NEW ENGLAND WOMEN’S HERBAL CONFERENCE TEACHERS
We feel unbelievably blessed to have the following women teach and inspire us at the 2016 New England Women’s Herbal Conference. Each of these beautiful beings is a powerful spokeswoman for herbs, healing and women spirit. They represent a wide variety of experiences and backgrounds and bring their teachings to share with others with openhearted generosity. Sisters, mothers, grandmothers and granddaughters, young women and older, we come together in woman spirit to learn, share, network, be filled, fill others, dance and sing, inspire and be inspired so that we can each continue to do our work in our homes and community. There are places, sacred circles, where one goes to fill their inner being and the Women’s Herbal Conferences is one of those special places…
WE WELCOME THE FOLLOWING TEACHERS TO THE 2016 WOMEN’S HERBAL CONFERENCE
ROCIO ALARCON BSC, PHD (ECUADOR)
An Ethnopharmacologist, Ethno-botanist, shamanic practitioner and extraordinary teacher and healer, Rocio has spent over 30 years working with ethnic groups in the tropical rain forest and Andes Mountains of Ecuador and in the Basque Country, Spain. She has contributed to various Amazonian and Andes indigenous communities and has collaborated with international organizations including the Wildlife Conservation Society, Care and The Nature Conservancy establishing economic opportunities for local people with products from the forest. It has been said that she ‘may know more about indigenous people than anyone else in Ecuador’. Rocio is renowned and beloved world wide for her caring, loving and passionate approach to people, plants and nature. Workshops: (1) Reconnecting with the Power of Plants (Intensive); (2) Breast Health the Shamanic Way; (3) Shamanic Practices of Ecuador
DR. ROSITA ARVIGO
An ethnobotanist, spiritual healer, and author of six books on traditional healing, Rosita began her career as a Doctor of Naprapathy. In the 1980’s she traveled to Belize in search of a teacher and met Don Elijio Panti, believed to be the last of the great “h’men” (one who knows). Rosita apprenticed with Don Eliijio and dedicated her life to the preservation of traditional Maya healing. She founded Ix Chel Tropical Research, co-founded The Belize Ethnobotany Project, and the Children’s Bush Camp, which provides nature and herbal education to hundreds of Belizean children. Rosita is also founder of The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy, which provides relief for thousands of women worldwide. She’s a highly respected international speaker and was the recipient of The Earth Award, 2007. Not only has Rosita’s life’s work helped kept Maya medicine alive, but she has been instrumental in cataloging and preserving thousands of healing plants and trees of Belize through her work with Dr. Michael Balick and the Belize Ethnobotany Project. It’s a great honor to have Dr. Rosita Arvigo join us this year at the WHC. Workshops: (1) Women’s Health the Maya Way (Intensive); (2) Ix Chel: Our Own American Goddess; (3) Basil, Rue and Marigold
JANE BOTHWELL
Jane is Founder and Director of The Dandelion Herbal Center, a rural herbal education center in the hills of Northern California. She is dedicated to empowering people with the knowledge and wisdom necessary to use plants wisely as food, medicine, and spiritual support. She brings over 30 years of working with clients, teaching herb classes and generally immersing herself in plants. Jane is an avid conservationist and former board member of United Plant Savers and a former teacher and administrator of the California School of Herbal Studies. Jane also leads Plant Lover’s Journey to Costa Rica with Rosemary Gladstar. Her most recent project is organizing The Medicinal Cannabis Conference in Arcata, Ca., featuring world renowned experts in this exciting field. Workshops: (1) Herbal Support for Cancer; (2) Percolation Method of Tincturing; (3) Assisting People Recovering from Addiction
SARA CALDWELL
