A Year of Ancestral Craft & Folk Medicine

Join myself and herbalist Amaia Dadachanji of Wild Apothecary for a year of weaving and journeying through the seasons as we immerse ourselves in a new year of ritual, plant medicine and ancestral crafts.  

This will be a rich and nourishing year of exploring and reclaiming the art of slow and intentional crafts, delving deep into the lore of the land, and forging connections with cherished plant kin and elements interwoven into the fabric of the wilderness around us. As we progress, we may find ourselves casting off old narratives, rediscovering lost fragments of our being, or uncovering previously unrecognised storylines and skills, paving new paths in the world and finding the strands that reconnect us.

Throughout the year, we will gather for ten weekends to learn ancestral and ritual crafts, coupled with a gentle initiation into plant medicine that we hope will kindle warmth in your heart and nourish your soul, guiding you back to dialogues with wild kin, ritual, ceremony, and connection.  

Our last gathering, ‘Cloth’ will be a 3 day retreat where we will slow down, dream and sink into all we have discovered over this year.   

We would love for you to join us.  The dates of our year together and what each weekend will look like is explained below. 

Rite | 20th & 21st September | Craft ; Womb Belt/ Life Belt | Plant Kin: Elder

We will be gathering up the wool we have hand spun and dyed as we explore weaving on Heddle looms or backstrap weaving looms,  creating womb belts, life belts or altar cloths.  

We will take our looms out onto the lands and explore weaving with wild kin. We will use some of the techniques we have experienced around connection to place to create  beautiful and sacred weavings which will become intentional story pieces for you to dive back into time and time again. You will take these looms home with you to continue your creations, weaving together all your magic and wonder into these pieces which will be powerful vessels to hold you during ceremony and ritual.

Gather | 18th & 19th October | Craft : Drum Making | Plant Kin : Dandelion

This weekend we will be birthing our frame drums.   

We will bring all our magic as we welcome the birth of your drum into this world, each with their own unique spirit and their own medicine, which always arises through the birthing process. 

Birthing your own drum is a very powerful experience and it is said to be a time where you can rewrite your own birth story. Throughout our day together Amaia and Louise will become your midwives, guiding and supporting you fully in birthing your own drum.

We will be accompanied by Dandelion, the wild weed that is so undervalued.  

Folk | 15th & 16th November | Craft : Spirit of the Drum | Plant Kin : Mugwort

 Over this weekend we will deepen the connections to your drums, there will be the opportunity to paint our drums or adorn them and we will learn about the sacredness of drums, building relationships and meeting some of our spirit guides, understanding drum journeying and learning to map the landscapes in our hidden worlds. We will be drumming and dreaming with mugwort and dropping into conversation with this traveller plant, dipping our toes into the imaginerial realms.  

Tides | 24th & 25th January | Craft : Rattle Making | Plant Kin : Rosemary

Over these two days you will be crafting your own dream rattle filled with all your own magic, power and intention.  We will cover ceremony, opening sacred space and honouring the animal hide we will be using to craft your rattle. We will look at designs and shapes for your rattle and we will weave in both plant kin & crystals or stones or other elements that call. In exploring and discovering who or what will support you in rattling, we will finish our rattles with decorative adornments, such as feathers, bones or paint. Woven throughout the weekend we will be connecting to and learning about rosemary and all the magic and healing dew of the sea can bring. 

Spirit | 28th February & 1st March | Craft : Spirit Dolls | Plant Kin : Pine

We will be calling forth the grandmothers, weavers, spinners and doll makers from our lineages and from the lands around us, to join us in a beautifully curated weekend of connection with our inner creatrixes to craft our very own spirit dolls.  Doll making is a heart opening, soul level conversation that we feel might not only stir deep magic within your bones, but also offer a profound healing practice.  It is from here, once you reclaim the long lost remembering of the art of doll making that the brightest of pathways seem to have this way of opening up  in the most glorious ways. We will be meeting pine and exploring ways how this tall tree kin can support us as we walk the green pathways of these lands. 

Cloth | 20th, 21st & 22nd March | Craft : Medicine Pouch | Plant Kin : Explore

Our final gathering will be a retreat over 3 days in a beautiful location in Wales. Here we will be crafting our own medicine pouches and exploring plant kin and land connection. We will celebrate and weave together all the stories, magic, and wonder that we gathered over the  year together.  We will practise wild rites of passage and walk the lands, speak our stories and gather around the fire, working with the threads of  ourselves and our relationship with heart, self, other and land. Our plant kin will be of ostara, vernal equinox, energy and medicine. 

