Earth Path School HomeSchedule of classes, workshops, eventsSacred Plant MedicineSeneca medicine wheel teachings, wolf clan medicine chartTransformational Archetypes, hedgewitch, avalon, medicine woman, shaman, priestessvision quests, medicine walks, seasonal rites of passageThe Peoples' Medicine: herbal healing, remedies, classes, workshopsplant spirit healing sessionsabout Mary Ann Copson

Mary Ann Copson
About
Mary Ann Copson
Director, Earth Path School

Certified Licensed Nutritionist

Certified Holistic Health Practitioner

Brain Chemistry Profile Clinician

Health, Wellness, and Lifestyle Coach

Intuitive/Energy Healer

MA - Psychology & Counseling

MA - Human Development

 

 

 

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."
--John Muir

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Wherever you may go, the least plant may bring you clear rememberance of the Creator."
--St. Basil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" All of nature is in us, all of us is nature."
--Pete Catches, Sioux Medicine Man

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Speak to the Earth and it will teach thee."
-The Bible, Job: 12, 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"...Our very organic nature is now inconscious to us, most of the time, and we have become shrunken into two dimensional social or cultural beings, aware of only five of the hundreds of senses that link us to the rich biological nature that underlies and nourishes these more symbolic and recent aspects of ourselves."
--Norman O. Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The world is not to be but in order, the world is in order. it is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order."
-- Henry Miller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Man is not himself only...He i all that he sees; all that flows to him from a thousand sources."
--Mary Austin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"There is one common flow, one common breathing, all things are in sumpathy."
--Hippocrates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another."
--Jovenel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of ubversion or challenge the ideology of a violet."
--Hal Borland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Nature does nothing uselessly."
--Aristotle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Until mandkind can extend the circle of his compassion to include all living things, he will never, himself, know peace."
--Albert Schweitzer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"This earth which is spread out like a map around is but the lining of my inmost soul exposed"
--Henry David Thoreau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The soul of man...is a portion or a copy of the soul of the Universe and is joined together on principles and in proportions corresponding to those which overn the Universe."
--Plutarch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Nature is the unseen intelligence that loved us into being."
-- Elbert Hubbard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Look at those cows and remember that the greatest scientists in the world have never discovered how to make grass into milk."
--Michael Pupin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"For what else is Nature but God and the Divine Reason that pervades the whole universe and all its parts."
--Seneca the Younger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Always think of the universe as one living organism, with a single substance, and a single soul."
--Marcus Aurelius

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"What we are looking for is what is looking."
--St.Francis of Assisi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it."
--Isaac Bashevis Singer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Human subtlety...will never devise an invention more beautiful, mor simple or mor direct that does nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superflous."
--Leonardo da Vinci

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"That which fills the universe I regard as my body and that which directs the universe I see as my own nature."
--Chuang-Tzu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The senses, being the explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge."
--Maria Montessori

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Every cell in your body is seeking fulfillment through joy, beauty, love and appreciation."
--Deepak Chopra

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The purpose of life is to live in agreement with nature."
--Zen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends to do otherwise."
--Aldo Leopold

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them."
--Mark Twain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority."
--E. B. White

Sacred Earth Path Medicine
Community Shamanic Herbalist


When asked how she knew these things, she replied the same as other Medicine Women, Shamans, Sin Eaters, Plant Healers the world wide -

“I asked them and their spirits were gracious enough to tell me.”

Gifted Spiritual Shamanic Herbalists work directly with the plants and nature to receive the secrets of the plants. They become a “seer” who can read the signs of nature for guidance and be consciously aware of Nature’s webstring attractions, loves, and intelligences.

Spiritual Shamanic Herbalists works directly with the plants and nature to receive the healing secrets of the plants.They are Avatar EarthKeepers who work in partnership with Earth for healing and transformation. Their work with the Plants is inspired rather than simply memorized. They know that the Plants have grace, wisdom, and love that surrounds their healing cures - and that in the end it is love that becomes the path to wholeness.

We are at a time in our history where the scales have tipped a bit too far toward information. Our information is not healing our world. Our information is not curing our illnesses and our diseases. Without the soul and spirit of Nature, our information is lifeless.

