Become a Master Wildcrafter
Wildcraft Forest School is the first educational center to offer a Wildcrafting Bioregional Studies Certificate(WBSC) and a Wildcraft Practitioners Diploma (WPD) for Master Wildcrafters. The school operates within a co-mentorship structure and connects students with ancient Shamanic teachings. The Wildcrafting Bioregional Studies Certificate is intended to strengthen Permaculture Design Courses and offers students an opportunity to learn and practice stewardship, restoration and harvesting in remote wildland areas. The following represents the course offerings presently avaiable for at Bioregional Studies Certificate(WBSC).
Contact
Here at the Wildcraft Forest there's always too many people to thank - and thank goodness for that! Please visit our website for updates and to learn about our special events or give us a call at 250.547.2001
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The Wildcraft Forest News and Events Page
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Sacred Waters
THE BEST INVESTMENT EVER
The Wildcraft Forest has always opened its doors to people on their quest to find meaning and purpose connected to the natural world. In order to grow this effort we are encouraging supporters to purchase a membership. Our goal is to have 100 members by spring and they will have access to our growing network of Yasei Sanctuary Forests, which serve as protected forests where each is used as a base to protect and restore wild ecosystems while propagating wild and domesticated food and medicine crops in small wild dynamic gardens. Our Community Supported Wildcrafting (CSW) membership helps with the planting, growing, care and harvesting of wild systems; at the same time members learn various aspects of plant spirit medicines, which include Yasei Shinrin Yoku Programs. Members might help for the day or for a few days at a time or simply use their membership as their way to retreat into nature for quiet times.
WILD TEA AND MEDICINES
Wildcrafters are unique to the food, medicinal, and cosmetic supply chains. We harvest wild botanicals within a strict code of ethics because we believe that plants, the forest and all living beings are “sentient”. Wildcrafters are tasked with keeping a balance between humans and the natural world, so we perform stewardship initiatives that will help to propagate and restore wild areas. Through wildcrafting, new foods, drinks and medicines are being brought into the marketplace along with companion stewardship programs in remote areas that allows for the safe and truly responsible harvest of plant life.
Through volunteer efforts and through the sale of Wildcraft Forest tea, products and educational services we deliver regenerative efforts that are described by many to be “good work for the living planet, places and people”. So every time you support us, it helps us with various efforts.
We educate and develop systems of distribution so that people can rewild their communities. For example inside the package fold of Wildcraft Forest “Yasei Shinrin Yoku Tea” is a wild seed guild – that people can plant and grow. Each guild has a number so that they can go online and know what seeds they are growing and how to start them – we also explain the power of the seed guild.
SEEDS TO TREES
Our Seeds to Trees initiative seeks to gather the ancient genetic memory found within old growth forests and then to regenerate those species in riparian ecosystems. We operate two wild plant nurseries in remote areas of the Monashee Mountain region of British Columbia. We collect old growth tree seeds from interior mixed forests and Inland Temperate Rainforests propagate the seeds into seedlings and then plant these trees in remote riparian areas, which will not be logged. We are endeavoring to collect seeds, germinate and plant 10,000 seedlings by 2019 using the “old ways” of plant spirit medicine.
In our plant nurseries there are no chemicals used and we germinate and grow trees in the historical soils that Mother Trees thrive within. This work is very labour intensive and when we nurture and plant the trees we do so without corporate and government contracts because our work is “mission” based and our planting is often done covertly as we restore ecosystems that have been largely ignored by corporation and government.
The Seeds to Trees Program considers whole forest systems that are “wild” so we plant propagate and plant not only trees but under-story plants that represent the guild that supports each tree species. We also seed forest clearcut areas with native flowering plant species so that more pollinators will be supported within these areas. We are supporting honey bee pollination by increasing the population of wild flowers within bee foraging range which will aid in the health of bee colonies and the honey that is produced.
Through media campaigns and publications we educate, inform and advocate for the restoration of wild habitat; we demand at least a 300-year view of planning and we seek to re-wild contemporary culture.
