A three and a half month introductory course exploring community herbalist approaches to supporting grief + nervous systems, plant allies for grief and trauma, and herbal rituals + practices of care.
Upcoming Course Dates
Fall 2025/Winter 2026
Sept 30th, 2025- January 28th, 2026
Cohort and self paced study now enrolling!
Herbalism for grief + nervous system support
course Topics
Herbalist Approaches to Supporting Grief
Herbal Teas/Infusions, Tinctures, & Flower Essences
Herbal Energetics
Making Kin and Making Trouble: Situating Community Herbalism in Troubled Times
Supporting Nervous Systems with Adaptogens, Nervines, + Beauty Medicine
Remedies for supporting sleep & protecting dream space
Herbal Baths, Adornment Magic, and Plants in grief ritual
Grief, ancestral herbalism, + re-enchanting ancestral practices
Supporting the Digestive System in times of emotional distress
Food as medicine, Kitchen Witchery, & building relationships with our dead through food
Supporting the Hearts and Lungs in times of grief
Herbs in Community Care & Mutual Aid: Dreams and Practices
Grief Formula Design
Creating your Grief Support Apothecary
COHORT topic + session schedule
All live sessions will be held on zoom and recorded for those unable to make it live.
PART 1: Opening the Space, Overview of Herbalist Approaches to Supporting Grief
Tuesday, September 30th, 6-8pm EST: Meeting one another and opening the space
Wednesday, October 1st, 6-8pm EST: Discussion & Medicine Making Day: Building relationships with Plants, Making Space for Our Medicine, Herbal Teas/Infusions
Recorded Lecture: Overview of Herbalist Approaches to Supporting Grief
Recorded Lecture: Herbal Teas, Tisanes, & Water Infusions
Recorded Lecture: Herbal Energetics
Wednesday, October 8th, 6-8pm EST: Discussion: Herbal Energetics, Enchantment & Beauty Medicine, More Herbal Infusions
Wednesday, October 15th, 6-8pm EST: Discussion: Making Kin & Making Trouble: Situating Community Herbalism in Troubled Times
PART 2: NOURISHING THE NERVOUS SYSTEM WITH ADAPTOGENS, NERVINES, BEAUTY & ENCHANTMENT MEDICINE
Recorded Lecture: Supporting Nervous Systems with Adaptogens, Nervines, + Beauty Medicine
Recorded Lecture: Remedies for supporting sleep & protecting dream space
Recorded Lecture: Nervous systems orientation with Lee Datura
Recorded Lecture: Herbal Baths, Adornment Magic, and Plants in Grief Ritual
Recorded Lecture: Beauty Medicine with Karen Mee
Tuesday, October 21st, 6-8pm EST: Plant Magic, Making Kin, & Enchanting Ancestral Practices with Dori Midnight
Wednesday, October 22nd, 6-8pm EST: Q&A, Nervous systems, Adaptogens, Nervines, Making Infusions Continued
Tuesday, October 28th, 6-8pm EST: Decolonizing Flower Essences with Damiana Calvario
Tuesday, November 4th, from 12-2pm EST - Somatics, Titrating Grief, Everyday Grief Ritual, Mundane Magic with Camille Barton
Wednesday, November 5th from 6-8pm EST: Grief + Ancestral Herbalism with Rebecca Beyer
Wednesday, November 12th from 6-8pm EST: Q&A, Virtual Bathhouse
PART 3: NOURISHING THE BELLY, HEART, AND LUNGS
Recorded Lecture: Supporting the Digestive System
Wednesday, November 19th from 6-8pm EST: Discussion: Grief + Digestive System, Kitchen Witchery, food as medicine, and building relationships with our dead through food
Wednesday, December 3rd, from 6-8pm EST: Medicine Making Day: Tinctures
Recorded Lecture: Supporting the Hearts and Lungs
Wednesday, December 10th, from 6-8pm EST: Q&A: Grief in the Lungs & Heart, Grief Ally Projects Check In
Winter break!
