🍄Poisonous Plant Medicine 🍄
Week 6 | Mandrake & Amanita: The Lost Wisdom of Shamanic Lineages

Mandrake and amanita muscaria are perhaps the most mythologized of all plant world beings.

Mandrake even makes an appearance in Harry Potter (yes, those screaming mandrakes are based on real plant lore!)

The red and white caps of amanita muscaria, also known as fly agaric, are perhaps the most easily recognized symbol of psychedelic plant medicine 🍄Most Christmas lore is actually rooted in amanita muscaria lore. Shamans of Northern Europe would wear red and white capes, going door to door to bring divinatory messages during the winter months - sound familiar? Reindeer are known to eat these little mushrooms, hence the mythology of flying reindeer and Rudolph’s red nose.

In the final class of this series we will speak about the forgotten shamanic lineages tied to these plants and discuss as much of their endless lore as we can fit in!

I'll be teaching this class tomorrow at @animamundiherbals and online on March 31st and April 28th.

🍄Poisonous Plant Medicine🍄
Week 5 | Yew & Hellebore: Meeting The Crone

Meetings with the Crone are inevitable on the poison path. The Crone is a wise elder archetype who has wisdom she wants to pass down to us… but she does not allow for anything less than authenticity. Think Baba Yaga. I seem to meet her most often when I’m hanging around with hellebore or yew. Today we’ll talk about what to expect (the unexpected) when working with The Crone.

Last winter a fence fell on top of my yet to bloom hellebore plant and I wasn’t able to fix the fence for 6 weeks. I assumed it was a goner. But to my surprise when the fence was finally lifted, that little hellebore not only sprouted new leaves but had over 10 new flowers blooming - all whilst in near complete darkness! If that isn’t the most beautiful metaphor for the human experience, I don’t know what is.

The yew tree is thought to be the mythic Yggdrasil, or World Tree. They can live to be thousands of years old and are among the oldest of all living organisms on the planet. They are often found in old cemeteries where their roots intertwine with the skeletons of the dead.

I'll be teaching this class at @animamundiherbals this Thursday night, and online on March 17th and April 7th 🖤✨