COMMUNITY HERBALIST WEEKEND - AUGUST 5 - 7, 2011 with Gail Faith Edwards - The Way of the Wild Heart and our special guest, Margi Flint - Reading the Body

We welcome you to join us here at the Blessed Maine Herb Farm School of Herbal Medicine for Community Herbalist Weekend! You have the option of attending just Saturday and Sunday for Margi Flint's Reading the Body workshop only. See bottom of the page for this option.

Our three day weekend setting is the Blessed Maine Herb Gardens and the wild areas that surround us. We'll also have use of our beautiful new School House at the edge of the medicinal herb gardens, for indoor class time as necessary.

Our class time will reflect the rhythm of the season, and be an enjoyable combination of technical information with a great deal of hands-on experience with both wild and cultivated medicinal herbs as well as our natural human bodies.

This program is specifically designed to build upon and strengthen the skills necessary to become a capable, confident and creative herbal healer. In order to do so we must possess a deep foundation of working knowledge regarding a broad spectrum of individual plants as well as an understanding of the messages expressed by the body.

Our focus will be three-fold: grounding and deepening our relationship with the natural world, perfecting our herbal medicine making skills and creating a strong foundation of practical herbal knowledge. Developing confidence in applying what we perceive from nature, and learning to read the messages of the human body, are indispensable skills of the Community Herbalist.

Our special guest this year is Margi Flint RH, Herbal Mentor AHG, a renowned professional herbalist and author. She'll be offering a two day intensive entitled Reading the Body on Saturday and Sunday.

Our goal is to provide you with the best herbal learning experience possible. Class time will be intimate and informal with plenty of time and opportunity for personal attention to your individual learning style.

Community Herbalist Weekend:

The Way of the Wild Heart - Our weekend begins on Friday morning with a day-long plant centered intensive with Gail.

The Way of the Wild Heart approach to healing is an earth-honoring tradition that stretches back in time to our earliest ancestors and yet is essentially relevant for living in our present day world.

Learning to open our wild hearts is a simple process that can easily be learned. It requires diligent pursuit of a deep connectedness to the natural world. It is through cultivating awareness of the heart as an organ of perception, and developing skill in using the heart to gather knowledge, that we learn to connect with nature in an intimate, healing and reciprocal way. This work is the centerpiece of the learning you will do here and is the framework around which our day revolves.

"All our time with you, Gail, is nourishing and informative."


"I've particularly enjoyed being exposed to your wonderful outlook, uplifting personality, and spirituality."

Gail will personally introduce you to a broad range of medicinal plants and their traditional uses, and help to ground your growing herbal knowledge with plenty of hands-on experience.

You'll learn how to use your body to understand the messages and energetic qualities of plants through the senses of sight, taste, touch, hearing and smell. We'll ground this knowledge with plenty of practice and experience with the plants themselves.

"Studying with you has changed my life. I see the natural world in a whole new way!"


Organic Herb Gardening
Your herbal study begins with understanding that the living soil creates the foundation for all life on earth. We値l review the concepts and practices of organic gardening, including "natural gardening" and permaculture, cultivation, wildgathering and proper harvesting techniques, and all types of herbal processing.

Herbal Medicine Making
You will have the opportunity to prepare an assortment of herbal medicines during our medicine making segments and these will be yours to keep.

Water-based Medicines - We値l cover the proper preparation of water-based herbal medicines, using both freshly gathered and previously dried plant material, you値l gain confidence in making and using herbal teas, infusions, decoctions and syrups and learn when and how to use a wash, soak, compress and poultice. We値l most likely have a spiritual flower bath in the garden!

Spirit Based Medicines - You will have the opportunity to explore different techniques for tincturing herbs, including using a variety of menstrums such as alcohol, vinegar and glycerin.

Oil Based Medicines - You'll also put up an oil-based medicine of your choice and we'll hope to find time to make a salve as well.



"I have to tell you that after all these years of studying herbs and being familiar with Wise Woman Ways, meeting and learning from you really helped me understand nourishment as medicine. For the first time I really felt that I was "making medicine" because it was happening in a beautiful, humble, prayerful, faithful way. Thank you, thank you."



