2013 Herbal Resurgence Reviews – and 2014 HerbFolk Teachers Announced!

2014 HerbFolk Gathering Teachers Confirmed!

Plant Healer’s 2014 event for herbalists will be again held at gorgeous Mormon Lake, in the forests south of Flagstaff and the incomparable Grand Canyon – Sept 18th-21st

LONGER CLASSES: You asked for longer, more in-depth classes, and we’ve done as asked: no classes will be shorter than 2 full hours, with many 3 hrs. and 5 hrs. long.

In keeping with our Enchanted Forest theme, our awesome teachers will be be presenting classes with a folkloric/mythic component as well as clinical and hands-on audience participation.  Make plans now to attend next Sept. 18-21st.  Keep abreast of the latest updates as well as read a trove of articles and interviews for herbalists by subscribing to the FREE Plant Healer Newsletter.  Subscribe by filling in your name and email in the box at:  www.PlantHealer.org

It was painful selecting proposals from the many intriguing applications we received this year, but we made our final choices based on how closely the classes fit the theme and what balance of topics were needed. Many who didn’t get a slot for ’14, will be hosted in ’15 and beyond as we continually evolve new themes.

Our 2014 HerbFolk presenters are not only esteemed herbal elders but also the important up-and-coming voices of our times – including a curandero, a novelist & storyteller, a perfumer, an ethnobotanist, an herbal beer maker, an intuitive in traditional Chinese Medicine!

We are happy to announce our 2014 Teachers:

David Hoffman • Matthew Wood  • Guido Masé • Sean Donahue • Chuck Garcia • Phyllis Hogan • Kiva Rose • Jim McDonald • Kiki Geary • Merihelen Nuñez • Ben Zappin • Kristi Shapla • Asia Suler • Irina Adam • Rebecca Altman • Shana Lipner Grover • Elaine Shiff • Stephany Hoffelt • Denise Tracy Cowan • Jesse Wolf Hardin and more to follow

“What an exciting conference! Plant Healer events are the new wave of herbalism, featuring speakers and a community rich with a combination of long hands-on experience and fresh creativity.”
-Paul Bergner

”This is a must not-miss event for those who love herbs, great herb teachers, great music (Wow!), cutting edge presentations, herbal friends and fun; in a beautiful setting.”  –Matthew Wood
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Reviews & Pics From the 2013 Herbal Resurgence Finale

The concluding Herbal Resurgence was nothing short of incredible.  Kiva and I were deeply touched by the incredible sweetness of everyone who came, a particularly wonderful gathering of this most unusual, sensitive, caring, loving, creative and motivated tribe.  Things went amazingly smooth, the weather was perfect, and the memories we’ve gathered are a bouquet we can expect to last a lifetime.  Next year’s HerbFolk Gathering is going to be like nothing before… but first we join you in commemorating this year’s
Herbal Resurgence Rendezvous…. fostering the birth of new conferences across the country,
fueling a movement.

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Lena Carol was the first herbalist attendee to write us this year:

“I’m still on the road back home, but truly feel like it is home I am leaving behind.  I have been to all kinds of events from regional ones to women’s conferences and I have truly never felt so welcomed, so empowered, and so wild as I do at Plant Healer gatherings.  I would like to attend lots of different conferences every year if I was able, but if I could only go to one it would have to be the Resurgence, Medicine of The People, Herbfolk or whatever else you ever decide to call it.  There is nothing like it for sure!  It feels like my tribe, and in so many ways it has give me back my life!  Thank, you, thank you!”

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Asia Suler – an inspired young herbalist and upcoming 2014 teacher – wrote the following lovely review:

The Herbal Resurgence: Finding “Self, Earth, Plant and Purpose”

”By mid-morning on Thursday the healers market was filled with conference attendees. Children and elders with long hair, donning talismans and roots, sneakers, shawls, baseball caps and button downs. On one table slow burned moxa, on another, delicate rolls of herbal manna wafting the faint scent of cinnamon and maca.  From the beginning, I had heard wonderful and diverse things about the Herbal Resurgence Rendezvous. It was a gathering of disparate teachers and skills, an invocation of ancient and resurfacing traditions— a wild, wide and expansive invitation to re-imagine the worlds in which we all live. In short, it was a celebration. Not only of the groundwork, the bedrock, the wellspring of herbal and earth-based wisdom— but the sheer diversity and individual nature of its resurgence.

