This 2 part series is being hosted by the Design Justice Network’s Care Pod. You can learn more about them at https://designjustice.org/djn-care-pod 

In this moment, as we witness multiple genocides around the world— in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Kashmir, and elsewhere— it can feel easy to surrender to defeat and despair, and to sever ourselves from taking the risks that resistance truly demands. What if we turn to land, and our relationships with plantcestral beings, as a source of strategy, a source of support through feelings of fear and inertia and defeat, an anchor for deepening into movement-building, a compass towards new possibilities? How have generations of violence and colonization ruptured our relationships with land, and how do these ruptures impact our sense of collaboration and capacity for community-building?

Join us for our July Care Pod series, where Guest Practitioner Layla K. Feghali will guide us through an exploration of land, lineage, plantcestors, and resistance to colonialism, in relation to design justice. 

Participation in both gatherings is not mandatory, though we encourage you to join both if possible, as they build on each other. These experiences are virtual, free, and open to people practicing (or curious about) Design Justice and Design Justice Principles. DJN Membership and previous attendance are not required. Design Justice Principles will be woven into each gathering and we will invite discussions that connect us back to creative, collaborative ways of working and being.

CARE CIRCLE

Tuesday July 9, 2024 / 11AM - 1:30PM EDT

How to prepare for this gathering: 

• Please bring some form of rose and/or olive, which will support the experiential learning process shared during the session. This can be any form which is accessible to you, such as: rosewater, olive oil, a branch or flower from either of these plants (dry or fresh), a flower essence, tincture, infused oil, tea, food, etc. Tangible forms of the plant may be helpful, but if this is not accessible for any reason, a video, image, drawing or other representation of the plant can also be used.

In this Care Circle, we will gently enter into an exploration of our relationships with plantcestors, ancestral remembrance, land, and the language of our own bodies. What is “Plantcestral Re-membrance”? What is the memory that our bodies, lineages, and the land hold? How does the land communicate with and through us, despite the ruptures and losses our lineages and landscapes have endured?

Through sharing some foundational concepts and tools, guided meditation, reflection spaces, and collectively working with rose and olive, we will begin attuning to the ways that our bodies and inner landscapes illuminate and deepen our capacity to build relationships with plants. And, in turn, we will learn about the ways that the earth and our plant lineages are communicating with us, and through us, via our inner landscapes. We welcome you to show up as your full self, with all your emotions and lived experiences, and to participate in whatever ways feel accessible for you. There will be multiple options for engaging with plant beings; more details will be sent in advance to registrants. 

PRACTICE SPACE

Saturday, July 27, 2024 / 11AM - 1:30PM EDT

How to prepare for this gathering: 

• Please bring some form of a plant from your ancestral lands or cultures. (Spices from your cultural foods, or garden plants you associate with your grandparents or elders are a good place for inspiration). This can be any form which is accessible to you, such as: a hydrosol, a fresh or dried branch or flower of the plant, a flower essence, tincture, infused oil, tea, food, etc. Tangible forms of the plant may be helpful, but if this is not accessible for any reason, a video, image, drawing or other representation of the plant can also be used.

• More detailed prompts for choosing a plant will be shared in advance with registrants.

In this Practice Space, we will continue our Care Circle explorations of land, sovereignty, plant lineages, and movement-building. How does plantcestral connection relate to resistance? What does land teach us about colonialism and our defiance in the face of it?  How might our inner ecologies trap us in states of despair and stagnation that keep us from being part of collective liberation movements? And how might the land and our lineages hold and support us through growth, steadfastness, and action?

Through collective reflection, plant meditations, and writing practices, we will deepen into relationship with an ancestral plant of your own choosing. We welcome you to show up as your full self, with all your emotions and lived experiences, and to participate in whatever ways feel comfortable for you. 

Practitioner Bio

Layla K. Feghali is an ethnobotanist, cultural worker, and author who lives between her ancestral village in Lebanon and her diasporic home in California, where she was born and raised. Her dedication is the stewardship of eco-cultural re-membrance and decolonization movements, and the many layers of relational restoration, systemic reckoning, and healing that entails. Feghali offers a line of plantcestral medicine, education, and other culturally-rooted offerings and mutual aid efforts, with an emphasis on land-based ancestral practices from the Crossroads (southwest Asia + northern Africa) and its diasporas. Her recent book, The Land in Our Bones, documents cultural herbal and healing knowledge from Syria to the Sinai, while interrogating colonialism and its lingering wounds on the culture of our displaced world.

https://www.riverroseremembrance.com/

Access Supports

• ASL interpretation

• Auto-captioning via Zoom Recording, with options for asynchronous participation

• Visual descriptions by speakers

• Emotional Support available during the gathering

• Tech support

• Scheduled breaks throughout the two and a half hours

• Show up as you are: feel free to take additional breaks, have camera on or off, move around your space, etc.

General Gathering Flow

• Opening & Landing

• Check-In Conversations

• Topic Explorations with Guest Practitioner

• Break

• Group Discussions

• Announcements & Closing

I am particularly keen on this conversation as Kali is amongst my closest and longest friends and comrades, and someone I consider to be my primary political mentor in foundational ways. We have been discussing these subjects for years and building towards materialized action in their light, so I am very excited to build on some of these conversations more publicly. Make sure to check out his recent book.

Return to the Source

A Discussion about decolonization, indigenization, and the need for ancestral knowledge to survive the present and build a regenerative future

Join Kali Akuno in discussion with Layla K. Feghali in a conversation about why in a time of genocide we need urgently need to recenter indigenous knowledge(s) and practices and challenge the dominant narratives of nationhood, nation-states, nationality, empire, international law and human rights.

This will be a 2 part discussion.

They will be live-streamed.

[Part 1 recording below]

Kali is co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson and the Institute for Social Ecology’s racial and environmental justice program coordinator.

