Notes and More Info on
Curriculum
CurriculumSpecial Projects / Initiations / Rites Of Passage and Sacred Crafts
The Magic and Meaning of Herbs training is designed as a Rite of Passage and includes several Initiations you will undergo as you unfold your connection with the ancient language of the plants.
Plants are pure, positive source (sacred) energy. They are always whole and complete and fully integreous (they never try to be someone else or forget who they are). As such they are a direct line to the experience of the sacred. Even though it has become stylish these days to attribute the healing capacities of herbs to their chemical constituents (even to the point of extracting their active ingredients and getting rid of the rest) it is actually this direct connection with the sacred that holds the healing power of the plants. (And yes - their chemical constituents are a part of their direct line to the sacred.)
This kind of sourceful, sacred energy that is naturally inherent in plants is very intense and powerful energy. And if plants are to pass on this sourceful, sacred healing energy to you through relationship, knowledge, experience, and information - this requires that you become a container that can hold this level of magnitude, intensity, and dynamics.
When you work with sacred crafts like your Medicine Bag and your Medicine Shield and when you undergo certain traditional Rites of Passage and take certain Initiations like the Deathlodge and Medicine Walk - these are also a direct path to pure sourceful/sacred energy. Engaging in these practices, rituals, and ceremonies entrains you to being able to hold more expanded energy sources - and you become a better container for the transference of the plant's sacred energy and knowledge (and all that the plant wants to pass onto you).
During the course there will be several Sacred Crafts, Rites of Passage, Initiations, Rites, and projects that will facilitate the development of your Heart Centered Direct Sensory Perception. Here is some of what you will be doing:
Herbal Ally Booklet
I will give you a model to follow but you are free to use any format you want. We will go over this project early on in the training. This will be a project you work on throughout the training and toward the end of the training you are welcome to give a copy to each member of the training. Sometimes we do this project and sometimes we don’t.
Medicine Bag
Each person will make their own Medicine Bag. We will go over this Sacred Craft in class and you will have time to gather your materials. You will need leather, beads, and additional materials for the Medicine Bag. Early in the training we will make these Medicine Bags together in class.
Medicine Animal
Each of you will have received your Medicine Animal when we do our individual session. At some point during the training each of you will craft your Medicine Animal together in class.
Medicine Bowl
This project will be done later in the training – if we do it - sometimes times we don’t.
Herbal Medicine Shield
This will be an ongoing project done over the course of the training. This project is begun mid-training. There is a special process that you will undergo in class to begin your Medicine Shield. We begin the Medicine Shields together in class.
Web of Healing
In the Magic and Meaning of Herbs Training we will be working with a holographic, integral approach to healing. Throughout the training you will be designing “webstrings” of healing that will support your own health, wellness, and well-being.
Munay-Ki
During the Magic and Meaning of Herbs training I will be transferring the nine rites of the Munay-Ki to any in the training who would like to undergo the transmission. I believe that these rites can be of great assistance to you in remembering your self as a multi-sensory, multi-dimensional being. And the Munay-Ki rites will make it much easier for you to merge completely with the language of the plants.
No one is required to receive these rites. If you don’t want to receive these Rites you can just indicate that you prefer not to participate.
“The Munay-Ki are the nine rites of initiation to become persons of Wisdom and Power who have accepted stewardship for all creation. (Also known as Earthkeepers.). The Munay-Ki are codes for the new human, Humo Luminous. These codes are transmitted energetically through 9 rites - downloads into our neuro-physiology, our brains, our chakras, every cell of our being, our DNA. As we are now arriving into a time of great change, prophesied by many indigenous cultures to occur around 2012, the Laika, Earthkeepers of the High Andes, have brought forth these Rites of the Great Medicine Way in a simplified pure power essence form to be shared with all people who feel the call to step into the Awakening of the Time to Come. They invite us to take our places in the Lineage of Earthkeepers and assist the world and humanity into a way of Harmony with all of life, to realize we are all spiritual and energetic beings in the Great Web of Being, to be informed each moment by a cosmology that is life affirming and love empowering. The Munay-Ki is about experiencing the world through out hearts; bringing our thoughts, our actions, and behaviors, and our walk in the world into alignment. Munay-Ki means “I love you” and “Be as Thou Art”.
--From the Munay-Ki booklet.
DeathLodge
A Deathlodge is an initiation typically done when one prepares to take a Vision Quest. It is normally done in the preparation and severance phase and precedes a Medicine Walk. The purpose of a Deathlodge is to facilitate the release of your current life and status so that you may be clear enough to receive a vision. In this training you will be doing a Deathlodge in preparation for your Medicine Walk where you will be asking for your Medicine. The DeathLodge initiation is safely done here in class and is not a physically strenuous undertaking.
You are not required to do this DeathLodge if for some reason you don’t want to.
Medicine Walk
This Medicine Walk will take place toward the end of the training. This is a sunrise to sunset Medicine Walk that you will take in the forest here at the Earth Path School. You do not need to walk the entire time. The purpose of this Medicine Walk is for you to ask for and receive your Medicine Power. We will be preparing for it throughout the course.
You are not required to take this walk if for some reason you don’t want to take it.
Give-Away
At the last class of the training everyone will participate in a ritual and ceremonial Give-Away. You will bring something to give to each person in the training (including me) that represents your celebration and appreciation of your Herbal Allies, Medicine Power, and process that you underwent in the Magic and Meaning of Herbs training.
That about does it! I hope that you are feeling the excitement of the energy building for the training. The herbs are getting excited to see you.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