”Over the course of the next several days, time seemed to stretch, grow simultaneously tumultuous and still. In between the life-expanding classes, the sheer depth of knowledge presented and shared, there were moments of profound self-sanctity— arrival. Underneath, and around, and within the heart of this gathering was a call— not only to come to know the green beings of this world, and the ways in which they create space, but to find your own place within the nature of existence. Instinctively, each plant can feel and find its own distinct niche to prosper and grow. While tall mullein thrives alongside the sun-baked highway, creeping chickweed is at its most succulent in the cooling shade of giant ponderosa pines. People, healers, herbalists, teachers are no different. Each one of us has a sacred place in which we alone have the ability to root, receive, flower forth and grow. In their cornerstone class: “Our Medicine, Our Path: Recognizing Our Unique Gifts, Carving Out a Niche” Kiva and Jesse delivered an eloquent and inspiring summation of the true blessing of this conference. The divine encouragement of this gathering is not simply to explore the charted terrain of the communally given, the known, but, as Jesse so eloquently summarized, to develop a “personalized relationship with self, earth, plant and purpose.”

”Just as people change, transform and grow into new and more authentic incarnations of themselves— so does this beloved gathering. Ever true to themselves and the always-evolving nature of living and learning, Kiva and Jesse have invited this gathering to heed the call of its own metamorphosis. Next year’s envisioned HerbFolk gathering promises to be equally illuminatory and incandescent.  In fact, it has already become the embodiment of this gatherings most sacred teaching: change, find oneself, honor the diverse and healing being that you are, and seek out the transformation you alone can carry into this waiting world.

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Stephany Hoffelt, insightful herbal teacher and student of the plant kingdom, posted this review on her Naturally Simple Living Blog:

It’s been a while now since I’ve been away from my friends and I am sitting here missing them like mad tonight.   The Herbal Resurgence Gathering has come and gone, for 2013.  The attendees  are all home to our various communities feeling recharged and inspired.  As always, there was something about the feeling of camaraderie  that occurs at this conference that makes you wish you could bottle it and just take little sips all year long.
Also appealing is the fact that Mormon Lake is a beautiful place. That  first night wandering around on the mountaintop campsite, illuminated by the light of the full moon, reminded me that this gathering was a timeless event. Since the very earliest days, people have been drawn to converge on places like this. Snuggling in my sleeping bag; listening to the elk bugle lulled me to sleep faster than any lullaby.

I have to admit, I am prone to choosing to attend the classes held outdoors. Learning underneath the towering pines is infinitely preferable to being stuck in a hotel conference room.   The trees hold us in their healing energy and open our heart and our minds to the messages we are hearing.  No class made that more clear than the class Julie Caldwell taught on Sentience of Place. I also think that I think teaching in that environment brings out the best presentations, as well.

There were so many amazing offerings this year, it was hard to choose between them all.  Teaching myself this year,  made that even more challenging.  I missed some classes I really wanted to attend, especially Sean and Jim’s class which I heard was amazing.  Still, I managed to get my fill of herbal wisdom.  I finally  got to take a couple of classes  from Matt Wood on Tongue and Pulse diagnosis.  Larken Bunce’s presentation on her work with free clinics was inspiring and Sam Coffman’s class on GMP’s was almost enough to make me relax about that issue,  just  a little.    I was especially happy to watch  my friend Traci’s class on holistic body image because she brought up a lot of topics that need to be discussed and addressed about we as providers approach the idea of encouraging a positive self-image in our clients.

Even the vending hall is just fun.  Instead of a place where people are trying to sell you stuff, it takes on the its own unique character as a social  gathering place and a venue for learning.    The medicine makers who come to this conference freely share their wisdom and ideas.  Rebecca Altman outdid herself this year with inspiring new products and familiar favorites.

I am always amazed by the fact that year after year Kiva and Wolf manage to send participants home fired and ready to take herbalism back to the people in their communities.   The people who come to this conference aren’t just business people or  there to network.  They are people who share a calling- each one of them is lured by the plants to spread a message of empowerment and independence.  And the plants connect us all in away that the term colleague doesn’t quite cover.
It is an honor, and a blessing, to be a part of that community.

