Plant Cunning 2026 Conference
Schedule
Learn from some extraordinary speakers who are coming from near and far to share their wisdom of plants, bees, Nature, spirituality and astrology. There is plenty of free time between classes to stroll through the vendor area, chat with other attendees (most of whom are wildly friendly and interesting from our experience), and fill up on herbal tea.
Esoteric, Astro, Spiritual
Tangible Skills & Knowledge
Plant Walks
Thursday Night (Pre-Conference)
July 23rd
3pm-8pm: Welcome Campers
Anyone who would like to arrive early to set up camp to wake up on the land Friday morning is welcome to register as a camper ( $25 camping fee). Try to arrive before dark so that you can get oriented in the daylight. We don't have food vendors on site, and don't serve food until the potluck lunch Friday at noon, so please bring food for your dinner and breakfast.
Friday
July 24th, 2026
10:00am-on Registration is open, Welcome! Park in the field by the big barn, check in at the registration table in the barn, explore the land, settle in, make new friends, relax.
3:30-4:15pm Opening Circle -in the big white tent behind the house
4:15-4:30pm Break (15 min)
4:30-5:45pm Evening Sessions
6:30-7:30pm Dinner in the Tent
8:00-9:30pm Weaving Waters Ecstatic Free Form Dance in the Big Barn with Alexandra Wendt
9:30-10:00pm Bonfire and Jam bring instruments or songs to share around the crackling flame.
Saturday
July 25th, 2026
8:00-10:00am Registration in Big Barn for new arrivals Saturday
8:00-9:00am Morning Movement: in the Big Barn
8:30-9:45am Breakfast in the Big Tent
9:45-10:00am Break & Shopping Vendor Alley (15 min)
Begin to gather in the Big Barn for the Orientation and Keynote
10:00-10:30am Morning Circle in the Big Barn with Isaac and AC
10:30-11:45am Keynote-
Noon-1pm Lunch in the Big Tent
1:00pm-1:30pm Break & Shopping Vendor Alley (30 min)
1:30-2:45pm Breakout Sessions (1hr 15min)
2:45-3:00pm Break (15 min)
3:00-4:15pm Breakout Sessions (1hr 15min)
4:15-5:00pm Iced Herbal Tea Time in the Tent (45 min)
5:00-6:15pm Featured Presenters (1hr 15min)
6:15-6:30 Break & Shopping Vendor Alley (15 min)
6:30-7:30pm Dinner in the Tent
7:30-9:30pm Live Music and Ecstatic Dance in the Big Barn
10:00-11:00pm Family Jam (bring your instruments)
Sunday
July 26th
8:00-8:45am Morning Movement-
8:30-9:45am Breakfast
9:45-10:00 Break and Shopping Vendor Alley
10:00-11:45am Breakout Sessions
12:00-1:00pm Lunch
Delicious lunch will be served with the meal plan or pack your own lunch.
1:15-2:30pm Breakout Sessions
2:45-3:15pm Closing Ceremony in the big white tent
3:15-4:30pm Pack Up & Part Ways, or Linger & Lounge until Monday morning for campers staying over one more night 🙂
*See the class descriptions and speaker bios below for all the deets.
2026 Class Descriptions
Dana O'Driscoll
3 Sessions: The Animist Herbalist: Cultivating Relationships with the World (Keynote), Land Blessing and Healing Ceremony
The Animist Herbalist: Cultivating Relationships with the World (Keynote)
Animism is a belief that everything in the world has spirit and is often accompanied by a set of tools focusing on building right relationships with spirits, reverence practices, and deeper work such as plant initiation or spirit journeying for the medicine. In fact, animism is the most ancient human belief system, predating all other forms of modern religion—you might say it is our “default” belief system just as working with herbs is our default medicinal practice. In a time of exploitation of planet and people, integrating animism into your herbal practice can be a profound way of building deeper relationships with medicinal plants, trees, mushrooms and the world around us. This workshop will explore the ancient connections between herbalism and animism, and offer herbalists an opportunity to deepen their plant practices with a set of techniques from introductory to advanced. We will discuss how to get started and build an animist practice through building core skills to connect to the world of spirit (meditation, nature communication, plant spirit communication), and also more advanced practices to deepen your relationship (body radar and intuitive tracking, plant spirit initiation, plant spirit journeying).
