Root & Sparkle
An autumn circle of plant-loving souls looking to connect with herbal plants & the shifting season, creating a little sacred space & magic in their days.
Ever wondered what happens when we...
...tend to the season and its shift and how it affects us?
...invite plants and herbs into our daily rhythms??
...pause to notice the steady earth beneath our feet, the resonance of a tree branch in morning's first light, the sparkle of time between the “to-do’s”?
...tend to the inner flames of our lives as a nourishment practice?
In Root & Sparkle we'll play with these questions and the space they create for growth, discovery, and connection
-- one cup of herbal tea at a time!
We'll connect with the energy of autumn with guided meditation and mindfulness,
tending to the falling leaves, the turning in, the quiet, and the darkness, as we ramble through the season.
We'll learn simple ways to work with herbal plants,
inviting them into our daily rhythms and nourishment practices.
We'll work with daily personal practices
to create a little space in the bustle and swirl, a little time for the sacred.
We'll spend time with plants, in reflection, in movement, and in stillness,
and enjoy the rich fertile soil for life that we create together while doing this.
What is Root & Sparkle?
In Root & Sparkle we start with a box of handmade herbal goodness and a circle of souls looking to connect with herbal plants, earth rhythms, and each other. We'll connect, we'll root, and then we'll sparkle.
And we'll create medicine and magic together!
first, we'll
Connect -
-- with our inner heart wisdom, with plants and herbal remedies, with autumn unfolding, with each other. We will sit together, breathe together, and pause to notice what is.
then, we'll
Root -
We'll explore our roots and how we can nourish ourselves, each other, and the earth -- physically, emotionally, and spiritually -- cultivating fertile soil to support well-nourished lives.
finally, we'll
Sparkle -
With the fertile ground we create, we’ll explore deeper connections with plants, land, ancestors, and the energy of autumn. We'll explore the space between -- space for the sacred, or the sparkle space.
The details
What we'll do together --
Gather in circle
Part of the experience of Root & Sparkle is joining regularly in a small group -- we'll gather every other week throughout the session to learn, listen, and share our experiences.
Our collective experience will be strengthened by the circle of connection that we create to root and hold space for each other to dig into the practices we are inviting into our lives.
The gatherings: We'll gather seven times throughout the fall, starting around autumn equinox and ending just before winter solstice.
Location: Circles will be held online on zoom.
Work with herbal plants
You'll receive a box of plant remedies at the start of Root & Sparkle.
- You'll learn a bit about each herbal plant in the box and how to work with each preparation
- You'll get to know some herbal plants you can work with daily for nourishment and well-being.
- We'll engage in guided meditation, getting to know a couple plants more deeply, connecting with these plants on an energetic level.
Connect with autumn's magic
This session of Root & Sparkle starts at autumn equinox and ends at winter solstice.
Together we'll root into the autumn season, connecting with the energy of autumn, how it shifts as it unfolds, and the ways we can invite autumn in to our lives.
We'll tend to dropping acorns and falling leaves, creating space for ourselves to be in the darkness, to let things go, to find stillness, and to rest.
We will move into and through autumn together, noticing and naming how we are moving through this season and its cycles.
The practices
We'll work with herbal plant preparations, guided meditations, movement, reflective journaling prompts, personal practice, and ritual.
Your investment
When you join Root & Sparkle, you receive a box of four handmade herbal offerings, teachings about how to work with each plant preparation, and the experience of joining in a circle of other plant-minded beings to connect with the plants and the changing season and create a little space for the sacred in our days.
Who is it for
Root & Sparkle is for folks who feel called to nourish and build their connection with herbal plants, with the cycle of the seasons and the rhythm of the earth, with the land where they are living.
Perhaps you're a parent and are feeling you've lost track of yourself in the swirl of parenting and life - join Root & Sparkle to reconnect with the plants and your inner self.
Perhaps you are a person who is dedicated to their work on environmental issues. And you feel called to do the inner work to develop your own connection to plants and the earth to nourish the work you do in the world to care for and tend to injustices.
