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

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This curriculum and training 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.

 

This apprenticeship is very clinically-focused, training and preparing you to work 1:1 with clients in a safe, effective, and transformational container.

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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.

Having this perspective will make you a better herbalist, as it provides you with a unique 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

March 21-22 ~ Spring Equinox

Expanded Focus:

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

• Sulphur, Mercury, Salt: Explore the Three Essentials — spirit, soul, and body — and how they manifest in both human physiology and plant medicine.

• 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 

April 11th-12th

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

• Clinical: Develop skills in musculoskeletal assessment, postural observation, and supporting connective tissue repair.

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

 

3. Venus ✧ Water ✧ Hormonal Intelligence & Kidney Waters

May 9th-10th 

Expanded Focus:

• Alchemy & Archetype: Venus as the principle of attraction, beauty, harmony, and balance — the magnetic force of life’s unfolding.

• Body Focus: Ovaries, kidneys, urinary tract, and endocrine rhythm as the hormonal waters of the body.

• Tissue State: Work with damp/relaxation, learning to restore tone, clear stagnation, and harmonize fluid dynamics.

• Materia Medica: Clary Sage, Rose, Damiana, Mugwort, Red Clover, and Cleavers as Venusian allies for hormonal regulation and sensual nourishment.

• Practical: Create elixirs for the emotional heart and grief and lymphatic formulas. Practice kidney, lymphatics, and hormonal assessment techniques

• Psycho-Spiritual: Work with themes of receptivity, sensuality, and relational healing.

• GUEST TEACHER ~ Danielle Black 

 

4. Moon ✧ Waters ✧ Womb, Cycles & Emotional Body

June 13th-14th

Expanded Focus:

• Alchemy & Archetype: The Moon as the principle of cyclical change, gestation, fluidity, and ancestral memory.

• Body Focus: Womb, endometrium, cervix, menstrual tides, stomach, mucosa, and fluid body intelligence.

• Cycles & Rhythms: Study the lunar influence on fertility, gestation, and emotional tides, and its role in menstrual health and womb ecology. 

• Materia Medica: Peony, Licorice, Mallow, Linden, Violet, as lunar allies for womb wisdom and emotional body healing.

• Practical: Create feminine support elixirs and balms, and dream teas.

• Clinical: Develop skill in reading tongue and nail signs of dehydration, mapping emotional patterns, and understanding the fluid body.

• Psycho-Spiritual: Explore intuition, red-thread lineage, dreamwork, and womb-centered healing practices.

• GUEST TEACHER MONTH ~ EMILY NIXON

 

5. 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

• Clinical: Assess digestive fire (Agni), identify liver stagnation, and track metabolic patterns.

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

 

6. 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, Motherwort, Saint John’s Wort, Angelica, Calendula, and Rosemary as solar allies for the circulatory system and heart.

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

• Practice pulse diagnostics, blood pressure assessment, and vitality evaluation.

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

 

7. 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.

• Clinical: 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 TBA
   

 

8. 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

• Clinical: Assess liver detox phases and signs of stagnation vs expansion.

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

• GUEST TEACHER ~ Flower Essence Practitioner TBA

 

9. The Outer Planets ✧ Soul-Level Healing & Evolution

November 14th-15th

Expanded Focus:

• Alchemy & Archetype: Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, and Chiron as transpersonal forces of transformation, dissolution, awakening, and healing. ~Guest Teacher TBA

• Birth Chart Reading Workshop ~ Guest Teacher TBA

• Practical: Explore rebirth and transformation on the spagyric path; create adaptogenic and consciousness-expanding formulas.

• Clinical: Work with chronic and ancestral patterns; explore trauma-informed herbalism.

• Psycho-Spiritual: Journey into death and rebirth cycles, mysticism, and the wounded healer archetype.
   

 

10. Cosmology and the Doctrine of Emanation              

Dec 12th-13th

Expanded Focus:

• Doctrine of Emanation: Explore the soul’s descent and ascent through planetary spheres and how these forces manifest in physiology and materia medica.

• Practical: Develop planetary materia medica profiles and practice planetary timing in formulation.

• Herbal Business Avenues discussion

• Herbal Crafting and Medicine Making

• Honoring the Season of Dreaming

 

 

11. Clinical Herbalism Intro, Assessment & Body Reading

Jan 9th-10th

Expanded Focus:

• Integration of Knowledge: Synthesize plant, planet, and body frameworks into practical clinical application.

• Assessment Skills: Develop advanced intake practices, tissue state differentiation, and whole-body assessment strategies.

• Diagnostic Tools: Practice tongue and nail diagnostics and learn to interpret physical signs of imbalance.

• Formulation Mastery: Build formulas tailored to constitution, tissue state, and planetary influence.

• Case Studies: Work through real client cases to deepen assessment and herbal application skills.

• Psycho-Spiritual: Explore the role of the herbalist as bridge and translator of nature’s intelligence. Learn how to assess core wounding in individuals.

 

 

12. Final Projects & Spiral Closing                                   

Feb 6th-7th

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 the year’s 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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