We have just completed this years eight-month apprenticeship, a beautiful sharing of botanical passion, knowledge and love. The journey has felt like a relief to my system, as knowledge and experience are meant to be shared. Just as a fruit tree can become burdened by an abundant crop, with its boughs at risk of breaking if the fruit is not harvested, so too can knowledge become stagnant if it is not shared. This apprenticeship has been our way of offering that harvest to others.
This image was created by one of the apprentices who worked together with the rest of the group to create this image for them all to remember some of the gifts received. It is a reflection of the journey they shared together with some of the key plant allies and core elements that supported us along the way.
Together, Suneet and I bring over three decades of experience in connecting with plants and the land, making medicine, sharing herbal knowledge, and learning from traditional healing lineages. It feels deeply aligned and fulfilling to share, month by month, ways of connecting with plants and the land, deepening relationship to place, crafting medicine, developing botanical and foraging knowledge, and learning how to be a safe and confident home herbalist.
This journey is also deeply healing. It is an opportunity to decolonise our medicine and return to being held, supported and healed by plants; recognising that plant medicine can nourish and support us not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually, too.
The beautiful people who have gathered with us over the past eight months on this apprenticeship have gifted us so much wisdom through the insights and healing they have moved through, the sharing of their encounters, and their own unique experiences and conversations with the plant kingdom.
We are deeply grateful for the gift of their time and presence, and for the ways they have enriched the soil of the school, helping it to grow and flourish.
This year really taught me about the cultivation of healthy foundations, how shared values create a culture, that culture creates the conditions for right living and connection. That a healthy culture can support us to experience, remember and return to our essential nature, to grow and flourish with more ease.
This is such an important part of the shamanic school of herbalism and is the soil we grow the work from. When we prioritise unconditional listening and love, compassion, kindness, generosity, understanding, mutual value and respect; Then healing happens, learning is easier, connection bonds and more life enters. This is my biggest takeaway from the journey we all shared together over the past eight months and will carry forwards and grow in the next cycle.
Below is a reflection from one of the people who joined the 2026 apprenticeship, sharing with us some glimmers from over the eight months:
My deep spiritual journey began after losing Cyder, my beloved horse of 32 years. Before the apprenticeship, I had spent three years working with a shamanic healer, which was an amazing experience. I already had a deep spiritual understanding and a loving connection with the trees. Working with their wood is both my passion and my work - a relationship that means so much to me.
Yet I still came carrying a lot, with so much to heal. I had no idea just how much this apprenticeship would help me, or how deeply I would come to love the plants.
Nettle in the North helped me explore belonging and boundaries.
Yarrow in the West brought a precious sense of connection with loved ones.
Chamomile in the South helped me be more honest with myself about what I needed.
St John’s Wort and Rose in the East brought love and belief,
and Mugwort at the Centre helped me find my voice and bring it all together.
There have been tears, laughter and precious moments of feeling held and loved. Each plant holds a special place in my heart. I leave feeling stronger within myself, with a deeper trust in what I feel and know.
My heartfelt thanks to our teachers for holding us with such love and care, and to everyone who shared this journey with me. I would wholeheartedly recommend this apprenticeship. The course has ended, but my journey with the plants is only beginning.
