Curriculum Outline | *Subject to slight shifts but monthly themes are solid

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This is a level 2 training and this curriculum is intended for those with a foundation in herbal studies. Students are expected to have basic medicine making skills and a basic understanding of energetics and common herbal actions. Please set up a time to talk to Kelly if you are unsure if this is right for you. 

 

Our in person meeting days are Saturdays from 10-4/5pm and Sundays from 10-4/5pm, with breaks for snacks and a shared meal time each day (bring your own).

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If traveling a further distance, please connect with Kelly about potential sleeping accommodations. We will be gathering monthly for 10 months at our new 22 acre farm, apothecary, and homestead in Auburn, Maine.

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Practicum hours are required for each student from April through November 2026 ~ and this includes 3 hours per month outside of our scheduled weekends ~ totaling 24 hours upon completion of the program. Practicum hours are a unique opportunity to have more time with the plants tending to tasks.

 

These tasks include : planting seeds, moving compost, plants, and soil, and watering, harvesting, and processing plants. This also includes time for solo "plant-sits" for deepening your relationship and learning to listen to the plants themselves.

 

This is intentional time for you to drop in with yourself, your peers, and the land ~ and to listen deeply ~ touch, taste, smell, and feel the energy directly without distractions of taking in information. These hours can be scheduled at your own convenience throughout the month.

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This curriculum interweaves many layers of energetic architecture and spiritual herbalism with practical scientific theory and information. It is intentionally laid out in a way in which the themes and teachings overlap, so you can have a rich universal perspective and learn how interconnected these teachings are.

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*Medical Astrology is not mainstream pop astrology, focused on personalities and predictions. It is rather grounded and rooted in scientific theory, as we learn about the planets through our own bodies and the plants. It teaches us how the sky and earth are intimately connected, and how the macrocosm manifests within the microcosm of individual living organisms.

The cultivation of this unique perspective will make you a better herbalist, as it provides you with a fresh and embodied lens from which to see through.

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Any curriculum questions, or any questions at all, can be sent directly to Kelly via email

kelly@earthspiralcommunity.com

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1. Introduction to Alchemy & Astrological Herbalism

April 25th-26th

Expanded Focus:

• Origins & Evolution: Explore the History/Herstory of Herbalism, Vitalism, & Alchemy. Universal teachings. 

• Four Elements & Qualities: Learn hot/cold and wet/dry as the foundational language of energetics and formulation, and how elemental balance shapes vitality.

• Plant Spirit Communication: Get acquainted with our core plant practice.

• Astrological Foundations: Introduce planetary spheres as a framework for understanding plant affinities.

 

2. Saturn ✧ Earth ✧ Structure, Bones & Time 

May 23rd-24th

Expanded Focus:

• Alchemy & Archetype: Study Saturn as the principle of crystallization, structure, and time — the fixed force that builds form and establishes boundaries.

• Body Focus: Explore the musculoskeletal system — bones, joints, fascia, cartilage, teeth, skin — and its deep connection to mineral balance and ancestral strength.

• Tissue State: Work with the cold/depression tissue state, learning strategies to restore circulation, tone, and warmth to rigid, stagnant systems.

• Materia Medica: Solomon’s Seal, Comfrey, Boneset, Horsetail, and Mullein as Saturnian allies for structure, repair, and boundary.

• Practical: Practice mineral-rich decoctions and infusions, bone, connective tissue,  and muscle formulations

• Learn to perceive structural and postural patterns as reflections of deep energetic tendencies.

• Psycho-Spiritual: Explore Saturn’s teachings of patience, discipline, and embodied time, and how trauma patterns imprint into bone and fascia.
   

 

3. Venus & Moon ✧ Water

✧ Hormonal Intelligence, Womb Ecology & Fluid Body

June 13–14 

Expanded Focus:

• Alchemy & Archetype: Explore Venus as the force of harmony, magnetism, sensual nourishment, and relational balance; and the Moon as the principle of cyclical change, intuition, fluidity, and ancestral memory. Together, they govern the body’s waters—physical, hormonal, emotional, and ancestral.

• Body Focus: Study the physiology of the kidneys, urinary tract, ovaries, womb, cervix, endometrium, mucosa, lymph, menstrual tides, and fluid body intelligence. Understand how hormonal rhythm and cyclical patterns reflect the archetypal interplay of Venus and the Moon.

• Tissue States: Work with damp/relaxation and damp/stagnation, as well as patterns of laxity, depletion, and excess. Learn to restore tone, support moisture, harmonize movement, and balance the inner waters through energetics and formulation.

• Cycles & Rhythms: Explore Lunar and Venusian influence on fertility, gestation, nourishment, and emotional tides, and their role in menstrual health, womb ecology, and emotional processing.