Kali served as the Director of Special Projects and External Funding in the Mayoral Administration of the late Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, MS. His focus in this role was supporting cooperative development, the introduction of eco-friendly and carbon reduction methods of operation, and the promotion of human rights and international relations for the city.

He is co-editor of Jackson Rising: the Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson, MS and Jackson Rising Redux: Lessons on Building the Future in the Present and the author of numerous articles and pamphlets including “The Jackson-Kush Plan: The Struggle for Black Self-Determination and Economic Democracy,” “Until We Win: Black Labor and Liberation in the Disposable Era,” “Operation Ghetto Storm: Every 28 Hours report,” and “Let Your Motto Be Resistance: A Handbook on Organizing New Afrikan and Oppressed Communities for Self-Defense”.

He has served as the Co-Director of the US Human Rights Network and the Executive Director of the Peoples’ Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) based in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He was a co-founder of the School of Social Justice and Community Development (SSJCD), a public school serving the academic needs of low-income African American and Latino communities in Oakland, California.

Layla K. Feghali is an ethnobotanist, cultural worker, and author who lives between her ancestral village in Lebanon and her diasporic home in California, where she was born and raised. Her dedication is the stewardship of eco-cultural re-membrance and decolonization movements (not as a metaphor), and the many layers of relational restoration, systemic reckoning, and healing that entails. Feghali offers a line of plantcestral medicine, education, and other culturally-rooted offerings and mutual aid efforts, with an emphasis on the land-based ancestral practices from the Crossroads (southwest Asia + northern Africa) and its diasporas. Her recent book, The Land in Our Bones, documents cultural herbal and healing knowledge from Syria to the Sinai, while interrogating colonialism and its lingering wounds on the culture of our displaced world.

Feghali asks: How do we embody what binds us together while holding the ways we’ve been wrested apart? What does it mean to be of a place when extraction and empire destroy its geographies? How do we disentangle ourselves from exploitive paradigms to create more liberatory worlds? What can we re-member when we reach beyond what’s been lost and tend to what remains? How do we cultivate regenerative kinships with the lands where we live, especially when displacement has led us to other peoples' unceded territories?

Hosted by the Institute of Social Ecology.

(**Please note: This class is reserved to persons who have native ancestry from the SWANA [aka Middle East and N. Africa] region- mixed ancestry included. Please note that identity is more than a genetic consideration. This circle is intended for people with traceable generational relationships to the SWANA region. Thank you for respecting this space.

This space is inclusive to trans and queer kin, and welcomes ethnically marginalized communities from the SWANA region to join us in re-membrance. This work explicitly celebrate the pluralism of the SWANA region and strives to reject internalized nationalism and supremacy based on dominant identities, and colonial erasure and violence. The space does not tolerate harm of this nature in our communal spaces.)

This extended ONLINE series is for SWANA* community to engage in embodied learning about our ancestral plants and their uses as medicinal, cultural, and spiritual allies. It is designed for people interested in cultivating deeper, embodied relationships with plants, lineage, and the earth in general.

Registration deadline is April 1st, 2023

This is a 7 month long immersion, from April - October.

Plants are agents of consciousness, story, and memory. Our ancestral plants carry the DNA of our homelands, of our ancestors, and resonate this memory with the truths that live deep inside our own bodies and hearts. We will work with this relationship to access deeply held wisdom, revitalize lost bodies of knowledge, and re-establish relationship to ourselves, our ancestors, and the resilience and medicine available through being in conscious relationship with our plantcestors/homelands. Each participant will receive a package of SWANA native plant medicines to work with through the course of our class together. Experiential relationship with the plantcestors will be emphasized and facilitated through the duration of the class.

In this class we will:

• Immerse deeply in the Plantcestral Re-Membrance methodology, to deepen at the intersection of ancestral re-connection and herbal medicine

• Develop fundamental tools to work with plants as medicinal, cultural, and spiritual allies

• Practice and learn tools to communicate with our medicines, land, and our internal selves

• Engage in a process of personal healing through building relationship with plantcestors, working with our dreams, our ancestral stories, and each other

• Learn traditional principles and ethical practice around harvesting, medicine making, and more

• Build embodied relationships and gain experiential, folk, and medicinal knowledge about 3-4 SWANA plants

• Deepen relationship with our lineage lands from wherever we are in the world

• Learn how to better connect to our own embodied wisdom, intuition, and the cues of the natural and spiritual worlds to support our day-to-day lives and healing

• Contribute to strengthening the knowledge and practice of our SWANA plantcestral traditions, stories, dreams, and ways of knowing

• Receive a package of SWANA plantcestral medicines to work, heal, and learn with at home

• Explore and revitalize traditional ways of healing and connecting to place

• Take a personal journey into the plantcestral realm with the support of a close community, a generous facilitator, and a deeply intentional and caring container

• Gain access to private community spaces for flourishing support during and after the circle

Circle Structure, Time & Participation Commitment:

• A combo of live, pre-recorded, experiential, and written educational engagement.

• The online sessions are conducted via live video conference calling on Zoom (can download for free).

• Communication and a private member forum will occur through the BAND app. (dowload for free) and a password protected webpage.

• Participants should be prepared to spend a little time (5-30 mins) each day with the online material and medicine packages sent to you via mail, in between sessions. This is a CRITICAL part of the collective process.

• There will be small groups arranged based on your timezone, to support your process in between live classes. Communicating/meeting with them on the suggested dates will be required.

• The foundation of this class is based on the cultivation of your own experiential personal relationship with the plantcestral allies we will be working with. This often opens up deeper healing processes. Participants must be willing and available to this process.

• You will have exclusive access to discounted 1-on-1 mentorship sessions with Layla, if additional support is needed.

dates and times:

• This circle entails a combo of live, pre-recorded, experiential, and written educational engagement.