Sara is an Earth ceremonialist who is in service to honoring the sacred ecology of all things, living and non-living. She lives in northern Vermont where for 18 years she has taught wilderness skills and Earth stewardship practices to children and adults. She, along with her partner Joseph, are keepers of the Sweat Lodge and the Sacred Pipe, and facilitators of Vision Quest. Over the past 10 years, she has led ceremony, in the tradition of the Bear Tribe, for the Women’s Herbal Conference, The Green Nations Gathering, and on private land throughout New England. Workshops: (1) Purification Lodges
ISA COFFEY, RN
Isa is a vibrant wise woman teacher and has been a leader in sexuality education for children, teens, and adults for over 30 years. She created the popular after-school program, WiseBodies, for children and their parents. She also teaches year-long classes for women and men at WiseWo/Men in New York. Her work can be found at wisebodies.org and wisebodieshudson@gmail.com. Workshops: (1) Claiming Our Sexual Bodies: Key to Self-Empowerment; (2) Young Women, Social Justice & The Female Body (Circle w/in Circle); (3) Healing from Rape and Sexual Harm
DAWN COMBS
Dawn is an ethnobotanist with over 20 years experience in women’s health issues. She began her career with a B.A. in Botany and Humanities/Classics, and later apprenticed with Rosemary Gladstar. After resolving her own infertility diagnosis through whole foods and natural herbal remedies, she chose to specialize in helping women rebalance their bodies for fertility. Dawn is an educator, an online and in print contributor to several national magazines, co-owner of Mockingbird Meadows and Director of its educational programs. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband Carson and her children, Aidan and Jacy. She is the author of Conceiving Healthy Babies and Heal Local, 20 Essential Herbs for Do-it-Yourself Home Healthcare. Workshops: (1) Biodynamic Perspectives on Human Fertility; (2) Sourcing Sustainable Hive Products for Herbal Practice
ALICIA COOK
A master in traditional medicine, Alicia grew up on the Onondaga Nation in New York. She credits her traditional teachings to her family upbringing. Sickness and ailments were healed by family brews, poultices and compresses. Spiritual healings were also common throughout our nation and practicing protocols are learned by family and spiritual elders within the community. “Healing is a combination of elements; one must learn to gently balance the connection of spirits of the universe, the plant kingdom spirits, and then deliver them to the human body and/or the human spirit”. Workshops:(1) Welcoming Newborn Baby Ritual
JOANN DARLING
A Vermonter whose connection to this region spans 4 generations, Joann learned to live off the land at a young age, hunting and fishing with her Dad. Her Moms love for gardening was passed onto Joann. Her greatest lessons have come from the land and the plants. Joann is an adjunct teacher at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, and the production garden manager. She is certified through the National Association of Interpreters, teaches Natural Dye workshops for the Marshfield School of Weaving, and the ROOTS school (Corinth, VT). Her work with Flax Fiber has been recognized by the Vermont Folk Life Center where she receives grant funding. Workshops: (1) Forest Plant Walk; (2) Exploring your “Scentuality”
AMANDA DAVID
The mother of 3 amazing kids and of Rootwork Herbals, Amanda is a plant loving, medicine making, wildcrafting, gardening, community herbalist who sees clients and teaches classes in Ithaca, NY. Amanda has been intimately working and playing with herbs for over 15 years. She has studied with renowned experts but most of the stuff she really remembers came from her kids, her clients, her students and the plants themselves. A lover of plants and a lover of people, she is passionate about bringing them together in a down to earth and accessible way that promotes personal and planetary health. She is currently enthralled with her latest endeavors, Bramble Community Apothecary and the Peoples Medicine Project and Garden Workshops: (1) Herbal Allies for Pregnancy; (2) Poor Peoples Pharmacy; How to Create a Low Cost Home Apothecary using Foraging and Food Stamps
REBECCA FREEDNER