Weft | 12th & 13th April | Craft: Raw Wool Sit Mats | Plant Kin: Nettle

For our first weekend we will immerse ourselves into the traditional practice of peg loom weaving and meet one of our beloved Plant Kin, Nettle. As we lean into relationship with Nettle we will also learn about processing different types of wool as we weave our own raw wool sit mats.  

We will be exploring divination and we will begin to create our own divination kits finding out who is calling to us and the stories they hold and weave.

Threshold | 17th & 18th May | Craft : Clay | Plant Kin: Hawthorn

With our sit mats in hand we will be heading out onto the land, exploring connection with place and inviting ourselves to step into new ways of being with the wild land around us.   We will be discovering ways to connect with nature with our feet in the earth and find fresh tendrils reaching out, inviting us to fall back into deep relationship with the wilds around us. We will be meeting the ancestors of these lands, working with gateway tree hawthorn and earthborn clay to create offering bowls or other sacred pieces., 

Wild | 21st & 22nd June | Craft: Wild Wool Collars | Plant Kin: Rose

As we start rediscovering our wild selves we will be spending a weekend crafting and creating our own wild wool collars. The energy of this weekend will be high as Litha, the summer solstice, will be upon us and with high solar energies  we will welcome in plant kin of rose. We will be bringing ourselves into animal bodies and start to feel into our raw power, co-creating ceremonies, making flower crowns and exploring rituals that can help us feed our inner fire.

Heath | 12th & 13th July | Craft: Spinning & Dyeing Wool | Plant Kin : Bilberry

This weekend we will be trying our hands at spinning and learning to spin wool into threads with which to weave. We will be carding wool, exploring plant dyeing and creating bundles of hand spun wool, full of magic and intentions to weave at our next gathering.   We will spend time connecting to Bilberry, a heathland wonder of great worth and nourishment. This little plant kin will bring much to our summer sharing and learning.

Investment: 

Full investment: £2999 

Earlybird investment: £2777 - for bookings made before 31st October 2024

We offer one subsided place at £1555 - this is for low or unwaged Black or Brown folk or folk with disability - please enquire     

To apply for a place, please complete the application form and return to hello@weavingwonderment.com - Please click here for the application form   

 Following acceptance a non refundable deposit of £599 will be required to secure your place. 

Full balance will be due by 1st March 2025. We can offer a payment plan which will allow you to spread balance payment over an agreed period. 

What is included ?

  • Access to a dedicated online platform to support your journey & a welcome bundle of handmade gifts and a copy of Amaia’s Book - the Wild Apothercary

  • All equipment & material for craft for you to use during our year together

  • All creations you make are yours to keep. ( Raw Wool Sit Mat, Wild Wool Collar, 14 inch Shamanic Drum, Shamanic Dream Rattle, Drum beater, Ceremonial Weaving, Spirit doll, Plant medicines, Annointing Oils)

  • All food and drink during our times together

  • All tuition

What’s not included:

  • Travel cost

  • Additional costs if you would like to process your own deer hide into Raw hide for your drum making with my

  • Cost of dying your hide and any addtional drum adorment that you would like me to source in your behalf.

Frequently Asked Questions…..

Where will the weekends be held?   Most weekends will be near Shrewsbury, Shropshire.  The last gathering is a three day retreat in Wales. There will be some days throughout the year where we may travel further afield, but these will be discussed and agreed with the group and on these occasions travel arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the group, including car share etc .   

Being out on the land creates several challenges. When we are out on the land the weather will form an intrinsic part of this work and will be an element we will incorporate into our days together, so please always make sure you have suitable outdoor clothing – when we will be outside we will clearly communicate this to you in advance.  

We both hold a First Aid Certificate in Outdoor and Wilderness First Aid and will always complete a risk assessment in advance of our days together.

I am not very fit and I have some limitations in my mobility, can I still do this.?   Yes – please be in touch to discuss and so that we can find ways to ensure you are supported during our time together.

If I cannot make a weekend what happens? Unfortunately  we are  unable to offer catch up weekends for any sessions that you miss.

I have not done any of this kind of work before, but I am really called to this year?  Wonderful!  No previous experience needed.  We will be your guide throughout our time together, however what we do ask is that you come with an open heart and mind.

I have done some herbal medicine and some craft before - will I learn anything?  Contact us to find out if this is the right course for you, we’d be more than happy to help you decide if this is the right level for you.

Is there any option of a payment plan?   Yes, once your application has been accepted  you can either pay the balance in full or via instalments

Can I call you discuss?  Yes , please drop us a message at Hello@weavingwonderment.com,

I am ready to book my place, how do I do this?.  his is wonderful to hear! We are asking that you complete the application form below as a first step.  Once we have reviewed applications we will be in touch with the next steps.