Upcoming Herbal Intensives
Foundations of Herbal Medicine:
May 13 - 19, 2027
7-Day Training
Upcoming: Enroll Now!
Build a strong foundation in herbal medicine through hands-on learning, medicine making, and direct experience with medicinal plants. Develop the skills and confidence to understand herbal energetics, craft effective remedies, and integrate herbal medicine into daily life.
Wise Womb Way:
Herbalism for Women
Feb 27 - March 3, 2027
5-Day Course
Upcoming: Enroll Now!
Deepen your connection to the rhythms of your body through herbal medicine, cyclical awareness, and women's wellness traditions. Explore practical tools for supporting vitality, balance, and well-being throughout the many seasons of womanhood.
Doula Training:
Become a Birth Keeper
Feb 6 - 14, 2027
9-Day Training
Upcoming: Enroll Now!
Learn to provide grounded, compassionate support throughout pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and pregnancy release. Develop the practical skills, confidence, and presence needed to walk alongside women and families during life's most transformative transitions.
Newly Added:
Cacao, Herbs & Mushrooms:
Feb 1 - Feb 4, 2027
4-Day Course
Upcoming: Enroll Now!
Discover how cacao, herbs, and medicinal mushrooms come together in this immersive 4-day training. Designed for cacao facilitators, herbal enthusiasts, wellness practitioners, and curious learners, to explore relationship-based herbalism, mushroom cultivation, and cacao from tree to cup creating a bridge between people, plants, and community.
Learn Herbalism In-Person
Step beyond books and online courses into a fully immersive herbal education experience. Learn herbal medicine in person through hands-on medicine making, plant walks, live demonstrations, and direct mentorship while surrounded by a community of fellow plant enthusiasts.
The Earth need’s more herbalists to steward the health of her land and her people.
She needs us to remember her gifts, now, more than any other time in the history of humanity.
Will you be a part of the shift?
Our Teaching Philosophy
We always take time in class to dive into the rich traditional history of using medicinal plants with an anthropological view to holistically conceptualize this complex and diverse history.
HISTORY OF HERBAL MEDICINE
In every course there is a medicine making component where we learn a number of different preparations depending on the theme of the course material. We will have some fun in the lab, and you get to take home with you the medicine you made yourself.
MEDICINE MAKING 101
HEART CONNECTION
In order to deepen your practice, a budding herbalist does best incorporating a rooted spiritual understanding of herbal medicine. Learn how to sit and connect with plants from a place of humility and respect. Every course we host will explore these connections with plants.
& TALKING TO PLANTS
TISSUE STATES & ORGAN SYSTEMS
In every course we will cover tissue states and how they manifest in disease patterns, how to pair those patterns with herbs that fit the same profile. Its about using all the tools and unique ways of understanding plant energetics that’ll give you a language for the forest and the body.
Learn how plants express energetic actions and affinities through their taste, appearance, and growing environment. Learn the terminology necessary to speak and think like an herbalist, and see the plant world with new eyes.
HERBAL ACTIONS & ENERGETICS
Learn the ethics of being an herbalist. How to best source your materials, wildcrafting and tending wild stands. With this knowledge, you will ensure abundance and contribute to the continued thriving of plant medicines in the wild.
RESPONSIBLE HERB CRAFT
Want to talk to a Human?
Discover personalized guidance and answers to your questions about our in-person herbal courses and retreats. Connect with our facilitators, and experience the unique wisdom of what we offer. Book your call today and take the first step on your journey with us!
Meet Your Teachers
-
Herbalist, Mother, Teacher, Birth & Postpartum Doula, Steward of Casa Curativa
Julia Bentley, originally from Tennessee (ancestral territory of the Cherokee people), found her path into herbalism through her own healing journey from eczema and psoriasis. After studying with Sajah Popham, Julia moved to Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, where she founded Casa Curativa, a sanctuary where people from all over the world can connect with the healing power of plants.A humorous and engaging teacher, Julia blends lightheartedness with deep wisdom, encouraging students to laugh and find humility in their practice. Her lectures on alchemy and the spagyric arts invite exploration into the more mystical aspects of herbal medicine. Julia’s entrepreneurial spirit shines through in her work, as she has cultivated Casa Curativa into not only an educational hub but also a thriving herbal brand, focused on quality, ethics, and community.