• Materia Medica: Rose, Damiana, Mugwort, Cleavers, Licorice, Linden, and Mallow are some key Venus–Moon allies for hormonal regulation, womb support, grief work, lymphatic movement, sensual nourishment, and emotional body healing.

• Practical Work:  Create feminine support elixirs and balms, Craft heart and grief elixirs and lymphatic formulas.  Explore kidney, lymphatic, and hormonal assessment techniques. Develop skill in reading tongue and nail signs related to hydration, and fluid imbalance.

• Psycho-Spiritual Themes: Receptivity, sensuality, intuition, emotional intelligence, relational healing, cyclical living, womb-centered practices, and red-thread lineage.

• Guest Teachers: Danielle Black – Venusian arts, hormonal waters, fluid body teachings. Emily Nixon ~ Red Thread Lineage exploration (soom

4. Mars ✧ Fire ✧ Digestion, Metabolism & Activation

July 11th-12th

Expanded Focus:

• Alchemy & Archetype: Mars as the principle of ignition, drive, and transformation — the spark that initiates movement and metabolic fire.

• Body Focus: Stomach, liver, gallbladder, adrenals, and male reproductive system.

• Tissue States: Excitation and dry/atrophy — balancing excess fire while kindling depleted systems.

• Materia Medica: Ginger, Echinacea, Rhodiola, and Prickly Ash as fiery activators and metabolic allies.

• Practical: Create digestive bitters, male reproductive formulas, and adrenal support formulas

• Assess digestive fire (Agni) & identify liver stagnation

• Psycho-Spiritual: Explore sacred anger, will, right action, and initiation into one’s inner fire.
   

 

5. Sun ✧ Flame ✧ Heart, Blood & Vital Force              

August 15th-16th

Expanded Focus:

• Alchemy & Archetype: The Sun as the radiant center — essence, vitality, leadership, and illumination.

• Body Focus: Heart, arteries, blood, circulatory system, thymus, and the animating vital force.

• Tissue State: Heat/excitation — how to clear excess fire while building and sustaining solar vitality.

• Materia Medica: Hawthorn,  Saint John’s Wort, Angelica, and Rosemary as solar allies for the circulatory system and heart.

• Practical: Create solar elixirs for winter blues, oxymels, and heart-centered tonics.

• Practice drop pulse diagnostics

• Psycho-Spiritual: Explore joy, leadership, selfhood, and the heart as the seat of consciousness. What wounds present here

 

6. Mercury ✧ Air ✧ Nervous & Respiratory Systems      

Sept 12th-13th

Expanded Focus:

• Alchemy & Archetype: Mercury as the volatile bridge — messenger, communicator, and connector of realms.

• Body Focus: Lungs, bronchi, brain, vagus nerve, sensory pathways.

• Tissue States: Dry/atrophy and wind/tension — restoring moisture, calming spasms, and supporting movement.

• Materia Medica: Blue Vervain, Skullcap, Gotu Kola, Ginkgo, and Elecampane as Mercurial allies for the mind and nerves.

• Practical: Create nervine formulas and respiratory tonics; explore breath and nervous system modulation practices.

• Assess vagal tone, trauma patterns, and respiratory function.

• Psycho-Spiritual: Work with adaptability, communication, and perception; explore Mercury’s role as a bridge. Using the breath as a tool for presence and transformation.

• GUEST TEACHER MONTH ~ Breathwork session with Tania Zuckerman of Spiraldance Breathwork
   

 

7. Jupiter ✧ Ether ✧ Liver, Growth & Spiritual Digestion

October 10th-11th

Expanded Focus:

• Alchemy & Archetype: Jupiter as the expansive force — growth, optimism, and vision.

• Body Focus: Liver, hips, growth processes, vision, spiritual digestion.

• Tissue State: Damp/stagnation — moving stuck fluids and energies to restore expansion and flow.

• Materia Medica: Dandelion, Burdock, Elecampane, Tulsi, and Lemon Balm as Jupiterian allies for liver support, expansion of consciousness, and visioning.

• Create liver tonics and spiritual expansion formulas

• Psycho-Spiritual: Explore purpose, dharma, and spiritual growth; cultivate the higher mind.

• GUEST TEACHER ~ Flower Essence Practitioner TBA

 

8. Final Projects & Spiral Closing                                   

November 14th-15th

Expanded Focus:

• Integration: Bring together all threads of plant, planet, body, and soul into final projects and/or case studies.

• Presentations: Share medicines, formulations, and projects with the circle.

• Reflection: Reflect on our circles' journey, growth, and transformation as a student and herbalist.

• Embodiment: Anchor teachings into daily life and herbal practice beyond the apprenticeship.

• Continuum: Explore pathways for continued mentorship, advanced study, and clinical development.
   

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