let's learn together

✻ 2024 OFFERINGS ✻

SPRING

April 21st pm • Nevada City, CA • Keystone Cacti: Desert Ethnobotany
April 25th pm • Arcata, CA • Merry Mushroom: Amanita muscaria Ethnomycology (the abridged version!)
May 5th pm • Portland, OR • Immateria Medica: Ethnobotany of Datura

SUMMER

Good Medicine Confluence
July 10-13, 2024 • Durango, CO

presenting two lectures ::

AN APPLE A DAY : The Many Faces of Forbidden Fruits

The shiny red apple in Snow White, the pomegranate and Persephone's journey to the underworld, entheogenic fungi, nightshades, the serpent, and the woman... What do all of these botanical beacons have in common?

We bring apples as a gift of appreciation to the teacher, yet shun the apple that grows from the tree of knowledge. We savor the flavor of juicy pomegranates as humble provisions, yet myth glorifies it as an ambassador of both fertility and the world of the dead. We uplift the fly agaric mushroom in storybooks and greetings cards, and even on cathedral walls, yet many dare not touch it for fear of its “poisons”.

In step with Ash’s research on the flying ointment traditions and entheogenic fungi, we have here an assemblage of beautiful paradoxes that asks of us to curiously peek beyond the veil of polarities. To this day, age old stories of enchanted red fruits remain with us as lore, seemingly hovering only in the mythic, untouchable realms. But what of the botany, chemistry, and cross-cultural history? How can the mundane inform the lore, and the lore vivify the mundane?

Join us in a survey of Malus, Punica, Amanita muscaria, Psilocybe, Datura, Henbane, where we will dive into the realms of ethnobotany, therapeutics, and symbolism as we ask, why do we call these the forbidden fruits?

THE THORNS EDGE : On Sensitivity, Acuity, Venom, and Connection

If a rose by any other name smells as sweet, what of the thorn? Is the protruding sharpness on the bodies of plants simply an evolutionary strategy for martial protection, or do thorns offer more to the plants, the terrain, and to us?

In a time where an obsession with boundaries reinforces the divide & conquer strategies of overt power structures, how do we reconcile with notions of safety and connection? How do we dance with the potency of sharpness, and find the sweet spot amidst the sensations? How do we meet the edges of our comfort zones with intention & attention, thriving in the plural domains of personal and collective pleasure & pain? And how do the thorned plants model this transcendent yet somatically felt wisdom to us?

Join us for a potent exploratory conversation on Ocotillo, Cacti, Oplopanax, Nettles, the Rose family, and our venomous fauna friends. From ethnobotany to lore to phytochemistry, nuance awaits beyond the hedge gates…

MycoFest
August 2-4, 2024 • Centre Hall, Pensylvannia

10% off DISCOUNT CODE good until July 18th!
Feel free to share with your friends - BLACKSAGE10

presenting one lecture ::

THE MUSHROOM TIP :: Aphrodesiacs for Fungi Lovers

Is desire a solely human experience? Aphrodisiacs are by far some of the most coveted flora and funga worldwide. But what about the birds and bees, the flowers and the be mushroomed trees? All too often, the enticing notion of aphrodisiacs come exhibited on a platter solely for personal consumption. Alas, the natural world is in itself dripping with sensuality, connection, and dare i say, kink.

Join ethnobotanist & animist-informed herbalist Ash Ritter for a multi-disciplinary cypher, where we will not only explore the wide range of fungi to enhance our sense of joy, curiosity, and turn-on, but we will expand into an entire ecosystem that thrives off of attraction.

From Cordyceps to Tremella, Trametes to Ganoderma, and all the friendly entheogens in between, herein fruits a sensorial pharmacopeia where kinship and enchantment are our greatest antidotes. In the age of medicalization and intellectualization, let us relate with and re-mystify the beautiful, sensual world of fungi.

TABOO TONICS & TREASURED TOXINS: ETHNOBOTANY OF THE MISUNDERSTOOD ENTHEOGENS
August 16th • 1-3pm • Minneapolis, MN

... Beacons like Datura, Tobacco, Amanita muscaria, Calamus, and Ergot remain favorites in our mythology and medicine cabinets, ancestral and modern stash bags, and yes, even allopathic doctors kits! But why?

How do these compounds support the dance between pain and pleasure, baseline consciousness and the dreamtime, and making sense of the concentric rings of being with the present and the vision, self and world?