• Large group live sessions will occur on the following dates (time tbd based on applications submitted):

Mon, April 17th
Sat, May 20th
Fri, July 21th
Fri, Sept 22th
Sat, Oct 28th

• With additional small cohort live sessions on:

June 10th
Aug 9th
Oct 10th

FEE EXCHANGE: 

The registration for this immersive circle equals $125/month plus the cost of the herbal package and shipping to your home. The total amounts to:

$999 [FOR BASIC PLANT PACKAGE]

+ Includes all teachings and sessions.

+ 1oz bottle of microdosis with flower essence of each plant we will work with in the circle.

+ A bonus bottle with a plant remedy for supporting integration.

$1111 [FOR GENEROUS PLANT PACKAGE]

LIMITED QUANTITIES AVAILABLE.

+ Includes all teachings and sessions.

+ 1oz bottle of microdosis and/or flower essence of each plant we will work with in the circle.

+ A bonus bottle with a plant remedy for supporting integration.

+ At least one additional preparation of each plant we will work with. For example, an infused honey, tincture, herbal oil, oxymel, hydrosol, dry tea, dyed fabric, or other such remedies, depending on the plant.

PAYMENT PLANS AVAILABLE

+ 4 monthly payments of $250 - for basic package

+ 4 monthly payments of $278 - for deluxe package

+ 6 monthly payments of $167 - for basic package

+ 6 monthly payments of $186 - for deluxe package

SCHOLARSHIPS + WORK-TRADE AVAILABLE.

Limited numbers of partial scholarship and work-trade are available. Details for application are included in the application form.

If you would like to contribute to our scholarship funds, you may do so here. THANK YOU in advance!

REGISTRATION DEADLINE:

The application form is a confirmation of your intention to participate in the class and MUST be submitted by April 1, 2023. Once you are accepted into the course, a follow up form will be established to confirm final dates, due with initial payment links by the first week of April, to ensure your place. This is also a COMMITMENT and agreement to completing all following payments and participation to the best of your ability in our circle. If for some reason, you discontinue participation in our circle, the completion of your payments will still be expected.

Space is limited and no refunds will be given (questions concerning alternative financial arrangements will be addressed in the application).

Help us find each other: PLEASE SHARE with SWANA friends and community who would enjoy or benefit from such a circle.

(**Please note: This class is reserved to persons who have native ancestry from the SWANA [aka Middle East and N. Africa] region- mixed ancestry included. Thank you for respecting this space.)

This extended ONLINE series is for SWANA* community to engage in embodied learning about our ancestral plants and their uses as medicinal, cultural, and spiritual allies. Agents of consciousness, story, and memory. Our ancestral plants carry the DNA of our homelands, of our ancestors, and resonate this memory with the truths that live deep inside our own bodies and hearts. We will work with this relationship to access deeply held wisdom, revitalize lost bodies of knowledge, and re-establish relationship to ourselves, our ancestors, and the resilience and medicine available through being in conscious relationship with our plantcestors/homelands. Each participant will receive a package of SWANA native plant medicines to work with through the course of our class together. Experiential relationship with the plantcestors will be emphasized and facilitated through the duration of the class.

In this class we will:
* Develop fundamental tools to work with plants as medicinal, cultural, and spiritual allies
* Practice and learn tools to communicate with our medicines and our internal selves
* Engage in a process of personal healing through building relationship with plantcestors, working with our dreams, our ancestral stories, and witnessing each other
* Learn traditional principles and ethical practice around harvesting, medicine making, and more
* Gain & generate experiential, folk, and medicinal knowledge about several plants
* Deepen relationship with our ancestors and ourselves
* Learn how to better connect to our own internal wisdom, intuition, and the cues of the natural & spiritual worlds to support our day-to-day lives and healing
* Contribute to strengthening the knowledge and practice of our SWANA plantcestral traditions, cosmologies, dreams, and ways of knowing
* Receive a package of SWANA plantcestral medicines to work, heal, and learn with at home
* Explore and revitalize traditional ways of healing ourselves and our communities
* Take a personal journey into the plantcestral realm with the support of a safe community


MORE INFO...
- This online class is a small group and is conducted via live video conference calling for more than half of our sessions, which requires LIVE ATTENDANCE and participation (must have access to internet/camera or audio to participate via Zoom- can download for free). Participants should be prepared to spend a little time (5-30 mins) each day with the medicines/material in between classes in order to contribute to our sessions- this is a CRITICAL part of the collective re-membering. 1x per month, we will have pre-recorded sessions which participants will be asked to engage via audio or text comments on our class website or class phone thread via WhatsApp (please download the app in preparation). There will be small groups arranged to support your process in between live classes. Communicating/meeting with them at least 1x per month will be required.

- A package of medicines will be sent to you via mail for you to work with through the course of our class.

- The foundation of this class is based on the cultivation of your own experiential personal relationship with the plantcestral allies we will be working with. This often opens up deeper healing processes. Participants must be willing and available to this process. The group and facilitator are here to support thru each step of the way, but having support networks and routines in place to hold yourself through the deepest parts of the process are advised. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to ask. 

- Class will meet for 13 sessions from April - August. Exact time and dates of the class will be determined based on the group's schedule and announced on March 6th. Answer registration form questions to include your own needs, timezone, and preferences so that we can determine this ASAP please.

FEE EXCHANGE: $555 USD (includes all teachings plus medicine package mailed to your home to work with through the course)

Fill out this application to register: APPLICATION SPRING 2020
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: The application form is a confirmation of your intention to participate in the class and MUST be submitted by March 2, 2020. Once you are accepted into the course, a follow up form will be established to confirm final dates, due with deposit of $155 USD by March 6th to ensure your place. This is also a COMMITMENT and agreement to completing all following payments and participation to the best of your ability in our circle. If for some reason, you discontinue participation in our circle, the completion of your payments will still be expected. Space is limited and no refunds will be given (questions concerning alternative financial arrangements will be addressed in the application).
Send registration deposit and following payments to venmo @plantcestral or  paypal.me/riverrose (friends and family option, please).