Rebecca was first introduced to henna in 2004, and it was love at first sight. An artist at heart, henna quickly became her medium. Charmed by every gift it offers; from the deep red stain on her hands and feet, to the scent of crushed green leaves combined with essential oils, henna has also generously offered Rebecca a way to make a living making art! She is the founder of the wildly popular Heart Fire Henna, a studio in Vermont. Henna gracefully offers us a way to literally “mark” a special occasion or milestone, and effortlessly connects us to a lineage of women thousands of years old, who have worn the familiar red stain. Sitting together for henna brings a quiet intimacy we all crave, and whispers a sisterly reminder to slow it down when things get hectic. In Rebecca’s life this humble little leaf has been all of these things. Rebecca is also a certified Reiki Master/light worker/ and henna lady! Workshops: Circle w/Circle: Henna: Auspicious Ancient Adornment; (2) Henna: Auspicious Ancient Adornment
SYLVIA GABORIAULT
A clinical nutritionist, herbalist, diabetes educator and health coach, Sylvia has a clinical practice in Montpelier, Vermont where she sees clients and teaches small group classes. She blends science and traditional wisdom, utilizing the best of both worlds to help others achieve wellness. Sylvia also works as clinical dietitian at Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing, part of Central Vermont Medical Center. Workshops: (1) Making Delicious Cordials and Syrups; (2) Circle w/ in Circle: Make your own Delicious Herbal Syrups; (3) Amazing Fungi ~ Gourmet Food and Medicine
KATE GILDAY
Kate has been a clinical herbalist, flower essence practitioner and creator, Ayurvedic lifestyle consultant and teacher for over 30 years. A creative medicine maker, Kate is the founder of Woodland Essence, a forest botanicals and flower essence company and workshop center that she guides with her husband Don Babineau. She is a member of Collaborative Healing, a group of local practitioners who address health care through a unique integrative network, educating the community and combining conventional medicine with expert complementary care. Kate brings her love of the wild places, song and healing to the workshops she presents. She has just stepped back from her practice to spend time with her grandchildren, and ( finally!) begin writing a book about the woodlands she loves so well. Workshops: (1) Healthy Bones for a Lifetime; (2) Update on Lyme and Other Tick-borne Infections (Intensive); (3) Woodland Wisdom- Trees of the Northeast
ROSEMARY GLADSTAR
Rosemary has been practicing, living, learning, and teaching about herbs for over 40 years. She is the author of ten books including her newest book, Medicinal Herbs, A Beginners Guide and the perennially popular Herbal Healing for Women, and her home study course, The Science and Art of Herbalism. She is the founder/director of Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center, Founding President of United Plant Savers, and director of The International Herb Symposium, The Women’s Herbal Conference and co-founder of Traditional Medicinal Tea Company. Along with creating community and loving people, plants are her passion and joy in life. www.sagemountain.com Workshops: (1) Weeds of Wonder; a Wild Plant Walk; (2) Preserving our Herbal Traditions
AMELA HALL
Amela has over 15 years experience in the healing arts field as an herbalism, massage therapist, and yoga teacher. She is an exquisite chocolatier, as well, and creates raw organic herbal cacao treats to delight the senses. She brings her wealth of experience and connection with the green world to her teaching. Workshops: (1) Alchemy for Herbalists; (2) Medical Astrology for Herbalists
MIMI HERNANDEZ MS, RH(AHG)
Mimi comes from a background as a clinical herbalist, educator, and ethnobotanist. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the American Herbalists Guild. She formerly served as the Director of the Appalachian Center for Ethnobotanical Studies at Frostburg State University where she taught undergraduate ethnobotany courses. Mimi draws upon her rich ethnic background & the Granny healers in her life. Mimi believes that the handing down of plant wisdom is essential and it is her life’s work to advocate for traditional and professional herbal pathways while building cultural bridges of understanding. This embodies the inspiration that brought Mimi to this work. Workshops; (1) Rue, Resins, and Roses; (2) Herbal Support for Iron Imbalances
