Plants for Protection with Rachel Budde

Humans have depended on the protective powers of plants as much as we have depended on them for medicine, food, shelter, fiber and fuel. 

The concept of ‘protection’ is complex. In the immediate sense, we want to protect ourselves from outside forces that might do us harm, yet the most profound way to protect ourselves is to get to the root of our unsafety, or sense of it. Plants, in both their medicinal influence on our physiology and in their unique energetics in form of amulets, or symbols can offer us protection on many levels.

In this class, which is part discussion, part experiential, herbalist Rachel Budde will discuss plants for protection and their roles in supporting us in creating boundaries, and assessing threats.

Rachel Budde is an herbalist, teacher and founder of Fat and the Moon, a company that provides handcrafted, herbal body care to those seeking to imbue their daily regimes with intention and botanical benefit. Continuing a legacy of natural healers, Rachel sees topical herbal products as a gateway for profound realizations of the efficacy of plant medicine. 

Rachel's work as an herbalist is an extension of her Slovenian heritage. Since 2015, she has been conducting ethnobotanical research on medicinal plants and their traditional, folk uses in Slovenia which will culminate in her upcoming book. Along with her studies of herbalism, Rachel is also trained in the somatic psychotherapeutic method, Hakomi. She is also trained as a psychedelic guide. Rachel is presently enrolled in a Master's program in herbal medicine at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. Ethnobotanist Kathleen Harrison serves as her ongoing mentor, guiding Rachel's exploration into ancestral honoring, inter-species relating, and redefining the primary significance of psychedelics as acknowledging our inextricable interconnectedness. Rachel has taught herbal medicine around the country, from beginner to advanced. You can follow her work @zlatababababa, @fatandthemoon 

www.rachelbudde.com and www.fatandthemoon.com

Host or Publisher The Berkeley Alembic Foundation