Herbal Wisdom Through the Sacred Medicine Path
Revised and Expanded for 2024-2025
I am truly excited to be offering a program that I feel is the culmination of my life’s learning, experience, and skill development (so far). I began a healing practice as a Master Herbalist in the 80s, then became a health and healing lecturer and a whole foods cooking instructor, then an aromatherapist. In the 90s I started walking the sacred medicine path, expanding my work with the plants beyond the physical, and also to offering ceremonies and guidance on spiritual experiences. In the 2000s I developed the Five Element Medicine Path.
During all those phases and stages I’ve never stopped loving the plants and I’ve never stopped being a ‘foodie’. In a time when we are remembering that ‘food is medicine’, I’m aware that we haven’t even begun to fully explore what that means.
Course Description
This is a program about plants and herbs and the knowledge and wisdom that can be gained by spending time with them. We will be eating them, drinking them, preserving them, creating medicines with them, doing ceremony, and much more. It’s a course about plants as friends, plants as food, and plants as medicine, but no one approach takes priority over the others. When you dedicate yourself to knowing plants and herbs you’ll learn that they are great healers, but in the wisdom tradition you learn through direct experience, which is personal. The knowledge begins there.
Most schools offering herbal education begin and end with herbs as physical medicine. I believe this does a dis-service to the herbs, who offer themselves in a variety of ways.
When we walk a sacred path of Herbal Wisdom we understand the terms of engagement. We are careful and considerate, respecting Mother Earth, her resources, and her inhabitants. We don’t gather herbs for fun, because that limits their availability for someone else (human or otherwise), who might need them. We don’t gather herbs for entertainment, because they are not play things. And we don’t gather herbs for profit alone, because Mother Earth shares readily when there’s a reason, and so will we.
The curriculum is fluid, based on what Mother Natures offers in a given year and a given season. We will spend two years together, one Saturday per month (except for Dec/Jan), outdoors in Nature when we can, indoors when we must.
That doesn’t mean however that we won’t enjoy noticing, gathering, brewing, storing, and concocting. On the path I am describing those are sacred acts. They are alchemy. They are ceremony. You, as human, bring another dimension of the plant forward, through your hands and your heart, one that the plant cannot do by itself.
This then, is a program that leads you in the direction of coming to know plants and herbs. They will teach you, they will befriend you, they will heal you and they will enrich you. Would you like to join me?
Program Dates April 2024 - October 2025
Fee breakdown: $225.00 for each full day class:
Year 2024 - $1800.+ gst for 8 classes (Apr-Nov)
Year 2025 - $2025.+ gst for 9 classes (Feb-Oct)
Location: Outdoor days will vary between parks, mountains, and natural environment areas mostly outside the city. Indoor days – location TBA. May be Zoom during winter weather and unsafe road conditions.
Included in Course (but not limited to):
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tinctures/decoctions/infusions/macerations
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flower essences/leaf essences/root essences
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plant shape/pattern/geometry
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sun teas/moon tea
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drying/cooking/activating
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developing relationship with plants including two-way communication.
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an awareness of what a medicine is and how to discern the difference between a personal healing medicine (a gift offered through your friendship) or a 'medicine for your people.'
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an understanding of the role of plants in our ecosystem and what untapped and undiscovered wisdom they have to offer.
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much more
If You Are Interested:
As noted in the above description, this is not a typical herbal program. It is a dedicated immersion into relationship with the natural world and bringing the fruits of that relationship forward into your life. Each class group will be limited to 12 people, to support that theme and enhance the experience of community and connection.
To receive an application, please contact Jaki directly (jaki@jakidaniels.com). For applicants who have not worked with Jaki before, a meeting (in person or Zoom) may be requested.