There will be those of you who recognize that the Plants, the Trees, all of Nature and Earth are calling you to step into the void that has been created by this lifeless information. You are ready to take the journey to bring back to your Community the Healing Secrets of the Plants.

It is Nature’s own psyche that ensouls us as human beings. When we lose sight of that and forget who we are, disharmony and dysfunction follow. When we attempt to ignore our selves as Nature and fail to live in touch with Natural Rhythms, we become ill - we get sick. To restore our own Wholeness we must again walk The Earth Path - for there is Magic, Healing, Mystery, Meaning and Wholeness in Earth. We have been born out of that have emerged from the rhythmic dance of Earth.

When you consciously reconnect to that awareness, you reawaken your dormant Ancient Way of Knowing and Being. Each step you take on The Earth Path stirs your ancient memories of a sacred, soul-filled, meaningful reality with which you may have lost touch – but not lost.

Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist training is a path that takes you back to your original self and in the process heals those parts of you that have been wrangled and disconnected from the Whole.

Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist training becomes an elemental living dialogue between all parts of the Web of Healing, where we - breathed into life by Earth and sustained, nourished, comforted, and evolved as Earth - come to rest again with heartfelt love in our own coherent and resonant inner nature.

The Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist Training

When I started my company, Evenstar back in 1987, I was following a vision for creating a place of healing. Since that time Evenstar has gone through many transformations. Throughout each of these transformations, I have been drawn by my Heart’s Desire, which has been informed by Nature’s Guidance to continually merge multi-dimensional ancient wisdom with the frontiers of consciousness.

become an herbalistAs I ease into my role as an elder, I find that it is time for me to complete my current healing stage and move on in my evolution and development. Now as Evenstar and I both stand at the gateway of our transformation into True Adulthood and initiation into Elderhood, we have given birth through Direct Revelation to this beautiful work - The Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist training

It is time for me to move beyond my private practice and take up the mantle of midwifing others to give birth to themselves as a Community Spiritual/Shamanic Herbalist. The world is ready - and waiting - for each of you to take your places in your Community to assist others to walk the Earth Path back to who they really are in wholeness.

The focus of this training will be to turn your eye to the ancient wisdom of things unseen. To keep you grounded in the art of non-local magic, meaning, and mysteries and to marry that awareness to the true meaning of medicine - that which gives power and completion to a person.

You will journey through the path of your Heart Centered Intelligence and your Direct Sensory Perception of Nature to foster your remembrance of your innate, natural multi-sensory, multi-dimensional capacity and even go beyond that - reaching deep into the flow of your awareness to connect with your journey to the Magic of who you are and to living a Magical Life.

Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist Curriculum

The Earth Path to becoming a Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist is a Four Cycle, multi-dimensional, multi-sensory journey.

Our curriculum will be a living breathing entity -responding to the unique needs of the group and each individual in the group. However, we will follow a basic structure.

The Community Shamanic Herbalist journey follows two paths simultaneously:

Web of Healing

web of healingThe Web of Healing is the Sacred Core and Heart of becoming a Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist. Your task will be to become the Weaver of the Web of Healing. As you go along it will become second nature to you and will be the catalyst to move you to a new world of healing.

Remedies don’t heal. If you limit your Healing knowledge to the use of remedies and techniques alone, your contribution will be a small fraction of what it could be - and eventually remedies alone will fall short for you.

Healing requires a shift in consciousness and the Web of Healing becomes the tapestry you will weave as you spin the webstrings of attraction, love and intelligences that will hold, support, and foster the needed shift in consciousness.

Everything is connected to everything. Life is an integral process. When a disruption occurs at one point on the Web of Life, it is felt throughout the entire Web. As the Weaver you will learn to Weave the Web of Healing to support those you work with in reweaving their own Web of Life and to move into their greater wholeness.

Weaving the Web of Healing:

Herbal Medicine

The Science of Herbalism is your pathway to a refined and precise linear articulation of your knowledge and wisdom. This path will help you become a walker in many worlds. It will give you the linear balance your mind needs to confidently expand its multi-sensory, multi-dimensional wisdom. The science of herbalism will open gateways and portals to expanded understanding. If you are going to be effective in our world today you will need to have command and mastery of the science of herbalism.

learning about herbal remediesIn our first Cycle we will focus on Foundational Herbal Healing:

Clients - You will be expected to begin taking client cases during the First Cycle- under supervision.