Land blessing and Healing Ceremony
In the time of our ancient ancestors, blessing and healing ceremonies for the land—such as traditional Apple Wassails or harvest festivals—were an important part of humanity’s relationship and reciprocation with the living earth. Our ancestors would regularly gather at key times of the year to bless and protect the land, to pray for abundance, and to honor the harvest. We gather at the sacred time of first harvest, which in traditional European cultures was often on August 1st. We gather and open sacred space, make offerings to the land as our ancestors once did, and raise energy using chanting and movement to honor, bless, and protect the beautiful mountains that host our gathering. All are welcome and no previous ritual experience is necessary. All participants will receive a blessed stone to take home with them with instructions to continue the ceremony forward.
About:
Dana O’Driscoll is a wild woman of the Allegheny mountains, hanging out with mushrooms, swimming in forest streams, and getting covered in soil. Sheis the co-founder of the Pennsylvania School of Herbalism (www.paherbschool.com), an herbal school focusing teaching holistic herbalism and regional healing plants with a strong emphasis in reciprocation and stewardship. Dana has been an animist druid for 20 years, and currently serves as Grand Archdruid in the Ancient Order of Druids in America (aoda.org). She is also a druid-grade member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids and is the OBOD’s 2018 Mount Haemus Scholar. She is the author of numerous nature spirituality books including EcoSpirituality in the 21st Century, Land Healing, and Sacred Actions: Living the Wheel of the Year through Earth-Centered Spiritual Practices. She is also a whimsical nature artist and is the author/illustrator of the Tarot of Trees, Plant Spirit Oracle, and TreeLore Oracle and Magical Compendium of Eastern North American Trees. Dana is a certified permaculture designer and permaculture teacher who works to live regeneratively and heal the land. Dana lives at a 5-acre homestead in rural western Pennsylvania with her partner and a host of feathered and furred friends. She writes at the Druids Garden (www.thedruidsgarden.com) and is on Instagram as @druidsgardenart.
Tammi Sweet
2 Sessions: Cannabis As Mentor Plant Ally and Integrating Cannabis Into My Medicine Bag
Cannabis As Mentor Plant Ally
Cannabis’ ability to change consciousness deems her a Mentor plant. Moving through many of the frequencies of existence, she is a powerful ally to work with. Traditionally Cannabis has helped us humans on all the levels; physical, mental, emotional & spiritual. The uninitiated, who don’t understand her power (and the fact she is so easily obtainable), can easily enter into a dependent relationship, unaware of the commitment required to truly benefit from her many gifts.
We will spend our time together discussing specific ways of entering into a deeper & respectful relationship with her as a Mentor Plant Ally Including:
How to know if this ally relationship is a good fit for you?
A simple ceremony container to begin.
The importance of creating a reproducible map.
Why proper set and setting are non-negotiable.
Finally, we will participate in an experiential ceremony with medicine I bring to class.
*Students may choose what level of participation with the medicine they are comfortable with (holding the flower or imbibing the flower).
Integrating Cannabis Into My Medicine Bag
Look out! The “gateway” plant is on the loose with legalization spreading across the nation! Cannabis, the new plant panacea for everything, has made it to the mainstream (Goddess help us.). As with any herbal intervention, Cannabis helps with some things and is contraindicated for many others. Join me as I unpack the myths, map out physiology and share best practices for working with Cannabis medicine for chronic pain, insomnia, anxiety and as a container to help us do our deeper emotional/psychological/spiritual work. Finally, we will cover preparation & dosing, cultivar selection and considerations & contraindications for working with this powerful ally.
About:
Tammi Sweet loves to teach. It’s her superpower. She has a magical ability to connect with almost anyone when teaching and help them understand complex material. For over 35 years, Tammi has shared her gift of teaching at various colleges, massage schools and herbal schools throughout the country. Her background in physiology makes her an invaluable resource to developing herbalists and massage therapists alike, who want to deepen their foundation as practitioners. In addition to her physiology expertise, Tammi is also a practitioner and teacher of herbal medicine. In 2007, she and her partner Kris Miller launched the Heartstone Center for Earth Essentials. At Heartstone, Tammi and Kris run their Herbal Apprenticeship. Tammi also offers online courses that integrate physiology and plant medicine with Tammi’s love of teaching, such as her signature course Anatomy & Physiology for Herbalists.
Gabriel Mojay LAc
Session: Astro-Aromatic Alignment
Create a Fragrant Talisman based on your Astrological Birth Chart ~ with Aromatic Aura Healing
In this workshop with Gabriel, we start by looking at some key themes in the Astrological Birth Chart that will help participants choose 3 Essential Oils which resonate with their energy-body and address core growth dynamics revealed by their individual Chart. For this purpose, people intending to join this class are advised to submit their (1) date, (2) time and (3) place of birth in advance of the event, please.