ROOTS AND RESINS
A Wild Medicine Gathering
March 31st & April 7th
The Roots & Resins Wild Medicine Gathering at the Wildcraft Forest is a chance for you to explore plant spirit medicine and to learn about the power that different kinds or roots and tree resins can provide. We will explore the healing properties of five different roots and resins found in the wild; how to wildcraft a harvest; and then how to create simple solutions that will enhance our well being.
Roots reach for their destination - they find their way through darkness and around obstacles that can be daunting, they have an intelligence that is dedicated towards the ultimate objective – for the plant or tree to remain healthy and alive. Roots are a conduit for water and nutrition and as a medicine they become powerful as they seek out and find an affliction and then provide the necessary power to heal it.
Resins represent a miracle in the natural world. A tree excretes a resin as a means to heal a wound and then to shield it from infection. In a resin, a tree produces its own treatment against disease and trauma, it is a characteristic that humans cannot create but have access to, through the gifts provided by trees.
SHELTER REVOLUTION
June 2 & 3 and June 9 & 10
The weekend will include Workshops - Demonstrations- Presentations about Small Footprint Living - Ecological Design - How & Where to Build - Going Off-Grid. This camp is about creating solutions while keeping your costs low and practical. There is a special focus on “eco-villages” and “leadership” all while turning your “house” into a “home”.
We are misleading ourselves when we believe that the “homeless” are made up of people who have been left without shelter. In fact, the homeless problem is much larger than that. Benjamin Franklin once said, “A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.” Millions of people across North America are locked within a confined sense of aloneness, supported by the bricks and mortar of their “house”, which has never found its way to become a “home”. The “houseless” problem is actually simple to solve, it is merely attached to the pleasures and will of the community and certain economic forces which will either seek to build shelter or not…but the “homeless” problem, well it’s a much tougher thing to solve because it’s tied directly to the idea of oneself and ones connection to love, community, spirit and the cosmos.
What if Indigo children who are now adults are actually the driving force behind the “green movement”? We are experiencing a major shift in consciousness and this workshop series takes a practical look at the transition towards Indigo Energy and how it is influencing humanity, the Earth and the future.
Join us for the “The Indigo Series” a Wildcraft Forest Mystery School event, which consists of three different weekends:
The Indigo Healer – May 12th
There is a paradigm shift in wellness and therapy, which is moving away from the “wounded healer” and towards the “mystic”. This event is ideal for healthcare practitioners who are experiencing first hand this shift in wellness.
The Indigo Child – May 19th
Indigo children can make a real difference in the world because of their special gifts. If you think your child is an Indigo, then it is well worth exploring this dimension of energy, as it exists in nature. This is an event for parents, teachers and children.
The Indigo Leader – May 26th
There is a mega-shift in the world-view as communities’ transition towards a more mindful heart-centered community and economy. This event explores Indigo energy within communities, organizations, business and leadership.
Join us for these special events under the tree canopy at the Wildcraft Forest. There are only 75 seats available for each of these three events.
ARE YOU INDIGO?
Indigo children, possess special, unusual, and sometimes supernatural traits or abilities. These children have incredible gifts and potential, but they may be shut down when not properly nurtured and accepted. An Indigo Child is an upgraded blueprint of humanity; a term that came up when addressing the aura colors of these very different kids. Previously, auric fields were expected to be shades of the rainbow, but the Indigos' field is dominated by a royal blue color. But what we need to understand is that there have been generations of Indigo children who have matured into adults. It might very well be that the cultural mind-shift that we have been experiencing is the result of a population that might have a vast number of Indigos.
FREE ENERGY FESTIVAL
We walk with geniuses and share their frozen silence. In a world where intellectual acceptance has become institutionalized, invention from the commoners has become stifled. They live among us, along country roads and in our neighbourhoods, those people who have the extraordinary abilities to solve our great problems, however often they require support and collaboration. It is through the diversity of ideas that great strides forward can happen and that’s why we are hosting the Free Energy Festival here at the Wildcraft Forest, which is all about Free Energy for places and people.
This year we are running two weekend Free Energy Festival Camps and there are only 75 seats available per weekend – your choice is June 30 & July 1; or July 7 & 8. Each weekend includes workshops, demonstrations and presentations about off-the-grid methods and products; free energy concepts and experiments; creating a community-based utility; creating better energy for your life; and navigating the “power” grid today and in the future; the camp also places a special focus on “leadership”.
