Our Sacred Plant Medicine Apprenticeships focus on working with plants as medicine for the body and soul, honoring the ancient traditions of our ancestors. We work with local Northeastern American plants as well as many plants with long traditions of use worldwide. Students explore plants from Europe, Central and South America, Polynesia, and learn from traditions such as Ayurveda and Chinese herbal medicine, with a strong focus on sustainability, protection of native plants, and respect for communities.

Students can harvest an abundance of fresh plants for their own use and medicine making from our herbal gardens every class weekend.

Year One Apprenticeship classes focus on:

Foundations of Herbalism

• Folk & Traditional Herbal Healing

• Healing Plants of North America & Tropical Plant Medicine

• Restorative Medicine & Nourishing Traditions

• Systems of the Body & Herbal Energetics

• Sustainable Herbalism

• Herbalism & Social/Environmental Justice

• Body-centered & Heart-based Learning

Plant Cultivation and Identification

• Growing & Wildcrafting Healing Plants

• Wild Foods & Plant Identification

• Plant Medicine Walks & ID

• Ethnobotany & Ecology

Spiritual & Energetic Practices

• Communication with Plants

• Plant Spirit Medicine

• Spiritual Ecology & Earth-Centered Ceremony

• Meditation with Plants

• Chakra Healing with Plants

• Energy Healing & Bodywork

• Magical Herbalism & Folklore

Medicine Making & Applied Techniques

• Medicine Making (Tinctures, Infusions, Salves, etc.)

• Nourishing Herbal Self Care

Weekend Apprenticeship Dates:

Saturday & Sundays 10:30am - 6pm

May 16th & 17th
June 20th & 21st
July 18th & 19th
August 15th & 16th
September 12th & 13th
October 3rd & 4th
November 7th & 8th
December 5th & 6th
Winter Break & Spring Final Gathering
April 23rd, 24th, 25th

SESSION ONE ~ OPENING CIRCLE & NOURISHING HERBS

Day 1: COURSE WELCOME & NOURISHING HERBS
* Course welcome & introductions.
* Ancestral healing traditions and The Wise Wo/man Tradition (Tradition of the Elders)
* Spring Plant Walk & Identification. Wild foods & wildcrafting.
* Restorative herbalism & daily nourishing infusions. Nettles, Oatstraw, Chickweed, Burdock, Dandelion, Violet, Linden.
* Fresh herbal juices & infusions. Nourishing herbal vinegars.

Day 2: BLESSING HERBS & RITUAL
* Offerings & Creating sacred space.
* Blessings herbs: Evergreen resins, Mugwort, Juniper, Sage, Cedar, Sweet Woodruff, Sweetgrass, Copal, Sandalwood, Myrrh, and others.
* Grounding, blessing, and cleansing the body/spirit.
* Traditions of our Ancestors & Sacred smoke offerings
* Ritual Plants ~ Cleansing, clearing, protecting, and banishing herbs
* Sacred Plant Conservation & Cultural Appropriation 

SESSION TWO ~ HARVESTING & MEDICINE MAKING

Day 1: HERBAL PREPARATIONS 
* Rituals & Practices of Medicine Making.
* Hands-on folk herbal preparations. 
* How to make tinctures, teas, infusions, vinegers, oxymels, glycerites, and salves.
* Herbal constituents, extracts, and methods.

Day 2: WILDCRAFTING & TREE MEDICINES
* Rituals & Practices of Plant Harvesting and Wildcrafting
* Plant Communication & Offerings 
* Harvesting herbs in an ethical, respectful, and sacred way. Endangered & Native Plants 
* Tree Walk. Medicinal uses & lore of trees ~ Birch, Peach, Cherry, Evergreens, Willow, Magnolia, Linden, Hawthorn, Apple, Ginkgo, Elderberry
* Wildcrafting and medicine making from trees, spring bark harvesting.

