Meeting Your Essence Through Flowers Wed 4 June,
2pm – 5pm | An experiential introduction to Essences with Rachel Singleton and the chance to explore their beauty, subtlety and dynamism in relation to each participant’s individual needs. Flower Essences are a gentle and beautiful means for helping us to contact our inner essence - our true self when we are deeply aligned, centred and in harmony with our life and path. Harnessing the light and beauty of pristine blossoms, they bring this vibrational quality to the energy of the person taking them – helping us to uplift, balance and refine our energy to a more harmonious and conscious level. It is as if Essences help a person’s true nature to unfold and push through the somewhat resistant and compacted soil of old out-dated patterns and ways of being. They set up a resonance between our energy and that of the plant they come from, honing, refining and lifting our vibration to more harmonious levels. Rachel Singleton is a Flower Essence Practitioner and the founder and producer of LightBringer Essences. LightBringer Essences was set up in 2000 to create a range of healing tools which harness the subtle energies of rare and unusual wild flowers, in a way which respects and honours the environment from which they come. | Watercolour Landscapes Thurs 12 June, 10am – 3.30pm | Dilston Physic Garden provides a unique setting for an inspirational day with local lanscape artist, Matt Forster. Matt is a professional painter of ten years and co-founder and director of the ArtWorks Galleries in Newcastle. Matt has travelled extensively and loves to demonstrate and teach to others the techniques of watercolour - painting's most challenging, yet rewarding medium. Suitable for beginners and the more experienced. Please bring your own materials. Matt will also bring some additional materials for you to purchase on the day, if needed - if you know in advance that you wish to do this, please let us know. | The Hedgerow as Medicine Chest & Larder Thurs 19 June,
10am – 3.30pm | An introductory course with local medical herbalist Ross Menzies designed to give participants a good understanding of the basics of herbal medicine and the many uses of the plants that grow around us. Learn to identify and use several native herbs. Prepare an ointment to take home and discover the wonderful healing properties of plants that are often considered as ‘weeds’. Make your own herbal tincture to use medicinally. Learn how to treat minor ailments and to deal with first aid situations using local plants, ideal if you want to be better able to utilise what grows in our area. Discover how many herbs are also excellent ‘wild foods’. This is a practical, hands on day with a great deal of useful knowledge packed in, a day of reconnecting with nature and in particular the nature we find here in Northumberland. | Plant Spirit Medicine Fri 27 June,
10am – 3.30pm | A further day with Ross Menzies, introducing participants to the more subtle qualities of plants. Traditionally herbalists, shamans and wise women have developed a very deep and respectful relationship with the plants they use. In most traditions of herbal medicine, plants have been considered to be of benefit to people on account of their energetic properties and their spirits, whereas in the modern world the focus tends to be very much upon chemical composition. This is a day of gettting to know a number of local herbs much more deeply, experiencing them as living beings with a lot more to share with us than simply the chemicals they contain. Ross has worked with author Stephen Harrod Buhner and this course will draw on some of his teachings and techniques as well as upon Ross’ own experience of working closely with herbs. Participants will prepare their own herbal essence of a plant that they have developed an understanding of during the day, which can be used to treat physical and emotional imbalances. | Tree Medicine Fri 4 July,
10am – 3.30pm | Trees have been used as medicine for as long as people have walked upon the earth. They also have a long history of being revered as powerful and special in their own right. In the modern world trees can help us back to a deeper connection with nature and can re-awaken a sense of reverence and awe, allowing us to feel a sense of belonging and strength in nature. Local herbalist, Ross Menzies, will help you to learn how to identify a number of our native trees, discover their medicinal properties, awaken the ability to feel and sense their spirit and share in their particular wisdom. There is a rich folk lore about most of our native trees and this too will be explored. Come and enjoy - and prepare your own tree essence to take home with you. | Homeopathic First Aid for the Summer Thurs 10 July,