In our Second Cycle and beyond we will begin working with:

For the first time in history chronic conditions are the majority of health and wellness issues we face. Herbal Medicine is uniquely positioned to heal chronic conditions. Chronic conditions demand an entirely different approach to healing than do everyday health challenges and acute treatment.

Herbal Allies

Herbs are healing – not just because of their chemical constituents but because they are living entities - living energy dynamics. And the healing that comes from herbs comes from the interaction between living systems– you, the herb and the other.

herbs are living healing entitiesThe plants have things to say to you about yourself, your healing, and how you can become the steward of their secrets. They invite you to step into this deep healing and, with their assistance, carry it into yourself and in doing that take a step to heal the world.

The plants have power, healing, guidance and ancient and leading edge secrets that it is time for them to give you. Your Apprenticeship with the plants allows you to receive their transmission.

We will explore:

Nature Centered Healing

Earth Heals us. Nature restores us to wellness and well-being.

We were never meant to live entirely – or even mostly – indoors.

Unfortunately, most of us have become disconnected from nature – and thus disconnected from our self. The route to finding your true self again- that happy, healthy self that is anchored in well-being and fully expressing in the world - is through walking the path of reconnecting with Nature - The Earth Path.

Nature is the ground in the Web of Healing. Human beings have an innately emotional affiliation with Nature and Nature is a fundamental component of building and sustaining good health.

There is ample evidence from psychology, biology, eco-psychology, and even allopathic medicine that Nature has a beneficial health and well being effect.

Science shows significant health gains for those in contact with Nature (of course, your heart already knew that). Being with Nature gives you improved physiological and psychological health, wellness, and well-being. Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are all enriched when we engage with nature. All indigenous people and ancient cultures knew how closely we humans are linked with Nature.

As an EarthKeeper who weaves the Web of Healing you have the responsibility to reweave the connections between Nature and those you work with.

We will explore:

Shamanism and Spiritual Multi-dimensional Accessing

No one can teach you to be a Shaman. Shamanism is a direct communication between you and Spirit. No person can teach this to another person.

the soul and spirit of NatureNo surprise then that I am not going to teach you to be a shaman. What I will be doing is acting as your Shamanic Midwife as you walk your own personal Shamanic path.

Shamanism is a self-initiated, self-chosen step into conscious multi-sensory, multi-dimensional being.

Traditionally, shamans were chosen through some interaction with nature - be it being struck by lightening or battling animal predators. And traditionally Shamans were taught directly by Spirit. Certain community initiations might have been brought into play as the Shaman took his or her place in the community but a Shaman’s “curriculum” was a direct download from Spirit - often overseen by someone acting in some form as a Shamanic Midwife.

In Sacred Earth Path Medicine, Spirit is encountered through your multi-sensory, heart centered direct sensory perception of Nature and through your conscious awareness of your multi-dimensional being through your archetypal immersion.

There are many Shamanic systems, rites, practices, belief systems, and world views. Your journey in this training will be to become more and more consciously aware of your Shamanic energy trace and to begin the process of consciously remembering and reclaiming this aspect of your self. A key process in doing this will be through in-depth Archetypal Immersion with your various multi-dimensional aspects.

As your Shamanic Midwife I will support and facilitate this journey through deliberately designed encounters and environments.

We will explore:

Becomming the Healer

Becoming a healer is a choice. Being a healer doesn’t automatically endow you with any extraordinary or mystical powers. You are an ordinary person taking an extraordinary journey. But a journey filled with unspoken expectations from both yourself and the those with whom you work. Looking squarely and honestly at those expectations and accepting or discarding them will help make you a more powerful healer. Crafting your own conscious world view about healing is what will make the journey bearable - and then joyous - for you.

Your task is to observe how long it will take you to embrace yourself as a healer. How long will it take you to say with integrity to others, “Yes, I am a healer”.

We will explore:

Sacred Earth Path Medicine Heart Centered Plant Spirit Healing

Heart Centered Plant Spirit Healing is the cornerstone of Sacred Earth Path Medicine. In one real sense Plants are our parents - having paved the way for our emergence in the webstrings of Nature.

