2025 CONFLUENCE CLASS TOPICS

These Plant Healer events are constantly evolving, the range of class topics expanding  and diversifying beyond bodily healing to creating purposed, pleasurable, and fulfilling lives.... such as: assessments, home medicine making, perfumery, cannabis, entheogens, teas, botanical cocktails, treating trauma and ptsd, home medicine making, wondrous cooking, healthy lifestyle, mythos and storytelling, adornment and celebration.  

With multiple simultaneous classes and activities in each of the many time slots, you  will likely want to make a list prior to the Confluence of those which will best inspire,  inform, excite, stretch, and propel you on your personal path. 

A pdf of detailed class descriptions will be updated every month or so, so you may want to periodically re-download them:

2025 Class Descriptions PDF

For information on your wonderful 2025 Confluence Teachers, navigate to the:

Teacher Bios Pages

2025 GOOD MEDICINE CLASS TOPICS

Ellen Beaman

         (Hands-On Playshop) Herbal Breadbaking: Crafting Loaves of Intention & Nourishment (2 or 2.5 hrs)

(Hands-On Playshop) Divine by Hand: Crafting Personalized Divination Tools (2 or 2.5 hrs)

         (Hands-On Playshop) Spellcasting With Clay: Earth, Intention & The Art of Sacred Shaping (2 or 2.5 hrs)

Kristen Coester

(Hands-On Playshop) Plant Based Beauty: Join in Making 3 Herbal Skin-Care Products (2 or 2.5 hrs)

(Hands-On Playshop) The Power of Herbs in The Kitchen (1.5, 2 or 2.5 hrs)

(Movement & Experience) Lifelong Strong: Tea & Yoga (1.5 hrs)

Suzanne Marie Luck

         Healer Heal Thyself: Utilizing Herbs, Acupressure & Energy Work (1.5 hrs) 

         Gardening Throughout The Year: Growing Medicinal Herbs & Food (1.5 hrs)

Ash Ritter

         Misunderstood Pharmakon of Ancient America: Mound-Builders, Archeoastronomy & The Plants That Bridge Worlds (1.5 hrs)

         Open Sesame: Botanical Way-Openers, Neurotransmitters & The Organic Algorithm (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Complete and most recently updated topics list:

Caleb Arnold

         Foundations of Southern Folk Medicine (1.5 hrs) 

         The Business of a Plant Walk: From Passion to Payout (1.5 hrs) 

         The Primitive Herbalist: Wilderness First-Aid & Backcountry Medicines (1.5 hrs) 

Ellen Beaman

         (Hands-On Playshop) Herbal Breadbaking: Crafting Loaves of Intention & Nourishment (2 or 2.5 hrs)

(Hands-On Playshop) Divine by Hand: Crafting Personalized Divination Tools (2 or 2.5 hrs)

         (Hands-On Playshop) Spellcasting With Clay: Earth, Intention & The Art of Sacred Shaping (2 or 2.5 hrs)

Ian Bollinger

         Bridging The Gaps Between Citizens & Science: Inquiry, Vision, Methods & Means (1.5 hrs)

         Natural Tryptamines Primer: In Not Only Fungi But Flora & Fauna (2 or 2.5 hrs) 

Amy Branum

         Ashwagandha, Brahmi, & Shatavari: A Deep Dive to Clear Up Some Common Misunderstandings (1.5 or 2 hrs)

         Herbs For Resilience & Hope: Strengthening Ourselves & Our Communities (1.5 hrs)

Lian Bruno

         Herbal Smoking Blends (1.5 hrs)

         Holistic Hedonism: How to Enjoy Altered States & Prioritize Pleasure With Herbal Harm Reduction (1.5 hrs)

         Herbal Allies For Easing Anxiety (1.5 hrs)

Josh Busbee

Yarrow & Lobelia: A Powerful Combination For Infections, Cuts, & Boosting the Mood (1.5 hrs)

  Invasive Plants: A Valuable Resource For Food & How Foraging Them Can Protect Native Species (1.5 hrs)

Kristen Coester

         (Hands-On Playshop) Plant Based Beauty: Join in Making 3 Herbal Skin-Care Products (2 or 2.5 hrs)

         (Hands-On Playshop) The Power of Herbs in The Kitchen (1.5, 2 or 2.5 hrs)

         (Movement & Experience) Lifelong Strong: Tea & Yoga (1.5 hrs)

Bianca Correa

         Plants of the Southwest: Sovereignty Reclamation & Coming Back to the Land (1.5 hrs)