Once we have created our inner-healing talismanic aromatic elixir, we will apply it in a session of Aura Healing — a form of fragrant off-body palm-healing, allowing the scented molecules to do their work as well as attuning our palm chakra to sense the 'vibrational egg' referred to as the 'aura'.
All-in-all, the workshop offers a plunge of insight into Astrology and one's personal Birth Chart... an aromatic way of harmonizing oneself according to one's Chart... and a practical healing approach to the subtle use of the Essential Oil Elixir we will each create for ourselves and use.
About:
Gabriel began his natural healing journey in 1977 in Paris when he discovered Macrobiotics and the Yin-Yang energetics of food. Living in England, he later qualified in, practiced, and co-wrote a textbook on Shiatsu — a type of Japanese acupressure closely connected to Macrobiotics. From 1984 he spent 4 years studying traditional Chinese Acupuncture together with Chinese and Western Herbs including Essential Oils. From 1990-2020 he was Principal of the Institute of Traditional Herbal Medicine & Aromatherapy (ITHMA), London, and has given seminars in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Mexico, UK, and in the USA. He specializes in a Chinese medicine energetic-diagnostic approach to Herbalism and Essential Oils, and is author of Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit (for sale at the Conference). At the same time, he has 4 decades of experience of giving Astrological readings, and has taught an Astrological approach to Aromatherapy since 1996, both live and online. Based in California since 2022, Gabriel is Co-Director together with AC Hill of the Actaea Institute of Herbal Medicine and Aromatherapy.
Amelia South
Sessions: The Gut–Brain Connection & Disorders of the Mind: Addressing the Root Cause
The gut and brain are not separate systems—they are partners in shaping our thoughts, emotions, and overall mental health. In this talk, we’ll explore how imbalances in the gut microbiome can drive anxiety, depression, brain fog, and IBS. We’ll cover practical nutritional and herbal tools for gut healing, while also examining why true mental and emotional healing often stalls when we ignore subconscious beliefs and learned behavioral patterns. When we address both the gut and the inner landscape, real and lasting change becomes possible.
About:
Amelia South is a Practicing Herbalist, Foraging Instructor, Gut Health Specialist,and Subconscious Reprogramming Coach from Connecticut. She healed her own candida and rosacea and was trained in how to heal her inner child and rewire her negative subconscious beliefs after a severe mental breakdown in 2021. She now helps others through her books Think Like an Herbalist and Uncovering Amy as well as private coaching and speaking engagements.
Lauren Eadline
Sessions: Constitutional Medicine in Times of Crisis: A Focus on Earth
As the complexities of society and the drama of the human experience grow ever larger, its easy for those that want to help to feel understandably overwhelmed. Where does one even start to affect change in an impactful way when everything is falling apart, everywhere, all at once? Sometimes it feels easier to give up completely.
The principles of Western 4-element constitutional medicine can assist helpers in finding meaningful and manageable ways to get involved when things feel particularly grim. Focusing on the element of Earth, the element that represents "boots on the ground", we will explore methods of supporting the Earth in ourselves, our communities and our world as a means by which to create and sustain positive change. We will discuss planet & plant affinities with Earth, its role in community building & mutual aid, and how to use botanical medicine to create safety and strength in ourselves and others.
About:
Lauren Eadline is a consulting medical provider, clinical herbalist and plant medicine educator in Central New York. She serves as the integrative member of the Lyme & Tick Borne Disease team at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY and maintains a small medical practice in Homer, NY where she specializes in complex medical conditions, gender and reproductive care, and herbal & nutritional medicine. About 75% of her practice relates to hypermobile conditions and their comorbidities. She is also the founder and director of Syracuse Herbal Study Group, a collective in the CNY area focused on accessible education in herbal medicine, community health empowerment and mutual aid initiatives. She is a board-certified Advanced Practice Holistic Nurse (APHN), a registered member of the American Herbalist Guild and has spoken at conferences nationwide on topics in botanical medicine and complex disease. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate is SUNY Upstate and her first book, the Herbal Diagnostic Handbook, is set for publication through Storey Publishing in early 2027. Lauren lives in Homer, NY with her family. To connect with Lauren or her private practice Circles of Sage, PLLC, find her on instagram @theherbal_fnp, on her website www.earthstrongcenter.com or email her at circlesofsageny@gmail.com.