Wildgathering
We値l go on a wildgathering adventure together and you'll have the opportunity to meet and gather medicinal herbs from the wild mountain meadows and woods surrounding the farm. During this outing you'll learn about wild plants in their native habitats, gain an understanding through practice of ethical and sustainable gathering techniques, and learn plant identification. This will also provide you with a wealth of information and experience regarding what plants to look for in what types of locations, and when to best harvest and process them for optimal medicinal value.

On Friday evening, third year students in the Community Herbalist Program will give their final in-depth herbal presentations. This is sure to be one of the highlights of our day!

Reading the Body - We'll focus on learning to Read the Body over the next two days, led by a true expert in the field, Margi Flint.

Margi will be sharing her knowledge of the meaning of the facial lines, colors and blemishes of the face, nails and tongue as a way of reading the body痴 signals in regards to disease processes.

This will be an engaging, dynamic and interactive presentation and includes some very traditional and valuable tools for knowing how to read the body and translate that into a more specific herbal protocol for healing.

Herbal Healing
An important aspect of our work together is learning to address the health of the whole person. Throughout the weekend your instructors will help you to acquire and develop diagnostic skills, as well as intuitive herbal skills.

We値l discuss preventive health care, how to safely and effectively use herbal antibiotics and adaptogens, and how to treat chronic pain and other common ailments.

"My health, and that of my family, is so much better now. You taught us so many ways to nourish and heal ourselves, not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well."



Spirit Healing
Herbs are not drugs. They contain not only measurable, but unmeasurable qualities as well. During your three day weekend here you'll be exposed to sacred plant medicine and have opportunities to experience the magical, spiritual and emotional properties of herbs. You will encounter and deepen shamanic skills, participate in earth ceremony and expand your connection to spirit.

"Your magic, your knowledge and wisdom, your connection with the earth and the plants have inspired and empowered me. Thank you so very much."


Herbal Medicine Chest Your learning experience will continue long after our Community Herbalist Weekend has ended, as you gain confidence by using the medicines you have made here and applying them using techniques you learned in the 2 day long Reading the Body intensive with Margi.

You'll be well on your way to becoming a creative, confident and accomplished herbal healer.

All our meals will be freshly prepared with organically grown produce, and this is included in your fee. All medicinal plants used in medicine making, as well as all supplies, including alcohol, vinegar, oil, honey, beeswax, cocoa butter, jars, etc. are also included in your fee. You will need to bring a tent and camping supplies if you intend to stay over, a knife, basket or bag, notebook and pen, and personal items of choice.

Fee for this three day Community Herbalist Weekend is $275. A $100 deposit can be placed at the top of this page and is necessary to hold your spot. Alternately, there is a link at the bottom of the page where you can pay in full. Blessings!

Instructors:

Gail Faith Edwards, is an internationally recognized Community Herbalist with more than thirty years experience. She currently has correspondence course students in many countries around the world. She is the author of three books on herbal medicine and has offered herbal education programs for the past 18 years. Some of the places Gail has taught include the Sambhavana Clinic, Bhopal, India; The Gardens of Monte San Giacomo, Italy; Yale School of Nursing; University of Maine and College of the Atlantic.

She has personally trained hundreds of students and apprentices, many of whom have gone on to serve as community herbalists, health education teachers, herb gardeners, holistic healers, herb-wise mothers, and successful herbal business owners.

"You are the most gifted and influential teacher I have ever known."

Margi Flint owns and operates EarthSong Herbals, a busy family practice and herb school on the East Coast of the United States. Her filters of wisdom include over thirty years of labor coaching, polarity therapy, and herbal practice. Margi regularly speaks at nationally known herbal seminars in the States and in Europe.

She has been Adjunct Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine where she taught a four-week rotation in clinical herbal medicine for Fourth Year Medical Students and practitioners at Union Hospital and her clinic in Marblehead, Massachusetts. She continues to teach Herbal Pharmacology at North Shore Community College, and for The Masters of Applied Natural Products course at Massachusetts College of Pharmacology, The Birkmayer Institute in NM, plus Bastyr University and The School of Traditional Western Herbalism. The second edition of the textbook titled The Practicing Herbalist, Meeting with clients, Reading the body will be available for purchase and inscription.

THIS IS THE PAGE WHERE YOU CAN PAY IN FULL FOR THE CLASS.