-bodied 3rd gen US person who comes from Irish, Lithuanian, Scottish & Sicilian lineages.
i love to nerd out about ancestral plantlore and sacred practices, relational & body based practices, how we might live more deeply in integrity with our values, and the ways cultural herbalism & politicized ancestral reconnection can support movements for total liberation.
I base my work off of deep nerdy research, personal practice, my lived experiences, and devotional relationships with the holy wild. I love researching, learning and listening, and then sharing what I’ve learned with community – this is how of hawthorn and yew was born.
thanks for being in community with me, for your support of my ongoing work, and for being a part of this broader weaving.