Herbalism Course

Join Seán Padraig O'Donoghue & Matthew Wood for this Herbalism Course

October 3rd - 6th 2026

Located at Mandala Springs

About your teachers:

Matthew Wood, MSc

Herbalist - Author

Founder of Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism, Matthew has been a practicing herbalist for over forty years. He is an internationally known teacher and author with more than ten books to his credit, including The Book of Herbal Wisdom, The Earthwise Herbals, Holistic Medicine and the Extracellular Matrix, and A Shamanic Herbal. Matthew has an MSc in herbal medicine from the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine (accredited, U. of Wales). He lives in the Midwest.

Seán Pádraig O’Donoghue

Herbalist - Writer - Teacher - Priest

Seán is an herbalist, writer, and teacher, and an initiated Priest in two traditions. He lives in the mountains of western Maine. Seán’s approach to healing weaves together the insights of traditional western herbalism and contemporary science. He regards physical, spiritual, and emotional healing as deeply intertwined.

Course Topics & Description

Introduction to the Immune System:

In conventional medicine, the immune system is usually divided into two branches: the innate and the adaptive. In reality, there really are two more: the immune system of the cell based on antioxidants and molecular chaperones, and the immune system of warm blooded animals, the immunoregulatory system. In these classes we will study all of these branches and herbal remedies and therapies that address the greater immune system. Of special interest will be the energetics of the cells and the thermoregulatory system both of which respond to hot and cold, damp and dry, etc. So they resemble and justify our traditional energetics. Rather amazingly, biomedicine contributes their own energetics of the innate and adaptive immune system, differentiating between when one is dominant over the other.

The Wisdom of Nature, Shamanism and the Faeries:

Nature is alive and intelligent. To dwell in living nature is a lifelong beautiful experience which we hope everyone can experience. In addition, learning to perceive the wisdom in nature – “the tongues of trees, the books in brooks, and the sermons in stones” (Shakespeare) – is enriching to the journey of life and one’s spiritual path. These blend together in a creative melody of intuition, dreaming and imagination that is real. On the shamanic path, we first meet our animal self, and make an appointment with the faeries. In this class we will explore the many dimensions and herbs of this journey. We will talk about Mullein, St. John Wort, Ghost Pipe, Goldenrod, Squill, Elder, and many more.

Neurotransmitters for Herbalists and Magicians:

Neurotransmitters are molecules that shape consciousness, human and wild. Our popular understanding of them tends to be skewed by the values and agenda of the dominant culture. When we begin to shift our perspective, new possibilities begin to emerge for healing and magick. In this class we will look at serotonin as a molecule that restructures nervous systems and shifts perceptions to attune inner and outer worlds, at dopamine as a molecule that moves us fluidly into meaningful engagement with the world around us, at norepinephrine as a molecule that sharpens and narrows focus, and acetylcholine as a molecule of grounded presence. We will explore plants and fungi that augment or modulate the work of these neurotransmitters as we align and ally with them.

Plants and the Otherworld:

In Irish and Scottish cultures, the Otherworld was the depth of reality at which the ancestors, the gods, and the spirits dwelled. It was always close at hand -- but especially so at wild springs, deep lakes, lonely mountains, ancient burial mounds, and "fairy trees." When people from Ireland and Scotland came to Appalachia, they brought some of this understand of the Otherworld with them. We will spend time with plants and fungi from both sides of the Atlantic that connect us with the Otherworld including Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Black Cohosh, and Psilocybin.