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I’m Hiring!
Hello! I'm looking to hire a social media manager for my company The Center for Sacred Arts. This individual must live on Salt Spring Island ...
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Rosemary Gladstar’s Iron Syrup
This recipe is from my well loved copy of Herbal Healing for Women by Rosemary Gladstar, published in 1993. Rosemary calls it Iron-Plus Syrup. The ...
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Milky Oats & Deep Nourishment
I was 22 years old and working in a health food store when I met a frazzled customer asking for help for her hot flashes ...
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Poplar: A Bud for Winter’s End
Special thanks to my herbal students @imaginetruehealth, @potent.earth @Mossdance for contributig their photos and video found in this post. When I need to regroup ...
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Fireside Chat: Ancestral Medicine with Robert Birch & Seraphina
https://vimeo.com/506250149 My best friend Robert Birch and I have taught together for nearly as long as we've known each other. We met in a workshop ...
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Community is Immunity
The coronavirus's quick travel around the globe in a few short months in early 2020 highlights our connectivity as human beings. As the metaphor ...
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[Audio Recording] Deep Sleep Meditation
I get so many requests - much more than I can fulfill - to produce audio recordings of the various meditations, visualizations, and exercises I ...
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Keeping balance: The spring equinox
Artist: Michael Hiep Today, March 20th, witches, pagans and earth-kin celebrate the turning of the wheel of the year, as this day, March 20th, marks ...
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Cold & Flu Video Tutorial
https://youtu.be/8ioiO5xQsOw Hello Beautiful World! I'm trying to put out a series of videos to address the common questions I get asked time and time again. ...
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[Audio Recording] Unhooking Meditation Practice
Here is a meditative practice (audio recording) for unhooking from anger, sadness, grief - any energetic emotional block - that you feel is stopping your ...
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On Broken Dreams
It's spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, the lush green and unfurling blossoms symbols of hope renewed and the radiant expression of life itself. And yet, ...
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Time out of Time
“All that is gold does not glitter,Not all those who wander are lost;The old that is strong does not wither,Deep roots are not reached by ...
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Sliding Scales
I want to shout out and give great thanks to Alexis of www.wortsandcunning.com for creating this awesome graphic explaining how to find your place on ...
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Robert Birch
Born on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabeg people, ~birch played on the shores of the Odenabe River, which in Ojibwa means “river that beats ...
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Willow Kelly’s Bio
Willow's Bio: I am a musician, storyteller, and eco-political activist witch, wildly in love with this good green earth. I facilitate experiential, transformational magic and ...
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Seraphina Capranos Bio
Seraphina's Bio: Seraphina is a priestess, herbalist & homeopath who’s been steeped in life’s magical riches from an early age thanks to her pagan grandparents ...
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Suzanne Sterling
Suzanne Sterling Bio: Suzanne Sterling is a dedicated musician, yogi, activist and social innovator who has been performing and teaching transformational workshops for over 20 ...
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Herbs to Protect our Lungs
The land is burning, and so are our lungs. Here's a list of my favourite respiratory protectors. Drink them up, and be sure to share ...
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Companionship as Healer?
Sharing our whole self with someone else is risky. It requires boldness and daring to reveal our so-called imperfections, our fears, our longings, our locked ...
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Healing Grief
Healing Grief: Natrum Muriaticum When I was 21 years old, my father unexpectedly died 10 days after my birthday. He was 47 years old. Death ...
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Grounding Meditation
It's hard to feel steady when there is so much to be overwhelmed by. Today, I share with you a very simple and yet effective ...
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Simple Aloe Vera Skin Spray
While I don't really burn when exposed to the sun, many members of my friends and family do. I wish I could credit who I ...
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Medicine of Rose: Honey, Vinegar & Heavenly Elixir
With their sweet fragrance and complex flavour, roses teach us about love and boundaries. You may admire the beauty of the bloom, but then, approach ...
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Lilac Blossom Cordial
Nothing says spring to like the intoxicating scent of lilac blossoms. They remind me of the sweetness of childhood, my mother's birthday, and the hope ...
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Nettles: Magic, Myth & Medicine
As we near the spring Equinox and the pagan holiday Ostara the nettles beckon from the field behind my home. Ostara, or spring equinox, is ...
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How to Make Sauerkraut
Making your own sauerkraut is easy. All you need is some cabbage, salt, and a container. That's it. I love making traditional foods like sauerkraut ...
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Castor Oil Packs
Castor oil is derived from the Castor bean (Ricinus communis) and has a long medicinal history dating back to ancient Egypt. The plant was mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus, an ancient ...
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Let them eat tulips
Hello! It feels like it's been far too long since I last sent a newsletter out to you dear community! That's because spring for me begins ...
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Summer Blessings to all of you!
I've been home almost two weeks now from a deeply nourishing work / pleasure trip down in California. My cup is full, and I am ...
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Happy Equinox!
View newsletter in browser . Don't get my newsletter? Click above to subscribe. Below I share what I do to create an Equinox ritual for letting ...
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Herbal Skin Cancer Treatment
This recipe is from traditional healers of Mexico, who shared it with Stephen Harrod Buhner who shared this publicly on Facebook and in his (incredible) ...