MADELON HOPE
A Clinical Herbalist and a Licensed Psychotherapist, Madelon combines Western Herbalism with Chinese medicine and psychotherapy to assist healing on multiple levels. For over a decade, she has directed the Boston School of Herbal Studies where she teaches Herbal Apprenticeship programs, Advanced Training, and a variety of classes. Her main focus is on stress, mood imbalances, fatigue, lowered immunity and sleeplessness. bostonherbalstudies.com Workshops ; (1) Stress, Immunity, Mood and Sleep; (2) Healing Depression: Balancing the brain, the heart and the gut
MZ. IMANI
Mz. Imani has been coming to the WHC for over a decade leading our drumming circles and inspiring those who sit with her in sacred circle. She is committed to an inclusive sense of earth based spiritual practice that encourages all people to return to their heARTs wisdom, and to explore the ceremonial roles of the drum, music, dance and art. She inspires us to actively engage with the spiritual energies of the universe, through community music, collaborative art, collective prayer and the co-creation of positive myths. She is a collaborator and works with people of all walks of life to activate a Living Prophecy of renewal, respect and harmony. Workshops: (1) Garden of the Groove ~ The Ritual of Drumming; (2) Tools for Cultivating the Sacred Fire Circle; (3) Wild Women’s Fire Circe
ROSE KALAJIAN
Rose is the founder of the Natural Health Hut Herb Shop, Educational Center & Organic Herb Farm in Zephyrhills, Florida. With eighteen years as a Clinical Herbalist, Rose’s philosophy? Use the plants that grow under your feet as food and as medicine. In her beloved herbal practice she specializes in the health of humans, cats, chickens, goats and dogs. For the last 5 years she has been teaching Rosemary Gladstar’s “The Art and Science of Herbology,” with over 30 graduates, and this year is offering graduates the opportunity to attend a yearlong Herbal Program for those interested in becoming a Clinical Herbalist. Rose’s practice and teaching’s draws from Traditional uses of Plant Medicine, Science, her Clinical practice and observing animals and their relationship to the earth. Workshops: (1) Aloe Vera; (2) The Law and the Herbalist
NADA KHODLOVA MA BC-DMT LCAT
A Board Certified Dance Movement Therapist and Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, Nada has worked in the human services field for the last 20 years in a variety of settings including mental health clinics, nursing homes, day treatment centers, homeless shelters, and school/community based programs. Presently, Nada works as a Supervisor of Creative Art Therapies and Dance/Movement Therapist on an acute adult inpatient psychiatric unit in the North Bronx, facilitates Dance/Movement therapy at The Academy House, and facilitates private and group sessions. Nada is of Czech-Croatian heritage and has experienced many gifts of homecoming through these dances. She hopes to honor the wisdom and potency of these dances and to pass this on to others. Workshops: (1) Circle w/in Circle: Sacred Circle Dance; (2) Ancient Forms, Modern Times: Women’s Ritual Dance
JACQUI LALITA
Jacqui Lalita is a mythical storyteller who travels the world teaching traditional dances of the Middle East and devotional dance as a path of healing. She leads rejuvenating retreats for women and is passionate about reawakening the feminine mysteries and igniting divine joy. She is the star of the Element Belly Dance DVD sold in retail stores throughout the US and is the author of two books of poetry, Romancing the Divine and Rebirth of Venus. Jacqui has been working with raw chocolate for the past 15 years. Her journey as a chocolatier blends her passion for sourcing organic superfoods with her path as an herbalist and lover of the sensual embodiment of life. www.danceofthedivine.org Workshops: (1) Dance of the Divine Feminine; (2) Creating Medicinal Raw Chocolate
CHARIS LINDROOTH D.C.
