Women and Plants

Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program

A One Year Immersion in the Shamanic Herbal Tradition of the Wise Woman

Our Farm on Whidbey Island. 

Just north of Seattle.

October 2024-September 2025

Once a month on Saturdays

***Email me*** and I will send you an apprenticeship application.

“I initiated my true self.”

“I learned how we all are connected with each other and the plants and the energy of the universe.”

“I am refreshed, renewed and enlivened.”

Email us for an apprenticeship application.

Women and Plants, Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program is a safe and empowering space for women to explore deeply who they are with the plants as teachers.  To learn the ways of nourishment and self love.  To create a spiral container that reverberates out into the world with love, beauty, power, compassion and healing.

Health~~~Wholeness~~~Holiness~~~Woven into the fabric of everyday life

We meet one weekend a month, on Saturdays.

Call or email to request an apprenticeship application ~ 425-750-1907

This is a one year apprenticeship program: You will be walking the spiral path around the seasons, and then moving through a period of initiation before you graduate and are initiated a wise woman, green witch, shamanic herbalist.

This is a full on experiential/participatory apprenticeship.
Apprentices participate in organic gardening, wildcrafting and herbal preparations projects and other tasks involved in running our successful herbal business. You will be helping me prepare and facilitate many of the details of our classes.

What is offered:

• A deep exploration of the shamanic herbal tradition of the wise woman.
• Shamanic listening with the plants, simple practices where you can hear the plants voices and receive wisdom.
• The practice of listening, connecting, gathering, preparing and utilizing herbs for nourishment and healing.
• Talking Stick Circle
• The nourishing ways of the wise woman
• Wildcrafting and herbal medicine making
• Vibrant conversations about wise woman ways, healing and in depth discussions about herbs and their uses.
• Seven Medicines
• A Connection with the Ancestors
• The blood mysteries
• Green Witch Studies-The Tales of the Green Witch
• Clinical herbalism is the daughter of shamanic herbalism-they are not separate
• Journey of the Rose Immersion Day
• Relationship with plant allies, power animals and goddess archetypes
• Tree Wisdom
• Crafting a business and possibility principles
• Ceremonies
• Initiation
• Many things yet to be revealed

Green Witch School and Journey of the Rose are part of this apprenticeship program.

The Dates:

October 12, 2024
November 9, 2024
December 14, 2024
February 1, 2025
March 8, 2025
April 5. 2025
May 10, 2025
June 7, 2025
July 12, 2025
August 16, 2025
September 20, 2025

The tuition for Women and Plants~Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program is $2500

Apprenticeship Testimonials:

“Being in circle with other women and learning to connect with the plants on a spiritual level has been such an amazing and transformational experience.”

Lara’s story:
Thank you. It was such a beautiful and special day!(initiation day) I think it was meant to be that my initiation happened on the weekend of the roses! I am so grateful for everything I have learned from being a part of the apprenticeship, even the hard lessons (and thank you for believing in me and for giving me another chance to come back and complete it). Being in circle with other women and learning to connect with the plants on a spiritual level has been such an amazing and transformational experience. I am forever grateful for these life lessons and this experience!! Sending you lots of blessings and love also!
Lara Johns completed Women and Plants Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program and was initiated June 19, 2022

“The space you have created has changed my life. You helped me open to vulnerability, taught me about the wisdom of not knowing and how to unapologetically be true to yourself.”

Kayla’s Story:
Dear Julie, I don’t even know where or how to begin. I’m so deeply grateful to spirit for aligning the path to you and so honored to have learned from your wisdom and knowledge. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to find when signing up. I just knew it was calling, and what I gained was more than I could of ever imagined. I gained myself. I found my voice and most special of all I found an ancient and familiar connection to old friends-the plants. This is perhaps the most emotional part and I am forever grateful to you for teaching me how to learn from plants as teachers and to learn from my intuition.
The space you have created has changed my life. You helped me open to vulnerability, taught me about the wisdom of not knowing and how to unapologetically be true to yourself.
Thank you so much for your authenticity, for witnessing my journey, holding sacred space and sharing your healing. I will miss this time with you so much but I know that as one thing ends, another thing begins. And I look forward to continuing to share my life with you. You will always be one of my most special teachers. I love you, Julie.
All my love, Kayla.
Kayla Gomez completed Women and Plants Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program and was initiated August 11, 2019

“After walking the Wise Woman path with Julie and my sisters I see the beauty and simplicity of it and incorporate it into my every day life”

