2012 HERBALIST COURSE
:2012 HERBAL APPRENTICESHIP - MARCH - OCTOBER
in the past 3 years I have offered this course at my house,
this year's course for 2012 will only be available as distance learning on a forum
click here for details on the distance learning
ALSO SEE MY PAGE FOR DISTANCE LEARNING: REIKI FORUM, HERBAL FORUM
MY YARD
If you are interested in a class, please register at least a week before it starts. If you do register, please make this a definite commitment.
2012 HERBAL APPRENTICESHIP: 8 MONTH COURSE
The 2012 Herbal Apprenticeship is going to be offered as a bit shorter of a course, and therefore will cost less. I think there's a lot of people out there who would like to take an herbal course & I am seeing that money is a factor for so many people right now. So for this year I will offer the course at a lower price, just by cutting back on the class time a bit, and making it a few months shorter. I hope this makes it more affordable for some of you.
So, the 2012 HERBAL will be:
- MARCH – OCTOBER
- $60 PER CLASS
- 10-2:00
- FIRST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH
- Non-refundable deposit of $120 is required before the course begins, this will be used for the purchase of dried herbs that you will require for this course as outlined below:
I have chosen 50 of the herbs that would be the most important to have during this course, to give you enough herbs to work with & to form the basis of your herbal practice (whether that will be clients, friend, family, or just yourself and/or pets).
That way you will have small amounts of herbs to work with & get to know, and you can branch out from there, deciding which one's you'd like to learn to find & harvest locally or which ones you'd like to order by the pound, I can give you the name of my herb supplier for this.
Note: one of these Saturdays falls on Easter weekend. We could move it to mid-April if everyone wants to do that.
I have been upgrading my herbal knowledge much to my excitement & this has given me renewed creativity with my herbal work. I am working lots more with local plants, and relying way less on ordering herbs.
I am working more with choosing herbs on an energetic basis to work with each person’s constitution rather than on a symptomatic basis of choosing and herb to match an ailment.
Since I have taught this course for 3 years now, I decided it is time to overhaul the entire course & rewrite it.
This year we will focus more on the local plants.
We discuss & learn about all aspects of herbalism.
We work will all your senses so that you have a feel for each herb on many levels:
- Making remedies with each herb in several ways
- Tasting the herb as a tea
- Looking at the herb either in dried form or outside
- Since we meet in all seasons of the year, you can observe the plant in all seasons, getting to know it better
INTRODUCTION:
- SYMPTOMATIC VS. ENERGETIC BASES HEALING
- HERB JOURNAL
- WORKING WITH PLANTS BETWEEN CLASSES
- FLASH CARDS
- REFERENCE BOOKS & FIELD GUIDES
- WHY LOCAL HERBS
FOUNDATION: basics of making herbal remedies
SOLVENTS:
- WATER:
- INFUSIONS
- DECOCTIONS
- Tinctures
- LABELLING
- DOSAGE
- FORMULA MAKING
- Oils
- Rubbing alcohol
- Salves
- Vinegars
IDENTIFY & HARVEST: learning to recognize & collect your herbs
- Herb walks: similar species
- Ethical harvesting
- When to harvest: leaves, roots, seeds
- How to dry
HEAL:
- SYMPTOM BASED VS. ENERGETICALLY BASED HEALING
- Working with ailments & herbs
- Tonics & prevention
- Whole body healing
- Nutrition
- Supplements
- Water
- Emotions/stress
THE HERBS: allies
- TREES
- LOCAL PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO OUR AREA
- PLANTS THAT CAN EASILY BE GROWN HERE
- OTHER HERBS THAT ARE GREAT TO HAVE FROM OTHER PLACES
HERBS WE WILL STUDY INCLUDE:
- HORSETAIL
- NETTLES
- DANDELION
- CLEAVERS
- KELP
- CLEAVERS
- PACIFIC BLEEDING HEART
- COMFREY
- CHICKWEED
- YELLOW DOCK
- BURDOCK
- RED CLOVER
- VALERIAN
- LEMON BALM
- LAVENDER
- CATNIP
- MARSHMALLOW
- YARROW
- WORMWOOD
- MULLEIN
- PLANTAIN
- FEVERFEW
- EVENING PRIMROSE
- MOTHERWORT
- SHEPHERD’S PURSE
- BARBERRY (OREGON GRAPE)
- HAWTHORNE
- ST. JOHN’S WORT
- MILK THISTLE
- BLACK WALNUT
- PAU D’ARCO
- ALFALFA
- BLOODROOT
- PASSIONFLOWER
- CHAMOMILE
- LOBELIA
- GARLIC
- ELDERBERRY
- ECHINACEA
- MYRRH
- WILLOW
- WILD LETTUCE
- RASPBERRY LEAF
- VITEX
- BLACK COHOSH
- SLIPPERY ELM
- CASCARA
- QUEEN OF THE MEADOW
- ALDER
- THUJA
- TEASEL
BODY SYSTEMS:
- Immune system
- Colds & flu
- Building your immune system
- Lungs – bronchitis, asthma, allergies
- Skin - eczema
- Circulatory: heart, varicose veins
- Nervous system: sleep, relax, de stress
- Reproductive
- Childbirth, labor & aftercare
- Menopause
- Men’s herbs
- Liver & cleansing
- Skeletal system
- Bone and joint health
- Pain
- First aid
- Bites and stings
- Mosquito repellent
EARTH RHYTHMS
- Medicine wheel: connection with earth rhythms
DISCOVERY & WISDOM
- Choose 1 plant to work with between each class
- Choose a plant ally for a final project
OTHER INFO:
This course is designed for those who wish to know about a large number of plants to work with friends, family, clients, pets or just for personal knowledge.
