Online Classes
From the Shtetl to the Kettle: Ashkenazi Herbalism,
Fall 2023
Jewish herbalists and educators Ayelet Hashachar and Brunem Warshaw are collaborating to offer 4 classes informed by Deatra Cohen and Adam Siegel’s book Ashkenazi Herbalism: Rediscovering the Herbal Traditions of Eastern European Jews published in 2021.
Ashkenazi traditions, folk practices, stories, lore, and ways of life contain immense depths of wisdom that we already incorporate into our artistic, intellectual and spiritual lives. While there have been books, media, and other cultural productions documenting Ashkenazi ancestral ways, until Cohen and Siegel’s book, there was no single source that spoke to the ways that Ashkenazim throughout the Pale of Settlement carried the knowledge of the medicinal and healing qualities of plants. This herbal knowledge was and is an integral part of how our communities kept each other alive, well, and safe.
Together we bring over a decade of facilitation experience as educators. We aim to support our community in deepening our collective knowledge and practice with our herbal tradition. This series will be both cerebral and experiential with a mixture of lecture, group discussion, and embodied practice with ancestral medicines.
Past Classes
The 3 Wells, April-July 2023
the 3 wells class series is back by popular demand! this is a series of live online classes created by hannah of bodywitchery and brunem of well deep remedies. in this container, we'll share information and co-facilitate group practice using a celtic system of energy centers in the body. we will provide somatic and herbal entryways into this system to support your embodied, experiential learning.
beginning in the well of air, we will work with vervain and the brain stem. spiraling down to the well of fire, we will practice with rosemary and the gut. curling up to the center well of water, we will study with hawthorn and the heart. we will close with an integration session to ground into the well of earth that holds all the wells of our body.
Student Testimonials for The 3 Wells
“This class was such an amazing synthesis of ancestral folkloric, somatic, and herbal knowledge presented in a way that acknowledges the complexities of ancestral reconnection in the context of colonialism, capitalism, and modernity. Both Hannah and Brunem are absolute treasures who are able to convey their immense knowledge in a way that is warm, trauma-informed, and accessible. I highly recommend this class series!” -A
“It was healing for me as a Black person who’s had trauma around my European ancestry to connect to my pre-colonial Celtic ancestors in an embodied way.” -M
“This offering provided such a wonderful way to connect to an ancestral practice that I don't often see much of. I really enjoyed the context this container gave to the wells and how to support them in such beautiful ways. I also very much appreciated the invitation to participate however needed. Hannah & Brunem were so thoughtful in the ways they presented information and resources, I look forward to future offerings they provide!” -R
The 3 Wells, Jan-Feb 2023
Rooted in a 7th century fragment of Irish wisdom text outlining the embodied energetics of the 3 wells, this 3 week virtual practice space is led by two white femmes of diasporic Celtic & Jewish descent who have made the 3 wells part of their personal practices.
Beginning in the well of air, we will study and practice with vervain and the brain stem. Spiraling down to the well of fire, we will study and practice with rosemary and the gut. Curling up to the center well of water, we will study and practice with hawthorn and the heart. We will close with a ritual for Imbolc / Là Fhèill Brìghde, grounding into the earth well that holds all wells.
This series is a collaboration between somatics practitioner Hannah Harris-Sutro of bodywitchery and herbalist Brunem Warshaw of Well Deep Remedies.
Herbal First Aid: Foundations April 2020
This class will prepare you to remedy everything from cuts and scrapes, burns of all kinds, bumps and bruises, sprains and strains, poison oak/ivy exposure, tick bites, and weather-related injuries. You’ll also learn the vocabulary for various kinds of herbal preparations AND medical supplies, as well as when you’ll want to reach for which ones and why. For each situation, we’ll discuss how to decide whether a more holistic or conventional first aid response is appropriate.
Herbal First Aid: Pro
May 2020
This class is for the advanced students who can’t get enough of this knowledge and skillset! We’ll cover emotional first aid, materia medica for herbal first aid (in-depth discussion of multiple key plants), menstrual cramps, headaches, colds/flus, and nausea/diarrhea. This class will also include interactive small group work so you can collaborate with your classmates to create action plans for various first aid scenarios.
Brunem is a 20 hour street medic trained by the Rosehip Medic Collective. They have over a decade of experience with organizing pop-up clinics and providing herbal first aid in both urban and rural settings.