As loving parents they watch over us and lead us on our path of development and evolution. The Plants open our access to our memories of the ancient Earth Path archetypes and energies and usher us into merging and living deeply again as the multi-sensory, multi-dimensional beings we are.

plants are portals, doorways, gateways, guides, and teachers The Plants act as portals, doorways, gateways, guides, and teachers directing the weaving of our Web of Healing. In the process, we are directed down many different Earth Paths - the ones most open to you in the moment.

Sacred Earth Path Medicine uses many ancient and modern Earth based tools, medicines, rituals, ceremonies, and healing modalities. Held within these Ways is a treasury of invitations to your Nature Centered Healing.

Healing is a mysterious and varied process. As a multi-dimensional process, it needs to address all aspects of you and your life. A Sacred Earth Path Medicine Plant Spirit Healing is deep heart, soul, and spirit healing. It is a compliment and foundation for other avenues of healing.

In Plant Spirit Healing, the focus is on providing you with the energetic spirit healing that draws you toward your true self – your original and whole self.

Sacred Earth Path Medicine Plant Spirit Healing focuses the intense and powerful energy of the Plants and acts like a tuning fork drawing you toward your own wholeness and balance and reconnecting you to your natural multi-dimensional, multi-sensory nature.

We will work with Sacred Earth Path Medicine Plant Spirit Healing:

Rites of Passage

Traditional rite of passage are undertaken when one leaves an old phase of life and passes into a new phase of life. In the Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist training, undergoing certain Nature based Rites of Passage prepare you to take your own "adventure of the hero" and to call for your vision.

Rites of Passages are ritualized, structured processes that one consciously engages in to end one life phase and step into a new life status. Rites of passage are incorporated in community life as a vehicle for making meaningful and important life’s transitions. They are used to mark such events as the onset of puberty, menarche, marriage, divorce and mid-life.

Rites of passage are a means that the community uses to officially recognize the leaving behind of an old phase of life and the embarking on a new role and function in the community. You do not undertake a Rite of Passage to solve a problem or to get something fixed in your life. You undertake a Rite of Passage to honor your transition and to give meaning to your life changes.

Rites of Passage are initiations reflected in your external quest that mirrors your process of finding and accepting the meaning in your life changes. It is part of your declaration to your community that you choose to become a vital force in your community in your new life status. It is a means of anchoring your own experience of yourself as effective, responsible, resilient, courageous and enduring. It is your vehicle for setting in motion your own processes for self-renewal and healing.

A Rite of Passage is an initiation undertaken to meet and consciously integrate your own mysteries and awareness. It is your personal encounter with your fears, weaknesses and uncertainties. Through these encounters you reveal to yourself your insights, wisdom and light and become initiated into your next level of consciousness.

At some point in your healing journey you will most likely find that in order to be truly the healer you are - you “must go off in search of the one life you can call your own” – the place where your “ deepest gladness and the world’s hunger meets”.

There will be times in your Healer’s Journey and in your process of emerging as your true self when you will feel that it is necessary to take that journey and undergo that initiation that is designed to reconnect you with the soul of yourself.

shamanic initiationBy traveling deep within yourself, you will connect with your call to embark upon your next initiation. Each initiation offers you the opportunity to grow in grace, wisdom and courage. Each gateway to the depths of yourself requires focused, guided, hard personal work in order to move to the threshold of change.

There are many initiations you will be asked to undergo as you pass through the different stages of your Healer’s Journey.

Your Rites of Passage:

In the fourth cycle you will be asked to take your own Shamanic Vision Quest and go out alone in nature for some time. This is where you will receive your unique Healer’s Vision that you will take into the world.

Sacred Crafts

When you work with Sacred Crafts in a sacred manner the process changes you. It evolves and develops you. It brings about a shift in consciousness for you.

shaman healers medicine shieldWhen you work with Sacred Crafts, it is a process which is a direct path to pure sourceful/sacred energy. Engaging in this process entrains you to be able to hold more expanded energy sources - you become a better container for the receiving of sacred energy, knowledge, and wisdom. Working with Sacred Crafts enables you to better hear, understand, and communicate with Spirit, Nature, and the Plants.

