01/01/2026
What is Celtic Herbalism?
I’m not sure anyone can fully answer that question.
I did my first formal journey into plant 🌱 medicine under the tutelage of a Woman, Gina McGarry, whose grandmother had been a village herbalist in Kildare, Ireland.
She taught me how she was practicing herbalism in the early 2000’s along the Oregon Coastline, in Kalapuya Territory.
She taught us how to work with the moon, sun, and the movement of the stars to better understand the nature, the personality of the plants.
She taught us how to slow down, listen, engage the senses, and how to begin to learn some Irish Gaelic in order to introduce ourselves to our plant relatives.
And then came the medicine making, and the deepening of a relationship with the plants and the land.
Why did I go to study plants with Gina?
My ancestors hail largely from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and England.
During my work doing solidarity work with Native American resistance to energy neocolonialism and to preserve their cultures and sovereignty the question would always come up, “who are you? Where are your people from? Where are they buried?”
My study with Gina was part of that journey and my journey with plants since that time is a continuation of that journey.
I collaborate with plant healers in my daily life: for pain relief; to help heal the lungs and guts and nervous system; and to stay grounded and sane in these times.
My year long course, A Year in Plants, is designed to be an affordable experience that comes in manageable online video classes that include materia medica, plant biochemistry, herbal astrology, and medicine making.
You can take it month by month or sign up for the whole year.
If you’re in the Twin Cities area, here in Minisota Makoce, or nearby, it includes monthly plant 🌱 walks to get to know the plants of the wetlands, woodlands, and prairie throughout their yearly cycle.
Maybe 2026 will become your year in plants 🌱.