Ellen’s Story:
It is difficult to begin to describe how life changing my experience with Julie and her Women and Plants – Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship program has been.  When I signed up I had been looking for something that I knew was missing in my life.  I didn’t know what that was – I found myself on Julie’s doorstep beginning a journey to my true self.  I now know that my soul path is the spiral path of the Wise Woman.
In Julie’s gatherings I found sisters walking the spiral path with me. I found nourishment in plants, food, friendship and the scary, dark places within.  Each month I found myself anticipating my time with Julie and my spiral sisters – it was a safe place to look within, to grow, to listen and learn, a safe place to connect with the land and our green allies, a safe place to be real, raw and vulnerable.  Julie provides this safe place with love and generosity.  Each time we met I walked away feeling nourished.  My apprenticeship was much more than simply learning about herbalism.  It was learning about me.
Julie teaches the Wise Woman way by example.  Her students learn the Wise Woman way by sharing, listening and doing.  Singing and ritual are woven into the fabric of the gatherings in a lovely way.  Nourishing herbal infusion is always offered, a delicious meal is always lovingly spread, gathering wild greens is done with gratefulness and mindfulness.  Making simple herbal preparations was always a joy, these preparations I cherish for I feel the energy that has gone into them.
After walking the Wise Woman path with Julie and my sisters I see the beauty and simplicity of it and incorporate it into my every day life. I graduated in April 2017 from Julie’s apprenticeship a healer in the Wise Woman tradition, a Green Witch and a Shamanic Herbalist. As a woman who strives to teach by example I fold this way of life into my teaching.  There is always the root of nourishment at the heart of what I do.
Ellen Hammer completed Women and Plants Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program and was initiated April 30, 2017

“Learning to communicate with the plants on a deep level and being able to connect into myself through this process was an amazing experience. I could never compare it to anything else that I have ever done.”

Stephanie’s Story:
Completing Julie’s apprenticeship, I would of never thought that I would completely change my relationship with plants and the way that I was an herbalist and the way that I walk as a woman. This program provided me a way to rewild my heart and the way that I walk on the green path in my life.
I was a relaxed herbalist for about 10 years, using herbs in my personal home and life, but after this program I wasn’t just an herbalist, but I was a friend of plants and realized the plants were my friends as well.
Symbiosis became a huge element in my time with Julie and my sisters, not only with the plants but also with women and my relationships and finding the importance of that and to branch out to support one another in our journeys in our lives. Learning to communicate with the plants on a deep level and being able to connect into myself through this process was an amazing experience. I could never compare it to anything else that I have ever done. The messages I received from the plants on Julie’s land, brought so much wisdom and the time spent there was priceless.
I can hear the plants talk to me on a daily basis in my life now and they give me guidance constantly.
With focusing on the Wise Woman tradition, I learned a whole new way of viewing issues and healing in my life as well. This apprenticeship allowed me to deepen and enrich my herbal and spiritual practice on a whole new level, going through multiple layers of deep rooted work for myself. There were things that I did not even realize that were under the surface. I was able to see the invisible through this process and the work in this course. I embrace all things in the spiral of the living and the dying and rebirth and the beautiful rhythms of nature just as my very own breath. I am forever grateful to Julie for her teachings and my experiences there on her magical land with my magical wise women sisters.
Stephanie Andrews completed Women and Plants Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program and was initiated April 30, 2017

“I look in the mirror and the woman looking back at me smiles with Wise and Wild eyes.”

Kena’s Story:
I landed on Julie’s doorstep in Dec of 2014. I thought I was signing up for an herbal course but found so much more. My long career as a nurse just wasn’t working for me and I was experiencing a health challenge that seemed overwhelming. I had been seeking true health for many years, but was progressively declining, so was really looking for answers. I had been studying herbs on my own, as I always have had a connection to plants but trying to navigate the overwhelming array of information out there was too much. I knew I needed someone to guide me. I was led to Julie in the magical way of the universe! With her guidance, I was encouraged to look deep within and follow my own unique path. We worked on my healing challenge. It was an eventful journey. I listened. I stretched. I grew. I replaced fears with understanding. I learned to trust myself. I now have a clear view on how to continue to find healing and truth through relationship with the plants. Julie is generous with her wisdom. Her skill as a teacher and guide are profound. I have spent many years seeking knowledge and wisdom, including other apprenticeships, universities, community colleges, online college, seminars, workshops and her school was, by far, the most rewarding. I found a deep connection with the plants. I found excellent health. I look in the mirror and the woman looking back at me smiles with Wise and Wild eyes. My path is clear. I give generous praise and deep respect to Julie for her beautiful and wise way of mentoring.
Kena Sohler completed Women and Plants Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program and was initiated April 24, 2016

“I reconnected with my soul.”