Join us for this special membership, which includes:
- 12 days of forest and farm-stay camping in one of our Sanctuary Forests from May to October. Use your 12 days one day at a time or more.
- Camping membership is based on double occupancy.
- Unlimited drop-in access.
- Access to all of our special events which includes the Free Energy Festival, Roots and Resins, the Indigo Series and the Shelter Revolution
Rewild Distance Learning Programs
We have been working the bugs out of our distance-learning platform and we have now introduced “intake” dates where we start new registrants all at the same time. We have made certain technological changes which will help with the delivery of our programs as well. So we invite you to “Rewild”, the distance-learning programs offered by the Wildcraft Forest School. We offer online courses, seminars and outdoor challenges and restoration programs which provide an inspirational and creative environment for students ranging from children to adults and from beginners to professionals. We seek to share quality experiences, from leading edge artists, thinkers and do’ers locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Our scope is to link the arts, creativity, wild-dynamic permaculture, food, wellness, spirituality and activism with wildcrafting.
Mother Tree Regenerative System
The Wildcraft Forest nurtures regenerative stewardship that supports what we call a “Mother Tree Regenerative System”. This system considers that the forest seeks to function as a living organism. As it moves and expands it creates “seed trees” also known as “Mother Trees”. The forest spirits the growth of these Mother Trees on her edge where she seeks to expand into a meadow or a savannah. She populates these edges with the spread of a great number of seeds and is assisted by messengers, which spread the seeds even further. The Mother Tree creates a forest community within a larger forest community interlocking a network of life and frequencies that link all the Mother Trees and then the greater forest nation.
We are developing a “Mother Tree Pilot Program” which will include education, protection and the restoration of Mother Trees within the southern British Columbia interior; the program will be replicated to include other parts of British Columbia and beyond.
Yasei Shinrin-Yoku
Teachers Training
Yasei Shinrin-Yoku Teachers Training provides participants with certification to perform our unique version of Forest Bathing, which combines the healing abilities presented by the natural world with spiritual and environmental stewardship, which encourages meaning and purpose within the context of agape relationships and the Wildcrafters Promise. Yasei Shinrin-Yoku Practitioner Certification provides participants with an opportunity to set up an independent practice and provides planning support for practitioners to establish a Yasei Sanctuary Forest. This series provides an understanding of wilderness therapies and forms of wildcrafting-based nutri-ecopsychology. Upon completion of the camps, participants will be able to apply for a Yasei Shinrin-Yoku Practitioner Certification, which can assist them in both career and self-employment endeavors especially suited for counseling, alternative healthcare, the spiritual arts, theology, energy work, education, food, nutrition and outdoor recreation.
WILDCRAFT FOREST MYSTERY SCHOOL
We now have a “Mystery School” which is now home to our more esoteric teachings linked to the cosmos, ancient wisdom and storytelling. The Wildcraft Forest School was founded to carry forward certain teachings that began eons ago during the time when Shamans and Firekeepers guided tribal communities within the landscapes of planet Earth. These teachings have been handed down directly from generation to generation and each time, respecting the secret wisdom found within “wild mysticism”.
Join us for a Mystery School Weekend which is held the third week of every month and there are only twelve seats available. Weekends run from January to November. Please register in advance and upon registration we will send you a Wildcraft Forest Mystery School Guidebook.
You can also join us for special events.
March 2018
FESTIVAL IN THE FOREST
We have changed our special event portal from Wildcraft Habitat to Festival in the Forest. Join us for great experiences all year long.
Welcome to the latest Wildcraft Forest Newsletter. Here in the forest there is still a heavy blanket of snow but it is melting quickly and serves as a reminder of just how important water is to us and to Mother Earth. To this day, water continues to be a mystery to us, but instead of celebrating our spiritual connection to water and how it supports life, we celebrate its function. For many of us water has become simply an instrument for us to consume; but for a few, water remains mysterious and sacred because it holds certain secrets – like that long standing question: Where does it come from?
For eons human beings have considered water magical. Clearly it was understood that rain filled the oceans, rivers and the lakes. Snow and ice in the mountains would melt and feed creeks that would join with rivers. But where did the water come from that seeped straight out of the ground? Why was it that some wells ran dry while others didn’t? Where did the water deep in the ground come from?