Help us find each other: PLEASE SHARE with SWANA friends and community who would enjoy or benefit from such a circle.

📢 WE INVITE YOU to join our Ancestor HUB, via Patreon!

an extension of our original SWANA Ancestral Medicine HUB + نجمع جذورنا | reGather our Ancestors project. it was established by the participants of our Plantcestral re-Memberance for SWANA Healing courses over the past 5+ years.

#patreon is a membership based platform where folks can subscribe on a monthly or by-post basis to gain access to our offerings + support our growing body of work in an ongoing way. we are using patreon to run an online magazine of sorts dedicated to themes of SWANA #ancestral + #plantcestral re-membrance.

we are a multi-ethnic group of #SWANA* folks in motherland and diaspora, re-membering ourselves home. restoring the integrity of our relationships and relatedness. our wholeness and unity. the sacred, severed, and lost.

we are re-collecting ancestral stories, memories, and wisdoms alive in our bones. in collaboration with each other, our ancestors + plantcestors, the water, stories, and soils we live on and come from. co-creating, dreaming, and collaborating to revive roadmaps of ancestral inheritance towards a more wise and dignified future. a more just and life-affirming world.

if you find yourself here, it is not by accident.

on our patreon, we share & cross-pollinate pieces of our SWANA re-memberance with you through original works published every New and Full Moon by different members of our diversely brilliant collective.

your patronage will help us become more accessible to our communities and world by making scholarship funds, co-creative residencies, and the manifestation of our dream archival platform possible so we can truly deepen, share, and expand this work.

learn more on our Patreon page, and be sure to check out our VERY FIRST offering, a podcast interview with Sara Abdullah (of Earth Seed Holistic) and Layla K. Feghali (of River Rose Apothecary) about the backstory inspirations behind this work.

and be sure to join us on Instagram @swana.ancestral for regular updates. or, use and follow the hashtag #hub4hub to join the conversation!

#swanaancestral #ancestralrememberance #ancestralhealing #hub4hub

*SWANA = South West Asia + North Africa, a less colonial way to address the diverse geographical region usually called Middle East + North Africa.

ONLINE 5-class series | January 14 - March 18, exact time TBD| $333

(**Please note: This class is reserved to persons who have native ancestry from the SWANA [aka Middle East and N. Africa] region- mixed ancestry included. Thank you for respecting this space.)

Good folks, many of you have been requesting and asking for another one of these series to come up. I haven’t offered one for a year and I’m not sure when I will again, so join us for this chance while it is here!

This extended ONLINE series is for SWANA* community to engage in embodied learning about our ancestral plants and their uses as medicinal and spiritual allies. Our ancestral plants carry the DNA of our homelands, of our ancestors, and resonate this memory with the truths that live deep inside our own bodies and hearts. We will work with this relationship to access deeply held wisdom, revitalize lost bodies of knowledge, and re-establish relationship to ourselves, our ancestors, and the resilience and medicine available through being in conscious relationship with our plantcestors. Each participant will receive a package of SWANA native plant medicines to work with through the course of our class together. Experiential relationship with the plantcestors will be emphasized and facilitated through the duration of the class.

In this class we will:
* Develop fundamental tools to work with plants as medicinal and spiritual allies
* Practice and learn tools to communicate with our medicines and our internal selves
* Engage in a process of personal healing through building relationship with plantcestral allies and witnessing each other
* Learn traditional principles and ethical practice around harvesting, medicine making, and more
* Gain & generate experiential, folk, and medicinal knowledge about several plants
* Deepen relationship with our ancestors and ourselves
* Learn how to better connect to our own internal wisdom, intuition, and the cues of the natural & spiritual worlds to support our day-to-day lives and healing
* Contribute to strengthening the knowledge and practice of our SWANA plantcestral traditions, cosmologies, and ways of knowing
* Receive a package of SWANA plantcestral medicines to work, heal, and learn with at home
* Explore and revitalize traditional ways of healing ourselves and our communities
* Take a personal journey into the plantcestral realm with the support of a safe community


MORE INFO...
- This online class is a small group and is conducted via live video conference calling, and requires LIVE ATTENDANCE and participation each class (must have access to internet/camera or audio & google hangouts to participate- can download for free). Homework will be assigned each week and participants should be prepared to spend a little time (at least 10 mins, ideally 30 mins) each day with the medicines/material in between classes.

- A package of medicines will be sent to you via mail for you to work with through the course of our class.

- The foundation of this class is based on the cultivation of your own experiential personal relationship with the plantcestral allies we will be working with. This often opens up deeper healing processes. Participants must be willing and available to this process. The group and facilitator are here to support thru each step of the way. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to ask. 

- Class will meet for 5 sessions from mid-January - mid-March. Exact time and dates of the class will be determined based on the group's schedule. Answer registration form questions to include your own needs, timezone, and preferences so that we can determine this ASAP please.

FEE EXCHANGE: $333 (includes all teachings plus medicine package mailed to your home to work with through the course.)

Fill out this application to register: https://goo.gl/forms/rGKFQtYN7U95HJvy1
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: The application form is a confirmation of your intention to participate in the class and MUST be submitted by December 27, 2018 with an email to me informing me of your intent to register. Since it is holiday season, I am extending the paid non-refundable deposit of $111 to January 6. But PLEASE NOTE that submitting the application form and being accepted is a COMMITMENT to following through with complete payment and participation in the class. Space is limited and I am not able to give any refunds (please reach out to me personally if you need a payment plan or an alternative arrangement).
Send registration deposit to paypal.me/riverrose (friends and family option, please).

Help us find each other: PLEASE SHARE with SWANA friends and community who would enjoy or benefit from such a circle.