Gert Coleman
Sessions: Class: Root Magic and Medicine: Turmeric
Class: Root Magic and Medicine: Turmeric
Since ancient times, turmeric (Curcuma longa) has brightened cooking, advanced healing, and symbolized abundance, protection, and spiritual energy. This vibrant yellow-orange rhizome has reached such esteemed status worldwide as a culinary spice and health supplement that we may not be aware just how magical, spiritual, and symbolic it has been considered through the ages. Join Gert Coleman to learn this powerful root's culinary, medicinal, and ritual uses.
About:
Herbal educator, writer, gardener, editor, and herb enthusiast, Gert Coleman loves, grows, eats, and reads avidly about herbs. Retired professor of English, she lives on 100+ acres in Central New York, growing herbs, flowers, trees, and at-risk native plants with her husband and dog.
As an herbal educator, she has taught humorous and informative programs for all ages at parks, museums, and conferences; helped maintain a 70' x 70' colonial herb garden for 3 decades; apprenticed with Rosemary Gladstar; compiled and edited five Herb of the Year™ books; and writes about the legends, lore, and poetry of herbs. In addition, she teaches workshops on nature writing in the wild places of New York and beyond. Gertc3456@gmail.com
Olga Tzogas
Sessions: Mushroom Walk with Olga, Simple Medicinal Mushroom Preparations
Together we go through various ways we can access the profound ways mushrooms can help us build immunity and strengthen ourselves and our communities. We go over several varieties of mushrooms that are known for their beneficial properties. Learn techniques and recipes to take home with you. We navigate the complex web & ancient world of medicinal mushrooms. Explore how they grow in nature then, how they nurture us in return. Explore the deep history humans have with medicinal mushrooms & their power to heal. Identifying uses, and ways to prepare them. We will demonstrate the vast options and diversity of properties within just a handful of selected varieties. The most common and popular we will look at & work with is the Reishi or Lingzhi mushroom, the legendary ‘Mushroom of Immortality.’ Raising awareness of the growing market for these healers and what it means for us to do our part to grow our own, and explore the ethics of this huge growing industry.
Extracts and medicinal mushroom preparations don’t have to taste bad, this doesn’t make taking them for our general wellness as easy. Lets try something different! Getting creative with recipes and treating mushrooms like Turkey Tail, Lions Mane + Reishi as the ingredient to inspire a DIY, intuitive approach to making extracts, like vinegars, tinctures + oxymels. Learn ways we can tap into the seasons, for both our fungi we plan to use but also what's growing around us at farms, forest + even in our yards. Lets work with some classic combo of tastes and flavors but with a little twist. Together we explore and open your palate by mixing the gastronomic + functionality of fungi and their allies.
-Attendees make and take home their own 8oz medicinal mushroom extract that is alcohol free(do we want to charge like $20 for this portion of the class)
-Learn the basic life cycle and biology of mushrooms and their Fungal relatives.
-Learn how mushrooms exist in nature to better understand how they grow, and how we can apply these methods to our lives, agriculture, health regimens and more.
-Journey through a few varieties of medicinal mushrooms that are commonly found in stores + in our neighboring ecosystems
-Learn simple methods of preparation and use these medicinals for both food and/or medicine.
About:
Olga Tzogas was born + raised into a Greek diner family, surrounded by multi-generational chefs, homemade food + incredible flavors. She started her love affair with Fungi and plants over 20 years ago, with the help & guidance of family, teachers and community.
In 2011, Smugtown Mushrooms started and still offer fresh mushrooms, extracts, dried medicinal mushrooms & cultivation supplies to grow mushrooms, indoors or outdoors, for food or for medicine. Olga has taught hundreds of folks how to grow mushrooms, make medicine and learn about the glory of Fungi and the natural world.
Annually, Olga returns to her ancestral homeland of Greece to guide small groups to immerse in land based + traditional knowledge sharing, highlighting the fungi and plants there.