Christine’s Story:
I want to express how profound an experience the Woman and Plants Apprenticeship was for me. I feel like I am a completely difference person than I was at the beginning of the program, or perhaps I am just more fully myself. I remember feeling quite lost and isolated. I feel that I have reconnected with my core; perhaps it is as simple as saying that I reconnected with my soul. It was quite a commitment to commute 2.5 hours each way every month, but it was so worth it.
I had been trying to get pregnant for several years before starting this program and had done lots of difference alternate medicine approaches and dietary changes. I was much healthier but still hadn’t gotten pregnant. I started the program in September, so our second weekend was time to spend with the acre of roses on Julie’s land and harvest rose hips. I felt like I really connected in to my womb space and felt nourished by Rose. I came out for an extra day that month and harvested extra rose hips by myself. Those few days felt pretty important.
It was right around that time that my daughter was conceived, and I really believe that Rose helped with that.
This community provided such an amazing environment in which to be pregnant. My daughter accompanied me to the last 5 classes. She loved the drumming and singing.
I am so grateful, and my life is full. As a result of this program, I am ready to step into my power as a wise woman doctor, mother, and one who lives from her heart.
Christine Rose completed Women and Plants Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program and was initiated December 6, 2014.

“I have never received a gift more precious than that of connection with the plants.”

Heather’s Story:

As I began my apprenticeship with you 16 months ago, in September 2012, I knew there was much to uncover, and much work to be done, and yet I never could have imagined all of the beauty that I would discover through our interaction and work. I was so drawn to this hands-on learning style that your programs offer. I was so excited to be able to come to learn, only having to create my application, meet with you to determine if you felt I would be a good fit for the program, hope for acceptance, and then in acceptance agree that I would show up on time every time for our days together.
This felt so delightful and simple to me, and yet somehow I knew that the path to which I have been called and accepted for is not easy. I shed many tears and felt much joy, delight, sadness, even ecstasy in our interaction with the plants and in sharing this with you, the other apprentices, and the members of the Herbal Wisdom Circle. I always look forward to and want to be there for our days together. I learned so very much about showing up, and how important this is for me, not just for myself, but for you and the others in the group as well. I learned about my very own preciousness and feel how interconnected we are all with each other, and with the plants and all other beings and energy of the universe. There were many times when I felt challenged, and the learning was so intense. I wasn’t sure I could understand what was presented to or asked of me.
I feel I embarked on a spiritual path for which I have been longing my whole life. Through your gentle yet direct guidance, I am still learning, and I continue on this path. When I feel that I may want to stop going, or even get off the path, I feel your passion for the work that we do, and for the goodness and beauty of the plants and all life. I am so grateful for your perseverance. There is so much bounty in the wisdom and tools that you share. We set such powerful, meaningful intentions, work steadily towards them, and fulfill them.
I have never received a gift more precious than that of connection with the plants. The relationship you have cultivated with the plants and trees where you live is a true display of magnanimity! It extends to all those who join you to work with them. As I’ve learned to breathe and connect with the plants through your guidance, I have felt so much love, healing, and guidance from the plants. In working with my plant allies, I feel they are supporting me in wholeness and in intuition and knowing of myself and how to take good care of myself. I continue to grow and be nourished.
The space that is created by and with you and the plants and your other guides for sharing with others is a space of such beauty, reverence, respect, delight, and magic. I am so grateful also to and for each of the other apprentices and members of the Herbal Wisdom Circle that I have met in this space, and who are called here as well. Here we sing, bask in the light, heal in the darkness, nourish ourselves with infusion and other gifts of the plants, and serve as powerful mirrors for one another.
I love this beautiful opportunity. It continues to grow. As you’ve added work with Core Shamanism in our practice, I’ve been the beneficiary of so much more healing and wisdom that you’ve shared. I feel such a spark of creativity and delight, and such true clarity as you offer these gifts of healing to others as a hollow bone. More and more I am learning about my true self and gifts, how to be more and more present, what I am called to do, and how I can be a conduit to the light, also a hollow bone.
Just earlier this month, I was initiated by you as a Wise Woman. The initiation ritual was so powerful and meaningful to me. I’ve never experienced anything like it, and feel my spirit has been longing for this for many years. As I stood next to you and you performed the initiation ritual, I felt so blessed by your strength, wisdom, and kindness, and saw fierceness, magic and mirth all at once in your eyes. I felt a great expansion of my heart and more knowing than ever before of my full potential. I look forward to continuing our work. As a graduate apprentice, with you as a mentor, I begin my career as a shamanic herbalist, developing sacred livelihood. And so it is. Blessed Be. Ho.
In love and gratitude, Heather
Heather Engman completed Women and Plants Shamanic Herbal Apprenticeship Program and was initiated December 8, 2013