Category: herbalism

  • Community Care is the Medicine of This Time

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    We are living in perilous times, where many forces are trying to sow division among us, a time when we may distrust our neighbors and don’t know where to turn for support. Words, which have been such a constant companion in my own life, feel far away–I don’t know how to hold everything that has been arising. A little over a year ago, we watched as parts of Los Angeles burned, as people lost homes and dreams because a small group of people are profiting from the destruction of our planet. And then there was the political climate of 2025,…

  • Creating Daily Rituals

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    There are so many ways to create rituals in our lives. We might engage in formal practices that shape our day to day lives, like making a cup of tea and sitting on our meditation cushion to engage with the world from a place of grounded presence. My personal relationship with ritual shifts over time, based on what I need and what feels resonant in the moment. Some days, I might stand in the path of the rising sun, feeling the light on my face and breathing in gratitude for my connection with the Earth. Other days, I light a…

  • Planting Seeds

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    In the dark of this Covid winter, I have been feeling the deep need we all have for connection. For the past year, being in deep relationship with the Earth (and a few very good friends!) has been the balm that has soothed my loneliness and fear, my anxieties about what lay ahead. If I rise each day and greet the sun, and end the day looking at the sky as the sun sets, I know that I am still part of the cycles of life that keep this planet spinning. Perhaps you, too, have been finding ways to connect…

  • New Class Offering: Caring for Ourselves in the Dark Seasons

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    Saturday, September 26 1pm-5pmSanctuary Healing Gardens, Scarborough ME 2020 has been a year full of unprecedented stress and anxiety. Our nervous systems have been stretched to their capacities. We have been basking in the sunlight for the past five months, but as we move into the dark seasons, we are bound to be feeling the difficulties of this historical moment profoundly. It is more important than ever that we find ways to carry the sun with us into the darkness. The autumnal equinox is bringing us into the seasons of Radical Rest, a time when our ancestors followed the rhythms…

  • Inspiration in the Dark

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    Since Imbolc, I have been feeling the shift of light and dark intensely both inside my body/mind and in the outside world. I saw bluebirds out scouting for nesting spots on Monday. The chickens have started laying eggs again, and I am remembering images of summer. Today I saw two birds land on the telephone wire in the back yard and I thought about the hummingbirds that lingered throughout the growing season. This, despite the fact that everything is covered in a half-inch of ice and we were replacing mailboxes hit by someone who slid off the road on Friday.…

  • On Authenticity in Practice

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    This past week, I gave a talk to my colleagues at the College of Pharmacy at the University of New England to be considered to join the department as an adjunct faculty member. While pondering my talk, I struggled to think about how best to present myself to a room full of scientists, since I am much more aligned with my intuitive mind. I recalled how, when I began to practice herbal healing, I was trying to fit myself into an idea of what an herbalist is and does. I had difficulty finding my true path because I started the…

  • On Coming Home: an update

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    These past few years have been rough ones. So many people I know have made major life transitions, lost dear ones, confronted the realities of chronic illness, moved into the unknown. On the larger scale, we are living in a world that is stressed and wounded because of the ways that we humans have exploited the Earth for all of her precious gifts. I write this during one of many intense Nor’easters that have left people without power and damaged so many trees in our region. It is a reminder that we are living in a time of transition for…

  • Moving through Shadow

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    It seemed that I was incapable of putting things into words in 2016. I wrote only the papers that I had to submit for professional purposes. I wrote no poems. I answered emails so sporadically that I’m sure people must have thought I disappeared. I wrote in my journal but twice. This space sat empty, awaiting something, but it never seemed to come. I gardened. I taught classes. I traveled. I helped to organize a conference. I fell in love. I gathered with friends. I lived life with a heart full of gratitude and mourning. There was a lot of…

  • Supporting Wholeness: Flower Essences for Emotional and Spiritual Wellness

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    Please join me on Wednesday, June 17 from 5:30-6:30 at the Portland Food Co-op for this talk on flower essences and how they can support our emotional and spiritual wellness. Class size is limited, so please sign up early!

  • Upcoming classes!

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    The spring has swept me up in its sudden bursting, but now that I’ve got most of the gardens planted and the humidity is contributing to a slower pace, I can find my thoughts again. There’s just been so much to keep up with–like the Solomon’s Seal that sprouted from nubs barely poking through the surface of the soil into 3 foot tall fronds in the matter of two weeks.Now that I’ve caught up with myself, with the season, and with all of the newness, I’m excited to announce a few upcoming classes that I’ll be teaching. First up is…