Part 4: Creating your grief apothecary, closing the space
Wednesday, January 7th, from 6-8pm EST: Medicine Making Day: Pressing Tinctures
Wednesday, January 14th, from 6-8pm EST: Grief Formula Design, Herbs in Community Care & Mutual Aid: Dreams and Practices
Wednesday, January 21st, from 6-8pm EST: Creating your Grief Support Apothecary
Wednesday, January 28th, from 6-8pm EST: Sharing grief ally projects and closing the space
Slight changes in our schedule may occur, but I’ll do my best to let you know and update our calendar ahead of time!
Not able to make it live? Replays will be made available and there is a discord for connecting with other students in between sessions!
There is alternatively a self-paced study for those not interested in the live cohort discussions or replays!
Herbal nourishment for those in grief
What if instead of tending to grief with the hope of its banishment, we tended our grief with welcome and nourishment?
In this class, grief itself is not seen as an illness or a "problem" to be banished. We are not trying to fix or cure grief, but to better understand the effects that grief can have on our bodies and nervous systems, and support and nourish ourselves and other grieving persons as we navigate grief.
This course is grounded in the understanding that humans have never really done grief alone, as individuals, or a species. Plants and communal care have been a part of human practices of grief care and death care probably for as long as humans have been around, and are incredible bringers of nourishment in grief.
An Invitation to Slow Down
Sinking into our relationships with plants teaches us so much about practicing the art of sensing, noticing, slowing down enough to give plants and our bodies and the places we live our attention. Remembering that we are already being held. Opening to nuance and not knowing. Opening to the possibilities of care and mutual aid between species, to being “stopped in our tracks in wonderment” of the ecosystems we find ourselves in and the beings we share them with (Queer Nature). And that noticing, remembering, opening, sensing, becoming re-enchanted to the world is in itself incredible medicine. This class is an invitation to embrace slowness and the possibility of enchantment as medicine, and see what doors that opens for grief support from plants— even when they are not in our grief formulas.
Course structure
Our live classes will be largely community discussion based, allowing space for participants to share their own insight, experience, and magic as we move through the course. There will also be regular space and invitations to participate in medicine making: whether making tea, tinctures, honeys, or herbal baths. While some of the live classes may include lectures, most of the lectures will be provided as recordings rather than live sessions.
Community based learning
Coming from a background in community organizing and community based education, I see the classroom as a space made up of relationships, and relationships as the place where healing happens, as well as a place of deep learning. While there will be spaces where I am sharing in a lecture or workshop based format, much of our exploration of what is shared will be collective dialogue - rather than simply me sharing with you. While there is no requirement to share, this is a space where I hope all will feel that their insights and experiences are welcome and valued.
While each session is recorded, I think of the course as an invitation to be with each other in grief and our desire to support others in grief. All this to say, you’ll probably get more out of it and feel more connected to the course if you plan to attend most classes live- though this isn’t a requirement, and there are ways to participate via our discord for those unable to make it live.
a trauma, grief, + joy informed learning space
Every thing in our class is an invitation and optional, and choice is central. There are many ways to participate and no one right way. Listening to your body, your resistances, your excitement and interest will be encouraged throughout our course.
Grief is given a place at the table in our class discussions and check ins, but also in the design of this course, which is designed for those us who feel profoundly changed by our grief.
We will also be creating space to share about our joys, and to lean into those places in our lives where we feel nourished - to tend to the both/and of our grief/joy, and the relationship between the two.
This class is an invitation to really welcome ourselves and our grief however it arrives, emerges, and changes, and to let it be the vast, shapeshifting landscape of experience that it is.
"Joy is the capacity to do and feel more. As such, it is connected to creativity and the embrace of uncertainty...Joy is a process of coming alive and coming apart..."
-Carla Bergman & Nick Montgomery, Joyful Militancy
this class is for you if….
You are an brand new herbalism student, or an herbalist looking to deepen your understanding of how grief impacts the body, herbalist strategies and plant allies for grief and nervous system support
You are grieving and looking for plant allies and supportive practices
You are looking for a cohort of other grievers and plant lovers wanting to hold space for and support one another in grief filled times
You are want to grow your toolkit for supporting community members in times of personal + collective grieF
You appreciate moving at a slower pace, diving deep into the stories of plants, and a community setting
Please note! Studying herbal medicine is a life long endeavor and this is an introductory course - this is NOT a course that will prepare you to be a clinical herbalist.
instructors + facilitators
mara june
primary instructor + Facilitator
Mara June is (they/them) is an educator, facilitator, community weaver, writer, caregiver, death doula, and community herbalist. They’re excited about plant magic, story-telling, art + ritual making, shapeshifting, and dreaming together.