(**Please note: This class is reserved to persons who have native ancestry from the SWANA [aka Middle East and N. Africa] region- mixed ancestry included. Thank you for respecting this space.)

This extended ONLINE series is for SWANA* community to engage in embodied learning about our ancestral plants and their uses as medicinal and spiritual allies. Our ancestral plants carry the DNA of our homelands, of our ancestors, and resonate this memory with the truths that live deep inside our own bodies and hearts. We will work with this relationship to access deeply held wisdom, revitalize lost bodies of knowledge, and re-establish relationship to ourselves, our ancestors, and the resilience and medicine available through being in conscious relationship with our plantcestors. Each participant will receive a package of SWANA native plant medicines to work with through the course of our class together. Experiential relationship with the plantcestors will be emphasized and facilitated through the duration of the class.

In this class we will:
* Develop fundamental tools to work with plants as medicinal and spiritual allies
* Practice and learn tools to communicate with our medicines and our internal selves
* Engage in a process of personal healing through building relationship with plantcestral allies and witnessing each other
* Learn traditional principles and ethical practice around harvesting, medicine making, and more
* Gain & generate experiential, folk, and medicinal knowledge about several plants
* Deepen relationship with our ancestors and ourselves
* Learn how to better connect to our own internal wisdom, intuition, and the cues of the natural & spiritual worlds to support our day-to-day lives and healing
* Contribute to strengthening the knowledge and practice of our SWANA plantcestral traditions
* Receive a package of SWANA plantcestral medicines to work, heal, and learn with at home
* Explore and revitalize traditional ways of healing ourselves and our communities
* Take a personal journey into the plantcestral realm with the support of a safe community

This season will be focused on deepening resilience through our shared space together and with the plants, as well as on honoring and healing relationship to not only our SWANA ancestors, but to those of the diasporic places we live in and are nourished by daily. 

MORE INFO...
- This online class is a small group and is conducted via live video conference calling, and requires LIVE ATTENDANCE and participation each class (must have access to internet/camera or audio & google hangouts to participate- can download for free). Homework will be assigned each week and participants should be prepared to spend a little time (at least 10 mins, ideally 30 mins) each day with the medicines/material in between classes.

- A package of medicines will be sent to you via mail for you to work with through the course of our class.

- The foundation of this class is based on the cultivation of your own experiential personal relationship with the plantcestral allies we will be working with. This often opens up deeper healing processes. Participants must be willing and available to this process. The group and facilitator are their to support thru each step of the way. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to ask. 

- Class will meet for 6 Mondays from November 6 - December 11. Time of the class will be determined based on the group's schedule. Answer registration form questions to include your own needs, timezone, and preferences. Please also note if days other than Monday are preferable for you, as nothing is set in stone. 

FEE EXCHANGE: $333 (includes all teachings plus medicine package mailed to your home to work with through the course.)

Fill out this application to register: https://goo.gl/forms/204UL9BFManVgPjh1
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: October 26, 2017 Non-refundable deposit of $168 due by this date, as well as the application above. (please reach out to me personally if you need a payment plan or an alternative arrangment)
Send registration deposit to paypal.me/riverrose (friends and family option, please).

*Minimum of 7 participants, maximum of 18. No group will be larger than 9 people each.

All over the world, fall is regarded as the season of the ancestors. Veils are thin, and the energy of the earth is deepening back into the roots and seeds where life originates from. It is my FAVORITE season, and taking cues from the natural world, it is an excellent time to deepen and nourish our OWN roots and origins as well. 

In this series, we will partner intentionally with native and ancestral plants to cultivate resilience, deepen relationship, and nourish healing for ourselves, our lineages, and the Tongva lands that nourish us daily. We will engage in an introductory practice of "Plantcestral re-Membrance", an honoring way of building relationships with our plant allies to support us as agents of memory, healing, and consciousness connecting us to the wisdom and resilience of our ancestors still alive inside of us. 

In this series, we will:
* Honor and acknowledge our ancestors and the ones whose land we are living on (we will offer an altar on our first day of class, the same week as Dia de los Muertos)
* Tend and deepen relationship with both Tongva & ancestral plants respective to our own lineage
* Learn how to be in respectful relationship with plants as medicinal and spiritual allies
* Learn how to work with plants as allies for ancestral healing and memory
* Deepen our intuition and honor the knowledge within our own bodies & relationships
* Learn and share with each other about a few medicinal plants
* Start to identify plantcestral allies to support our own resilience
* Engage these healing practices in a community of support

DATES:

This is a 3 class series which will take place in Los Angeles, CA on Wed Nov 1, 15, and 29 from 6-9pm. Participants commit to coming to every class and participating in the material in between. 

REGISTER:
$159 for full series, all materials included.
Must send an email to river.rose.layla@gmail.com plus deposit of $59 by OCTOBER 27th to secure your spot. Send payment via friend/family option to paypal.me/riverrose.
Remaining $100 due before the start of first class. 

(If you need an alternative payment plan or other arrangement, talk to me privately.)

Only 15 spaces available. 

WHO:
This class is open to respectful people of ALL ETHNICITIES. 

ALL River Rose classes are queer and trans inclusive and uplift the experiences of indigenous, femme, and POC communities and ways of knowing and being. 

ACCESSIBILITY:
Accessibility info and other space related details will be announced later. They are still in the works.

(**Please note: This class is reserved to persons who have native ancestry from the SWANA [aka Middle East and N. Africa] region- mixed ancestry included. Thank you for respecting this space.)

This extended ONLINE series is for SWANA* community to engage in embodied learning about our ancestral plants and their uses as medicinal and spiritual allies.  Our ancestral plants carry the DNA of our homelands, of our ancestors, and resonate this memory with the truths that live deep inside our own bodies and hearts. We will work with this relationship to access deeply held wisdom, revitalize lost bodies of knowledge, and re-establish relationship to ourselves, our ancestors, and the resilience and medicine available through being in conscious relationship with our plantcestors.  Each participant will receive a package of SWANA native plant medicines to work with through the course of our class together. Experiential relationship with the plantcestors will be emphasized and facilitated through the duration of the class.