Charis is an herbalist and chiropractor with a busy practice in Pennsylvania. For over 20 years she has helped patients, working with plant medicine and natural methods to restore well-being on all levels. She believes passionately in sustainable living and integrates “green” methods in every aspect of her practice and life. A teacher at heart, she has offered many workshops and classes in person and online. She is the founder & organizer of the MidAtlantic Women’s Herbal Conference, inspired by the New England WHC. This event is held annually on a her family farm in the beautiful Pennsylvania countryside every autumn. www.WomensHerbal.com. Workshops: (1) Be Naturally Brilliant; (2) Vaccinations: Both Sides of the Story; (3) A Little Dirt Doesn’t Hurt
CRYSTAL MADERIA
Chef Crystal Maderia is a restaurant owner, author, educator, and activist dedicated to strengthening community wellness through food systems. There’s simply nothing that Crystal Maderia does with food, whether it’s teaching, cooking, or writing about it, that’s not exceptionally well done. There’s a reason her restaurant is one of the most popular in central Vermont. She creates a feast for the senses through food and her awareness of how good food is directly related to good health. Her taste-tantalizing The New Seaweed Cookbook, brings us the best of healthy and gourmet recipes that are simple to prepare and simply delicious. Workshops: (1) Nutrient Dense & Medicinal Foods for Wellness; (2) Seaweeds in the Kitchen
KATHLEEN MAIER, RH, AHG, PA
A practicing herbalist for over twenty five years, Kathleen is currently director of Sacred Plant Traditions in Charlottesville, VA where she offers a Three Year Clinical/Community Herbalist training program. SPT’s free clinic was one of the first on the east coast and is still growing strong. She sits on the United Plant Savers Board and was the recipient of their first Medicinal Plant Conservation Award. Kathleen’s studies of plants began as a Peace Corps volunteer in Chile and her training as a Physician’s Assistant allows her to weave the language of medicine we know today with traditional energetic systems. She is co-author of Bush Medicine of San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Workshops: (1) Mandala of Endocrine Functions – Stress and the H/P/T/A Axis (Intensive)
MARIA ELENA MARTINEZ
Maria Elena is a retired teacher, a life-long student and social activist working in her community for many years in the area of bilingual education, social and political change and women’s right. She currently volunteers at the Indigenous Women Network/Alma de Mujer Center, a community retreat center that provides a sacred space for various groups to gather, learn, heal and do ceremony in Austin, Tx. After studying with Doña Enriqueta Contreras for many years, Marie Elena teaches Shamanism, supports a community drum circle, and offers spiritual healing work in her community. Workshops: (1) Spiritual Healing with Plants; (2) The Way of the Shaman (Intensive)
SAGE MAURER
Sage is a folk herbalist living in the woods of Vermont where she teaches sacred plant medicine surrounded by evergreen trees and nettles. Sage has been offering shamanic & folk herbalism courses for 15 years through The Gaia School of Healing, which she founded in 2001. With a background in ethnobotany, anthropology, and environmental education, she believes deeply in sustainability, permaculture, and actively fighting globalization/colonization by Western ideologies. Rooted since childhood in Celtic paganism as well as Buddhist traditions, Sage infuses plant medicine with meditation, prayer, metta (loving-kindness) practice, ritual, and earth ceremony. Sage is passionate about queer and transgender health, as well as how to incorporate social and environmental justice into herbalism, holistic healing, and our daily lives. www.thegreenwoman.com. Workshops: (1) Restorative Herbalism for Systems, Tissues, and Organs of the Body; (2) Social Justice in Herbal Medicine Practice
DORI MIDNIGHT
Dori is a community healer, herbalist, and educator, weaving traditional healing practices and social justice in her work. Drawing on her training as a clinical herbalist and spiritual counselor, as well as her mixed ancestry, Dori’s work is grounded in self-determinism, collective liberation, and the belief that healing ourselves is inseparable from healing our communities and the planet. Dori lives in Western Massachusetts, where she maintains a local and distance healing practice. Workshops: (1) Magical Plant Walk; (2) Bones of the Mother: healing with stone essences; (3) Magic and Medicine for Collective Liberation
PAM MONTGOMERY
Pam teaches internationally on plant spirit healing, spiritual ecology and people as Nature Evolutionaries. She is the author of two books including the highly acclaimed Plant Spirit Healing; A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness. She is a founding member of United Plant Savers and more recently the Organization of Nature Evolutionaries or O.N.E. She lives in Vermont and with her husband Mark operates the Partner Earth Education Center at Sweetwater Sanctuary. www.partnereartheducationcenter.com. Workshops: (1) Plant Spirit Healing for the Practitioner; (2) Plant Communication through Light, Sound and Felt Sensation; (3) Maintaining A Healthy Heart
MELISSA MORRISON, M.H.