Sacred Crafts we will explore:

In the Third or Fourth Cycle, you will craft your Healers Medicine Shield - a physical representation of you as Healer

Building Personal Power

Your Own Health, Wellness, and Well-being and Your Personal Evolution and Development

Plants are pure, positive source (sacred) energy. They are always whole and complete and fully integritious (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.

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 magnitude of intensity, and dynamics.

Making the choice to become a healer is also a decision to take a life long adventure in building your personal power. Who you are, your conscious multi-sensory, multi-dimensional awareness, what you know, your wisdom, energy fields, energy traces, beliefs, language, states of consciousness, and your world view - all this impacts whomever you are working with.

Being a healer is more than being a good technician. It is about a continual process of evolving and developing yourself toward greater and greater integrity. It is about continually taking the journey to develop and evolve yourself. It is about being willing to be who you really are.

The more you are who you really are, the easier it is for those you work with to step into being who they really are.

To awaken conscious level after conscious level you must know how to nourish and feed your own spirit, energy, mind, body, environment, safety, security, and relationships. Being nourished in all areas of your life is a central role that all healers and shamans must inhabit if they are to help or heal others. Your Consciousness is an expression of the health, wellness, and well-being of your body, heart, mind, soul, and spirit and it is crucial that you learn to take good care of all of you.

Your Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist journey is one of Health, Welllness, and Well-being for yourself and for your Community.

Expanding Personal Power:

Functional Health

Enlightened health care professionals are finding better ways to take good care of health and wellness. Rather than just trying to eradicate symptoms, we are realizing that in order to stay healthy and well (rather than waiting for drastic symptoms pop up here and there and everywhere) we have to address the source of the originating imbalance in the body. We are moving away from being focused only on acute and emergency care to maintaining and restoring deep health in the body.

We are plagued by modern chronic diseases which arise from environmental, behavioral, and lifestyle choices that negatively affect our core biological functioning - resulting in progressive imbalances that if not corrected lead to chronic disease. Foundations of health are overlooked in healing because they are not diseases or illness, but rather imbalances.

78% of our health care costs in the US are aimed at treating the 133 million Americans who have chronic diseases.

Acute and emergency care can not effectively treat chronic disease - because that kind of medicine isn’t designed to treat the fundamental physiological imbalances that precede people getting ill – it only focuses on getting rid of the symptoms.

All too often symptoms can be mis-leading and restoring health and wellness based on symptoms alone can lead to unsuccessful treatment and needless continuing suffering.

The better approach that leads to vibrant health and wellness is to optimize the biological functioning in our body’s core physiological systems.

This is called systems biological medicine or Functional Medicine. Functional Medicine can help prevent the 2 million deaths a year that are the result of environmental, behavioral, and lifestyle choices. Understanding the Fundamental Foundations of Physiological Health and Wellness and knowing how to keep them working optimally gives you more biochemically accurate preventive and wellness approaches.

We will explore:

Building the Community

This training will be different than any training you have taken in the past. We will continue the essential basic methods and means of learning laid down in the Magic and Meaning of Herbs and expand and extend them.

healing communityIn the CSH training you will take the journey of fully and effectively merging multi-dimensional accessing with refined and precise linear articulation. Here we will effectively merge and weave a beautiful tapestry of both the art and the science of Spiritual Shamanic Herbal Medicine.

In addition, we will build the power, knowledge and wisdom in the group by effectively moving away from competition and judgement in learning toward facilitation, cooperation, and shared learning.

The learning of each person will become the learning available to the whole group. Research projects will be undertaken as group projects with everyone contributing to the whole.

We will participate in:

Your Community Shamanic Herbalist Practice

coltsfootGone are the days when the community provided for the well being of the practitioners who watched over them.

But the World still needs you. If they can’t find you or don’t know about you you can’t be much help. If your practice doesn’t contribute financially and in other ways towards your comfortable, safe and secure wellbeing in the world you can only share scarcity with your clients. Building a financially viable practice allows you to share abundantly with your clients. The better off you are the more you can give to the world.

We will explore:

How It All Works

The Community Shamanic Herbalist Training is woven out of several different threads.

summer herb gardensMystery Tradition -focusing on you finding your own way through the deep mysteries of life.

Apprenticeship - focusing on ways and means of training you toward the expression of your authentic self and releasing those parts of you that no longer serve you.