In this class we will:
* Develop the fundamental tools to work with plants as medicinal and spiritual allies
* Practice and learn tools to communicate with our medicines
* Learn traditional principles and ethical practice around harvesting, medicine making, and more
* Gain & generate experiential, folk, and medicinal knowledge about several plants native to the SWANA region
* Deepen relationship with our ancestors and ourselves
* Learn how to better connect to our own internal wisdom, intuition, and the cues of the natural & spiritual worlds to support our day-to-day lives and healing
* Learn to make medicine
* Contribute to strengthening the knowledge and practice of our SWANA plantcestral traditions
* Receive a package of SWANA plantcestral medicines to work, heal, and learn with at home
* Explore and revitalize traditional ways of healing ourselves and our communities
* Take a personal journey into the plantcestral realm with the support of a safe community

MORE INFO...
- This online class is a small group and is conducted via live video conference calling, and requires live attendance and participation each class (must have access to internet/camera or audio & google hangouts to participate- can download for free). Homework will be assigned each week and participants should be prepared to spend a little time (at least 10 mins, ideally 30 mins) each day with the medicines/material in between classes.

- A package of medicines will be sent to you via mail for you to work with through the course of our class.

- Class will meet every other Tuesday through March and on one SATURDAY in April (special timing for this class listed below). Time of Tuesday classes will be 5:30-8pm PST/ 8:30-11pm EST:
Tues, January 24
Tues, February 7
Tues, February 21
Tues, March 7
Tues, March 21
* During this 1 month break, participants will engage in an intensive relationship building process with 1 plant. I will offer guidance and support via short video and online teachings, as well as be available for 1-on-1 support on the assignment through this time. 
Saturday, April 22, 10:30am-1:30pm PST/ 1:30pm-4:30pm EST

FEE EXCHANGE: $333 (includes all teachings plus medicine package mailed to your home to work with through the course.)

Fill out this application to register.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: January 3, 2017 Non-refundable deposit of $168 due by this date, as well as the application above.
Send registration deposit to cash.me/$RiverRose.

*Minimum of 7 participants needed, maximum of 9 to make this class possible.

This workshop is dedicated to experiencing vibrational remedies & stories/teachings of select plantcestors, ancient sites, and flower essences collected during my Homeward Healing journey through the SWANA* region (*South West Asia & N. Africa, colonially referred to as the Middle East and North Africa). It will be a medicine honoring of SWANA ancestral legacies, and an offering to my communities to share in the medicinal vibrations and wisdom of some of the sacred places & plants that I was acquainted with. *It is open to all persons of all ancestral backgrounds.*

DATES & LOCATION:

Los Angeles - Thur, Jan 5, 6:30-9:30pm
Oakland - Tues, Jan 31, 6:30-9:30pm

Exact locations will be announced upon registration.

Email river.rose.layla@gmail.com ASAP to sign up.
Space is limited to 20 people.

EXCHANGE:   $44, Elders (52+) get 50% off

15% of all profits will go to Standing Rock. 

Late December in San Diego, CA  (exact location & date TBA. Email river.rose.layla@gmail.com if you would like to join/get more details.)
Sunday, January 29, 6:30-9pm, Oakland, CA (exact location TBA. Check FB event page or email me to stay posted on updates.)

This will be an intimate space to share some reflections about my recent 9 month Homeward Healing journey to reconnect to the ancestral wisdom that lives in the lands of the SWANA region where my own people originate from (SWANA= South West Asia and North Africa/ a less colonial way to refer to the region typically described as the Middle East and North Africa).  It will be a spirited and organic sharing over SWANA tea, and perhaps even around a fire if we can manage that :), to tell stories and share a lil bit of the medicine that I made/gathered along the way and answer any questions and reflections that come up. 

*I will be accepting donations to help recover from some of the financial expenses of the trip and support ongoing work in this area going forward. I will also have my SWANA book and some other medicine offerings for sale. If you would like to purchase or contribute, please come prepared with cash <3.* 

My big news and my FUN offerings to support fundraising to make this important journey possible. Please SHARE and please JOIN US!

Below, you will find details about 3 DONATION BASED ONLINE OFFERINGS this Spring to support my Embodied Research trip to the SWANA* (aka. Middle East & N. Africa) region to invest in #plantcestral and #ancestral re-membrance work which I have been cultivating for the past decade and sharing with you all through River Rose and the نجمع جذورنا -reGather our Ancestors project this past couple of years. 

Support me to fulfill my role and commitment to my communities in a time where restorative and healing practice is so greatly needed!This work reconnects us to the resilient, life-affirming wisdom and ancestral practices which have the power to restore, protect, and maintain the integrity of life and an order of justice in our region. The SWANA lands are increasingly under attack and our ancient traditions, sacred sites, and our indigenous ethnic communities are being especially targeted right now and need urgent attention. Please help me do my humble yet significant part in recovering, preserving, and uplifting these important cultural legacies of wisdom, especially in light of this critical time.

Through my research will be engaging and re-membering knowledge on SWANA:

1) Ethnobotany (the traditional knowledge and customs of a people concerning plants and their medical, sacred, folkloric, and other uses)

2) Cultural Preservation (including ecological and plant conservation, as well as historical & sacred sites)
3) Traditional Healing Practices (emphasis on spiritual and ceremonial healing traditions)
4) Indigenous History, Cosmologies, and Traditions 

I need to raise $9,999 to make this possible. (UPDATE: I managed to get the first $5,555 together in the spring, and the fundraiser is still open for more contributions!)

*SWANA means South West Asia and North Africa, a less colonial way to refer to the region usually called the Middle East and North Africa.

