• 3 Meals per day of GAPS Diet friendly, locally sourced, seasonal traditional nutrition
• Nourishing herbal infusions provided at every meal
• Nutrient dense herbal tonics, and elixirs provided between meals
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Many mystics and seekers ask themselves after years of wild experiences, "Yeah, but what's the point?" We have found meaning, purpose and happiness in the pursuit of serving Goddess by embodying Her. We have found that in many shamanic traditions the practitioners die young, the energies they work with exact a great toll on the body. Inspired by Director Erin Rivera Merriman's personal healing journey, our Food Sadhana (daily support practice) aims to enculture an evolutionary approach to the role of Healer/Priestess/Practitioner, and we will have no martyrs for the Goddess on our team. Goddess desires that we be well and serve in joy, and on the level we desire to play on, radical self care and commitment to nourishing yourself and providing for your own very specific needs as a Priestess/Practitioner is of primary importance. Being in right relationship to our food then becomes our primary practice. More than just providing our Priestess/Practitioners with nourishing meals, we are passionate about sharing our best practices in the kitchen that create the solid foundation on which our local mystical community rests. ln addition to receiving 3 meals a day of locally sourced ancestral foods prepared on site by lead kitchen witch Damiana Calavario, we will have daily mini lessons on the medicinal properties of each meal and how they relate to the seasons, Goddesses, themes, and other energies of each in person training module.
More than nourishing our bodies we will heal and evolve our relationship to food and bring it into the realm of magical practice, alchemy, and Food Sadhana (committed daily practice that creates the support/foundation for your spiritual life.) Some may simply enjoy the exquisite amount of care, creativity and love we have woven into the menu. Others through our time together may find their path in the kitchen, discovering the ways that growing, preparing, and sharing food consciously can serve as a pathway to Liberation complete unto itself. In all cases, we promise a special opportunity to look deeply at and evolve our relationship to nourishment over the course of our time together.
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Our seasonal and local menu is subject to change based on availability of ingredients and the intuitive, creative whims of our team of dedicated kitchen witches.
Saturday mid morning wise woman nourishing herbal infusion:
Restorative, nervine and nutritious Oatstraw
A mix of edible mushrooms infused deer bone broth welcomes a new day warming us from the inside with collagen, cell regeneration, immunity boost and antioxidants. Our own Mexican herbal chai invigorates us to set our intentions with an energy of willingness. Papaya, nopalitos , greens and living fermented foods fill our bodies with fiber and balancing beneficial bacteria, while animal protein trains us to to ground into the gravitas and vigor of the earth element and become increasingly comfortable navigating the world of form by supporting all of our metabolic functions.
Celebrating crops in season, we offer a comforting meal that is also full of medicine. Elderfarm´s “weeds” infused bone broth features plantain, calendula, nettles and purslane combined with squash puree and topped with raw veggies. Almond flour mantecadas are a great treat for the gut health conscious to enjoy occasionally with cheese butter floral spread and respiratory support medicinal honey. A probiotic tonic will help us replenish our energy for the afternoon and adaptogenic tulsi berry ice cream to help us feel supported in moving the amount of energy we will be processing together.
Late night sleepy time infusion:
Valerian, passion flower, lemon balm
An everyday kind of meal in Mexico City that´s super easy on our digestive system: carminative herbal bone broth (oregano, coriander, epazote, ginger), onion and red cooked salsa shredded chicken and local salad with living dressing. Horchata is a traditional milky beverage from the south east part of the country, our own version features herbs such as: rosemary, anise, cinnamon, vanilla and cardamom; paired with seasonal pumpkin pie.
“Stepping away from that world where the tension between seen and unseen, the acknowledged and ignored forces runs so high, and into the nourishing vessel of Elder Farm, gave November’s gathering a flavor of celebration for me, a lightness, a break, a festivity, and feast for the senses. Being together in sisterhood, in prayer, in medicine space, was joyful and easy and I was aware of a grace that seemed to be passing too fast no matter how sincerely I endeavored to savor it.
Profound openings came for me through the voicing my prayers inside the container of group intention and sacred space. I recall a certain new feeling of cohesion emerging, a blurring of the lines of identity into a deeply shared experience of sisterhood, not an erasure of uniqueness but a lack of emphasis on individual personalities that was comforting to me.
As we sat gathered again around the ancestor altar I spoke my prayers aloud, offering gratitude to the shrewd survival strategies of my forebears and asking to be released now of any patterns of hiding that no longer served my soul’s highest truth, so that I can come into the world shining the light that I have to shine.”
- Elena
"My body is feeling quite different since the beginning of this. I know without a doubt that it is the most important work I could possibly be doing right now...My body actually feels full of vitality. I am becoming healthier and richer on the inside."
- Lisa
“ Thank you for everything you have offered to my path this year. i purposely did not take another class i was looking at bc i thought it would be “too much”. “herbs”, i thought. “nice and gentle”, I thought. lol! little did i know that this apprenticeship would take me right to the place i was trying to avoid. because you can’t avoid it at a certain point. i’m learning this. and honestly, i can’t imagine a better set up to assist me through this transformation. this group reinforces my ability to feel safe. you guided us and gave us tools to help us create that safety for ourselves and i am so grateful for that. safety doesn’t just exist in this world. you can’t depend on others to make you feel safe. but what i’ve learned so far is that i can step deeper into my responsibility to myself and learn how to communicate and negotiate what makes me feel safe and with whom…”
- Teren
“Every plant we work with, every teacher, and herbal infusion offer an intimately new and unique depth and lesson for my soul to break down… The chakra work and exploration helped not only my own work, but has also shifted the way I work and assess clients as I am sharing breath work with. My communication with guides and spirits has dramatically changed and I am finding it easier to clearly hear the messages and know what is being communicated.”
- Blake
" I have an overwhelming sense of gratitude for being a part of this Apprenticeship. It is such a blessing for me to feel like I am a part of something that exactly speaks to what my soul wants to see being propagated in the world. I feel seen, heard, supported, and understood more than I ever have in a group setting before. The topics that are in each module really build on each other and touch a deeper part of me that inspires growth…. I have felt some definitive shifts since being introduced to Yaya’s teachings. I feel like I now have more resources to go to when I am feeling lost. Just the nourishment protocols alone help tremendously and I can feel the difference when I follow them… All of the wisdom that is being introduced to us is exactly what I am yearning for.
It’s perfect!"
-Myah
“I am so grateful that I am a part of this group… Women in circle, healing ourselves, Sitting under the tree canopy, letting the dark creep in around us. Nothing to be afraid of in the woods. Doing the simple, needed, gracious work of forgiveness. I feel aware that for hundreds of years, women weren’t allowed to sit in the woods together in this way, to make magic together, to be whole together, to work with the earth and the plants like this. I am so grateful for the simple joy of doing this, and that we are safe here, now, to open those portals of healing together. For being held, by each other, by the darkness, by the earth under us and tree’s canopy around us.
I don’t want to do healing work indoors anymore! My body and spirit likes being outdoors. I enjoy the air, the breeze, the ground under my feet, the aliveness and dynamic nature of everything; the presence needed to keep an eye out for snake and other unknowns; the remembering emerges and is beyond my mind’s ability to put into words. It is so soothing and precious to my being to have those days out on the land.”
- Malika