Summer 2012: Spiraling out:

Sharing the Lessons of the Herbs

August 4-6, 2012

Joseph Campbell writes about the hero’s journey as having both a leaving and a returning.  When we set out on our life’s path we are gathering information, expanding our horizons, challenging our selves, and often reaching beyond our comfort zone.  We grow and stretch; this is the first half of the journey.  The second and perhaps more important half, is the return, carrying knowledge back to share with our people.  The return allows us to assimilate what we have learned and integrate it into our daily lives.

How do you begin to share the information that you have gathered on your journey through the green world?  Join us as we teach to the teacher within you, giving you confidence to write and speak on behalf of the plants.  Throughout our weekend together, we will both teach and break down our teaching into understandable components.  We will walk you through various ways of leading and nurturing others along the green road and help you to find a way which is your own.

The weekend will include:

• both garden and wild plant walks
• cooking lessons
• biodynamic gardening
• garden rituals & harvesting prayers

Deb Soule and Maia Toll will be your guides and fellow travelers, holding space for growth and transformation.  We are a “city mouse, country mouse” pairing with a diversity of experiences to share with you.  Please see our individual websites for more about us.

Location: We will be gathering at Avena's beautiful gardens in Maine.  For those of you who have not been, this is a truly special place and the opportunity to spend a weekend there is a gift.  As a bonus, Avena is 15 minutes from the ocean and we will be sure to take a trip there. 

Dates: Thursday August 2 until Sunday August 5.  Plan to arrive Thursday afternoon to enjoy the gardens.  We’ll have dinner together and evening activities.  We will end with lunch on Sunday (around 1 pm).

Pre-requisite:  prior experience working with or studying medicinal plants and a desire to share your knowledge.

Cost:  $495, includes 9 organic meals.

Lodging:  There are a limited number of tenting sites available.  Please let us know when you sign-up if you want to camp. A fabulous outdoor shower (with hot water) is attached to Avena’s octagon-shaped classroom and a small, newly created pond for swimming exists near the gardens. There are also a number of lovely Inns and B&Bs in the area.

Registration:  Please phone 215 247 2110 to register or email herbiarych@gmail.com   Note that Avena is not handling this year's registration!  A non-refundable, non-tranferrable deposit of $100 holds your place.  Payment is due in full by August 1, 2012. No refunds will be issued after that date.  You can pay with credit card in installments (up until August 1, 2012) with a $3 surcharge per payment.

Everyday Herbalism: Long Distance Deepening of your herbal practice

 I just want to say that the one-year course has been a wonderful experience for me.  It is difficult to put into words just how right it has felt since the very first phone conference.  I have grown in ways that I couldn't even imagine I would as you, Deb, and classmates, guided and supported me, perhaps unknowingly, through a winter of pain, loss, tears, and beauty and into a new and beautiful Spring.  It has been an incredible journey thus far. Thank you so much for your part.            - J.T. from Maine

Join as we journey through the cycle of the seasons, deepening our connection to the Earth and expanding our own awareness of ourselves. With each moon cycle, we will work to cultivate awareness, intuition, and our powers of observation. This course is full of simple things that are the doorways to deeper knowings. 

Each month we will explore....

• our place in the cycle of seasons and the energetics of our movement around the wheel of the year.  We will discuss herbs, food, practice, and ritual that correspond to what’s going on in the natural world.
• right relationships:  because herbalism is fundamentally about living well on this earth, each month we will explore our place in the pattern of things.  We will look inward and get to know ourselves.  We will look to our human community and see how we interact with others.  We will look outward at the larger world and enjoy our relationship to the seasons, the elements, the trees and flowers, the four-leggeds and winged-ones.
• each month we will go deep with an herb appropriate to our seasonal tasks.
• we will offer replicable lessons so that after we teach it to you, you will have the tools to teach within your community (however you define it!).

Deb and Maia deeply respect that herbalists are often on different, but parallel paths.  Some of you are wanting to garden, while others are wanting to see clients.  The course is designed to address many many roads leading up the same mountain. 

Class Rhythm:   Exercises and reading assignments will be posted online at new moon.  You are encouraged to comment online so a conversation can begin.  This conversation will continue by conference call near the full moon.

Students will also have the opportunity to speak with Deb and Maia one on one throughout the course of the year.

The course will begin and end with an optional three day retreat at Avena Botanicals in Rockport, Maine.  The cost of the retreat is not included in the price of the course.

First post September 15, 2012.  First phone in September 29, 2012. 

Prerequisite:  at least one year of herbal studies, a long-term relationship with the plants, and a basic comfort level with the computer.  We herbalists can be a bit technophobic but it is a wonderful tool for sharing when we are not all together.  This course will use a website to share information and facebook for ongoing dialogue.  Please call us if you have any questions.

Tuition: $895.  Payment plans available.

Joint tuition with summer 2012 retreat (see description above):  $1250 if paid in full.  Payment plan available.