Water offered humanity deep mysteries, and to explain them all required mixing practical wisdom with the supernatural – which means there were water spirits mixed with thought leaders. Paracelsus knew about that mix, he was a Swiss German Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist who lived in Europe during the early 1500’s. He was a contemporary of Copernicus, Leonardo da Vinci and Martin Luther and founded the discipline of toxicology. He was a revolutionary and today we would probably call him a wildcrafter because he insisted upon using observations within nature, rather than looking only to the texts supported by institutions, which represented an open and radical defiance of the medical practice of his day.
He spent a great deal of his life studying the mysteries associated with water and in his alchemical writings he created a term called “undines” or “ondines” which he described as a category of elemental beings associated with water.
Paracelsus believed that each of the four classical elements – Earth, Water, Air and Fire – is inhabited by different categories of elemental spirits, liminal creatures that share our world: gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders respectively. He describes these elementals as the "invisible, spiritual counterparts of visible Nature ... many resembling human beings in shape, and inhabiting worlds of their own, unknown to man because his undeveloped senses were incapable of functioning beyond the limitations of the grosser elements." Undines as the elemental beings of water are almost invariably depicted as being female, which is consistent with the ancient idea that water is a female element. They are usually found in forest pools and waterfalls, and their beautiful singing voices are sometimes heard over the sound of water. The group contains many species, including nereides, limoniades, naiades and mermaids. Although resembling humans in form they lack a human soul, so to achieve immortality they must acquire one by marrying a human. Such a union is not without risk for the man, because if he is unfaithful he is fated to die.
The offspring of a union between an undine and a man are human with a soul, but have some kind of aquatic characteristic, a watermark or perhaps a close and intimate connection with water. Perhaps these offspring of the undine became messengers, telling us about the sacredness of water? Perhaps they taught us about the water deities and how they were connected to various bodies of water. Water deities are common in beliefs everywhere and were connected to the sea or ocean, or a great river. They brought awareness of sacred springs or holy wells. They became instruments of a spiritual commitment to protect sacred waters – a commitment that would last for generations.
To explore further the questions of where are water comes from?
Wildcraft Forest School Extension Services
The Wildcraft Forest School is a center that delivers non-institutional learning. From a forest environment, the school offers skills, insights and inspiration for creating good stewardship and positive change in the world. It engages participants in transformative education that includes wild dynamics, personal empowerment, responsibility and co-mentorship. Most of the courses integrate experiential learning and ancient wisdom within the context of wildcrafting and challenges students to perform stewardship tasks as part of various certifications and activities.
In 2015, the Wildcraft Forest School began to provide students with an “extension” program intended to incubate more stewardship activities. The extension work is described as an organized exchange of information and the deliberate transfer of skills where students apply work, research, advocacy, stewardship and problem solving within bio-regions, communities and ecosystems. This effort helps to facilitate interplay and nurture synergies within a vast complex of capacity building efforts, which then enables change in individuals, communities, cooperatives and enterprise.
Rewild Distance Learning:
Become a Shamanic Coach
Epidemiologists have now identified a long list of stress-related diseases as “diseases of civilization” – diabetes, atherosclerosis, asthma, allergies, obesity and cancer. These diseases are rampant throughout the developed world, but virtually non-existent among modern-day aboriginal peoples. Depression only surfaces within aboriginal communities when there is a loss of “meaning and purpose” which is actually what colonialism inflicted on tribal peoples worldwide. Today, we have succumbed to our own bad medicine….we live largely without meaning and purpose and it is killing us.
This online certification program takes a practical approach towards contemporary Shamanism as an important tool to nurture “meaning and purpose” within individuals, families and groups. This series is ideal for people interested in spirituality and the science of body, mind and spirit and has been developed to support cross cultural understanding, and methods for making “First Contact” with energies, beings and ideas.
As a certified Shamanic Coach you will be helping people to navigate life choices in an effort for them to realize their true meaning and purpose. This online lesson series is also ideal for professionals in the fields of counseling and alternative healthcare.