Midwifery - focusing on guiding, supporting, and nourishing you as you bring forth your self.

Shamanic - focusing on providing you with the depth of experience needed for you to connect authentically with your direct sensory perception experiences of your multi-dimensional self.

Scholarship -focusing on academics and mastery of key areas of wisdom.

Attraction - focusing on engagement through attraction, enjoyment, satisfaction, and fulfillment.

Evolutionary - focusing on using your un-attractions to find your way to the fulfillment and satisfaction of those parts of you now wanting expression.

Living Organism - focusing on shifting and changing to respond to the needs of the moment while at the same time holding a strong infra-structure and common ground.

Rhythmic - focusing on following the embedded natural rhythms while at the same time embracing adherence to shared standards of excellence.

Kaizen - focusing on continuous improvement in processes and change for the better

To weave such a complex tapestry takes creativity, structure, and flexibility. Thus, the Community Shamanic Herbalist Training is a different kind of educational process.

Cycles, Sacred Groves, Cycle Reviews, Inner Quests, and Personal Curriculum

In walking the edge between following your attractions and providing enough structure and organization to prevent chaos, the Community Shamanic Hervalist training is divided into four cycles.

  1. Novice Cycle - Revealing Yourself
  2. Initiate Cycle - Becoming the Practitioner
  3. Apprentice Cycle - Your Tribal Community
  4. Avatar/Earthkeeper - Healing Beyond Reason

shaman connection to natureEach cycle is composed of:

Sacred Groves

Each Cycle’s group curriculum is organized into Sacred Groves. A Sacred Grove is a sacred place where traditional people - including the Druids- gathered. Sacred Groves are represented by the Koad/Eabhadh symbol. This symbol is associated with attracting the harmonies of life through spiritual growth. 

A Koad represents the Sacred Groves of hidden knowledge being revealed with everything falling into place so that mysteries are suddenly understood.

“Koad is the one which teaches us the most about acceptance. To reach acceptance, we need to find balance within. To help do this we seek a grove of trees and gather their wisdom and knowledge.”

“Koad is of the Grove - it is the energy of sacred sanctuary, of finding a place within that is calm and peaceful and will allow us to cope … The Koad is surrounding and nurturing and protects while healing.”

“Koad is used … to isolate the student in peace and tranquility so they are receptive … [to the teachings].” 

Each Sacred Grove has approximate dates for completion. Within each Grove is listed the Group Curriculum and your requirements for each portion of the curriculum. The Sacred Grove work is posted as you go on a dedicated private social network website.

When you have completed all the requirements for each Sacred Grove and posted your end document, you and I will schedule a time for a personal, individual review of your Sacred Grove work.

For the most part it will benefit you to follow along with the curriculum according to the order of the Sacred Groves. This provides structure and will help you stay balanced with your work. However, if there is work in an another area that you are feeling especially called to you can feel free to “jump ahead”. 

Sacred Grove Work includes work in the following areas as is appropriate:

Cycle Grove Work

Certain aspect of the Curriculum are journeyed throughout the Cycle and run through each Sacred Grove. These include:;

It is possible to complete each Cycle within one year - except for the Initiate Cycle (Cycle 2) which is 18 months.

Cycle Inner Quest

During each cycle you will journey through the appropriate Nature Based Cycle of Healing Inner Quest.

Your sacred Earth Path medicine community shamanic herbalist journey is one of health, welllness, and well-being for yourself and for your community. Nature naturally takes us through a cycle of birth, growth, decline, death, and regeneration. By aligning our self with Earth’s natural cycles we provide our self with a container to help us grow and evolve as we release our wounds and Shadows. This natural Cycle of Healing brings us to wholeness as we pass again and again through its rhythms.

By consciously traveling through Earth’s Natural Cycle of Healing we are able to see our self more clearly. It becomes an inner quest for self knowledge and expansion as we are presented with calls for choices for change and growth. It takes great courage to dive deeply within our self to bring forth our sacred centered self.

Nature, Earth, and the whole of the Web of Life become your teachers but only you can heal yourself. Only you can bring yourself through evolution. All of the cosmic Web of Life Supports you but only you can make your path and walk it. No two journeys on the Web are the same. Each is unique and appropriate.

