Ever wonder why the herbs you eat and drink taste so amazing?
I sat down with herbalist Sage Mauer to get some answers.
Listen HERE or wherever you get your podcasts!
Sage Mauer - In 2001, Sage founded The Gaia School of Healing in New England and has trained over a thousand apprentices in the past 19 years. In Southern Vermont she lives and teaches in partnership with 10 acres of land covered in nettles, mugwort, violets, comfrey, and white pines. For the past 25 years Sage has practiced a blend of traditional folk herbalism and plant spirit medicine, partnering with the spirits of nature and plant kingdoms as her teachers. Sage teaches courses in sacred plant medicine, ethnobotany, ancestral herbalism, deep ecology, and earth-centered spirituality year round.
Learning primarily from the plants directly, Sage has explored for over two decades both the sacred and medicinal uses of plants from around the world. Her journey with plant spirits began in childhood, reconnecting with ancient traditions of plant use in Europe, Celtic paganism, and earth-based ritual traditions. She was formally trained and certified in traditional herbal medicine at The Blazing Star Herbal School with Tony Lemos and The Boston School of Herbal Energetics with Mary Pat Palmer and Kwah Wa'Adabi. In late 2004 Sage moved to Oahu, Hawaii to study anthropology, ethnobotany, and tropical plant medicine. At the University of Hawaii she trained for two years with native Hawaiian herbalist Levon Ohai, igniting her passion for tropical plant medicine. Sage then went on to study medicinal plants of Central America and the Amazon, traveling in the last 15 years to learn directly from plants of the tropics. Though plants continue to call her, the local plants of New England remain her greatest teachers and guides.
Sage holds a master’s degree in Environmental Education, with a focus on New England plant ecology and ecosystems. She is committed to social and environmental justice, permaculture practices, and community sustainability. Sage believes deeply in protecting this sacred earth through conscious partnership with nature, fighting colonization by Western culture and ideologies, and supporting ecosystem regeneration.
Trained in The Wise Wo/man Tradition of herbal healing passed on from our elders, Sage seeks to reawaken our ancient memory of healing in partnership with plants, and help renew our connection to the earth. She is devoted to changing the way natural and alternative health care is provided through increasing access to plant medicine and holistic therapies. Sage is committed to supporting healing spaces for LGBTQ people and marginalized communities. She helps her students to rediscover their own lineages of healing and plant medicine, honoring the earth-centered traditions of all our ancestors.
Sage is an artist and poet, balancing time between the garden and the studio. When she is not teaching and facilitating journeys with plants, you'll find her covered in paints, dirt, clay, water, cats, or piles of books.
To follow Sage’s offerings visit her on instagram - @thegaiaschoolofhealing
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Episode recorded, mixed and produced by Kate Douglas
Theme song is by Matthew Dean Marsh