The Forest Almanac
The Forest Almanac is an online magazine published by Wildcraft Forest School Extension Services. At the Forest Almanac we encourage a better understanding of nature, eco-systems and our changing planet. The magazine helps people explore environmental problems from a practical, how-to standpoint. We explore the forest, nature and responsible travel, new innovation, renewable energy, recycling, organic agricultural practices, whole food and wellness. We also tackle tough issues from a neighborhood and village perspective like education, affordable housing and innovation within the localization movement.
To understand rewilding is to better understand how we moved out of the wild in the first place. A long time ago early hunter gathers began to advance their knowledge about propagating plants for food and medicine. Early wildcrafters began to burn forests to create edge areas that we often refer to as savannahs. These savannahs thrived, with many species including humans being able to dart in and out of the forest which they used as shelter from the open meadows which carried larger game. These areas were rich in biodiversity and over time presented opportunities for early humans to begin one of the most important aspects in the development of civilization – plant breeding.
For these early wildcrafters it was hard to imagine isolating a food crop that was naturally growing in dense ecosystems rich with other plants and trees, but through a miracle of observation they began to companion plant certain plant species that would lead to a greater yield and the understanding that they could further influence the natural landscape – which would eventually lead to the development of agriculture.
People closer to the Earth and the plant spirits knew a lot about food and medicines. Five hundred years after Columbus we have yet to develop one staple crop from the wild, we have merely worked from existing genetic materials provided to us by indigenous people who can trace their beginnings to early wildcrafters communing with plant sprits in magical savannahs in an effort to feed themselves and their communities.
The Forest Almanac: Understanding rewilding – or not…
This camp series includes Wild Dynamic Permaculture Design Certification. The series focuses on rewilding farms, gardens, communities and interface landscapes and provides participants with a range of learning environments that includes both classroom and project work in the field. Presented within three camps this series also focuses on Wild Habitat Forests, Food Forests and Medicine Forests that includes stewardship methods.
Wild Dynamic Stewardship and Regeneration Certification
“I have to say thank you! This is a wonderful experience, I've engaged with many knowledgeable and like-minded people I likely would not have otherwise come to know that have kindly agreed to serve as resource people for me; I have also joined a number of new nature groups. I feel so blessed to be connected with them. I'm also very excited over the books I have acquired to begin my library. I'm going out on short field trips almost daily even though it’s been cold, but yet I feel my connections getting stronger with every experience. One of the most rewarding experiences of late is befriending a beautiful red fox that has built her den in the middle of a snow filled farmers field. I visit her almost daily, she allows me to get a little closer each time. Of course I will always keep a respectful distance. What a beautiful little soul she is! The deer in the different areas I walk through are trusting me more as well.
The photo: Delores snapped a picture of her new friend, “Millie the Red Fox”.
This is such an exciting and rewarding time of life for me. I am so grateful I came across your site and enrolled in your program! It has enriched my life tremendously!”
- Delores B. - Saskatoon, Sask. – Delores is commenting about the Wildcraft Forest School
Yasei Shinrin Yoku Distance Learning Program she is enrolled in.
NIC - Global Trends Report
From the Forest Almanac you can download copies of both the 2015 and 2030 Global Trends Report from the National Intelligence Council. The NIC creates one of the most important documents in the world, one that helps define the direction of US foreign and domestic policy which then reflects the entire global body politic – yet you will scarcely ever hear it quoted by decision makers or by mainstream media. The National Intelligence Council is at the center for midterm and long-term strategic thinking within the United States Intelligence Community (IC).
They say… “The present recalls our past global transition points—such as 1815, 1919, 1945, and 1989—when the path forward was not clear-cut and the world faced the possibility of different global futures. We have more than enough information to suggest that however rapid change has been over the past couple decades, the rate of change will accelerate in the future. Accordingly, we have created four scenarios that represent distinct pathways for the world out to 2030: Stalled Engines, Fusion, Gini Out-of-the-Bottle, and Nonstate World.”