Mara’s death care and grief support work is community oriented, taking place in longer term, group settings to feed the collective work of growing more deeply attuned and resourced communities who love, care, dream, and create courageously in times of loss, change, and grief.
To learn more about my trainings, approaches, and background, check out my about me page.
zulaikha cara
tender of mundane magic, program + teaching assistant
zulaikha is a dreamer, a futurist, a spiritual abolitionist, and a storyteller. they are committed to a free, liberated world for all, and deeply believe in the power of remembrance. their musings are meant to inspire, for all to reclaim their creative self and to radically imagine anew. as a facilitator they create spaces where all remember their true liberated nature, rooted in the earth and the play of interdependence with all beings.
Dori midnight
Guest Instructor
Dori Midnight is a community care worker, ritual artist, theologian, writer, and deep listener oriented towards collective healing and liberation. For over two decades, Dori has woven rituals and practiced intuitive, community based healing in one-on-one sessions and in radical movement spaces, in collaboration with the seen and unseen, plants, stones, songs, and more. Dori offers workshops on rituals and remedies for unraveling times, re-enchanting Jewish ancestral wisdoms as a liberatory practice, and queer magic and healing. Supported and inspired by a wide web of dreamers, witches, artists, and web workers, Dori’s work is also rooted in feminist, decolonial and abolitionist scholarship, queer liberation, and disability and healing justice work. Dori has been in deep cahoots with movement work for Palestinian liberation, prison abolition, and queer and trans liberation based in racial and economic justice. Dori lives on the occupied lands of the Pocumtuc and Nipmuc, by the Quinnehtukqut River, also known as Northampton, Massachusetts.
Damiana Calvario
guest instructor
Damiana Calvario is a Mixed woman of color, daughter, sister, caregiver, community member, survivor, and first generation immigrant. Her practice, rooted in care work and mutual aid, blends together her Mexican roots, mixed upbringing, food as medicine, Curanderismo studies, Traditional Mexican Medicine and western herbalism training.
Rebecca beyer
guest instructor
Rebecca Beyer is the woman behind the Blood and Spicebush School of Old Craft. She lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina where she teaches people how to integrate the Old Ways back into a cyclical life and works as a tattooer. Rebecca practices, researches and writes about Appalachian Folk Magic, Traditional Witchcraft, Primitive Skills, Homesteading, Foraging, Appalachian Ethnobotany and European and Appalachian Folk Ways.
Follow Rebecca on instagram @bloodandspicebush
Rebecca’s website
Rebecca's books (they are incredible):
Lee Datura, OIC, RCST
guest instructor
Lee (she/they) is a somatic practitioner and biodynamic craniosacral therapist. Her work centers supporting folks healing from burnout, emotional and physical trauma and creating a deeply compassionate container for learning tools to support the nervous system. She offers 1:1 somatic coaching in person or online as well as group nervous system workshops and courses. She believes healing means coming home to our very nature, that we are fractals of the inconceivable magic of the ecosystem, planet and galaxy around us & that healing happens in relationship.
Camille Sapara Barton
Guest instructor
Camille Sapara Barton is a writer, embodiment facilitator and movement artist that supports organisations to flow through transitions. Their work creates relational wellbeing by increasing connection to the body, care practices, grief and imagination. Camille supports people to reduce stress and increase resilience, while navigating change. They also offer trauma informed facilitation and consultancy to support cultural workers, funders and those working with socially engaged topics.
Camille’s movement practice explores the interplay between bodies, words and vibration by weaving dance, clowning, somatics and sonics. Their work aims to deepen ancestral communication technologies and grow imagination gardens.
Camille is the author of Tending Grief: Embodied Rituals for Holding Our Sorrow and Growing Cultures of Care in Community (2024). Based in Amsterdam, they designed and directed MA Ecologies of Transformation (2021 - 2023) which explored how embodiment and socially engaged art making can create change through the body, into the wider world.
