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Cecemmana / Planting Seeds

 Year One: Fundamentals of Herbal Medicine 2020

Cecemmana is a Nahuatl word that means to sprinkle and plant seeds on the earth. This program is dedicated to planting seeds in our diverse Bay Area communities for future herbalists. This 300 hour training will provide students a solid foundation in the art, science & spirituality of herbal medicine from a multi-cultural perspective.

The focus of Cecemmana is to help students build a strong relationship with the plants; and to also support them to develop an intimate and healing relationship with their own bodies. We will cover the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of herbalism and healing. Class time will include lecture, class discussions, medicine making, herbal gardening, herb walks, field trips, and small group apprenticeship. Class projects include a long term study of one herbal ally, and researching and presenting a project for each student’s ancestral medicine.

Cecemmana will give our students the skills to work with herbal medicine for themselves and their family. This is not a clinical herbalist training program. The American Herbalist Guild requires 1600 hours of training to become a certified professional herbalist. In this way, what we are offering is a first step for those who wish to achieve that. Our curriculum will provide a solid foundation for those who wish to continue their herbal education and train to be a clinical herbalist.

Our curriculum will include 250 hours of core classes and additional classes in special topics. These 250 hours are either taught or supervised by our core or adjunct faculty. In addition, there will be 50 hours of independent work in which students will be gardening, volunteering, or working on school projects.

Core teachers: Angela Angel, Myrna Cabán Lezcano, Atava Garcia Swiecicki

Core classes:

• Materia Medica
  • Herbal Allies
  • Herbal Energetics
• Herb walks & field identification
• The Elemental Body (an embodied study of our body systems)
  • Health & wellness
  • Anatomy & Physiology
  • Nutrition
• Medicine Making
  • Pharmacy building
• Gardening/botany (class time + field work)
• Small group apprenticeship

Additional Classes:

• Traditional Chinese Medicine
• Ayurveda
• Curanderismo
• Herbal practices of the African Diaspora
• Street medic training & emergency herbalism
• Herbs & astrology
• Herbs and magic
• Flower Essences
• Aromatherapy

Independent hours:
Gardening & community service (25 hours)
Homework & class presentations (25 hours)

Cost: $3,750 + $250 materials fee — $4,000 total

Application due by Friday September 6th 2019

Deposit of $500 due by Friday November 1st 2019. Deposits are refundable ONLY when cancelled within 2 months of first class.

Early bird special: pay in full by 1/1/20 and receive $100 discount

Returning student discount: all returning students receive $50 discount

Partial scholarships are available to students of color. We are currently fundraising for our Cecemmana Student of Color Scholarship Fund and hope to raise enough money to offer students $200 – $500 in scholarship funds. Scholarship applications will be available soon.

Tuesday Schedule:

Dates: February 8th – December 8th 2020

Summer Break: July 1st – August 17th

Fall Session Resumes: August 18th

Beginning Weekend Intensive: February 8th & 9th

Tuesdays, 6pm – 9pm & first Saturday of the month 10am – 5pm

Monday Schedule:

Dates:  February 1st – December 14th 2020

Summer break:  June 23rd – August 16th

Fall session resumes August 17th

Beginning Weekend Intensive: February 1st & 2nd

Mondays, 10am – 1pm & first Sunday of the month 10am – 5pm

Field Trips: TBA

Locations: Ancestral Apothecary office; home office & garden; out in the field; community gardens.

*We are not doing payment plans at this time. If the class becomes full- we will add you to the waitlist in the order you submit your application. We will be raising money for our Student of Color Scholarship Fund and will make the scholarship applications available soon.

Access Information:

The classroom space is located up one flight of stairs. There is an alternate entrance available for folks who need it. Please contact us at the email below with your accessibility needs.

We ask folks to come free of perfumes, scented lotions, scented detergents, essential oils, and other scented products. While we strive to keep our space free from chemical scents, we share a building with others and are located above a nail salon. As an apothecary, there is regular use of smudging and essential oils in the space. Please contact us at the email below if you have concerns.

For more info contact:   ancestralapothecaryassistant@gmail.com