June 4 – July 23 (with a break the week of July 16)

Sliding Scale, $160 – $320

“Medicine and magick started as aspects of the same activity and gnosis – they only are separate if you make them so.” — Mitch Bebel Stargrove

The medicinal and magical actions of a plant are inextricably linked. Medicine is just a specialized form of magic — “the art and science of creating change in conformity with Will“ applied within the realm of the human body. All magic operates within this same universe of matter and energy we inhabit, and so it stands to reason that the physical properties which we use to identify the medicinal actions of a plant can also be used to understand and describe that plant`s more esoteric gifts.

In this eight week course, we will explore the foundations of plant magic through the lens of traditional western herbalism.   We will look at how patterns of heat and cold, wetness and dryness, tension and laxity show up in our bodies, our environments, and our lives, and how we can work with plants as allies in shifting these patterns.

Each week there will be a new lecture — participants can call in to hear the lecture live and ask questions and share comments or can listen to a recording at a later time.   Lectures will begin at 5:00 p.m. each Tuesday that the course runs.  There will also be an online forum for further discussion.

To register, e-mail seandonahueherbalist@gmail.com

About the teacher:

Sean Donahue is a traditional herbalist and witch living in Victoria, BC.  He teaches herbal energetics in the School of Western Herbal Medicine at Pacific Rim College, and is a Priest and a keeper of the Green Wand in the BlackHeart Line of the Anderson Feri Tradition of Witchcraft.  For Sean, magic, medicine, and poetry are all expressions of a deep connection to the living Earth, and personal, cultural, and ecological healing are inextricably linked.

Sean will be teaching at

Vancouver Island Herb Gathering –  June 1-2, Courtenay, BC

Montana Herb Gathering — July 19-21, Hot Springs, MT

Breitenbush Herbal Conference — September 5-8, Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR

Herbal Resurgence Rendezvous — September 19-22, Mormon Lake, AZ

Dandelion Seed Conference — October 11- 13, Olympia, WA

American Herbalists Guild Symposium – November 7-10, Bend, OR

an online seminar with Sean Donahue
March 15 – April 12
Sliding Scale — $75 -$150

Our bodies have developed an amazing set of responses to help us respond to danger.

But life in our fast-paced  puts people perpetually on edge — and that constant stress throws us out of balance with serious consequences for our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

And in a society where physical, emotional, and economic violence are all too common, many people are struggling with the aftermath of traumatic experiences that leave an imprint on the body, mind, and spirit that can persist long after the immediate danger or horror has passed.

In this seminar we will explore herbal and nutritional strategies for supporting the body, mind, and spirit in times of extreme stress — and helping bodies that have been under stress for a long time remember how to relax into a natural state of calm that allows for healing.

The emphasis will be on nourishing the body, identifying and removing “obstacles to cure,” and supporting the body’s natural healing processes.

Topics covered will include:

• The biology and energetics of stress and emotional trauma
• Nourishing the adrenals
• Nourishing the nervous system
• Adaptogens
• Herbs for acute stress
• Sleep, insomnia, and stress

to register e-mail seandonahueherbalist@gmail.com

Sean Donahue is a traditional herbalist, poet, and witch.   He is an instructor at the School of Western Herbal Medicine at Pacific Rim College in Victoria, BC, and a regular contributor to Plant Healer Magazine.

People and plants have been weaving magic together since the Paleolithic. And the plants remain ready to work with us to transform our lives and our world if we approach them with an open heart and clear intention.

In one of his only appearances on the east coast this year, traditional herbalist and witch, Sean Donahue will introduce an approach to magical herbalism rooted not in memorized tables of correspondences, but rather in engaging plants as active and conscious partners in “creating change in conformity with Will.” Using the four powers of the witch: the power to know, the power to will, the power to dare, and the power to hold silence, you will learn to begin working plants for protection, clearing, healing, and transformation.

Sliding Scale

$75 – $125 in advance, $100 – $150 at the door

a limited number of partial scholarships are available for people doing transformational work in their communities

e-mail seandonahueherbalist@gmail.com to register

green relations…herbal allies for the heart, mind & spirit
. : MP3 audio CD : .
with sean donahue & jim mcdonald

This CD contains over three hours of class recordings (as MP3 files); topics covered include intro & meditation, relationships with plants, intention and forms of medicine, the three selves, hawthorne, calamus, skunk cabbage, anemone, ghost pipe & stress states, osha, a few plants for expressing from the heart, self heal, osha, warts, henna and magic, considering cannabis & in conclusion.  Julia Roberts even gets somehow brought into the discussion…

The CD is $35; shipping is $5.

available at:

http://www.herbcraft.org/dvd.html

And I am excited to be a teacher at three amazing gatherings:

Medicines of the People (formerly the Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference), September 13-16 in the Coconino in Arizona

The Dandelion Seed Conference:  Herbs for Community and Social Healing, September 21-23 at Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA

Portland Plant Medicine Gathering, November 13-16, Portland, OR

at the Evergreen State Organic Farmhouse, Sunday, 4/29

sponsored  by M.A.S.H. (Medics Assisting Students in Health) at Evergreen

Plants and the Twilight Realms 1-3:30 pm
Something flashes just at the edge of your vision and disappears into the woods.Faint music drifts through the air on a night when the air is thick with the scent of Apple blossoms.Many cultures have stories of other worlds – faerie realms separated from our own world by a thin veil. Of people
disappearing into worlds of wonder and peril – and those who come back to tell the tale coming back transformed. And in many of those stories and traditions, plants guard the entrance to those worlds.
In this workshop, you will meet plants traditionally associated with the border between this world and the realms of magic, and look at the ways the folklore about these plants relates to their medicine and their ecology. You will spend time with Hawthorn, Datura, Black Cohosh, Ghost Pipe, and Wood Betony, coming to know each plant in a new way.

Wild Healing, Wild Ecstasy: Plants for Reclaiming Authentic Sexuality
5-7:30 pm

Guilt, shame, fear, and pain abound in our culture, separating us from the core of who we are. This is especially prevalent and damaging in relation to sex and sexuality. Plants are our biological ancestors and relations and possess an intelligence of their own — one that is not filtered through the myths and lies and complexes our culture has built around sex. In this workshop we’ll explore how plants can help us heal some of the pain we carry around sex and reclaim our own authentic sexuality.

Price:
FREE to TESC students with ID
$5 for one workshop, or $8 for both for community members.

Bardic Brews has just posted a free recording of a talk I gave on “Talking with the Plants” –

http://www.bardicbrews.net/2012/03/talking-with-the-plants/

Go on over and have a listen . . .  and if you like what you here and want to delve deeper, there are still spaces available in my “Talking With the Plants” Course that runs from April 15 – September 15 –

http://www.medicineandmagic.com/?page_id=36