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Irina Adam, Romanian born herbalist, sensualist perfumer (see her Etsy Shop) and 2014 HerbFolk presenter writes:

”Among the land brand new to me, surprising new plants, tastes and smells, beautiful new friends…

”The healing power of story stood out for me as a theme in this conference. What’s more magical than a good story, told mindfully, and listened to all ears, that comes at the perfect moment with just the right message, and opened up space.

”Some of my favorite story medicine was in the ‘Hawthorn’ class, with Sean Donahue and Jim McDonald, and Kiva and Wolf’s ‘Our Medicine, Our Path’.

‘… And see ye not that bonnie road
That winds abut the fernie brae?’

”There was a palpable calmness, inclusiveness and friendly vibe at the event. Kiva & Wolf were present, welcoming and delightful. It didn’t feel rushed like other conferences can be, tho it went by so quickly!

”This was my first journey to the Southwest. The site is gorgeous, with Ponderosa pines and wildflowers blooming all over. On my way home I begged my friend Irene to drive thru Sedona, and thus got to be for the first time ever in a canyon in the high desert! The rock walls, and the variety of plant life took my breath away. Now i can imagine the canyon at the Anima Center.

”A very personal experience was that i got to go at the last minute, as if on the tiny wing of a faerie. It went by so lovely and quickly that while i was there part of me wasn’t sure where i was.. I realized this especially when i woke up from a nap in the flowers wondering where am i, for a little longer than usual. Right where i should be… And when i returned part of me was definitely in the Ponderosas for the next several days. Still wandering in the yellow flowers, still listening to the stories, allowing them to change my being.”

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Phyllis Hogan, our dear herbalist friend (Winter Sun Trading Co.) writes:

“The Herbal Resurgence movement is fueled by the boundless energy and committed drive of some of the most creative and cutting-edge herbalists out there today.  The topics presented, the products and formulas at the Healers Market, and the infusion of social consciousness into this latest Plant Healer event was innovation at it’s finest.  And at the foundation of it all is a deep  respect for the plants on all levels.  If you want to know where modern herbalism is headed, getting involved with this forward-thinking scene is a must.”

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Maleza Furiosa touched us by writing:

“Back from the 2013 Herbal Resurgence Rendezvous. What an event this year… never in my life have I had my identity, my experiences, and my damn stubborn sureness of the necessity of this meandering branched path mirrored back at me from so many directions. My deepest gratitude to Kiva Ringtail Rose for her honesty, tenacity, and trailblazing.”

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Cynthia Margarita kindly said:

“This was such an incredible event, my favorite this year!  The magic of the Coconino forest was an amazing background for all the learning and inspiration we got from the amazing classes.”

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Nancy Green was energized, which makes all worthwhile:

“Once again, you should be pleased that all your hard work managed to produce a wonderful gathering.  There were so many wonderful presenters and topics, it was really tough to choose, I was inspired and energized!  The site is perfect; the fellow travelers, delightful; the classes, valuable and diverse.  (The shopping’s pretty great, too).  I found Julie Caldwell’s “Sentience of Place” a particularly moving and profound experience.  Wow!  I definitely left in an altered state!”

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Lovely Kristen’s thank you made our day:

“I want to thank you and Kiva again for putting on such an amazing gathering. The variety of voices makes us stronger. I felt an upsurge of energy and passion…”

 

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Dear Laurel Beck reminds us of why we do this work::

“The workshop topics were inspired.  We were offered a balance of practical issues and equally essential forays into the heart and spirit.  Wolf and Kiva managed to be in 50 places at once, taking care of details and people nonstop.  They kept their arms around us the whole time. No small trick with over 300 people to look after.  How did they do that?!!!

”Integrity shone through the whole event, from the organizers to the teachers, to the people I sat next to during the classes.  And the forest, of course…  After several days of being in such beauty with people who understand what life really is, what’s important – who we are and how we fit into the larger fabric of life on this beautiful planet – it’s been difficult to reenter the not-so-real world of my everyday life.  But I have come back changed, and full of gratitude for this experience!  So many blessings and a thousand thanks.”

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Kiva and Wolf’s gratitude goes out to all the wonderful attendees, sponsors, teachers and volunteers, for Trail Boss Don and all his help, and for the additional photos contributed for this blog by Adrienne Ellis and Irina Adam.

www.PlantHealer.org

To see many more photos of this event, click here to download the latest issue of:

The Plant Healer Newsletter

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