Perhaps you have lived on this earth awhile, and find yourself yearning to develop practices to bring the plants into your daily life rhythm and would like some support and guidance as you do this work.
Perhaps pandemic living has left you wanting to maintain or create space for a bit of slowness, a bit of time not doing, a bit of time connecting with the plants and the seasons and the bigger things that hold the space for our lives.
Perhaps you feel the tingle of autumn coming and want to join in a circle to hold space for this shifting magical season and all it brings to our lives.
Perhaps you are yearning for daily personal practices to help keep you grounded and steady through the regular ups and downs of living.
Perhaps you see pieces of yourself in some or many of these things.
Hi, I'm Kristin,
and I can't wait to go on the Root & Sparkle journey with you!
For as long as I can remember, I've been on a path of yearning to connect with plants. I've always been drawn to soil and gardens (vegetable gardens that have evolved into herb gardens and meadows), and I can't help but sow seeds every spring, plucking and harvesting little wonders as the season moves along.
I've spent much of my adult life exploring how to live a life that feels connected with the cycles of the seasons, the waxing and waning of the moon, and the rooting-sprouting-flowering-fruiting-seeding of plants. Connecting with plants and learning how to work with them in different ways has been a constant thread on this journey.
In Root & Sparkle I'll share some of the ways of being and connecting that I've learned with you!
I bring my whole self to teaching and holding space for Root & Sparkle: I am a parent of two children, a herbalist, a plant spirit healer, a teacher, a lover of words and weeds and wandering in overgrown garden spaces. I am an inspired brewer of kitchen potions for wellness, miracles, and magic. I am a cis woman, a White settler of mainly British ancestry, currently living in gratitude in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and traditional lands of the Mi'kmaq people. And I use she/her pronouns. Untended time in my days is spent with my kids, in the garden, in the forest, by the oceanside, walking, biking, camping, playing, and exploring with curiosity.
The teachings about plants that I will share in Root & Sparkle are based on my 15+ years of study and practice with herbal plants. I'll draw on courses I've taken in western herbalism and plant spirit healing, mingling practices from both to connect with plants in physical, energetic, and spiritual ways.
Our gatherings will sometimes include movement, based on my training as a hatha yoga instructor. Guided meditations and journaling practices are drawn from my training and practice in plant spirit healing.
Our rambles through the autumn season will reflect some of the ideas captured in In Autumn: Tales of Falling Leaves and Cozy Cuddles. You can choose to receive a copy of this book when you enroll in Root & Sparkle.
If you are feeling called by the words and images on this page, by the plants, by the crisp twinkle of autumn coming, by the glow of flowers in the moonlight, join me in Root & Sparkle this autumn to explore, and play, to grow with curiosity and wonder. To register or learn more, click here to contact me.
In gratitude
Acknowledgements
I can't begin to name all the amazing forces and connections that have brought this course into being. But I do want to name a couple things that feel most important as I share this offering with you:
Land acknowledgement
I want to acknowledge the land where I currently live and from where I will offer this course as Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and traditional lands of the Mi'kmaq people. The Peace and Friendship Treaties were signed in this territory.
I offer this course with gratitude and deep respect to past, present, and future generations of Mi'kmaq people and others who have lived in this place and acted as stewards of these lands and waters.
Healthy lands and waters are central to this work with plants and plant medicines. I acknowledge and offer gratitude here for the benefits I enjoy from having access to this land and space.
On sparkling
The idea of a sacred space between the concrete moments of our lives is one that has intrigued me for awhile.
In The Weaving by Abrah Arneson, she describes moments when "the veil between worlds is lifted and the unfamiliar sparkles through the familiar." Her writing on this offered a launch point for the muse that brought together the structure for this course and sparkled its name into my consciousness.
I offer gratitude here for the writing and teachings behind that, and for all the teachers I have worked with to learn to connect deeply with plants.
...and
to the unnamed & the unseen
As Mary Oliver says, in her poem My Work is Loving the World:
"...Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished..."