*** Registration open for 2012
Limit of 15 apprentices each year.
Come journey with the sacred healing plants...
Join us for an 9 Month Apprenticeship in Herbal Healing,
Shamanic Herbalism, Plant Spirit Medicine, Spiritual Ecology, Holistic Healing, and Journeying with Plant Devas and Earth Spirits.
The Vermont apprenticeship is taught in Brattleboro, VT, running from March 3rd - 4th, 2012 until the end of November 2012. Class meets one weekend every month (for a total of 11 weekends, 22 six hour classes in total) with a couple of additional field trips.
The Plant Medicine Apprenticeship will focus on working with plants as medicine for the body and spirit, remembering the ancient traditions of plant medicine used by village healers around the world. We will focus on North American plants as well as plants used in Hawaiian La'au Lapa'au, Ayurveda, and Chinese herbal medicine.
Certification for the 140-160 hour course will be given upon completion of the apprenticeship. Classes will be held outside when the weather permits and locations will be given upon registration. Please take a look at our apprenticeship syllabus for a closer look at what this course offers.
Apprenticeship classes focus on:
- Medicinal Herbal Healing
- Growing & Wildcrafting Healing Plants
- Wild Foods
- Healing Plants of North America, Hawaii, & Asia
- Plant Spirit Medicine
- Ancestral Traditions of Healing
- Herbal Actions, Tastes, & Safety Levels
- Systems of the Body & Herbal Energetics
- Medicine Making -
(tinctures, infusions, salves, etc.)
- Shamanic Herbalism
- Guided Meditation & Journeying
- Magical Herbalism & Folklore
- Plant Identification of North American Plants
- Spiritual Ecology & Earth Spirituality
- Communication with plant and nature devas
- Plant Medicine Walks
- Chakra Healing with Plants
- Ritual & Prayer
Our Plant Medicine Apprenticeship is an intensive journey into green medicine and traditional plant knowledge. The apprenticeship is intended to be a spiritual journey as well as a course in medicinal herbalism. Classes include lecture, ritual, guided journeying, hands-on work with plants, medicine making, journeying with plant spirits, tasting plant infusions and extracts, meditations with nature, earth and body awareness, journal writing, and deep exploration with the spirit of the earth. Students learn to identify and use plants for medicine, form plant allies, and prepare medicinal teas, tinctures, essences, infusions, oils, incenses, and salves with plants from around the world. Students will learn to use the energies of the moon, sun, earth and the elements in their practice and treat imbalances in the body.
This apprenticeship is both a course in Western herbalism and in Shamanic plant spirit medicine. In each class spirit is blended with science, through meditation, lecture, plant walks, and hands-on learning. We seek to unite Western modes of learning and healing with ancient traditions of learning from the earth and from spirit.
The apprenticeship is intended to be a healing journey for each person, towards a deeper connection to the earth. The doorways that are opened and the wisdom gained during class will seep into each apprentices home and everyday life. The plants that each student forms relationships with changes their lives deeply, helping to guide and support them body, mind, and spirit.
At the end of the 9 month program, each student will be brought into the inter-connected web of world healers through ritual and celebration, given gifts of initiation, and will be certified from the school in herbal healing and plant spirit medicine. Educational and plant materials as well as tea or snacks will be provided to you in class. We welcome you to join us in a journey back to the earth, with Sage and the plants! Please feel free to contact us with any questions and we'll arrange a time to speak or meet with you.
The cost for the 9 month March, 2012 Apprenticeship is $1,500 - $1,700 (sliding scale) for 22 six hour classes. Payment plans starting at $118 per class weekend (after initial class deposit) are available. Class will meet one full weekend every month, with a couple of additional field trip classes during weekdays. A $100 discount is given to those who pay in full. A $200 deposit ($100 is non-refundable) is required to register for the apprenticeship and is subtracted from the total tuition. Grants are available for Vermont students through VSAC. Full payment is due by the first apprenticeship class meeting unless a payment plan has been arranged in advance.
VIEW OUR 2012 COURSE SYLLABUS
PLANT MEDICINE APPRENTICESHIP '12 REGISTRATION FORM
Payment Plan Form 2012
To register, fill out the registration form and send it to the address provided. Each student should only miss 2-3 classes during the course, as it can disrupt the circle if people can not make classes regularly. The course will be limited to 15 people. Please feel free to contact Sage with any questions, at thegaiaschool@gmail.com, or call (617)-838-8094.
This apprenticeship is open to anyone interested, regardless of their gender, belief system, past experience, or knowledge of plants. We have had both advanced students and beginners as apprentices, and both men and women. Though the course does often stress the energy of the Mother present in the earth, both yin and yang energies present in all things is honored. Women tend to be the majority in our apprenticeships but green men are welcome and greatly appreciated in our circle.
Before the start of the course you will receive a welcome packet in the mail with your course syllabus, booklist, course information, and beginning readings. Solitary study, practice, and assigments for the course are optional (with occasional exceptions) and highly encouraged.
~ Student Quotes & Pictures ~
Yesenia Major will be assisting Sage during the Vermont '11 course. She graduated from the 2010 Plant Medicine Apprenticeship, and is continuing to study with Sage.
If Yesenia were a human, she would be 228 years old, but she's not, she is sheep who is 36. You can tell by her hair, which is wool. Like the other sheep on her Vermont farm, she knows the plants better than the back of her hoof - the ones to eat, the ones to heal and the ones to help love. These she administers to her five children and shepherd-man whether they like it or not. Being so old so quick, earned her the title vieja "old one" from all her many Dominican Grandmothers when she was just a lamb. From that day to this she has not shied away from telling you the way it is with all the clarity of vision & honest compassion of one who has seen generations come and go. " Here we go, this away" is the call for the sheep in the A.M. & P.M. on the farm: more often than not Yesenia is the one making it.
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Register for the 2012 Plant Medicine Apprenticeship.
Past student's experiences and photos.
The 2012 Vermont Apprenticeship Syllabus.
Download the payment plan form to register for the Vermont course.
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