Personal Curriculum

In addition, to the group curriculum, each student will develop and implement their own Personal Curriculum. You may include anything you want that you feel will assist you in your CSH journey. I will work with each of you individually with this Personal Curriculum throughout your Cycle and you and I will touch base with your personal curriculum during each of your Sacred Grove reviews and in the Cycle Review.

Cycle Review

connection to all natureAt the end of each Cycle and once you have completed your Cycle’s work (Sacred Groves; Cycle Inner Quest, Cycle Grove Work, Personal Curriculum Work) you will complete the Cycle Review. The Cycle Review will deeply integrate the Cycle work you are completing and prepare your mind, body, spirit, and soul for the evolution that is calling you from the next Cycle’s work.

Soul Work

Each student will engage in deep soul work in your community and with your fellow students. The formation of a community depends upon engaged participation of the members and appreciative acknowledgement, feedback, witnessing, validation, and deep caring for each member of the community.

Appreciative Feedback - Each student will give appreciative feedback on a regular and consistent to all student’s postings on the private social network and will be an active, engaged participant in forming the Shamanic Herbalist Community.

Soul Friends - Students will pair up as Soul Friends. In Celtic tradition, a Soul Friend is called Anana Cara. St. Theresa of Availia describes a Soul Friend as a Soul Companion.

Mentor - Students having completed a Cycle will reach back to those students in a previous Cycles to offer support and guidance.

Cycle Completions

All work needs to be completed for the Cycle you are journeying to progress to other Cycles, complete the Community Shamanic Herbalist training, and to receive your appropriate Certifications and Ordination.

Completion Certification - At the end of each Cycle you will be given a completion certificate for that Cycle.

In order to obtain the Completion Certification you must have successfully completed all of the requirements for that cycle.

The required work is composed of:

Ordination - It is anticipated that within a year or so that I will be able to ordain graduates of Community Shamanic Herbalist cycles as a “Lay Spiritual Healer” (or other appropriate title). This will enable you to have religious protection for the Community Shamanic Herbalist work you do. The details of this are still in formation but hopefully this option will be available to you if you wish to participate.

The Flow of Your Work

The Community Shamanic Herbalist training flows to you at a pace at which it is possible for you to complete each of the Cycles within one year - except the Initiate Cycle (Cycle 2) which takes 18 months. Completion of the entire Community Shamanic Herbalist trainings includes completion of all four Cycles.

Each Sacred Grove comes to you with a start date and end date to help keep you on track. These are suggested date lines and you are not required to meet these date lines. You can complete all Cycles at your own personal pace honoring how your life is unfolding and your own personal needs and rhythms.

However, to maintain structure, several underlying processes will progress on a liner time line.

Linear Structure

Class Meetings

teaching herbal wisdom and plant spirit connectionAll students in all Cycles will meet together in class meetings. Both on-site and long distant students will meet together.

Currently - meetings are planed for twice a month each month March through November.

We will not have class meetings December - February. However, we will continue to be active on the CSH private social network online site.

December through February of each year will be a time of deep inner work related to your Inner Quest. It will also be a time where you are able to catch up or work ahead on your Sacred Grove or Cycle Review work. Also, during this time you will be able to work more deeply with your Personal Curriculum and with me on your Personal Curriculum and all Community Shamanic Herbalist course work.

All Personal Curriculum Work will continue with me during this time. All appreciative feedback, Anam Cara work, Mentoring work, and engaged participation will continue December through February of each year.

No Sacred Grove or Cycle Reviews will be done with me December - February.

Class Times

We will meet from 10:30-5:30 Eastern time - although this may change depending on the different time zone needs of remote students.

Attendance at classes is NOT optional.

For those long distant students where the time zone difference is so great as to cause poor rhythmic living effects other arrangements will be made. Options include- updating with your Anam Cara and /or Student Mentor; Group conference calls; and if needed personal updating with me.

Long distant students will be present at class through Skype,Goggle Hangouts or other appropriate online meeting systems.

Scheduling

If you know ahead of time that you will not be able to attend a scheduled class, please present a request to me and the group to make a date change. All date changes will be considered and we will work with a Natural Attractions Scheduling process.