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Herbs & Homeopathy for a Cats Injury
About a month ago, my very sweet cat, Leo, came home with a serious wound on his tail: It was an open, bloody, angry sore. ...
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Elderberry Medicine
The first herb that captured my imagination and my taste buds was the Elder tree (Sambucus nigra). I was twelve years old, and it was ...
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Hawthorn: Myth, Magic & Medicine for your Heart
Botanical Name: Crataegus spp. Common Names: hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, or hawberry. The rosaceae family includes blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, apples, pears, plums, peaches, almonds, ...
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Fire Cider: An Easy-to-make homemade respiratory tonic
Decades ago, renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar gave the name Fire Cider to a spicy, delicious respiratory tonic made from simple kitchen ingredients. The basic ingredients ...
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Naturally fermented pickles – Vinegar Free
Naturally fermented (aka cultured) pickles produce the most delicious sour flavour thanks to the naturally occurring good bacteria. The pickles float in a cloudy brine ...
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A flower for first aid, swollen glands, yeast infections and more
This is the time of year where I'm reaping the benefits of my harvest. Not to say harvest season is over - in a lot ...
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An Antiviral Herb that Uplifts the Spirits
July is a busy month of harvesting fresh plants, both wild and cultivated. One of my favourite herbs of the season is St. John's Wort, ...
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Student Feature – Ange Conley
As a herbal teacher who's taught over one hundred students here on Salt Spring Island, I meet amazing people. I've had the opportunity to meet ...
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Student Feature – Barbra Edwards
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a teacher is I get to meet - and spend lots of time with - incredible people! ...
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A remedy for Uncertain Times: Ignatia for Heartbreak, loss, and grief
Wise sages throughout history have been known to say nature provides humans with all the medicine we may need for every illness. While it may ...
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Resiliency Through The Flu (and a cough syrup recipe)
Make Your Own Medicine Making your own herbal medicines is easy, relatively inexpensive, and requires minimal equipment. The key ingredient in both recipes below is ...
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Culturing Vegetables
While it seems cultured foods such as designer kombucha and fermented vegetables are a health food trend, cultured foods have been around as long as ...
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The Amazon Jungle of Ecuador
The first steps I took in the Andes of Ecuador were like walking through thick molasses. Immediately I had no choice but to slow down. ...
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What to do for the Cold or Flu
It’s not too often that I get sick with a cold or flu, but when I do I take it as an opportunity to practice ...
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Autumn Harvesting
As the heat of the sun wanes, what's left of the harvest hangs on the boughs. Bright red hawthorn and rose hips will soon become ...
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Gluten Free Diet
Have you noticed how commonplace gluten-free products have become on our grocery store shelves? Does it seem like everyone and their cousin is now "gluten-free"? ...
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Spring Harvests
I haven't had much time to blog lately as I've been so busy putting in the garden and harvesting spring herbs. Here's what I've been ...
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What’s in your food?
Happy Equinox! What an exciting time of year! I'm breathing a sigh of relief - finally, the first fresh baby greens in the garden ready ...
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What is Homeopathy?
I LOVE homeopathy. While sometimes our profession stands as a role that we fill in order to serve our community, for me, being a homeopath ...
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Holly, A Tree of Magic
Here, in the depths of December after a fresh snowfall, the Holly Tree calls from outside my bedroom window. I'm preparing my alter for Solstice ...
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Herbs for Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease
With so many cases of Hand, Foot & Mouth (HFMD) Disease causing a stir in my home community I'm compelled to write about this common infection - ...
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Autumn Rituals: a respiratory tonic
Autumn is definitely my favourite season. While some feel overwhelmed by the chores the season brings, I relish them. I adore decanting, pressing, and bottling ...
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How To Make Your Own Apple Cider Vinegar
As we move towards autumn I notice the smell in the air, the light cast by the sun, and colour of leaves take on a ...
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cleopatra’s face cream
I've never considered myself skilled at making face creams until I experimented with eliminating shea butter and cocoa butter from my recipe-- two staple ingredients listed in ...
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Herbal Oils
As the strength of the hot sun coaxes flowers to open, it signals 'tis the season to get busy making herbal oils. For those new to making ...
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Fresh Tinctures for July
A healthy patch of Verbena officinalis Flowering tops of Verbena officinalis Making a herbal tincture is the process of soaking plant material in a menstruum ...
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California Poppies
I've just returned home after spending nearly 2 months in California. Oh how I love that state! The people, the mountains, the sunshine, and of ...
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Women’s Herbal Symposium
I've just returned from a luxurious week-long break of camping out & teaching natural medicine at the California Women's Herbal Symposium. I've never been to the ...
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Dandelion Medicine
May is by far my most favourite month of the year. The season is bustling with all the colour and vigour of new life; flowers ...
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More on the Bounty of Nettle
I woke early this morning to set out and harvest nettle root from my small but healthy patch of nettles (urtica dioica) The peak time to ...
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Spring!
I love the month of March. I love the dramatic intensity of the weather this time of year brings. The sudden rain followed by the ...
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Cookbook
I recently came across a fantastic cookbook titled Feeding The Whole Family by Cynthia Lair. The book is created with babies, children, and their parents ...
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Herbal Vinegars
Every winter at herb school, I share my love of trees with my students. Along with being majestic, trees function as the respiratory system for ...
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