Smugtownmushrooms.com @smugtownmushrooms
Trista Haggerty
Session:
The Dark Mother; Weaving Ancient Magic into the New Earth Paradigm
Humanity stands on the threshold of a New Earth paradigm, one that is deeply rooted in ancient wisdom. For thousands of years, our present-day time has been prophesied by mystics, shamans and saints from all over the world. Knowledge held in secret, and seeds planted from long ago are now coming full circle. Now is the time to open the doors to what has been hidden, and for magic to return once again to our lives.During this workshop, I'll share the role of the Dark Mother as a potent archetypal figure instrumental in re-shaping our lives as overseer of transformation and the Underworld. You'll learn to work with HER plants in the form of vibrational medicine and sacred oils as a potent way to align with the New Earth paradigm, reclaim the sacred knowledge that you've held in secret, and awaken your personal MAGIC. In establishing your connection to HER realm, you'll also experience the Three-fold Path and the importance of co-creating and collaborating with Dragons and the Faerie realm.Trista has worked with the Dark Mother for over 30 years. Currently, in collaboration with the Dark Mother and Faerie Realm, she is building a stone circle on Hawk Circle's sacred land as a way to awaken the land's magic and align with the frequencies of the New Earth.
About:
Co-founder and director of the Earth Mentoring Institute, Trista has spent the past 28 years studying initiation and ancient rites of passage. She specializes in working with groups and individuals supporting them to develop inner awareness and a whole human experience. She is the founder of The Living Grail School of Healing and Magic where she offers online programs based in the western mystery tradition . She offers both residential retreats at Hawk Circle and online programs. Trista is also the founder of Sacred Mountain Tours where she guides people to sacred sites throughout the world.Trista is a certified aromatherapist and herbalist. Her work with essential oils, shamanism and energy medicine provides her clients and students with a profound healing experience. She is also a mother of three, avid gardener, knitter and enjoys tending to her animals. For more information on Trista's work, visit her website at https://www.tristahaggerty.
2024 Past Speakers & Topics (new coming soon)
Pam Montgomery
Sessions: Keynote: Restoring Our Original Brilliance and Panel Discussion
Restoring Our Original Brilliance
Our lives begin in a flash of light at conception. This light brightens as more and more cells develop biophotons at their nucleus. We were born into original brilliance as beings of light. This light is what informs us to communicate coherently, heal fully and connect via interbeing. We have the potential to be fully enlightened if we just continue to feed our light. However, modern day life tends to dim our light via chemicals, EMFs, separation from Nature and continually imprinting traumas. Nature, especially plants and trees, reflects our original brilliance back to us which helps us remember who we truly are. The green beings are vastly intelligent and can help us restore our blueprint of brilliance. Epigenetic research shows that we can evolve within a generation. Is it possible that, right now, we can live to our full potential healing, wholing and partnering with Nature? Get ready to shine your light as we explore ways to restore our original brilliance!
About:
Author, teacher, international speaker and Earth Elder who has passionately embraced her role as a spokesperson for the green beings and has been investigating plants/trees and their intelligent spiritual nature for more than three decades. She is the author of two books one of which is the highly acclaimed Plant Spirit Healing; A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness and Partner Earth; A Spiritual Ecology. She operates the Partner Earth Education Center at Sweetwater Sanctuary in Danby, Vermont where co-creative partnership with Nature research takes place. Pam also teaches internationally on plant spirit healing, spiritual ecology and people as Nature Evolutionaries. She is a founding member of United Plant Savers and more recently the Organization of Nature Evolutionaries or O.N.E. Her latest passion is to engage ceremonially in full symbiosis within the plant/human matrix where the elder common plants and trees initiate and guide us into being truly human.
7Song
Sessions: Talk called"Herbal Medicine for Anxiety" and Plant Walk "Clinical Uses of Common Plants"
Herbal Medicine for Anxiety
Anxiety is one of the most common health conditions seen in clinical practice. Anxiety comes in many forms and often interferes with daily activities and sleep. This class will focus on a number of plants that can be helpful in reducing feelings of anxiety and stress and help with sleep.
Clinical Uses of Common Plants
This plant walk will focus on the medicinal uses of common plants along with basic botany, and ways of preparing them as medicine.
About:
The story of 7Song's birth remains a mystery. He was 'found' one day hitchhiking on a New York State turnpike with a sign saying, "My name is 7Song, please teach me how to be an herbalist." The language he spoke was indecipherable but seemed to be a cobbled mix of Latin and Greek botanical names (which led to speculation that he likely was tutored by some type of botanist, though this was never proven).
Coincidentally, the first person to pick him up was a retired ethnobotanist on a field trip to find the origins of Sassafras. From there, they eventually reached the mountains of Chimborazo in Ecadour, where 7Song spent the next 7 years living in a hollowed-out tree, absorbing all he could from his surroundings.