We spend part of each class in the house taking notes & discussing the subjects of the day. We usually go outside for a bit & look at what's growing, do some harvesting. We spend time working in the kitchen making some remedies as well.
What happens if you miss a class? If you do not attend a class I will send you notes if you still want to pay total amount for that class(but its still not same as being here, a lot of the class is visual & hands on).
SUPPLIES: There will be a supply list each person will need to get as well, all kinds of fun things such as wide mouth jars, knife, cutting board, funnel, oil, vodka etc. Vodka is needed for making tinctures, which is the most often used type of remedy, it will run you a bit of money, get it from the states if you can (start collecting it now!).
MY QUALIFICATIONS: I have completed a 2 year Natural Healing Bachelor of Science degree, and then I took my Master Herbalist degree with the Australasian College of Herbal Studies, this was a 4 year course including writing a thesis on Herbal Healing for Dogs. I have been working with medicinal herbs with my family, pets & clients since the early 1980’s. I have recently been uprading my herbal knowledge which has really brought me a lot of inspiration, so I am rewriting the entire herbal course for 2012.
This class is designed for those with little or no knowledge of the use of medicinal herbs. Although there are lots of books on the market to read about the uses of medicinal herbs, learning to use them for yourself & family really comes from hands on experience.
Throughout the classes you will build your own herbal manual based on your own experiences with each plant, and information I will share about each plant. I have created workbook pages with full color pictures of each herb, and space for notes along with questions for you to answer, and projects that we will do as a class. We will learn about several herbs in depth during each class.. The herbal workbook/manual you will be using is over 100 pages long.
You will find you get more out of this course if you take the time to work with your herbs as we go along, do some extra reading, buy some herbal books (I will discuss good ones on the first day of class). If you are using the herbs, making up your own formulas, making your infusions you will learn more from adding in your own experience.
As a master herbalist I will give certificates stating my
qualifications to
teach & that you are an herbalist with 50 (or whatever) hours classroom & hands
on
experience.
All herbal courses would be the same with this, unless you take a "degree"
course with an accredited university or college which usually includes
chemistry & anatomy. I have taken a 2 year bachelor of science degree
in a
broader field of natural healing, and a 4 year master's degree in herbalism,
both with accredited universities.
"Herbalist" is a loose term, someone who has the knowledge
to use the herbs
wisely for toning & balancing the body. To me, its really if a person knows the
plants well enough to be able to use them for healing!
This course is intense enough that you will have comfortable knowledge
with the
use of the herbs we learn about, and have a really good base with making
of
remedies (including tinctures, formulas designed for certain uses, salves,
poultices, infusions, etc.) You will come out of this with a collection
of
about 17 or so single tinctures that you have made, dried herbs, and salves
&
other remedies.
You would be knowledgeable enough to work with family & clients at
that point.
And you will have the workbook you have built yourself from your own
experiences with the plants & notes taken during class discussions.
I will also
recommend several wonderful herbal books for you to use as referenceIf
you'd like to meet me & see the materials we'll be working with before
committing to this course, please email me & we'll set up a time for
you to
come by.
This year's class, March - Oct. 2009 has been a lot of fun, we are down to our last few classes & have decided to continue with them, so the class will be extended. My students want to learn about more herbs and more about cleansing/detoxifying the body & other subjects I thought would be good to cover.
We've had a lot of fun harvesting herbs bringing them in the house & making my kitchen a huge muddy mess of sticks & leaves as we made our remedies.
Lots of laughing, lots of learning new things, some impromptu herbal wine making even!
Along the way I realized that some homework would be great, so my students realize just how much they know & can do some thinking on their own. I have given just small assignments to share as a group, such as " a friend comes to you with complaints of having colds every few weeks, come up with an herbal tincture that would help her & give reasons why you chose those herbs." This gives everyone a chance to think about situations that will start coming up for them as an herbalist.
I have tried to make the class as interesting as possible. Learning about herbs could be very clinical & boring. Along with learning the basic information about the herbs we study we also see the herb growing outside when possible, we use it dried, we make tinctures & other remedies from it, and we always taste the herb as an infusion. This appeals to all your senses & helps you to remember what the herb is for, what it looks like, what it tastes like.
To register or for more information, contact me at herbs.and.reiki@dragonflyherbals.com
Any information
presented here is for informational purposes only and not intended to
take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a medical practitioner.