         Ancestral Brewing Methods: When Women Were The Brewers (1.5 hrs)

Courtney Cosgriff

         Eleusinian Mysteries, Healing Rites & Bee Women: Reconnecting to The Mother Goddess (1.5 hrs)

         Sweetness & Sting: Apitherapy & The Medicine of The Bees (2 or 2.5 hrs)

         The Medicine Beneath Our Feet: Bioregional Herbalism & Cultivating Relationship With The Land Through Ethical Wildcrafting (2 or 2.5 hrs)

Justiene Davis

Aphrodisiac Alchemy: Herbal Allies For Connection & Desire: Awakening The Senses & Fostering Intimacy Through Plants (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Lunar Rhythms: Herbal Wisdom for Hormonal Balance: A Holistic Approach to Supporting Women’s Hormonal Health – With a Focus on PCOS (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Herbs for a Changing World: Plant Allies For Social Resilience – Navigating Stress, Trauma & Uncertainty With Herbal Allies (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Summer Downs

         Death Tending: Rituals of Community-Based & Earth-based Care For The Dying, The Dead, & The Grieving - CoTaught with Erik Montoya (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Holly Dunbar

         Botanical Perfumery: The Notes of Aromatherapy (1.5 hrs)

         A Deeper Dive Into Essential Oils (2 hrs)

         Mullein: Mythos & Medicine (2 hrs)

Bernadette Gibson

         (Morning Movement) Qi Gong (1 hr)

Amy Glasser

         Evoking Flora: Botanical Drawing & Watercolor Painting – Part I (1.5 hrs)

         Continuing Evoking Flora: Botanical Drawing & Watercolor Painting – Part II (1.5 hrs)

Jacob Haas

Phytochemical World: An Expose of The Intersection of Plants & Chemistry (1.5 hrs)

High on Science: An Exploration of The Molecular Biology & Neurochemistry of Altered States (1.5 hrs)

Jesse Wolf Hardin

         Anima Mundi, The Real Magic of Plants, & The Restorative Powers of Enchantment: A Story For The Ages –– Experienced In The Now (1.5 hrs)

Matthew Hunter 

         Being a Full-Time Herbal Entrepreneur: How to Get More Sales & Help More People With Your Plant or Nature Based Business (2 or 2.5 hrs)

         The Bioregional Wildcrafter: How to Find Edible & Medicinal Plants in Your Area – Plus Mapping Out Your Region’s Useful Flora & Making a Wild Plant Harvesting Calendar (1.5 hrs)

         (Hands-on Playshop) An Usnea Extract That Will Knock Your Socks Off: Making a Multi-Fractional Usnea Preparation & a Look At Other Herbs For Respiratory Infections (1.5 hrs)

         (Hands-on Playshop) How to Make Sassafras Root Beer & Other Botanical Sodas – Plus The Edible/Medicinal Uses & History of Sassafras albidum (1.5 hrs)

Wendy Johnston

         (Morning Mvement & Experience) Escential Yoga & Sound Bath: Restorative Stretching With Essential Oils & Gong (1 hr)

Mo (Maureen) Judith

         Gaia Alchemy (2 or 2.5 hrs)

         The Spagyric Process & Hermeticism (2 or 2.5 hrs)

Logan Keister

         The Qualities or Energetics of Plants & Mushrooms: Hot, Cold, Wet, Dry, Stimulating, Relaxing  (1.5 or 2 hrs)

         Herbal Formulation Strategies With Medicinal Mushrooms (2 or 2.5 hrs)

         (Herbal Kids Experience) Teaching Herbalism & Foraging: A Special Class For Kids & Their Parents (1.5 or 2 hrs)

(Special Thursday Post-Event Walk) Wildcrafting Ethics Southwestern Plants Walk (3+ hrs)

Warren Kistenbroker

         Sacred Plant Medicines & Their Impacts on Human Philosophy Over Time & Space (1.5 or 2 hrs)

         The Elixir of Bes: A look at a Psychedelic Egyptian Recipe From 30 BC (1.5 hrs)

         Advanced Alchemical Extraction Methods: Extraction, Preservation and Synthesis of New Compounds through Spagyric Preparation (1.5 or 2 hrs)

         The Alchemical Ether: Consciousness, Matter & Plants (1 or 1.5 hrs)

Amy Kousch with Olivia Ondracek

         The Secret Garden of Perception: Exploring Medicinal Plants, Habitat, & The Unseen Kingdom of Soil Ecology (1.5 hrs)

Suzanne Marie Luck

         Healer Heal Thyself: Utilizing Herbs, Acupressure & Energy Work (1.5 hrs) 

