The Eternal Student: Walking the Path of the Shaman, the Herbalist & the Sacred Craft
The Eternal Student
As September arrives, the season naturally invites us to shift inward. We spend a little more time indoors, and we begin to eat differently—reaching for soups, warm foods, and nourishing teas over summer salads and cooling drinks. As the kids return to school, there is a natural flow for all of us, no matter our age, to reconnect with our creative and curious spirit.
I am an avid reader and a self-proclaimed eternal student. My work allows me to continually expand my awareness in both scientific and spiritual ways. This summer, I have been reading a lot—devouring one or two books a week. This is especially wonderful for me now that my kids are at the age where I don't need to be the constant entertainer, activity provider, or boundary setter! It gives me a little more freedom to enjoy my own space, listen to audiobooks as I walk or do physical tasks, and enjoy a summer of personal growth.
Perhaps my favourite book this summer has been The Wilder Way by Eva Zu Beck. She shares her story of travelling solo to places many fear to go—Pakistan, Yemen, and Mongolia. Reading her adventures sparked a renewed excitement about travelling again one day (when the kids are fully fledged) and exploring wild landscapes. She isn't a city girl, and neither am I, in truth, though wanting my children to have their education keeps me in our urban-coastal landscape for now, which has so many gifts of its own.
Plus Margate—ahhh, beautiful Margate, it is such a great place to live. The beaches never fail to lift my spirit. The strong winds blow away cobwebs you didn’t even know you had! And the light — Turner said the skies here are the most beautiful in Europe, and I agree. The clouds and the enormity of the infinite horizon offer an expansive sense of space that is a powerful healer in itself.
Teaching Is My Greatest Teacher
So I am truly grateful, yet I always search for more. And it is in my teaching that I expand the most—thanks to you! Finding my role as a teacher, not something I planned but fell into, has been my greatest accidental path. Guiding others to connect more deeply with nature, with spirit, and with the gifts of science expands my own consciousness in return.
In The Shaman’s Way—my year-long training—everyone in the tiny transient tribes we create is an amazing teacher and healer in their own right. As I guide you around the Medicine Wheel, the stories shared open my eyes and heart to an even greater connection to life. In The Herbalist’s Way, our science-based journey into the body and mind-body connection brings up questions that send me down wonderful new rabbit holes of exploration. I genuinely get excited whenever someone asks, "So... what about this?"
And then there is the creative side of me. This comes alive when we make shamanic tools, like our drum birthing and rattle-making workshops, and in The Herbalist's Way as we craft a healing herbal apothecary. Crafting with your hands is very meditative and healing for the mind — so much so that the NHS now prescribes creative crafting! I love teaching the sacred crafts woven into the traditions I have trained in for decades. I teach what I know.
Our next creative gathering is the Shamanic Rattle Making Workshop on the Friday before the Autumn Equinox. Every rattle is made from ethically sourced materials: the handles are harvested from trees I planted over 30 trees in my garden 10 years ago, which now provide the perfect size sticks! The hides come from suppliers I have worked with for a decade—Scottish deer, reindeer from the Sámi tribes of Finland, and occasionally buffalo hide from Native American sources. The shamanic rattle was my very first shamanic tool, and it remains my most important one for shifting energy and holding sacred space.
In shamanism we say that everyone and everything is our reflection: as above, so below; as within, so without. I warmly invite you to come be my teacher and my student all in one—because I believe we are all equals, and I am excited to share this journey with you.
Three Pathways to Walk This Season
Pathway 1: Shamanic Rattle Making & Fire Ceremony (Autumn Equinox Day-Retreat)
Step away from the working week on a sacred Friday to hand-craft your medicine rattle and release old stories at the outdoor fire.
When: Friday, 18 September 2026 | 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Where: Plant Spirit Medicine Woman, 60 Harold Road, Cliftonville, Margate, CT9 2HS
What We Do: Ground with ceremonial cacao/chai, cut and weave your chosen hide, journey to meet the spirit of your rattle, fill it with the sacred 405 seeds, paint personal medicine symbols, and step outside for a 4-round fire ceremony (Gratitude, Release, Calling In, and Anchoring).
Special Back-to-School / Equinox Gift: £25 off, making the full day retreat £120 (regularly £145). Limited strictly to 8 spaces.
Pathway 2: The Shaman’s Way – A 13-Moon Journey (One Friday a month, starting October 2026)
A transformative year-long immersion into shamanic wisdom, plant spirit medicine, sacred ceremonies, and soulful community.
Format: We meet once every moon cycle in an intimate circle of 8.
The Journey: Journey through the Medicine Wheel, receive the 10 sacred Munay-Ki Initiations from the Andean and Amazonian traditions, connect with plant spirits and spirit guides, and receive guided nature-based practices between each moon to integrate your transformation. Open to beginners and experienced practitioners alike.
Pathway 3: The Herbalist’s Way (One Saturday a month, starting April 2027)
If you are called to study the healing power of the plant kingdom, explore body systems, and learn the practical art of crafting your own herbal dispensary, registration is open for our April intake.
Spaces are already selling, so do book early if your heart is set on joining this cohort.
Further Reading
If this reflection resonated, you might also enjoy Let the Plants Be Your Teachers: A Guide to Working with Plant Spirit Medicine, on listening to plants as teachers in their own right, or Walking the Shaman's Way: An Interview with Sorrell Robbins, for more on what a year in circle actually looks like. For a deeper dive into the craft itself, read The Sacred Art of Birthing a Shamanic Drum. And if you're ready to explore training more formally, take a look at All Shamanic Training Courses.