Melissa is the practicing clinical herbalist & educator of Dragonfly Botanicals Wisdom Center, Belmont NH. From childhood on, Melissa has had training in the Medicine ways of the First Peoples, NH Folk Healer Tradition, & the Vitalist Herbal Tradition. Melissa offers herb/alternative health classes, apprenticeship, & private clinical herb health consultations. Melissa has taught alternative/herbal healing modalities around the North East and Sage Mountain in VT. Workshops: (1) Taking Care of the Caregiver; (2) Mehandi- the Art of Henna; (3) Medicine for the Warrior: Alternative Healing Therapies for Veterans
SOBANDE MOSS GREER B.S., H.N., CNHP
Army Veteran, Herbalist & Healer are just some of the things that describe Angelique “Sobande” Greer. She embraces the name given to her by her spiritual Godparents (meaning seer) and believes that somewhere as a child, she was called back to the healing ways of her great grandmother. Sobande is a Master Herbalist, Certified Holistic Nutritionist, consultant, educator & author with over 25 years of experience in the field. Currently, NCB is the only African American School of Herbalism & Natural Health in the south that teaches the art of healing the old fashion way. Sobande resides with her supportive husband & three daughters just outside Nashville Tennessee where she maintains a private practice that centers on education and consulting. NCB produces a superb line of organic herbal teas “Legacy Tea Blends” that were the recipes of her great grandmother. Workshops: (1) Herbs, Slavery & the South ; (2) Ritual & Ceremony “She who is” for Body Shame and Acceptance
ALICIA NORTH
Alicia is an herbalist and holistic lifestyle coach living in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut. As a community herbalist, local food activist, fermentation enthusiast, herbal educator and EFT practitioner, Alicia draws from her lifetime of education and experience in the fields of holistic health to support her clients goals of vitality. The proprietress of North Star Botanicals, Alicia’s mission has always been to support others on their road to self-empowerment, to recognize the beauty, abundance and harmony in all of nature and harness its magic to increase well-being on all levels. Workshops: (1) Herbal Skin Care: Herbs and Oils for Radiant Skin; (2) Take a Walk on the Wild Side, an edible and medicinal plant walk
NANCY PHILLIPS
Nancy is a community herbalist, health coach, teacher, and farmer. She and her husband, Michael, own Heartsong Farm, an herb farm, organic orchard, and educational center in the northern mountains of NH. Nancy and Michael are co-authors of The Herbalist’s Way: Sharing Plant Medicines with Family and Community. Nancy offers herbal apprentice programs and classes at her homestead and has a small community practice. Workshops: (1) Herbal Preparations 101; (2) Circle w/in Circle: Dinacharya: Start Your Day with Sparkle; (3) Wild Edible & Medicinal Plant Walk for Beginners
TIFFANY ROBBINS
Tiffany is an Herbalist, Penn State Master Gardner, Fiber Artist, and Natural Perfumer. In between homeschooling her three children, she works as a Raw Food Chef and Living Foods Educator. She is currently studying to become a clinical herbalist. Workshops: (1) Wild Food Cooking; (2) Introduction to Round Reed Basket Weaving
MAYA SHETREAT-KLEIN, MD
Maya is an integrative pediatric neurologist, an herbalist, urban farmer, naturalist, and author of The Dirt Cure: Growing Healthy Kids With Food Straight from Soil. She completed the University of Arizona’s two-year Fellowship in Integrative Medicine and subsequently wrote the Introduction to Integrative Neurology curriculum. Dr. Shetreat-Klein has lectured nationally and internationally for both physicians and laypeople on such topics as children’s health, education and time in nature, and the relationship between our health and the natural world. She has testified on topics such as fracking, safe products for children, and the impact of chemical exposures on children’s health. She practices in New York City, where she teaches about Terrain Medicine. Workshops: (1) How to Prevent and Reverse Chronic Illnesses in Children With Elements From Nature; (2) A Mother-Daughter Intergenerational Ceremony; (3) How Dirt Loves Us and How To Love It Back
DEB SOULE
