Awakening to the Wild: A year long online course

May 1, 2011 - May 1, 2012

$50-75 a month (not including the cost of books and materials)

The world is alive and speaking to us. All we have to do is remember how to listen.

We are all born knowing this simple truth, and begin our lives in a world rich with meaning. But in our culture, the voices around us are quickly drowned out by electronic noise, and we are taught to ignore the bits of song we still hear on the wind or risk insanity. Eventually we reach a point where we no longer trust our own senses.

But for some of us the vibrant memory of the world we knew as children is stronger than the fear of madness.

The wildness of our souls can be recovered, just as a forest can grown from an abandoned field.

Through discussion, meditation and direct experience of the natural world, we will explore:

-- How our culture separates us from our wild selves and how we can reclaim them

-- Engaging nature through engaging our senses

-- The use of the heart as an organ of perception (drawing from the work of Stephen Buhner)

-- Developing and deepening relationships with the land where we live and its other inhabitants

-- Nourishing our wild selves

-- The healing power of the wild

-- Reclaiming space for wildness in our lives, our communities, our world

In the end though, our journey will take its own shape.

This course will be intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually rigorous. Please be ready to be challenged, opened, and transformed. A short interview will be required for admission.

To apply e-mail seandonahuepoet@gmail.com

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Sean Donahue is an herbalist, poet, activist, and witch committed to healing and transformation through connection with the living Earth.

As an herbalist, Sean works primarily with the wild plants of the forests and fields of New England. He views the plants as teachers, helping the body, mind, and spirit learn to correct imbalances that stand in the way of health.

As a teacher, poet, and ritualist, Sean works to connect people with their own wild nature and with the life of the world around them.

As an activist and journalist he has documented the human and environmental impacts of U.S. policies in Latin America, organized against nuclear power and nuclear weapons, trained hundreds of activists in techniques of nonviolent resistance, helped military families tell the stories of how the war in Iraq impacted their lives, and advocated for the rights of medical Marijuana patients.

He believes that personal, community, and cultural healing are all deeply intertwined with the healing of our planet.