Rewild Distance Learning:
Bioregional Specialist Certification
As a Bioregional Specialist you will be consulting with individuals, NGO’s, businesses, communities and governments in order to help them deliver tangible long-term actions that supports the regenerative stewardship of local watersheds. As a specialist you will be introducing regenerative efforts that link economics and community development so that they work within natural systems linked to local watersheds and ecosystems. This online certification program defines practical working models of bioregionalism so that they can be applied within both a local and global context. Bioregionalism considers that political, cultural, and ecological systems are linked to naturally defined areas called bioregions, similar to ecoregions. Bioregions are defined through physical and environmental features, including watershed boundaries and soil and terrain characteristics.
This certification series is ideal for community and business planners, environmental specialists, educators, activists and those involved with cultural and community economic development. The program also provides useful tools for encouraging regenerative leadership. This online course contains a dynamic analysis of the micro-trends, which are changing the world closest to us as well as the cellular world of living systems, work and community. Participants will learn to connect with the living forest so that they can understand natural whole systems so that they can design a better life, connected to regenerative planning and actions.
“For the longest time I had wondered about a tangible connection between the wilderness and humankind. After studying with the Wildcraft Forest School it became very clear to me that the sentience of the wild was the missing link. By approaching the forest as a sentient being, which strives to grow and benefits its steward, a mutual symbiosis can be achieved between humans and the wild. In this way I can help my community and at the same time, assist in the natural process and growth of the forest.”
- Talal Al Lamki – Wildcraft Forest Sales and Marketing Director
Birch Sap is about to flow
Birch sap is magical – it is the purest water on planet Earth. It appears clear when it pours out of the tree, but when you have a full bucket of it you can see, it is a teal colour – indeed otherworldly. Birch is a pioneer tree species, when the glaciers retreated the trees mysteriously emerged and took hold of the soil on the fresh but devastated land. The trees grew quickly and then provided leaves that would build the soils needed for other plant spirits to love the land. Life grew.
When Birch plant spirit medicine has entered your life it is about renewal, protection and new beginnings. It is time for a new start, all old ideas, unhelpful influences and bad thoughts need to be cast aside. In making your spiritual journey with this tree as a guide, remember to concentrate your mind on the purity of whiteness of the tree, a whiteness that presents a contrast that stands out clearly from the rest of the forest.
Traditionally Birch was used to drive out evil spirits and return to sanity those who had become mad. Its calendrical association is with the beginnings of the year, and with the sacred festival of Samhain, hence its connection with making a fresh start. The Birch is also one of the first trees to flower in the spring.
The Birch tree was of great importance to Native American peoples due to its tough, flexible, highly waterproof sheets of bark. Birch bark has been used for everything from papering the exteriors of canoes and houses to making baskets, artwork, and maps. In some Ojibwe (Chippewa) communities, Birch bark was said to be a sacred gift from the culture hero Wenabozho and was used to ceremonially wrap the bodies of the dead for burial. Ojibwe folklore has it that birch trees are immune to lightning strikes, and that therefore these are good trees to take shelter under during a thunderstorm.
The oil from Birch bark is used for treating skin conditions, and insect repellant. The sap is a natural shampoo, and can be a remedy for dysentery and urinary infections and represents a powerful tonic. An infusion of Birch leaves is an antiseptic and diuretic. Birch wood is believed to ward off evil, banish fears and build courage.
Associated with beauty and tolerance, the Birch's vibration heightens tolerance of oneself and others. Use a Birch Broom to brush out the negative and add the cut bark to protection spells or drink Birch as a tonic if you feel you are under psychic attack it will strengthen you.
The first leaves on the Birch tree represents the rebirth of creation and the dawn of spring. Where humans have raped the land and then left it abandoned and barren, Birch will come carried by the four winds to bring back harmony and balance – this is the spirit medicine it provides for us. It has a deep and long relationship with humans giving its sap for sweetness, wine, and vinegar. Here at the Wildcraft Forest the Birch sap is about to flow and we will collect it.
Birch is a treasure, blessed be the Birch.
“The Wildcraft Forest School is unique in how it weaves experiential learning, conceptual tools, storytelling, love and knowledge of nature and its wild dynamics, and ways to protect and regenerate forests and the land with a sense of purpose. I am delighted be part of this endeavour and contribute to a better understanding, safeguard and sharing of Earth's wisdom.”
- Stephan Morin - Wildcraft Forest Mother Tree Botanicals Director