Deb is an herbalist, biodynamic gardener, teacher and author of The Woman’s Handbook of Healing Herbs and the newly released How To Move Like a Gardener: Planting and Preparing Medicines from Plants. Her faith in the healing qualities of herbs and her love of gardening inspired her to found Avena Botanicals Herbal Apothecary in 1985 in Maine. Deb’s deep love of plants and pollinators have inspired many people to grow medicinal herbs and flowers. Deb’s classes are always heartful, wise and healing as she speaks with the voice of the plants. Workshops: (1) Roots, Leaves, Flowers, Seeds and Spirit: Healing with Herbs, Meditation and Prayer (Intensive); (2) Living in Harmony with Nature’s Rhythms, Cycles and Seasons: An introduction to Biodynamic Gardening and the Biodynamic Planting Calendar; (3) Creating a Medicine Garden for Pollinators
NINA UMAI SPIRO
Nina Umai began singing and playing intuitive shamanic sound healing music on wooden flutes in the forest surrounding her country home when she was three years old, as a way of healing from an early near death experience. Improvisational sound soon became her favorite form of self-healing, and a very powerful avenue for communicating with the natural and spirit worlds. Nina Umai’s lineage is Ukrainian-Siberian, Romanian, Polish, and Jewish. Her ancestral teachings have been passed down throughout her life in an extended family, who shared their indigenous ways of honoring sacred earth connections. Over the years, Nina Umai learned from the natural and spirit realms that sound naturally returns us to a full state of oneness, and is one of the easiest ways to receive reliable guidance from moment to moment. Workshops: (1) Healing With The Earth and Spirits Through Sacred Sound; (2) Pravada Sound Healing Flower Essences; (3) A Women’s Global Sacred Medicine Songs Circle
ALISA STARKWEATHER
Involved with women’s empowerment and spirituality for three decades, Alicia is the visionary founder of the Red Tent Temple Movement, Daughters of the Earth Gatherings, the Women’s Belly and Womb Conferences, and the acclaimed women’s mystery school, Priestess Path Apprenticeship. She is also the co-founder of the international archetypal program, Women in Power. Alicia co-produced the film Things We Don’t Talk About; Women’s Stories from the Red Tent and is published in the anthologies, Women, Spirituality, and Transformative Leadership. Her online Fierce Feminine Life course teaches women to move forward with conviction and vulnerability. ALisa has three CD recordings of her chants and spoken word. www.alisastarkweather.com; www.redtenttemplemovement.com. Workshops: (1) To the Women Holders of the World; (2) Multi-Generational Ancestral Healing
SUZANNA STONE
Suzanna is an herbalist in Scottsville VA. She founded Owlcraft Healing Ways, an outdoor herb school, where she offers clinical herbal consultations and teaches nine-month herbal apprenticeships and classes in herbal medicine, traditional foodways, and plant spirit medicine. She was raised in a home where herbs and whole foods were the foundations of health and has spent the last 16 years broadening that foundation and deepening her knowledge and understanding of the healing herbs. She teaches at herb schools and conferences throughout the East Coast and is a co-founder of The Gaia Gathering for Women in Charlottesville, VA. She stewards five acres of plant filled land with her artist/writer partner, their three home-schooled children and various chickens, goats, cats and the canine herbalist Artemis. Workshops: (1) Beyond Sauerkraut: Lacto-Fermented Condiments; (2) Brewing Basics
MAIA TOLL
Maia’s journey began with an apprenticeship in Ireland that led to a successful clinical practice, two herb shops (in Philadelphia and Asheville), a PBS special, and a faculty position in Botanical Medicine at West Chester University. Favorite moment? Co-teaching plant medicine with a shaman and a scientist in the jungles of Peru. Maia brings this mélange of Medicine to students worldwide through her online programs Witch Camp and Sage School. Workshops: (1) When Your Passion is Your Product; (2) Sisterhood Healing Circle
STEPHANIE TOURLES
