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 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 sessions for research & exploration, and an opening & closing call.
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. 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, and then we will have our completion call in May.
Monthly rhythm Feb – April: We will meet twice monthly during thsi time. 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.
All of these 2027 sessions will take place online via Zoom.
More Logistics
DATE/TIME
We will meet on Fridays from 5-7pm ET, 4-6pm CT, 2-4pm PT
Exact dates to be shared soon.
This online series takes place over Zoom.
PRICE
The early bird price for this series is $150
REGISTRATION
Hop onto the waitlist to hear first when this cohort is open for enrollment in late Autumn 2026.
Returning students & waitlist folks will have priority.
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 beyond whiteness supports our healing as well as supports community efforts toward justice.
This offering is intended for folks of these 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 for all of us.
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 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 personal experiences, and devotional relationships with the holy wild. I love researching and learning, and then sharing what I’ve learned with community – which 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.