SESSION THREE - PLANT COMMUNICATION & CONSCIOUSNESS SHIFTING PLANTS

Day 1: CONSCIOUSNESS SHIFTING PLANTS
* Consciousness Shifting & Plant Spirit Medicine practice.
* Spirit/dream journeying, communicating with earth spirits.
* Meditation, brain waves & altered states of consciousness.
* Third eye opening, nervine & dream herbs ~ Mugwort, Wild lettuce, Blue vervain, Elder flower, Lavender, Damiana, Kava, Egyptian Blue Lotus.

Day 2: COMMUNICATING WITH PLANTS
* Communicating and Journeying with plants. 
* Spring Plant & Tree identification & harvesting.
* Garden Walk ~ Meditating with plants in the gardens.
* Ritual & Magical herbalism.

SESSION FOUR  ~ ROOT CHARA & IMMUNE SYSTEM HERBS

Day 1: - THE ROOT CHAKRA & IMMUNE SYSTEM
* The Root Chakra journey. Overview & Therapies.
* Honouring our lineages & Ancestors.
* The Immune system overview, protection and boundaries.
* Herbs for healing and strengthening the immune system.
* Adaptogens, Deep-immune tonics, Immune stimulating herbs ~ Astragalus, Reishi, Siberian ginseng, Schisandra, Rhodiola, Ashwagandha, Elderberry, Calendula

Day 2: PLANT WALK & BOTANY
* Plant Identification, plant families & botany. Using a plant key.
* Garden & Woods plant walk 
* Sacred, ethical, and wildcrafting techniques.
* Root Chakra & Immune System continued. 

SESSION FIVE ~ SACRAL & REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM HERBS

Day 1: REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM & SACRAL CHAKRA
* Sacral Chakra Journey ~ Overview & Therapies
* Plant allies for the reproductive system ~ Red raspberry, Shatavari, Hibiscus, Damiana, Motherwort, Ashwagandha, etc.
* Endocrine system & Hormone balancing with phytosterols.
* Herbs for balancing androgens and estrogens. 
* Herbal support for menstruation, fertility, pregnancy, and menopause.
* Genitourinary herbal medicine, prostate health and andropause.
* Transgender herbal health care & support.

Day 2: APHRODISIACS & FLOWER ESSENCES
* Herbal Aphrodisiacs & Pleasure plants
* Meditations & Healing with Flowers.
* Flower walk & Flower essence making.
* Communication with flowers.
* Flower ID & Plants for pollinators.

SESSION SIX ~ SOLAR PLEXUS  &  DIGESTIVE SYSTEM HERBS

Day 1: THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM & SOLAR PLEXUS
* The Solar Plexus - Herbs that heal and nourish the solar plexus
* The Digestive System – Holistic & Herbal Healing
* Healing digestive imbalances with plants ~ Turmeric, Ginger, Orange, Dandelion, Lemon balm, Mints
* Sacred Plant Medicine for self love & self-care

Day 2: HERBAL ENERGETICS  & SAFETY LEVELS
* Herbal energetics explored.
* Herb safety levels, dosages, & tastes.
* Doctrine of Signatures, reading the physical nature of a plant.
* Yin/Yang, Four Element Theory.

SESSION SEVEN 7 ~ THE HEART CHAKRA & CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

Day 1: THE HEART  CHAKRA & THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
* The Heart Chakra ~ Nourishing & strengthening
* Herbal healing for the heart and circulatory system ~ Hawthorn, Ginkgo, Rose, Cayenne, Garlic, Linden, Motherwort, Peach
* Heart & Circulatory system therapies 
* Herbs for grief, love, and compassion.

Day 2: WOODLAND PLANTS OF NEW ENGLAND
* Forest Walk & Plant Identification.
* Meditations with Woodland plants.
* Endangered Native plant protection & care.
* Heart Chakra continued.

SESSION EIGHT ~ THE THROAT CHAKRA & RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

Day 1: THROAT CHAKRA & THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
* The Throat Chakra ~ Clearing & healing therapies.
* Herbal medicine the respiratory system ~ Mullein, Elecampane, Sage, Thyme & Mints, Evergreens (Spruce, Pine, Fir, Juniper)
* Breath work, song, silence, and chanting.
* Sacred herbs for communication & channeling.