10am – 1pm | A relaxed, but informative morning with Gemma Sleightholme-Kilbride, Victoria Hedley and Diana Mulholland from the Northern College of Homeopathic Medicine in Gateshead. Come and learn about homeopathic first aid remedies that will come in handy on your summer adventures. These remedies are safe, non-toxic, cause no side effects and are naturally effective to use for adults and children. A homeopathic first aid kit will fit in your pocket and can be used to treat cuts, bruises, insect bites, burns, food poisoning, motion sickness and more. You will have the time to wander round and see some of the plants used to make remedies growing in the garden, as well as to sample a hand-picked herbal tea. | Lady's Herb Lore Thurs 24 July,
2pm - 5pm | Spend an afternoon in the garden meeting a range of wonderful and mysterious plants that have been known through history for their close association with women - in symbolism, religion and healthcare. From herbs dedicated to the goddess Artemis to plants associated with the Virgin Mary; from traditional birthing remedies to modern day herbal medicines that continue to be used specifically in womens healthcare. Course participants will explore the qualities of a selection of plants (touch, taste, smell, observation...) and this experience will be integrated with a broad range of information about the plants' history, folklore, healing qualities and medicinal properties. You might think you already know some of these plants ! Be prepared to meet them anew and find out much more..... The course is led by Jill Schnabel. Jill has worked in the region for 15 years teaching about gardening and plants. Her fascination with all aspects of the human-plant relationship informs and enriches the wide range of courses that she offers. She is also a practising medical herbalist and runs a herbal medicine clinic in Newcastle upon Tyne. | Creative Cooking with Herbs Thurs 31 July,
10am – 3.30pm | A hands on introduction to herb cookery with Phillipa Lee. Pick, taste and combine summer herbs to make sauces, salsas, relishes, marinades, dressings and salads. Learn how to use culinary herbs to add flavour and vitality to everyday foods. Phillipa Lee is a trained chef, cookery writer and artist. Phillipa works in a top organic vegetarian restaurant in the Lake District and runs creative cookery retreats in Spain. Bring your favourite knife, chopping board and a sense of adventure! | Plant Magic Thurs 7 Aug,
10am – 1pm | A magical morning with local plant historian Marie Addyman. Inside the entrance of Dilston Physic Garden is an area called ‘Plant Magic’, showing plants which effect transformations to mind and spirit. These are holy plants and unholy plants, found in both the Old World and the New, and used by both the priest and the witch. Many are poisons; many grow in our gardens unrecognised. All have strange effects, which we will learn about in this highly-informative session.
| Plants of the Gods Sat 13 Sep,
2pm - 5pm | An enjoyable and interactive afternoon, exploring the shamanic use of plants. Local shamanic practitioner, Gwen Brown, will introduce you to shamanism and take you on a short journey into the spirit world using visualisation to the beat of the shamanic drum. Elaine Perry, a neuroscientist at Newcastle University researching disorders of the brain and plant medicines, will then bring you down to earth with a discussion of how shamanic plants influence brain mechanisms to induce visual hallucinations and an exploration of other hypotheses about how these plants can take us into the spirit world, including ‘psi’ and DNA. After a wander around the garden to see the shamanic plants that grow in Northumberland, accompanied by a herbal tea and tincture to sample, George Wake, an ethnobotanist and pharmacologist will let you see (and buy if you want) some rare shamanic plants that he has collected on his journeys and tell you about the kind of trip you might have with them! | William Turner 500th Birthday Celebration - Herbal Medicine Old and New Wed 10 Sep,
10am - 3.30pm | A fascinating and informative day celebrating the tradition of herbal medicine in Northumberland begun 500 years ago by the Morpeth physician William Turner, 'the father of English botany'. Plant historian, Marie Addyman, will explain the old medical ideas operating in Turner's time: humour theory and the degrees of herbs, plus astrology and the doctrine of signatures. Medical herbalist, Ross Menzies, will discuss the development of modern herbalism and offer the opportunity for some practical work, such as making an ointment. |
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