Afterward, he traveled the hippie circuit, learning all he could about herbal medicine and making beaded crystal necklaces.
Since then, he has made it his mission to help others learn the value of herbal medicine (but let the necklaces go, as they kept breaking while he was wildcrafting).
Mychal A. Bryan
Session: Female Reproductive Health & Medical Astrology
Medical Astrology provides a means of assessing the fundamental vitality and wellbeing of a person. It also enables us to identify areas within their constitution that are most prone to becoming “morbificant” or sources of illness within their lifetime. Join Mychal A. Bryan for this deep dive into classical medical astrology, in which we will explore various female reproductive health issues and the combinations of stellar influences that directly correlate with these issues within the natal chart.
About:
Mychal A. Bryan is a Bahamian-Jamaican astrologer, author, and clinical hypnotherapist living in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the founder of the Oraculos School of Astrology, where he offers a rigorous training in concrete, event-based astrology. Mychal is actively engaged in a project to write the entire curriculum of teaching offered at OSA in a series of textbooks. Thusfar, he has published two volumes in this series: “Mastering Traditional Astrology” and “Horary Astrology & the Natal Promise.” A respected teacher, Mychal regularly provides public astrology demonstrations where he proves the validity of astrology as a means of identifying concrete events that occur within people’s lives.
Website:
Rebecca Beyer
Session: Lammas Herblore
Explore the herblore, of folkloric uses, of the herbs associated with Lammas on August 1st. This pre-Christian English holiday has many folkways and traditions and is the first harvest festival of the Wheel of the Year. Go beyond the edible and medicinal and discover the historical magical uses of these special plants.
About:
Rebecca Beyer is the woman behind the Blood and Spicebush School of Old Craft. She lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she lives on a rural community owned land project and teaches traditional witchcraft, foraging, and Appalachian folk medicine and magic. She has studied both in academia and far without, with a BS in Plant and Soil science from the University of Vermont and a Masters in Appalachian Studies and Sustainability, concentrating in Appalachian Ethnobotany at Appalachian State University. She spends her days trying to learn what her ancestors did and finding ways to share traditional skills by living in line the Old Ways.
Website:
BLOOD AND SPICEBUSH - Blood and Spicebush
Mike Tamburo
Session: Sound Meditation with Mike Tamburo
Enter a timeless space of listening as Crown of Eternity's Mike Tamburo orchestrates his way through 40+ overtone rich instruments including Gongs, Bells, Sound Sculptures, Hammered Dulcimer and tuned metal instruments. Listeners have described Mike Tamburo's music as an adventure in listening; sonic bliss; a deep and lasting vibrational rejuvenation for body and spirit; a profound aesthetic experience; a journey through the senses and a perceptual rollercoaster. Allow yourself to be still and listen.
About:
Mike Tamburo is a world-renowned musician, composer, artist and educator. He is known and loved for his transformational live concerts performed on his personally curated set of gongs, bells and other metal instruments. A lifelong multi-instrumentalist, Tamburo has focused his talents on metal percussion instruments, string instruments (hammered dulcimer, guitar, zither, shahi baaja), as well as electronic instruments (synths, looping). Since 1994, Tamburo has shared more than 2,000 concerts and workshops. He has recorded over 70 albums, both solo and in collaboration with Crown of Eternity, Meisha, Arco Flute Foundation, Psychic Frost, Brother Ong and more, ranging from epic gong music to ecstatic and transcendental string music, as well as folk, drone, space rock, ambient, mantra music and sometimes unclassifiable sounds. This man loves music in all its forms!
He teaches gong music, both in person and online with School of Gong. He is also a part of the far-reaching ethnomusicology trio, Dig Deeper, with Mitch Nur and Thomas Orr Anderson. Their online classes have explored countless musical concepts with a focus on the cultural and personal uses of sound for healing, meditation, trance, ecstatic states, relaxation, self transformation, perception, psycho-acoustics, scientific discovery, time and community. An early adoptee of meditation, Tamburo’s music offers space for journeying, self-exploration and deep introspection. During many of his early performances, he experienced altered states of consciousness and out of body experiences. To understand these experiences, he explored kundalini yoga, energy work, the therapeutic use of sound and how sound impacts consciousness, human perception and self healing. His love for long sustained drones, overtones and psychoacoustics continues to inspire him to explore music in further directions.
Tamburo is also an interdisciplinary sound artist, instrument builder, video artist, sound therapist, writer and meditation teacher.
