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Welcome to the
Philo School of
Herbal Energetics
Located on 16 enchanted acres of certified organic land, mixed farmland and redwood forest, The Philo School offers apprenticeships and classes, herbal medicine consults, products and an emphasis on native and naturalized plants as well as drought consciousness.
We are also a Botanical Sanctuary. Our medicinal garden has over 200 species of medicinal plants, all on Registered Organic land. 13 acres are undisturbed redwoods.... all of this just 16.3 miles in by road from the Pacific Ocean and only 2 1/2 hours north of San Francisco.
The School offers apprenticeships with Mary Pat Palmer, MA, Registered Herbalist and Matthew Wood, MSc, Registered Herbalists as well as other classes with nationally and internationally known herbalists. Call us at 707-895-3007 or email
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Mary Pat Palmer (above left with her copper alambic still) teaches The Heart of Herbology, a plant and farm based apprenticeship which uses the extensive gardens to teach about plants from seed to harvest with an emphasis on plant identification and understanding the growing requirements of each plant. 
The Heart of Herbology Class began March 17th, 2012 - to register for next year
Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Call at 707-895-3007!!
The Heart of Herbology meets for seven months, the third weekend of the month (except September) from March through September. Also included are organ systems (e.g. The Digestive System, The Circulatory System), basic Ayurveda, other World Systems, Plant Medicine Making and other topics. The school has a large library and students use it and other resources to do research.
IT'S OFFICIAL! JOLIE LONNER EGERT WILL TEACH THE DESIRE FOR BOTANY MAY 26th & 27th ... SHE IS A TERRIFIC BOTANIST AND TEACHER. IF YOU DESIRE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE BOTANICAL ATTRIBUTES OF PLANTS, SHE'S THE ONE TO HELP YOU!!! Go to www.gowildconsulting.com for more about Jolie and her work.
The Desire for Botany: For Herbalists and Other Plant Lovers
This course provides an introduction to wild plant identification, which is a valuable skill for many nature lovers, herbalists and wild food foragers. When you begin to see plants through the eyes of a botanist, the intricate beauty of nature comes to life! It is very rewarding to gather food and medicines from the wild and in order to safely and ecologically harvest wild plants it is imperative to identify the plant correctly. This fun course is designed to introduce students to the necessary skills and knowledge to positively identify and use wild medicinal plants. This course is open to anyone. Herbal training is not required.
Topics covered include:
.. Understanding plant parts and descriptions.
.. Overview of botanical classification and groupings such as the families and genera.
..Distinguishing characteristics of important medicinal plant families.
.. Botanical guides and keys.
.. Ethical wildcrafting. No experience or prerequisite required
August 25, 26
CANDIS CANTIN TEACHING: Ancient Origins of Herbal Medicine –
How To Apply these Ideas to the Modern Times
In this weekend program Candis will talk about one of her passions – history of herbal medicine. She will delve into the past to Egypt, Greece and Persian medicine and recount how the various cultures passed on knowledge and plants from all parts of the known world. Where did Elecampane come from? How about Walnut trees and Mimosa trees. What are the stories and journeys of these plants? From there Candis will discuss the ideas presented in different systems of healing about rejuvenation therapy – especially as Chinese and Ayurvedic Medicine are concerned. While so much of our Western herbal medicine talks about cleansing in the Eastern traditions there is a whole study on restoration and rebuilding. She will also reference this to the latest that science has to offer about this subject – touching on the endocrine system, mitochondria, epigenetics and more.
Coming December 2, 2012:
Animal Medicines/Plant Medicines
A Weekend on Shamanic Herbalism
Herbal knowledge interpenetrates with the animal kingdom
and with human healthcare. The different functions of
human society, the different constitutions and personalities
of people, the different medicine gifts, the organs of the
body are all represented by the animal powers or medicines,
and these in turn relate to plant medicines: bear, deer, badger,
panther, catfish, wolf, etc. In this class we will learn to see
the inter-connections and to practice a very simple and
practical herbal medicine.
Matthew Wood also teaches a six month Advanced Apprenticeship based on his books which include The Book of Herbal Wisdom. The core of the class consists of study of the organ systems in order to understand how the body works in a holistic fashion, yet compatible with modern science and also relatively conformable to TCM. Then we will match plants to organ systems and physiological processes.
hot/excitation cold/depression damp/stagnation dry/atrophy
wind/constriction damp/relaxation.
This system makes sense of both Greek and nineteenth/early twentieth century.
Western herbalism: Study includes the neuroendocrine regulation behind the operation of organ systems, and the plant operating on this level. This will allow us to understand basic relationships between organs and systems, and basic constitutional types.
We will NOT offer this apprenticeship in the Fall of 2012, but will again in the Fall of 2013.
HOWEVER, Matthew will be teaching a class on Animal Medicines/Plant Medicines
and shamanic aspects of herbal medicine in December of 2012 (see above)
My article, "The Alchemical Allure of Herbology; Transformation and the Copper Still" has been published in the
Journal of the American Herbalists Guild, Volume 9, #2. Click here: Alchemical Allure @ AHG
Check out the YouTube video on making a white rose hydrosol David LaLuzerne of HerbTV made of my demonstration for him.... a DVD about the school is also coming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdPSa3tq_MQ
Holistic Health Perspectives Radio Show on KZYX
My article, "The Alchemical Allure of Herbology; Transformation and the Copper Still" has been published in the
Journal of the American Herbalists Guild, Volume 9, #2. Click here: Alchemical Allure @ AHG