Though I have had many teachers, no one has taught me how to "do" the Medicine Club. I have followed my inspiration and for the most part, i make have made it up as I have moved along what I call the Medicine Path. Many others have called this way the same name.
The word Medicine means many things. It is the science of treating and preventing disease, an agent for curing, or in the indigenous sense of the word, it means an acquired power relating to a plant, animal, place, or person. I conduct the medicine club in order to work with all of the above definitions.
This is the second full round of the club that I have conducted and two times around the wheel of the year is still so very new. I will consider myself adept at this practice after I have walked the yearly round twenty times. So, I am still inventing and re-inventing the medicine club as each new session comes into play.
You may have noticed that I faltered on documenting the club over the past four sessions. I was at a loss for time to stop and write and I was at a loss for words, which, for me, as a writer, is always a challenge. Well, here we are in a new year and I now have the time and the words to catch up.
For the record, after California Poppy, we worked with these plants in this order: Bleeding Heart, Oregon Grape, Devil's Club, and Valerian.
After 5 total winter sessions of working with the medicines we have made in the past, I have settled on a format that I feel very good about. Every week, everyone who attends the Medicine Club walks away with a one week supply of that weeks medicine. The students now work with the medicines as tonics and then, when we reconvene the next week, we discuss how the week's working went.
During the class session, we take the time to do the book learning or reviewing on the plant medicine at hand, we discuss it's ecology and folklore, then we have a meditation session in which we ingest the plant medicine and take the time to slow down and meet the medicine. I have found this to be very rewarding. After a 15 minute meditation we have a break and then journal for 15 minutes about our experience. Then we take the time to share.
This format has worked out very well and I am very pleased with the direction the club is now heading. As for the blog format, I have worked that out as well. I will blog about each medicine experience the following week and not the week that we have worked with the plant.
For example: On the 14th of January we worked with Valerian. The people in attendance went home with a one week supply of Valerian tincture. I will blog about our collective experiences with Valerian sometime after the 21st. This way, there will be a lag in time between the Medicine Club sessions and the blogs, but it will give us all time to work with the plant medicine.
I will just have to wait until the next turn of time's spiral to document Bleeding Heart, Oregon Grape, and Devil's Club. Sorry.
I have become a firm believer that one week is far better than one evening for meeting and beginning work with a plant medicine. I may have to double blog as we move into the spring harvest, but I'll work that out when the time comes.
Thank you all for your support with the Medicine Club. It has been a pleasure to walk the medicine path with you all.
see you soon,
David
ps...the image on this entry comes from the web: http://www.tagtheartistsgallery.com/admin/member_directory/29/22_WindingTrail.jpg
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