Website:
Mike Tamburo (miketamburomusic.com)
Charis Lindrooth
Session: Maximize Memory and Focus
Maximize Memory and Focus Are you ready to unlock the full potential of your memory and focus? Dive deep into the fascinating world of neurochemistry and plant wisdom in this class designed to empower you with the knowledge and tools to enhance your cognitive abilities naturally and effectively. Demystify the complex mechanisms behind memory and focus while understanding the pivotal roles of key neurochemicals like adrenaline, cortisol, and dopamine. Discover the most effective herbs and holistic routines that align with your body’s natural rhythms, enhancing neurochemical balance and cognitive function. Conquer procrastination, fuel your motivation, boost memory, and cultivate a mindset geared toward growth and boundless creativity in this transformative class.
About:
Charis Lindrooth is the founder and director of BotanicWise, a platform dedicated to authentic herbal education, where plant wisdom can be shared and where like-minded people can connect and build a community to steward land, medicinal plants, and supportive relationships with each other. As a practicing herbalist and chiropractor for three decades, Charis has devoted years of study to the workings of the brain and holistic solutions to support better cognition and memory. After her diagnosis of Parkinson’s, her journey with brain health took a more personal turn, and it is her mission to share what she has learned with anyone interested in holistic and plant-based solutions to support the nervous system.
Website:
Gert Coleman
Session: Magical, Medicinal, and Mystical Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Plants have long been used to interpret the natural world and our responses to it. Revered for milllenia, yarrow (Achillea millefolium et al) is a plant with powerful stories to tell. Beyond its profound and practical medicinal uses, yarrow offers protective support, eases grief, and helps us to regroup and set protective boundaries, ultimately connecting us both to our deepest selves and to the communities around us. From scientific research to poetry to personal experience, yarrow – sometimes called the “warrior plant” or the “plant of invulnerability”-- aids in the struggles between life and death, healing and surviving, adapting and divining. In this workshop, we will taste a yarrow tea, connect with the plant, and learn how to know, grow, and use yarrow in all aspects of daily life.
About:
Herbal educator, writer, gardener, editor, and herb enthusiast, Gert Coleman loves, grows, eats, and reads avidly about herbs. Retired professor of English, she lives on 100+ acres in Central New York, growing herbs, flowers, trees, and at-risk native plants with her husband and dog. As an herbal educator, she has taught humorous and informative programs for all ages at parks, museums, and conferences; helped maintain a 70' x 70' colonial herb garden for 3 decades; apprenticed with Rosemary Gladstar; compiled and edited five Herb of the Year™ books; and writes about the legends, lore, and poetry of herbs. In addition, she teaches workshops on nature writing in the wild places of New York and beyond.
Olga Tzogas
Sessions: Fungi Walk and a Cooking with Fungi Class
Learn to cook mushrooms beyond just the classic white button or portobello! There is such diversity within the mushroom world that includes the different flavors and textures they naturally have. Mushrooms are loaded with proteins, fiber, and complex carbohydrates that nourish us from within. Join Olga's session for delicious and educational mushroom cooking and exploration within the mushroom kingdom!
She'll also be leading a fungi walk through the grounds and forests.
About:
Olga's journey with Fungi and plants started over a decade ago. Working with these allies by foraging in both urban & more wild settings, and developing skills to identify for food and medicine. In 2011, Smugtown Mushrooms was established because there was a need for mushrooms & growing supplies, workshops, events & community based science in her area of Rochester, NY. While continuously learning more and embracing the never-ending, unlocked potential of mushrooms & fungi. She teaches workshops throughout the region about wild mushroom identification, medicinal mushrooms, biology, and mushroom cultivation. She's the instigator of the New Moon Mycology Summit, an annual event to learn about and celebrate mushrooms and fungi enthusiasts in the North East.
Website:
https://www.smugtownmushrooms.com/
Lisa Fazio
Sessions: "Medicini Popolare" Italian Folk Medicine
Italian folk medicine is a collection of diverse place-based practices originating from the peasants of Southern Italy and the Italian diaspora with roots from the ancient people of the Mediterranean. It is not a standardized system but instead a living way of being that emerged in diverse forms throughout the village communities and of Italy and in the immigrant enclaves here in the United States.
Also called “medicina popolare” or the “medicine of the people”, Italian folk medicine is more than a healing tradition but is also a way of facilitating the human connection to the sacred. In this class we’ll discuss the basics of Italian folk medicine, its connection to the ancient Greek and Roman physicians, animism, folk Catholicism and Traditional Western Herbalism. We’ll learn about some of the most important traditional plants and the methods of treatment that they’re used in.