Adele mee
Guest instructor
Adele Mee is a garden-tender, forest walker, herbalist, and Grandmother.
Ever entranced by Nature, her work has been an integration of science, beauty, healing, connection, and the creation of sacred space in gardens, labyrinths, and through ritual.
She believes in the transformational powers of intentional engagement with the inherent beauty of the world, heart-centered perception, and Contemplative Labyrinth Activism.
Adele currently lives and breaths whole-heartedly on the Oregon coast.
Adele was one of my first herbalist teachers and I’m so honored to have her here with us!
What participants Are Saying
“This course offers sweet ways to build relationships with our plant friends and our grief. Mara creates and holds such a loving and nourishing container in all of their courses. Every one of Mara's classes that I have attended has wrapped me in a warm, glowing hug.”
— Hannah, Herbalism for Grief Support participant
“Mara’s Herbalism and Grief class was my first formal introduction into herbalism. I joined the group for the opportunity to have a grief container after a hard break up last fall. I was met with a wonderful group of people and a facilitator with an enormous skill set. Mara’s ability to join scholarship with community is truly like nothing else I’ve witnessed or been blessed to be a part of. Their passion for this work is so evident in every minute you spend with them. I walked away from this class with a working knowledge of the fundamentals of herbalist work as well as how it pertains to grief. I was so enamored by this course that I immediately signed up for their next available offering. Do yourself a favor and get into this class as soon as possible, you will not regret it!”
— Shawnee, Herbalism for Grief Support and Tears of the Gods Student
“It has honestly been a life changing experience for me to spend time with such incredible, vulnerable, brave, insightful and caring people. It makes me absolutely stoked to re imagine what community could look like. Being met by others at such depth, playfulness, tenderness and joy and grief has been rad. To know my kind of people are out there is such a balm for this heart. Laughing and crying with people is the most amazing heart medicine. I am so excited for spring and all the amazing plants that are ready to support us again.”
— Diana, Herbalism for Grief Support Student
“I am so, so grateful for this course. Mara is a skilled, thoughtful, and warm facilitator, and the gentle and adaptable pace of the course made it feel inviting rather than intimidating. I loved the opportunity to learn about herbalism for grief support, but more than that, I felt so welcome and seen by the cohort of fellow grievers. I don't have the words to fully describe how meaningful this course was to me. It made me feel hopeful that I can continue to find spaces where I can fully honor my grief and my human-ness. Thank you, Mara.”
— Geraldine, Herbalism for Grief Support Student
“Mara is a master space-holder, full of compassion and presence. In this course, you will enter the beautiful space they have created and journey with co-travelers as you explore grief and the powerful ability of the plants to support you in navigating it. Mara provides a great depth of plant knowledge as well as this gentle community container where I learned so much from my classmates. This course is truly invaluable, for both advanced herbalists and those with no herbalism experience at all.”
— Tiffany, Herbalism for Grief Support Student
“Learning from Mara June has been such a delightful, and heart-opening experience. As a community weaver and facilitator, it has been joyus for me to receive and witness Mara, and the community they weave. I am so grateful for the ways in which Herbalism for Grief Support has gently ushered me toward rekindling my relationship to my plancestors, and brought new plant allies forward. I am also grateful for the ways in which this bi-weekly ritual has kept me in relationship to the grief right in front of me. If you are looking for a sustainable way to invite a loving practice of land stewardship, craft and ritual - I deeply recommend connecting to your grief in this way.”
— Azi, Herbalism for Grief Support Student
“I cannot recommend this class enough!!!!! Mara is an incredibly magical and thoughtful teacher. They ask you the juiciest questions that really make you reflect… the conversations we had were always so powerful and incredibly connective. Mara creates a beautiful safe and accessible space for all. I feel so grateful that I was allowed to show up in my grief each class. Not only did I get to learn so much more about herbalism through grief support, I also got to learn to deepen my relationship to plants. And I got to meet the most beautiful people! Please take this course if you feel called to learn more about herbalism and need some more support <3”
— Belly, Herbalism for Grief Support Student
“Mara has a real gift for facilitating environments that are both educational and healing. Having spaces where grief is embraced as evidence of our love and of our magick cannot be overstated in its importance in recovering from the trauma of living in a grief and Death averse culture. Learning about the many plant allies we have to guide and support us in this endeavor is an incredibly helpful tool to have in our toolbox as we continue to move through collapse.”