We all will do our best to consider all requests for schedule changes. However, there are certain parameters that we will follow:

Do your best to not schedule other events on class dates as it can be very disruptive to everyone to have to rearrange schedules. But please don’t hesitate to ask to re-schedule if you need to.

If you find that you need to unavoidably miss a class at the last minute there will be options for updating you. However, if you find that you are missing classes through poor planning on your part I will work with you to put better strategies in place.

Payments

Payments are based on a Cycle time line length of a year (or for the Initiate Cycle - 18 months). If you are working on the Novice Cycle and have made your payment for the year, but then do not complete all of the Novice Cycle work within the linear year - when the anniversary date for next year arrives, payment for the next year will be due.

For example, if you start the Novice Cycle in September of one year your next payment period begins again the following September even if you have not met all requirements and still working on the Novice Cycle work and not yet ready to move onto the next Initiate Cycle.

Completion, progression from one Cycle to the next, and total tuition amounts will be happening for you at the rate of your own personal and life rhythms held within the CSH infra-structure.

Registration is Now Open for the Community Shamanic Herbalist Training

Admission - Graduation from The Magic and Meaning of Herbs training is a pre-requisite to enter into the Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist training.

The Portal for admission is open once a year so that The plants watch over usall students are at the beginning of a Cycle at the same time.

You may request admission. I will also extend an invitation to certain students.

A personal interview with me is required for admissions.

Registration – Admittance Interview and Pre-registration required. To schedule your Admittance Interview or if you have questions contact me at maryann@evenstaronline.com. .

Tuition - Full tuition is $2742 per yearly Cycle. The Initiate Level is 18 months and full tuition for that 18 month cycle is $4114. A non-refundable, non-transferable deposit of $250 is due at registration. The remainder of your tuition is due no later than one month before your start date.

You can make your payments by credit card, debit card, an ACH Check-By-Phone debit from your checking account, personal check or Pay Pal. If you are mailing your check please mail to Mary Ann Copson, 154 Evening Star Lane, Shipman, Va. 22971. We do prefer checks if possible.

Please review the Withdrawal and Refund Policies.

Financial Arrangements - Full tuition is due before classes begin, but we recognize some may find it difficult to make one large payment so, alternatively, upon request, and with prior approval you can finance your tuition with us making Monthly Payments.

If you are financing your Tuition your Monthly Tuition Payment is $250 a month for 12 payments or 18 payments for the Initiate Cycle. Your first non-refundable, non-transferable payment is due at registration. Regular Monthly Payments begin one month before classes start.

When you are making monthly payments, all of your payments will be processed by credit or debit card, post-dated checks, or as an ACH Check-By-Phone debit from your checking account, automatically on the 10th of each month for your payments.

If you wish to make monthly payments in cash, you will need to also supply a back-up automatic payment method. If you are paying in cash your payment is due on or before the monthly due date of the 10th of the month. If your payment is late (without prior arrangements having been made) your payment will be processed through your back-up automatic payment method.

Please understand that even if you are paying Monthly Payments that the Withdrawal and Refund Policies apply to you. Please be sure that you can commit to payments for the full length of time of the training you wish to take. If you withdraw early your Monthly Payments will continue to be processed as agreed upon.

To request to make Financial Arrangements contact me at maryann@evenstaronline.com or 434-263-4996.

Please review the Withdrawal and Refund Policies.

Reduced Tuition Options

Are you ready to begin?

The Plants are calling - is it you they wish to speak with?

earth based medicineIf you recognize that it is you that the Plants are calling to, come and step onto The Earth Path and embark on your Sacred Earth Path Medicine Journey. As you do, your body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit become free and wild again. As you step through the gateway of an Earth based Medicine and Spirituality you reawaken to your direct sensory perception of Nature and reclaim your self as the multi-sensory, multi-dimensional being you are longing to know - again.

But the Sacred Earth Path Medicine Community Shamanic Herbalist training is not simply about coming back to your self again. In the process of resting again in your own true inner nature, you will find that you will have cultivated a spiritual/ psyche, multi-sensory reciprocity with all of Earth and know again that you are a point in the universal rhythm and pulse of all of life. You will know that when you heal yourself you heal the world and when the world is healed you are healed.

"To work in the world lovingly means that we are defining what we will be for, rather than reacting to what we are against."
--Christina Baldwin