Inner Forest Medicine Journey
Sunset. Grandmother Aspens stand in stillness as dusk settles in. Nuthatch is done foraging for the day and Hawk finally leaves his perch in the old Pine Tree, where he sat for hours watching the pond, waiting for dinner. I sit nearby, witnessing ducks fly in and fly out of the water as dragonflies flit about cattails. When I finally depart for my own dinner I encounter a momma Deer walking through the meadow with her Fawn, golden spots starting to fade to brown.
There are many Beings to connect with in the forest if one is in open awareness with Nature.
A few years ago I began offering The Inner Forest Medicine Journey as a continuation of Medicine At Our Feet Herbal Apprenticeship. This offering was a response to what I was witnessing in my groups…that the plants called us together and the deeper healing occurs.
What I think was a surprise to many was that the healing occurring wasn’t necessarily in the physical realm. Yes, students learned to heal a wound with Yarrow and learned how to calm a wired nervous system with Lemon Balm, but the healing that may have been unexpected was in the psycho-spiritual realm and a deepening connection to Soul.
The plants opened the doors of perception and my students were walking through and I felt a response-ability to offer a map of the terrain.
Something that has been all but lost in our culture is a rite of passage, yet our indigenous soul knows this as a longing in our bones. Just as birds offer their medicine of song to call in the morning and plants offer their gifts of healing, beauty and food, we each are born with medicine for our community, Earth and All Beings…only we have to “remember to remember'' as wise ones have said.
In The Inner Forest Medicine Journey, the Rite of Passage I am most passionate about is, supporting individuals in the passage from self to Self…self is the one who is focused on so called egoic concerns, wants and aversions, while Self is aligned with Soul and our ecological place in the family of All Beings.
Following the rhythm of a traditional rite of passage, the Inner Forest Journey starts with the Severance phase. From November to May we work with shining a light of awareness on the patterns, distractions, conditioning and stories that keep the self small and within a shroud of limiting beliefs.
Then in June we engage in the Threshold phase which spans a week and includes four nights and days in Solitude with Nature. Here one opens to Mystery and everything that happens during the solo has meaning.
The Reincorporation phase, from July to October, focuses on understanding what happened during one’s solo and integrating the medicine one has received. This is a crucial part of the rite of passage as one returns from the threshold as an initiated adult, and will need support, as the world they left behind hasn’t changed…and they have.
In a recent essay by Robin Wall Kimmerer, she asks: “What does the Earth ask of us?” From an indigenous perspective of Belonging the response is: “To meet our responsibilities and to give our gifts.” We can be Medicine for the Earth and a rite of passage awakens us to the gifts we came into this lifetime bearing but have forgotten.
Owl is calling in the Night, the crescent moon is becoming brighter and the first stars are shining, from oh so far away. There is a bit of a breeze now, quaking the aspen leaves and crickets are singing their eternal song. Earth is calling us to remember our True Nature…can we hear the call?
Details for The Inner Forest Journey
November 2023-October 2024
Reciprocity: $3,500 plus a gift for the ceremony in June
Schedule:
November: 60 minute group session
December-May:
one 90 minute monthly group session on zoom or in person
one private monthly session with Constance
dream sessions with Matt, including private and group sessions
optional private monthly session with Tessa
June Threshold Ceremony: Sunday 6/16 -Sunday 6/23. Details regarding this ceremony will be revealed over time.
July-October:
one 9o minute monthly group session on zoom or in person
one private monthly session with Constance
optional private monthly session with Tessa
Registration closes October 21, 2023. Group size is limited to 10. To register, please fill out the Inner Forest Journey Application.
Prerequisite: Medicine At Our Feet or a Night Raven Holistic Health Consultation.
We recognize what a commitment it is to make for a year long journey and appreciate the care it takes to make a decision to join. Please reach out if there are questions.
With love and blessings,
Constance Lynn, Tessa Batkanet, Matt Cochran
“As we walk the soul path and gather medicine from the heart of Nature, it begins to sprout and grow within us into a living inner forest where we ourselves become the medicine.” (adapted from Sajah Popham, Evolutionary Herbalism).
Your Guides
Constance Lynn
A nature mystic with practical feet….
I was born with a soul fire in my heart, a passion for healing and a love for wild nature…threads that have braided together in service of life. Herbalist, farmer, yoga teacher, soul guide, seed keeper, water guardian, community activist and nature mystic are names for the stars that create my constellation…shimmering in the night sky.
I live in the high desert of southern Utah amongst pinyon, juniper and sagebrush as well as a greater community of All Beings. I offer my medicine through Night Raven Holistic Health and The ReWilding Project.
Tessa Batkanet
How do I tend to both my ancestors and to the place where I live? In other words, what physical and liminal spaces do the threads that brought me into existence coil gracefully and powerfully and honorably with the desires and gifts of this land? This is the question that informs the way that I live, and that informs the way that I view ceremony and rite of passage.
My last name is Barkan, from the Hebrew: Bar means “son,” and Kan is from Kohen which means “priest.” Son (of) priest(s). This is an old title that refers to priests of ancient Israel who once, during a time of transition towards settled civilization, mediated between the realm of human affairs and the realms of wilderness and spirit. Batkanet is a feminine version of this, Daughter of Priestesses. These priestesses similarly once danced and sang in the liminal spaces. I believe that their ceremonies were reaching for harmony during a time of increasing disconnection, before which, at some point, my ancestors would have lived in balance with wilderness, in balance with life and death, as all of our ancestors did.
South of Boulder Mountain, a high plateau of aspen and pine, of mysteries and springs and elk, the land swoops lower in bands of sandstone and red rock. The literal place that I live is an area within this vast desert, in a broad canyon known as The Draw, hemmed in on east and west by sandstone mesas. This is a land of sagebrush and juniper, of oak and Russian thistle and willow and cleared fields, of deer and cottontail, lion, human, fox, raven, ant, cow and meadowlark. A land of wind and sand, deep roots, ephemeral lifeblood water and far sight.
I believe that knowledge of how to live in reciprocity with land and community runs deeper than bone, and is accessible through listening and through willingness to follow what is calling. I believe that, in a global culture where most of us have lost the land-knowing that comes from hundreds of generations of connection with place, we have to court the soil and air and beings where we live.
My guides and tools are words, songs, senses, resonances, listening and dreams.
Matt Cochran
I’m a man who has actively followed dreams for over 3 decades. I consider myself a dream scout.
I started as a geologist and followed a career of surveying and mapping. In the inner west. I was a boundary surveyor primarily in Montana. I mapped wild landscapes out of an explorers’ passion.
I changed tact in my middle years and earned an MA in Depth Psychology, focusing on dreams and eco-psychology in particular. I now realize this is simply a different mapping career, scouting the inner territories as far as I can go with accuracy, awareness and resolve.
I further utilized these skills in rites of passage work training through the Animas Valley Institute.
I’ve also been involved in Men’s Work for quite awhile through Michael Meade and with The Rising Man Movement.
Now I find myself at a crossroads of wanting to bring the maps of dreaming and the skills of inner navigation to people dedicated to living authentically and fully. It’s also my own commitment and code. My life would be nothing without dreams.
more info on Matt: https://www.ravendreamtracking.org/