Ancestral Herbal Apprenticeship
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR 2025 COHORT
Come back to your ancestral roots through the threshold of the herbs and the remedies that have been used through the mists of time to nourish and heal.
Join me for this year-long apprenticeship offered in the lineage of the Irish and Native European tradition. This intensive is a journey of becoming a community herbalist, a person with the cure, as we were referred to in Ireland, and includes herb school in Ireland, a week to connect with the plants and make remedies on and with the ancestral land.
Join me to reclaim what it means to be a community folk herbalist, to tend to your own hearth and to the hearth of your community. This course focuses on the traditional herbal medicines of Ireland, where I have lived and studied for over 20 years, and is part of a lineage, as taught to me by my teacher Gina McGarry.
Throughout history, an apprenticeship has been a primary way of learning that included immersing and actively engaging with the topic, not just sitting in a classroom learning from a linear perspective. This is the way of Ancestral Herbalism: to participate, to create and co-create, to listen, to taste, to smell, to tend to the land and engage with the herbs. Every single day.
You will learn, at my virtual hearth (all classes will be via Zoom in MST) and at my physical hearth in Ireland. As an apprentice, you will actively put into practice what we learn by creating herbal remedies and potions: we will create three or four remedies every month, which will build your herbal apothecary and actively integrate herbs into all aspects of your life.
Remembering the herbs and the remedies held in the memory of your DNA will change your world and the world to whom you tend.
Please note, this is not a substitute for therapy or trauma work. Tonja is not a licensed mental health or health care professional. She is your guide as a folk herbalist who has been practicing for 20 years using the folk and traditional medicine techniques from Ireland. She is your guide to empower you to reclaim these traditional ways and care for your own communities.
As an Ancestral Herbal Apprentice:
you will drink seasonal herbal infusions every day
you will ally with a specific herb throughout the course
you will work with folk charms and spells that our Irish ancestors have used and you will create your own
you will learn and practice medicine-making, herbal and holistic remedies to address body systems and dis-ease
you will connect with plant spirits
you will integrate aromatherapy and flower therapies, tinctures, teas and other herbal remedies into the wheel of healing
you will engage with your teacher, class community and outside community to offer your nourishments, assist with mutual aid and other special projects
Please consider your commitment to this course. The following are expected to be completed to earn a certificate as a community herbalist. If you are not willing to be committed to these requirements, this may not be the course for you.
Required for certification:
10 herbal monographs
An herb fair project
An herbal first aid kit
An herbarium
A book of herbal recipes and charms
Presentation to the class on a case study using the Four-Element Theory
Ten service hours: educating community, offering mutual aid, volunteering
90% attendance
Allow ten+ hours for work outside of class each month to complete projects/ requirements.
All details/ syllabus will be provided at the beginning of the course.
ANCESTRAL HERBALISM DATES FOR 2025
Ancestral Herbalism will meet one Saturday per month from 10 AM- 4 PM MST, with a one-hour break for lunch, from February 2025- January 2026 plus one Sunday per month from 10 AM- noon MST for Q&A and catch up.
There will be no live sessions in July. We will gather in person in Ireland for Herb School in September.
To foster community, we will meet in smaller groups throughout the month, as an option for connection (an invitation, not required).
*All classes are live via Zoom except herb school in Ireland in September.
CLASS DATES:
All times are in Mountain Standard Time
Saturday 15 February 2025 from 10am-4pm MST
Sunday Q&A: 23 February from 10am-noon MST
Saturday 15 March from 10am-4pm MST
Sunday Q&A: 30 March from 10am-noon MST
Saturday 12 April from 10am-4pm MST
Sunday Q&A: 20 April from 10am-noon MST
Saturday 17 May from 10am-4pm MST
Sunday Q&A: 25 May from 10am-noon MST
Saturday 14 June from 10am-4pm MST
Sunday Q&A: 29 June from 10am-noon MST
No classes in July
Saturday 16 August from 10am-4pm MST
Sunday Q&A: 24 August from 10am-noon MST
HERB SCHOOL in IRELAND: Friday 5 September- Friday 12 September
Sunday Q&A: 28 September from 10am-noon MST
Saturday 18 October from 10am-4pm MST
Sunday Q&A: 2 November from 10am-noon MST
Saturday 15 November from 10am-4pm MST
Sunday Q&A: 30 November from 10am-noon MST
Saturday 13 December from 10am-4pm MST
Sunday Q&A: 28 December from 10am-noon MST
Saturday 10 January 2026 from 10am-4pm MST
