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a nine month herbal intensive
with michigan herbalist
jim mcdonald
overview...
This course will be an experiential, hands on exploration
of the plants growing in the fields, woods and yards here
in Southeast Michigan, held predominantly in Oakland
County. The focus is on traditional western
herbalism with a bioregional emphasis; participants will
learn how to become herbalists who make their own herbal
preparations to address the health and wellness of
themselves and their friends and family from the plants
that grow around them (it is not really
intended to create educated consumers who buy herbs at
health food stores... I'm a bit more grassroots than
that). This intensive won't make you a qualified
practitioner to go out and start a practice (something
that requires years of experience), but it will
provide a very solid foundation from which to achieve
that end, should it beckon
to you. If you're already a practitioner, this
course will offer invaluable information with which to
gain a deeper understanding of the practice of energetic
herbalism, allowing you to better tailor your treatments
to the specific person and condition at hand.
The core of this course lies in the foundational energetic
principles of western herbalism. Yes, that sounds
both somewhat mystical and perhaps a bit complicated,
but in reality, it's rooted in relearning how we perceive
health and illness, and the herbs themselves, so that we
learn to recognize such patterns as excess and
deficiency, hot and cold, dry and damp, tense and lax.
This provides a much more useful and comprehensive
understanding of herbcraft than knowing chemical
constituents, the latest results of scientific studies,
or simply learning to associate the name of a problem
with the name of a herb.
To effectively use plant medicines, you'll need to understand the foundational properties
by which herbs work, how the body's organs and
systems function, how to use your senses, intellect &
intuition to perceive the physiological, energetic and spiritual
properties of herbs, and myriad other nuances that make
for a solid foundation in herbcraft and allow you to
develop a personal style and approach to guide your
endeavors.
There will not be any kind of testing or grading,
but there will be reading assignments, and projects to
complete. The projects predominantly involve identifying,
harvesting, making and using your own herbal preparations... you need to use herbs if you want to
understand them.
We will not, for the most part, be harvesting during
classes... this is what you'll be required to do on your
own time, both because a large group cannot usually
harvest herbs without having too great an impact on the
plant populations, and because I often feel harvesting is best done on
one's own, so it's easier to "tune into" the plant you're
harvesting and the habitat it grows in. This is especially
important, as it is while a person works in a focused and
intimate manner that they develop relationships with the
plants they use, and these relationships allow you to
understand what can be done with a particular herb in a
way no other type of study can.
This intensive will be structured a bit differently than
the other classes I offer. While much of the same ground
and principles will be covered, the intensive is will
present information and concepts that build upon the
foundation of previous classes. Classes
will involve herb hikes at local parks, with discussions
of habitat and harvest, properties, history, lore, current
and traditional uses and my direct experience using these
herbs. Other sessions will meet at my home in
White
Lake, and be a review of readings, and then an exploration of the body's organs
and systems, focusing on how to differentiate
energetically between the ways a condition may manifest
in different people, and how to use herbs effectively with
this knowledge.
You'll also be involved in an ongoing group dynamic, which
allows you to likely learn as much from each other as you
will from me. The value of this could not be
overstated.
If you're considering this intensive, please be willing to
commit to coming to the classes and spending a lot of
time outdoors, with your hands in the dirt, hiking
(vigorous hiking up hills and down dales; you'll need to
be able to spend a day out on the trail), dealing with
bugs, perhaps some inclement weather (we'll be meeting
rain or shine), and above all be willing to put in the
time outside of class to study and to find places near
you that you can out into and harvest your herbs from.
This may be your yard, a neighbors yard, a community
garden, a friend's property - wherever. You'll need to
do the reading. I will either provide copies of
articles, links to them if they're available online, or
can offer necessary books for sale (though feel free to
get them online, at a bookstore, or from a library if
you prefer). There will be a few required books.
Of course, there'll be quite a bit more covered as the
class unfolds.
about me, the teacher...
I'm an herbalist; I deeply love the plants I share this
land with and one of the ways I give back to them is by
teaching others what I have to offer. If you're
considering taking a long term course like this, you'll
want to feel in synch with the person teaching it.
Ideally, you'll come to one of my classes before hand,
but please also look around online and see what I've
written and others have been kind enough to say about
me.
You can listen to
an hour long interview I did with John Gallagher of HerbMentor.com
here, and there's a boat load of posts I've written on
Rebecca Hartman's
herbwifery forum, and
you can also look through the archives of
Henriette Kress's or
the
AHG herbal listserves,
both of which I've posted to prolifically (you'll need
to subscribe to these). The rest of this site is
also rife with
my writings. If
you'd like to see "a resume" of sorts, you can click
here.
cost...
The cost for the intensive will be
$750.
This will be due in two payments,
$300
initially, which will register you for the intensive and
hold your space, and
$450
by/on
the first class session.
Please be aware that there
will be a NON-REFUNDABLE $300
deposit taken for cancellations made between the
time the initial payment is sent in and March 7th, when
full payment is due. After March
7th, ***there will
be no refunds***.
dates...
march
saturday the 6th
saturday the 27th
april
saturday the 10th
may
saturday the 1st
saturday the 22nd
june
saturday the 12th
july
saturday the 10th
saturday the 31st
august
saturday the 21st
september
saturday the 11th
october
saturday the 2nd
saturday the 23rd
november
saturday the 13th
Times will generally
be 11ish to around 5ish, though it's probably prudent to
state that I'll frequently run over if no one tells me
times up.
So...
If you have any questions, please just let me know and
I'll do my best to further clarify my plans and
intentions. If you're ready and rarin' to go, please
proceed as follows:
*Contact me either via phone or email to let me know
you're interested in signing up, and to discuss any
questions, particulars or whatnot that you or I may
have.
*Let me know when you send a check out so I can be on the
look out for it. You can also pay via credit card
through PayPal as a means of "financing" the course and
making payments as you're able.
you can send your first payment to me at:
jim mcdonald
4535
jozwik
white lake, mi 48383
Again, if you're interested, please let me know as soon as
you're able.
Thanks for your
interest and many blessings...
jim
mcdonald
~herbalist~
(248) 238-8733
jim@herbcraft.org
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