THE OFFERINGS:

1) AVAILABLE NOW! * "Love is in the Homeland: SWANA Plantcestors for Healing and Re-Membrance", a 20 page digital book featuring medicinal profiles, remedies, and recipes of 5 accessible and powerful SWANA plantcestors, as well as tips and reflections on how to do ancestral re-claimation and re-membrance work. It is full of photos and practical and spiritual info for supporting our health of body and soul in an every day way, all compiled and written by me and with a special SWANA flavor.

TO ORDER THIS BOOK: Send your donation to paypal (International participants can pay here instead) and then email river.rose.layla@gmail.com with the following information:
1) Your name
2) Specify if you would like an online or printed copy
3) Your address (if you want a printed copy)

SUGGESTED DONATION:
$22-$222, online version
$44-$444, printed version

2) AVAILABLE NOW!
* Love is in the Homeland: SWANA traditions of Coffee Cup Divination.  In this 1.5 hour online class, my Egyptian sister, Emanne Desouky and my Turkish sister, Emel Orhun join me to teach about the lovely plantcestor, coffee, share the ritual of preparation that our own families and traditions use, and then do a mini reading together where we teach some of the primary symbols and meanings in the cups per the tradition of our own family's and knowledge from the region, and offer tips and wisdom about how to read the cups and honor what it is telling you. It is a fun and informative class that will empower you to start preparing and interpreting the wisdom and symbols in your own coffee cup and path in general. There is also a recording of a q&a session that was live by me and Emel, and a comment/question board that is open to all registered participants for engagement and reflections indefinitely!

~ This class is open to ALL people, regardless of ancestry and location. ~

TO ENROLL: Send an email to river.rose.layla@gmail.com & send payment to Paypal. (International participants can pay here instead.)  
SUGGESTED DONATION: $33-$555

3) AVAILABLE NOW!
* Love is in the Homeland: Food is Medicine: Traditional Lebanese Recipes with common Medicinal "Weeds"
This 1 hr 20 minute long class features more SWANA medicine, including a special culinary practice with my very own family! It starts with a walk through my Maternal Teta's (grandmother's) garden to learn about her medicinal herbs, including many that commonly grow in North America and the SWANA region alike, and then a step-by-step recipe preparation with my grandma herself using very medicinal extremely common medicinal herbs that you can use for nutritious simple meal for your own family at home! Some other traditional Lebanese recipes with these common "weeds" and others will also be stated throughout the class teachings, as well as a comment/q&a board that is available for discussion for all registered participants indefinitely! One thing I LOVE about this class is that it offers ideas about how to work with common "invasive weeds" that we pull from our gardens all the time in a way that honors their medicine, blesses our tummies, and does the service of removing them so that more space can be claimed by our native plants that are so important to our local ecologies and ecosystems! It also offers the insight into a very uncommon extremely traditional recipe made by my grandma in her Southern Lebanese village throughout her childhood. 

~ This class is open to ALL people, regardless of ancestry and location. ~

TO ENROLL: Send an email to river.rose.layla@gmail.com & send payment to Paypal. (International participants can pay here instead.)  
SUGGESTED DONATION: $33-$555

---------------------------
SOME OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT me in fulfilling my call to my ancestral lands this Spring...
* Participate in the special offerings I am making this season (listed above) or simply donate to my funds at Paypal.
* SHARE MY OFFERINGS & NEWS! This would be a GREAT help to get the word out about my project and my fundraiser and to acquire more support and connect to more of my kin in this world. I would love for as many people as possible to attend my online offerings and experience my "Love is in the Homeland" book this season!
* Send me any info regarding grants, scholarships, private sponsors, or other funding sources that you think would align with my work. Some areas might be cultural preservation, traditional arts, traditional healing, or something else. Or private sponsors you know perhaps who are invested or interested in this topic. SHARE this work with any of these sources please, or people who you think are invested in this work and have funds to allocate towards it!
* Put me in touch with any ally you know in the SWANA region who you think may be able to host me or help me find a place to stay, help me navigate my trip in their country, take me on a visit somewhere special, has interest in herbs, sacred sites or traditional culture, knows their village or land really well, is an elder who practices their traditional culture or knows a lot about it, historians, mystics, fortune tellers, midwives, traditional healers, traditional dancers or musicians, dreamers, elders, plant lovers, kind people, or anyone you know in the SWANA region who you think would be interested in my project or might be a good friend or ally to me along the way, or wants to adopt me as a grandkid :). Especially if you know folks in: Jordan, Egypt, Oman, Iran, Armenia, Palestine, or Lebanon. THANK YOU!
* Transfer any abundance of frequent flier miles to me.
* Follow and share my work often while I am away and as I share my offerings and work on raising funds this season! Staying tuned while I'm away is going to be so important for me especially as I am sure I will have things to share with you all from my journey, and also will continue needing your support to fulfill it.

*SWANA means South West Asia and North Africa, a less colonial way to refer to the region usually called the Middle East and North Africa.

ALSO, **please SHARE this work if it moves you**. Tell us in your sharing post: why is the work of ancestral reclamation or plantcestral medicine important to you? Why invest in #intergenerationalhealing and #traditionalwisdoms of our earth-based ancestors? How has this work touched or inspired you? Or any other personal testimonials you may have to offer.