Stephanie is a Lic. Holistic Esthetician and Certified Reflexologist; has a background in both Western and Ayurvedic herbalism and extensive training in the nutritional sciences. She works as an herbalist-educator, writer, and reflexologist, and is the author of over 12 books on the topics of natural, chemical-free, skin, foot, and body care; raw food nutrition; topically-applied herbal medicine; herbal insect repellents; and herbal love potions. Stephanie is also a certified aromatherapist and professional member of the Nat’l Association for Holistic Aromatherapy. www.stephanietourles.com Workshops: (1) Naturally Bug Free; (2) Herbal Remedies For Pain Relief
TRISHUWA
Trishuwa works with the ceremonial forms of communicating with the invisibles of the world-Sweat Lodge, Sacred Pipe, Vision Quest and the Medicine Wheel. She is Ceremonial Director of the Church of Gaia and founding member of Foundation for Gaian Studies. As a young child she lived near San Juan Pueblo in New Mexico, along the Rio Grande. While living there she had her first visions that have guided her throughout her life and are the foundation of her work. She is of mixed blood; Irish, Cherokee, African American and English. Her genetic mixture and spiritual visions influenced her to advocate the inclusion of people of all races in indigenous ceremony. Workshops: (1) Stories of the Lodge; (2) Purification Lodges
MARGUERITE ULMAN BOWER RN
Marguerite is an Earth Walks guide in outdoor workshops called “Weeds, Leaves, Seeds & Shoots – Balance Your Budget, Steward the Land” in upstate New York. As a traditionally trained Herbalist and NYS Licensed R.N., her hands-on approach brings people from all walks of life back to the weeds, which is her life’s work. “What goes around comes around”, she says, “We’re all part of the symbiotic mash”. Her workshops are co-creative and solution focused, combining traditional wisdom with the tangible and the ephemeral. Workshops: (1) Weeds, Leaves, Seeds, & Shoots: Balance Your Budget, Steward the Land; (2) Brain Injury – Our Switchboard Broken
SUSUN WEED
Susun Weed, green witch and wise woman, is an extraordinary teacher with a joyous spirit, a powerful presence, and an encyclopedic knowledge of herbs and health. She is the voice of the Wise Woman Way, where common weeds, simple ceremony, and compassionate listening support and nourish health/wholeness/holiness. Susun has opened hearts to the magic and medicine of the green nations for five decades. Her Wise Woman Herbal Series covers menopause, childbearing, breast health/cancer, and everything “Down There,” for men and women. www.susunweed.com. Workshops: (1) Herbal Birth Control, Herbal Conception; (2) Living Long- and Well – with Green Blessings; (3) Shamanic Weed Walk
AYANA YOUNG
Ayana is a lover and protector of wild nature, an ecological restorationist, and a radio host of Unlearn & Rewild. She was studying Ecology at Columbia University when the Occupy Wall Street movement began. Amid the triumphant madness of Zuccotti Park, she created the Environmental working group to help orient the movement to the realities of a suffering planet. Ayana had the fortune of learning from the great herbalist Cascade Anderson Geller. She is currently studying Restoration of Natural Systems in Victoria, BC, while building an ecological research center in northern Mendocino county. Her radio show can be heard at www.unlearnandrewild.org. This program is a forum for conversations with the philosophers, scientists, activists, healers, artists and others who are leading the movements to restore our beleaguered planet and reimagine our role in this wild web of life. Workshops: (1) Sisters Bonded in Action; (2) Mushroom Wisdom
ELLEN ZIMMERMANN M.A.
Ellen, founder of EZ Herbs, is a Certified Herbalist, a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Marriage and Family Therapist and an avid gardener. She has successfully blended these professions to fulfill her mission of educating others on how to best use the plants and herbs we can grow in our own environment. Ellen has developed a special interest and expertise in Women’s Health and the herbs most beneficial to women of all ages. As the founder and director of the Austin School of Herbal Studies she offers a variety of programs, classes and practicum sessions on a wide range of herbal topics. Workshops: (1) Conducting a Successful Client Interview; (2) Is it Adrenal Fatigue or is it Stress?