— anonymous, Herbalism for Grief Support Student
FAQs
click on each question below to see the answer!
-
The class is not tailored towards a specific cause of grief, and looks instead at the effects of grief, treating each experience as unique (without creating a hierarchy of loss). There are always participants grieving from things across a vast landscape of loss - whether the deaths of loved ones, loss of a home, miscarriages, relationships ending or being estranged from loved ones or family, ecological and collective losses, loss of self, identity, ability, etc. The approach is to support grievers of all kinds, without standardizing what that care looks like.
-
You don't need to buy any of these things for this course, but for those who would like to begin harvesting and making herbal medicine, I would recommend the following (many of which can be thrifted):
Sieve/tea strainer with fine mesh
Potato ricer or cloth/ muslin bags for pressing / straining tinctures
Stainless steel funnels of various sizes
Tea pot/french press
Mason jars of various sizes
Scissors or knife for harvesting
Baskets for harvesting
Herbal drying rack/mesh net
Work gloves
Alcohol for tincture making (vodka, gin, or high proof grain alcohol)
Honey
Any essential oils you'd like to work with
A diffuser
Any dried herbs you'd like to work with (mountainroseherbs.com is where I buy mine if I can't find a local grower or place to safely & ethically harvest)
-
One of the course invitations is to work with and learn about a particular plant throughout our time together. You are each invited to choose a plant as a grief ally to focus on/love on/learn about during the duration of the course, and share about during our last class.
-
While attending live is encouraged, there’s no shame if you can’t make them, and no need to let me know ahead of time. Please feel free to watch at your own pace. All sessions are recorded. If you plan to mostly participate via recording, you can connect to other students through using our course discord. There is also a self paced study for those who are less interested in the cohort model.
-
The captions, chat, and recording are uploaded within a day of each live session, along with any class slides. You’ll also receive access to prerecorded lectures and a handout with reflection prompts and suggested activities for each unit.
-
You will be able to access or download all course materials to keep indefinitely!
-
As course tuition is how I pay the bills, as well as guest instructors, admin support, and overall budget and plan how many seats are available in each course, etc., cancellations of payment plans and refunds for prior payments are not available except in case of emergencies or unforeseen circumstances. This includes requests to switch to the self-paced study, which is substantially cheaper than the cohort.
Choosing a payment plan is a commitment to pay the full course amount in monthly installments to be automatically deducted from your account (not a “try-before-you-buy” situation!).
For this reason I ask that folx read about both options and carefully choose the course format and investment that feels right for you!
Cost & PAYMENT PLANS
Cohort based Course - Full access
Access to this 4 month cohort based course is $750. Payment plans are available and can be selected on the registration page below.
10% of proceeds will go to our kin in Palestine at Many Lands Mutual Aid, who are working hard to feed their beloved community in the face of ongoing genocide.
Self-Paced Study
For those looking for something a little quieter, more self paced, and or a little less commitment, join our Self Paced Study of the Herbalism for Grief Support course for $350 $300 through 9/30! Get access to recordings of all the guest workshops and course materials for a fraction of the cost and time commitment. 🌸
Note: This option does NOT include recordings of cohort discussions or medicine making days! BUT it does include all of our guest workshops, pre-recorded lectures, and handouts!
quick comparison guide
Scholarships
Scholarships for low income and BIPOC folx available. Please complete a scholarship interest form here. You’ll hear back within a few days!
PAYMENT PLAN CANCELLATION & REFUND POLICY
If you’re considering enrolling in this course, thank you so much for your support! It truly means the world to me.
As this is how I pay the bills, as well as guest instructors, admin support, and overall budget and plan how many seats are available in each course, etc., cancellations of payment plans and refunds for prior payments are not available except in case of emergencies or unforeseen circumstances.
Choosing a payment plan is a commitment to pay the full course amount in monthly installments to be automatically deducted from your account (not a “try-before-you-buy” situation!).
If you are excited about this course but unsure if you will be able to pay the full amount, please fill out a scholarship interest form or consider signing up for the self-paced option!
Thank you for understanding!
xoxo
Mara June