Topics will include: How this “natural magic” offers us the innovative, adaptive, and regenerative healing skills we need now, Italian herbalism, preparations, how Italian witchcraft, folk Catholicsm, and folk medicine have syncretized, and Benedicaria (the American form of Italian folk medicine).
About:
Lisa Fazio is an Irish/Italian American folkloric witch, heretic, herbalist, astrologer, and una donna che aiutana (one who helps). Her primary focus is ancestral revival and remembrance within the Italian American diaspora. She practices the Folk Catholic and animistic traditions of her Italian ancestors who were the original people of Calabria; the Brutti people, and Benevento; the Samnite people. She is a mother of 4 children and Nonna to 2 grandchildren. She is the author of the forthcoming book “Della Medicina: The Traditions of Italian American Folk Healing” to be released October 2024.
Website:
JoAnna Farrer
Sessions: Divination and the Land through the Seasons
Divination deepens our understanding of the places where we live and the more-than-human world that surrounds us. In this interactive workshop, we'll explore divination techniques and basic oracular practices that can be used throughout the year, changing with the seasons, and how they can best be combined to create intuitive connections with the local Spirits of the places where we live.
About:
JoAnna is the host of the Coffee and Divination podcast, and the co-founder of the North Wyldewood Tradition of Witchcraft. She is a full-time professional violinist, and also practices a form of oracular divination inspired by the trance traditions of ancient Greece. On her farm in northern VT, she combines her deep love of ecology and Pagan animism through permaculture, and shares her homestead with her husband and their many farm animals.
Websites:
https://www.coffeeanddivination.com/
Michael Wilson
Sessions: Amanita muscaria: From Myth to Medicine
Amanita muscaria is the most occult mushroom, it is featured in popular media, myths, children's books, holiday greeting cards, and the mushroom emoji on your phone... but what is true about this enigmatic mushroom? Join us in a presentation about what we know about this sacred and mysterious mushroom. Michael will cover some of the history and indigenous shamanic use, as well as the mythology and lore behind the Amanita muscaria mushroom. He will also discuss the identification, chemistry, preparation and safety that must be known before working with this mushroom; also covered will be the dosage and effects of amanita muscaria. Finally, he will close with sharing where the market around amanita muscaria is going now and safe places to procure knowledge and products.
About:
Michael Wilson has been immersed in the world of entheogens since 2008, intertwining his journey with meditation and yoga since 2010. A permaculture designer and Reiki-certified practitioner, Michael's holistic approach to healing led him to explore the realm of wild foraged mushrooms in 2016, where he began crafting medicines from nature's bounty. After completing an organic farm apprenticeship and yoga teacher training, Michael delved deeper into the world of medicinal mushrooms and plants. In 2021, his path led him to the profound healing potential of Amanita muscaria, sparking a transformative journey of personal healing and exploration.
Today, Michael runs a thriving business centered around medicinal mushrooms and plants, offering high-quality extractions and dried mushrooms to retail and wholesale customers worldwide. His offerings extend beyond products, as he provides one-on-one consultations, facilitates ceremonies, and leads workshops and lectures on the healing power of nature. You can often find Michael sharing his knowledge and wares at mushroom festivals and other events, where he sets up his tinctures and non-alcoholic elixir bar. Supported by an incredible team who shares his passion, Michael is dedicated to bringing nature's medicine to those in need. Amanita muscaria has become the focal point of Michael's journey, as he explores its various potencies, preparations, and species, delving deep into communion with the mushroom spirit. In addition to his work with mushrooms, Michael holds sacred space in diverse capacities, offering trauma support, harm reduction, energy healing, sacred song circles, medicine ceremonies, and teachings in Yoga and Qi Gong. Michael's greatest joy lies in providing support and guidance to individuals on their healing journeys, believing that we all possess the innate ability to heal ourselves with a little support along the way.
Website:
Harmony Acres Farm - Mushroom Tincture, Wild Foraged Items (harmonyacresfarms.org)
Alexandra Wendt
Session: Weaving Waters Ecstatic Dance & Vocal Opening
Friday, after dinner in the Big Barn
About:
Website:
Tere Marie
Session: The Garden: Anatomy, Physiology and Pleasure as the Path
About:
Website:
http://teremariemartini.com/
http://wylliefoxfarmstore.com/
