Slavic Ancestral Remembrance & Healing Circles
Baba Yaga, powerful goddess of the Slavic world.
Date: 3/2, 4/6, 5/4, 6/1 and 6/16
Time: Friday evenings 7-10; Saturday 10-5 plus evening fire circle.
Vasalisa the Brave
These circles are a space for exploring and remembering the indigenous mind of our Slavic ancestors. Class time will include prayer, ritual, dreamwork, genealogical work and other methods of indigenous science to help to activate our remembrance process.
This work is based on my studies and training in the Indigenous Mind Program and the pioneering work of my mentor Dr. Apela Colorado, founder of the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network. As a Master’s degree student in the Indigenous Mind Program, I deeply explored my Polish ancestral roots and wrote about my process in my thesis entitled: Journey Into My Polish Indigenous Mind.
Cost: $375
To Register: Application required and $100 deposit to secure your space. Please email atava@ancestralapothecary.com for an application.
Vyedma Baba, Slavic wise woman & healer. By Max Dashu.
The Curandera’s Toolkit Class in Oakland
6 Mondays, 2/13-3/26, 10 am to 12:30
Cost: $250 (includes materials fee)
Location: 3798 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA
Ancient cultural healing systems like curanderismo have much wisdom to offer us on our healing paths. In this class, you will learn the basics of holistic healing from the perspective of Mexican curanderismo.
We will explore the basic concepts of health and illness and how it impacts our body, mind & spirit. We will work with the healing energy of the sacred elements, with an emphasis on herbal medicine.
Class time includes a local herb walk so you can get to know how to recognize and use our local medicinal plants. In class you will also have a chance to make and take home many different herbal medicine preparations.
Class will be taught by Atava and a few special guest teachers. No class will be held on March 12th.
$100 deposit required to save your space in the class. The balance is due at the time of the first class.
For the latest updates, find this class on Facebook.
UNM Curanderismo Conference and August Classes
Image from Codex Badiano, 1592 Aztec herbal manuscript
Greetings!
As we greet the month of August (and the month of my birthday), I am feeling very blessed and grateful. I recently returned from my annual trip to a ceremony in New Mexico. Afterward, I attended a few days of the University of New Mexico’s incredible two week class entitled Traditional Medicine without Borders, Curanderismo in the Southwest and Mexico.
I arrived in time to receive teachings and healings from a group curanderos from Mexico. My heart is still full from this experience. It was a gift to be in the presence of such high caliber healers with strong roots in the ancient healing wisdom of Meso America.
Curanderismo has so much to offer modern people of all cultures and walks of life. One of the most important aspects of curanderismo is the attention it gives to the tonal, or human spirit. So many people today are suffering from soul sickness or soul loss. This can manifest in many ways- as depression, anxiety, insomia, apathy, addiction, violence, emotional numbness as well as many forms of physical and mental illness.
One of the most effective treatments for the spirit is a traditional cleansing ceremony called the limpia. In the limpia ceremony, the curandero prays over the clients as she or he works with the elements of nature- fresh aromatic herbs, flowers, candles, incense, water, along with songs, drums, & rattles- to cleanse the person of unwanted or imbalanced energies or emotions.
With an expert curandera, a limpia ceremony can be very long and intense. However, most people can learn how to perform a simple limpia on themselves and their loved ones. It is a great skill to have in these times when most people are in deep need of spiritual cleansing.
In honor of this great tradition, I’ll be teaching the basic elements of the limpia in both of my upcoming classes, The Healer’s Toolkit and Herbs as Spiritual Allies.
The Healer’s Toolkit begins Tuesday August 3rd and will be held for five Tuesday evenings in August. In this class we will cultivate skills and knowledge to treat basic health concerns with acupressure and herbal medicine.
Herbs as Spiritual Allies will focus on connecting with the spiritual energies of plants and working with them to balance and heal ourselves. This class will be held mostly outdoors so we can open to the healing power of the plants, the earth and the elements.
Finally, I’m happy to announce that this month that Floracopeia is launching a brand-new website called Medicine Crow. Medicine Crow is dedicated to all aspects of the plant-based, grass roots health care revolution. It is exciting to be a part of a global community of healers, herbalists, gardeners, & environmentalists dedicated to preserving and continuing the wisdom of medicinal plants. Watch the inspiring video by founder David Crow and join us!
Have a blessed month,
Atava
Ancestral Healing Workshop, Nov 14th
Ancestral Legacy and Personal Healing Workshop
November 14th, 2009 and January 16th, 2010
Time: 10 am- 5 pm
Location: Casa del Sueno, Orinda, CA (10 minutes from Rockridge Bart)
In many traditions, this is the time of year to remember and honor our ancestors. As the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer, it is a time for introspection and dreaming seeds for the future.
On the first day of this two part workshop, we will mindfully contemplate our ancestral legacies. Through ritual, altar building, meditation, and sharing stories we will explore the connection between our ancestors and our personal healing journeys. This first class will culminate as each workshop participant identifies her or his own ancestral healing and legacy project.