Living onsite at Casa Curativa with her son Emmitt, Julia continues to steward the sanctuary, nurturing both the plants and the community that surrounds it. Her teaching inspires students to embrace both the practical and the profound in their herbal practice, empowering them to create their own path in the world of herbalism.
-
Herbalist, Master Natural Builder, Full-Spectrum Doula
Ashley McDonell, a native of Minnesota (ancestral Dakota and Anishinaabe land), has been a dedicated herbalist for over a decade. She studied under Kiva Rose and Matthew Wood, learning to connect deeply with the plants and the land. Ashley is also a master natural builder and full-spectrum doula, blending her knowledge of herbalism with a holistic approach to life and healing.
Known for her engaging teaching style and thought-provoking "soapbox rants," Ashley’s classes challenge students to think critically and connect deeply with the plants, the earth, and themselves. She invites students to see herbalism as more than just a practice—it’s a way of being in relationship with the natural world.
Ashley’s approach to healing is grounded in the belief that plants hold wisdom that extends beyond their chemical properties, and her teaching inspires students to explore both the science and spirit of herbalism.Ashley McDonell, a native of Minnesota (ancestral Dakota and Anishinaabe land), has been a dedicated herbalist for over a decade. She studied under Kiva Rose and Matthew Wood, learning to connect deeply with the plants and the land. Ashley is also a master natural builder and full-spectrum doula, blending her knowledge of herbalism with a holistic approach to life and healing.
Known for her engaging teaching style and thought-provoking "soapbox rants," Ashley’s classes challenge students to think critically and connect deeply with the plants, the earth, and themselves. She invites students to see herbalism as more than just a practice—it’s a way of being in relationship with the natural world.
Ashley’s approach to healing is grounded in the belief that plants hold wisdom that extends beyond their chemical properties, and her teaching inspires students to explore both the science and spirit of herbalism.
-
Herbalist, Astrological Guide, Musician
Lindsay is an herbalist, permaculture practitioner, and educator whose work explores the relationships between plants, people, and the patterns that shape both earth and cosmos. Raised in Michigan among the Great Lakes, her early background in entrepreneurship, leadership, and performance arts fostered a lifelong interest in storytelling and living systems.
After training as a yoga teacher and completing a Permaculture Design Certification in Guatemala in 2015, Lindsay pursued studies in natural medicine, nutrition, and aromatherapy before formally training with Sajah Popham through the School of Evolutionary Herbalism. She relocated to Lake Atitlán in 2020, becoming a key force behind Casa Curativa’s apothecary systems and operational development.
Known for her precision and organizational insight, Lindsay has helped design production workflows and quality control protocols that support the creation of consistent, potent herbal medicines. Her teaching weaves herbal energetics, physiology, astrology, and hermetic philosophy, guiding students to recognize the patterns connecting plants, bodies, and cosmic cycles through storytelling, somatics, rituals and experiential learning.
We love teaching people how to use plants medicinally…
As a trifecta of teachers, we have a diverse array of backgrounds, perspectives, and disciplines to offer our students. We share collective knowledge of a wide scope of medicinal preparations, along with traditional knowledge and materia medica, as well as the latest science to confirm ancient wisdom.
The symbiotic exchange of ideas and philosophies is part of the alchemy of teaching, and we experience the fun of learning every time we share our knowledge of herbal medicine. There are always new and exciting connections to be made, as we delve into the rich body of work that is herbalism.
What our students are saying
“This calling of the plants is deeper than a profession or a hobby. The true herbalist is not designated by any certification or degree; our mark is invisible, for it is inscribed into our hearts by the hand of Nature itself.”