DON'T WANNA PARTICIPATE IN THESE OFFERINGS BUT WOULD LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE ANYWAYS? No problem. Donations can be made here. (But you might as well participate in one of the lovely offerings above! Consider it my thank you :) ):

These offerings come from my heart and are offered with a lot of love to share a bit of my magical SWANA world with you and welcome you along my journey of making this trip possible, and experiencing just a little personal piece of why it is so special and close to my heart. I hope to continue making such offerings from the SWANA region if the circumstances permit me to do so! Please share this work, accept my offerings, and contribute as much as your abundant heart feels compelled and able to support me in acquiring the funds needed for me to fulfill this profoundly important spiritual calling for myself and by extension, my family and community. Please invest in the survival and flourishment of the life-giving and sacred traditions of the SWANA region in an era of time and context where it is being so fiercely suppressed and attacked, and has been for generations now largely neglected and hidden. Please support me in playing my humble role in this process of ancestral reclamation, healing, and re-membrance in a sacred way that I hope will contribute to our collective liberation and justice as original people of this beautiful earth we are all co-habitating. Please support me in preserving and uplifting the traditions of life-affirming SWANA ways and the sacred origins that we all in fact come from. We are people made of resilience, love, and soul, and these traditions are at the very pulse of what has sustained us despite all circumstances even as they have laid underground for so many of us. Please support me in uplifting this beautiful truth and strengthening/resurrecting these ancient medicine ways that have great power to bless the lives, lands, and spirits of my SWANA kindred in the homeland and diaspora and beyond, inshallah towards ever-multiplying expressions of life, culture, and day-to-day realities based in self-determination and LOVE for not just us, but all the life-affirming people of this planet. Please support me to fulfill my sacred purpose. THANK YOU! Your support means the world to me. 

I am deeply grateful for all your generosity and love. ♥

If you are a Facebook user, feel free to "join" our event page for more regular updates on this special workshop. 

River Rose Apothecary is greatly honored to be working in collaboration with Nichim Otanil to share & uplift the indigenous medicine knowledge and land vision of Dona Lucia Perez Santiz!

Come join us in a unique opportunity to learn directly from Maya-Tzeltal traditional herbalist & curandera Doña Lucía Pérez Sántiz in the highlands of Chiapas, México. 

In this week-long herbal intensive workshop we will explore:
- Herbalism & holistic health from a Mayan cosmological tradition
-Ancestral healing & traditional practices for individual healing & self care
-A unique materia medica of plants used in Mexican curanderisimo along with many other common plants to heal the body, emotions & spirit
-Taught in Spanish with an English translator, inclusive to all who want to learn

This trip is designed for all people who want to deepen their healing practices, whether they are ancestral, alternative and or mainstream practices with a holistic perspective. The main purpose is to provide support, healing, restoration to the body, mind and spirit while offering the opportunity to enhance skills in the healing arts and wellness work focusing on the ancient healing techniques.

THE TEACHER:
Doña Lucía Pérez Sántiz comes from a long lineage of traditional healers in Chiapas. She began her herbal training as a young girl, with her great-grandfather who lived to be 120 years old. She has treated many people in her community & has over 30 years of teaching experience. In March of 2015 the herbal school and healing center Nichim Otanil was inaugurated as a way to bring Dona Lucia’s healing wisdom into the community with greater accessibility and autonomy. Nichim Otanil translates to “flower of the heart” from her native language Tzeltal, and conveys Dona Lucia’s philosophy and belief that all healing starts with a flowering of love from the heart. We are very proud to extend her wisdom to the international and bi-cultural community via this unique bilingual course. 

THE VISION!
Your participation in this course will support Dona Lucia’s larger vision to eventually gain access to land in order to cultivate medicine for her community the way her great grandfather did, thus supporting indigenous wisdom to stay connected to ancestral lands. Indigenous access to land is a very necessary component for the radical preservation of ancestral wisdom in the unfortunate context of gentrification and land disposition of indigenous peoples. Your support & participation will ensure that this ancient knowledge may continue to be passed on to future generations and serve her local community. 


APPLICATION & REGISTRATION:
To apply, fill out this application form, and send an email to nichimotanil@gmail.com to confirm when you have completed it.

Once you have been accepted to the course, we will arrange PayPal course payments according to the following registration deadlines:

Standard Course Fee:

* $950 paid in full by February 1, 2015  

A $400 non-refundable deposit paid by January 6, 2016 will secure your enrollment and will go towards your course payment.

Early-Bird Specials:

**$825 if paid in full by December 22, 2015**

**$875 if paid in full by January 6, 2016**

Admission to the course is on a first come first serve basis for those who have paid their deposit. The course will be held with a minimum of 5 students and is limited to a maximum of 15 students.

* Course fees do not include travel or accommodations. *

TRAVEL:
If you think you are interested in participating in this course, we highly encourage that you start to look for airfare as soon as possible for best deals. Frequent flier miles are also an excellent option if you have access to them.

The nearest airport is in Tuxtla de Gutiérrez, which is about an hour from San Cristóbal de las Casas and airport shuttles leave frequently from the airport to San Cristobal. 

You may also choose to fly into Mexico City, and take a bus to San Cristóbal, just keep in mind that it is about a 14 hour bus ride, and first class or tourist class bus tickets cost almost as much as a plane to Tuxtla. 

ACCOMMODATIONS:
There are many hostels, hotels and bed and breakfasts in San Cristóbal to choose from that range in prices. Participants will be responsible to arrange their own accommodations. We will send a list of recommended places upon registration to get you started, but there are countless other options beyond our list as San Cristóbal is a popular destination for Mexican and international tourism. That being said, it will be a good idea to reserve a place in advance. The school Nichim Otanil is centrally located at the intersection of Calle Diego Dugelay & Calle Francisco Leon, which is a block from the main foot-traffic walkway Andador Real de Guadalupe. We will have a mid-day breaks each day where you will have time to explore San Cristóbal by foot or taxi. 

San Cristóbal de las Casas is a lovely mountainous town with a very rich local indigenous history, and is a popular destination for many people who visit from all over the world. In the winter, which is the dry season in Chiapas, days can be quite sunny, while nights are cold & chilly due to the elevation (6, 500” above sea level). So be sure to pack with layers & warm cloths to bundle up with at night. You will also find beautiful wool handmade textiles & garments in the local markets if you choose to support local artisans for some of those layers.