We will reconvene for the second part of the workshop on January 16th. On this day we deepen our exploration of our ancestral legacies and personal healing by working with our ancestral dreams. Also, on this day participants will have an opportunity to share their ancestral legacy projects that they began in November.
Ancestral Altar in Poland
To Register: Send a $50 deposit made out to “Circle of Ancestors” to 3798 Grand Ave, Oakland 94610. Or request a Paypal invoice by email. Balance due on the first day of the workshop.
For more information:
Call 510 652 5213 or email polishancestralhealing@gmail.com.
www.polishancestralhealing.org
www.circleofancestors.org
Tags: Genealogy, Polish ancestors
Herbal Medicine Making: Tinctures, the Folk Method
by Atava Garcia Swiecicki, Herbalist and Medicine Maker in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The folk method for making tinctures is simple. Just buy some of your favorite hard alcohol (about 80 proof) like vodka, brandy or tequilla. Put your herbs in a glass mason jar and leave some room on the top. Cover the herbs with enough alcohol so that there is about 1 inch above the herb.
The alcohol-herb mixture is called an herbal maceration. In one month, you can strain out the liquid by using cheese cloth or muslin. Now you can store the liquid tincture in the right sized amber glass jar.
Tags: herbal medicine making, Herbs, tinctures
Spiritual Heritages of Ancient Europe Web Class
A woman I greatly admire and respect, feminist historian Max Dashu is offering a very exciting on line course about the Spiritual Heritage of Ancient Europe. She will be teaching from her upcoming book, The Secret History of the Witches and will include many of the thousands of images she has collected over the past thirty years. Max’s work is an important contribution to all people, but especially women of European descent who are working to remember/recover/heal their indigenous roots.
Max is the founder of the Suppressed History Archives which “aims to uncover the realities of women’s lives, internationally and across time, asking questions about patriarchy and slavery, conquest and aboriginality. About mother-right, female spheres of power, indigenous philosophies of spirit– and the historical chemistry of their repression. Even more important, their role in resisting oppression.” She has created a DVD on Women’s Power in which she presents images and stories of the women who have been omitted from history- the women healers, shamans, leaders and priestesses from around the world.
Tags: ancient Europe, Witches, women's history
Herbs as Spiritual Allies Class Starts February 2008
I’m excited to be teaching a class that brings together my two passions, indigenous mind & herbal medicine. My intention is to create a space for personal exploration & connection with plants based on the tenets of indigenous science. We all come from indigenous people who practiced plant-based spiritual healing traditions. For some people, these traditions are alive or in recent memory; for others these traditions have been lost & buried for thousands of years. But the memory of these healing ways and working with plants on a spiritual level lives deep in our cellular memory. My prayer is that this class can be a place to reawaken these memories and these healing gifts so that they may flourish once again on Mother Earth.
The class will be a place for personal healing (“Healer, heal thyself”) and for the development & training of healers who wish to incorporate the spiritual medicine of plants into their work.
Sacred Datura, One of My Favorite Plants
Top Ten Reasons to Buy Atava’s Herbal Products
Top Ten Reasons to Buy Atava’s Herbal Products:
10. Shopping at a small business supports our local economy.
9. Products made from locally grown herbs conserve resources by limiting fossil fuels needed for transportation. Many of Atava’s herbs come from local farmers.
8. Organically grown herbs preserve natural ecosystems.
7. Supporting your local herbalist and not “health food” corporate conglomerates is good for your karma.
6. Digestive bitters: everyone needs them for optimal digestion, especially during the holidays.
5. Elderberry cordial: tastes yummy & protects your body against viral invasion, like all those nasty colds & flus.
4. CALM Herbal Compound: Support your nervous system and keeps you peaceful, especially in this crazy overextended time of year.
3. PROTECTION flower essence spritzer keeps your personal boundaries crisp & clean.
2. POWER MUSHROOMS: Support your body’s immune system with deep immune tonics. This formula is anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, helps to lower cholesterol plus it supports the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system, the nervous system and the digestive system. Need I say more? Mushrooms rock!
1. GOOD HEALTH is a priceless gift.
GIFT CERTIFICATES also available for Acupressure, Jin Shin Jyutsu & Herbal Consultations
Call or email to make an appointment to come by my Oakland office & sample these amazing remedies. Shipping available at extra cost. Pay by cash, check or Pay Pal.
VERY VERY SOON you’ll be able to order on my on-line store. Stay tuned!
Coming in 2008: Herbal House Party in Oakland.
Forget Tupperware! Enjoy an afternoon of free herbal classes, and sampling herbal teas, tinctures & cordials. Atava’s hand-crafted, organic herbal products will be for sale. For exact location, call 510-541-2715 or email atava@ancestralapothecary.com
Blessings to you all as we gently move into the longest night of the year,
Atava