         Gardening Throughout The Year: Growing Medicinal Herbs & Food (1.5 hrs)

Pinyon Pete May

         (Experiential) Discovering Plant Music: Sounds of Nature For Healing & Relaxation (2 or 2.5 hrs)

(Hands-On Playshop) Creating a Native Oyster Mushroom Nursery (1.5 hrs)

(Experiential) Nurturing & Sustaining a Healing Forest (1.5 hrs)

Erik Montoya

         Herbalism For Death & Dying: A Nurse Herbalist Perspective – Co-taught with Summer Downs (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Aron McNicholas

         What Really Makes You Ill (1.5 hrs)

         What Your Labs Are Telling You: Understanding the Pros and Cons of Modern Assessment (1.5 hrs)

         Holistic Cancer Support (1.5 hrs)

Muva Mystick

(Hands-On Playshop) Intimacy Reflexology & Post-Separation Healing (2 hrs)

(Hands-On Playshop) Mastering The Art of Authentic Jamaican Jerk Sauce (2 hrs)

Rachel Marie Musquiz

         (Hands-On Playshop) Kitchen as Temple: Culinary Herbalism for Hormonal Balance & Feminine Vitality (2 hrs)

         (Hands-On Playshop) Womb Healing Foods: Materia Medica & Menstrual Magic (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Jessicka Nebesni

         (Hands-On Playshop) Botanical Baths: Soaks, Salts, Oils & Bombs (1.5 hrs)

         (Hands-On Playshop) Basics of Herbal Preparations: How to Make 7 Fundamental Herbal Preparations at Home (1.5 hrs)

Seán Pádraig O’Donoghue

         Psychedelics & Physical Healing (1.5 or 2 hrs)

         Cannabis, Tobacco, & The Dead (1.5 or 2 hrs)

         Yarrow (1.5 hrs)

         Bear Medicines, Bear Mysteries (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Lauren Peterson

         Nopal: A Deep Dive Into Prickly Pear Medicine (1.5 or 2 hrs)

         Remembering Rosemary (1.5 hrs)

         (Hands-On Playshop) Herbal Cocktails & Mocktails (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Benjamin Pixie

         (Hands-On Playshop) The Magic & Medicine of the Honey Bee (2 hrs)

         (Hands-On Playshop) Mead Making as Medicine: Wort Cunning (2 hrs)

Dr. Kenneth Proefrock

         Celtica: A History of Botanical Medicine in Ireland (2 or 2.5 hrs)

         Hormesis as a Philosophy in Healing: "That Which Doesn’t Kill Me Makes Me Stronger” (2 or 2.5 hrs) 

         Swinging the Pendulum: Acid-Base Chemistry for Herbalists (1.5 or 2 hrs)

         Gin: Local Holy Terroir (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Ash Ritter

         Misunderstood Pharmakon of Ancient America: Mound-Builders, Archeoastronomy & The Plants That Bridge Worlds (1.5 hrs)

         Open Sesame: Botanical Way-Openers, Neurotransmitters & The Organic Algorithm (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Kiva Rosethorn

         Somnium Viretium: Spirit Renewal In The Peace of Passiflora (1.5 hrs)

Laurel Silberman

         Rewilding The Soul: Chiron as Mirror, Teacher & Healer (1.5 hrs)

         Addiction Alchemy: Healing Addiction Through The Earth Body (1.5 hrs)

         (Experiential) Song of The Subtle: Flower Essences & Vibrational Approaches to Catalyzing Profound Changes (1.5 hrs)

Renae Southworth 

         When Your Herbal Business Grows Beyond Your Kitchen: Tips & Tools, Ethics & Sustainability (1.5 or 2 hrs)

         Learning From Plant Spirits: Listening, Connection, & Inspiration (1.5 or 2 hrs)

Analise Stein

Potent Petal Essence Medicine For Fertility, Pregnancy & Postpartum Phases (1.5 hrs)

Herbal Medicine & Lifestyle Therapeutics For Common Skin Conditions (1.5 hrs)         

Cyclical Beings: Defining a Vibrant Menstrual Cycle, Uncovering Signs of Potential Hormonal Imbalances, & Detailing Potent Botanicals for Infradian Rhythm Equilibrium (1.5 hrs) 

Atava Garcia Swiecicki

         Herbal History, Plants & Practices of Mexican Curanderismo (1.5 hrs)

         Baba Yaga’s Secrets: Herbal Practices of the Slavic World (2 or 2.5 hrs)