Day 2: HARVESTING FALL  ROOTS & SEEDS
* Harvesting roots & root medicine making!
* Eating, preserving, processing root medicine and food.
* Harvesting medicinal herb seeds & Seeds saving
* Fall plant harvests & Tincture straining from the year

SESSION NINE (3 days) ~ THE THIRD EYE & NERVOUS SYSTEM

Day 1: HERBS FOR THE NERVOUS SYSTEM & THE THIRD  EYE
* Third eye chakra ~ Thinking & Dreaming mind
* Herbal medicine for nourishing and supporting the nervous system ~ Skullcap, Oatstraw, Ashwagandha, St. John’s Wort, Ginkgo, Adaptogens, Gotu kola
* Holistic healing for stress, depression,  and anxiety.
* Herbal pain relief & muscle relaxants.

Day 2: THE SACRED WHEEL & GRADUATION CEREMONIES
* The Sacred Wheel / Medicine Circle in healing and magic.
* The four elements and four directions.
* Journeying within the Wheel, opening doors, meeting allies.
* Prayer, Meditation, and Offerings to earth spirits.
* Sharing final projects from each apprentice.

Day 3: CROWN CHAKRA & CLOSING CEREMONY
* Crown Chakra - Journeying & guided meditations.
* Closing Ceremonies & Circle Offerings.
* Final Presentations continued.
* Celebration & Potluck!

Before the start of the course, you will receive a welcome packet with your syllabus, booklist, course information, and beginning readings. Solitary study, practice, and assignments are optional (with occasional required assignments), and home practice is highly encouraged! Students should plan to devote about 2 hours per week to their home practice. You will also receive full, unlimited access to our online course A Year of Gaia, which complements the first-year training.

Live Lecture Series:

This course includes the Live Zoom Lectures Series consisting of 12 monthly zoom lectures (3 hours each).
Students who wish to attend the live lecture series for this course will need to register in the members area after enrolling. A code will be provided to you at the start of the course for free registration.

First Lectures of 2026:

Wednesdays, 1-4pm EST

• April 29, 2026

• May 20, 2026

• June 17, 2026

All lectures are recorded for future viewing.

Monthly Tea Meditations:

In addition, you are welcome to join our monthly plant journey meditations via Zoom. Dates will be sent via e-mail in advance.

First Meditations of 2026:

• 1-3 pm EST, April 21, 2026

• 1-3 pm EST, May 27, 2026

• 1-3 pm EST, June 24, 2026

Certification for the 130-hour course in traditional herbalism, holistic healing, and sacred plant medicine is awarded upon completion of the apprenticeship. Please note that there is no legal licensing or certification required for herbalists to practice in the US. Herbalists are not legally allowed to practice medicine or “treat” patients; instead, this course supports using plants from personal experience to guide others on their healing path.

Students combine herbal medicine with many other healing modalities and often incorporate plant medicine into their careers in diverse ways—growing plants, making medicine, teaching, opening healing practices, supporting friends and family, and using plant medicine to benefit social, environmental, and collective well-being.

The tuition for our Year One 2026 Apprenticeship is $2,200–$2,500 on a sliding-scale for 19 seven-hour classes.

We also offer tuition rates for students who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or Asian ($1,600–$1,800), and scholarships are available if needed.

We offer payment plans and a sliding-scale based on income. We ask that each student choose what they can afford, understanding that those who pay the higher end of the sliding scale are providing support for lower income students to attend as well. Payment plans are available for low-income students, as well as VSAC grants for Vermont residents.

A $350 deposit (non-refundable) is required to register for the apprenticeship and will be applied toward tuition. Full payment is due by the first class unless a payment plan has been arranged in advance.

For students who are commuting we offer rustic lodging in our yurts or camping on site. We have kitchen space with water and have dry compost toilets. Please note we do not have showers at this time. We plan to build an outdoor shower in the coming year.

We can allow camping on site for free and rustic communal yurt sleeping by donation ($20 for the weekend). If you need additional comfort, you may seek nearby rental options.

The closest airport is Bradley International (BDL).