In this community curiosity session, we will take a lively look at the mythology & taboo history of herby women’s wisdom, inner alchemy, and the ethnobotany of many a misunderstood pharmakon. Deeper still, we will examine the role of this type of active inquiry, including it’s modern adaptations, with philosophical considerations for the especially pertinent nuance between & beyond the binary of poison and medicine.

Full description & REGISTRATION LINKED ABOVE!

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Big Psych Symposium
August 17-18, 2024 • Minneapolis, MN

Joyfully presenting ::
Merry Mushroom: Ethnomycology of Amanita muscaria

& joining in group discussion
Expanding the web: Exploring Plant Magic & Healing in Community

AUTUMN

Oklahoma Fungi Fest
October 12-13, 2024 • Oklahoma City, OK

Happily presenting:

Gnomes, Tomes, and Genomes: Amanita muscaria Ethnomycology, Chemistry, and Compounding

From greeting cards and emojis to the forbidden zone of field guides and facebook “mycology” groups, Amanita muscaria spans a full range, busting far beyond the bewildering binary of poison & medicine, into a space that touches foundational global history! As the hype sets in for the fetishization & commercialization of “legal highs”, how will we choose to move forward in an empowered, savvy, and honorable way?

While Ash’s Amanita lectures typically stay heavy on history, mystery, mythology, and ethnopharmacology, this talk makes extra space for her client testimonies & lived-experience with the potent muscaria mycochemistry. Come through for a playful, multi-disciplinary community convo, and hear about her findings in clinical, esoteric, experimental, historically-informed, and entheogenic contexts.

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INTERESTED IN HOSTING A LECTURE? REACH OUT!
Current trajectory ::
July • Colorado & New Mexico
August • Southeast, Midwest, East Coast, and more?

❤︎

Recorded series from earlier this year...

click the image to learn more...

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☁️ click HERE to access the BSB CLASS CLOUD!☁️
Online Curriculum ::

MERRY MUSHROOM :: AMANITA MUSCARIA ETHNOMYCOLOGY
FORBIDDEN FRUITS :: ETHNOBOTANY OF ENCHANTED FOODS
BALMS + BROOMSTICKS :: THE TABOO HISTORY & MODERN ADAPTATIONS OF FLYING OINTMENTS
FROM FRUIT TO SEED :: SEASONAL HERBALISM FOR GRIEF & PRAISE
MATTERS OF THE HEART :: HERBS FOR TLC
LOVE THY CACTI :: FOOD, MEDICINE & ENERGETICS
SWEET NECTAR :: PLEASURE BETWEEN PLANTS & PEOPLE
LOOKING UP :: EVERGREEN TREE MEDICINES
HERBS FOR THE WINTER BLUES
HERBS + DREAMING :: BOTANICALS FOR NAVIGATING THE SACRED WELL
HOLY SMOKES :: HISTORY, MYSTERY & MEDICINE OF BURNABLE BOTANICALS
KITCHEN CABINET FIRST-AID
etc!...

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Join us to engage with the plant & fungi world in a uniquely multidimensional fashion! Together, let's bounce between the left brain & right brain, aiming towards the heart of the matter- our connection to & as nature. Your support directly bolsters my ways & means to complete my first book!!

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FREEBIES! • INTERVIEWS AND LIVESTREAMS

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PRIVATE MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS

One-on-one studies are one of my favorite things to offer. Custom-tailored, co-creative, and beautifully woven curriculum for head, heart, spirit, and collective. This is not just about understanding the medicine of the outer terrain, but also innerstanding the medicine you've carried all along, connecting the two into a cohesive, functional, living, breathing, practical synthesis.

A full term syllabus includes :: ethnobotany, traditional and clinical herbalism perspectives, mycology, history, botany, phytochemistry, hands-on apothecary techniques, and ancestral medicine, along with adjunct explorations based on your unique interests.

Mentorship programs are a minimum 1 year committment, and can be held in-person or via online video calls- though at least one visit to connect in the Sonoran Desert is highly recommended.

** FULL-IMMERSION MENTORSHIPS HAVE REACHED CAPACITY FOR 2023 **
Private individual courses happily considered! Feel free to reach out!

PLANT WALKS, CLASSES, PODCAST INTERVIEWS & CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Warmly welcomed & happily considered upon request.

Based in southern Arizona. Open to travel.

Get in touch HERE!

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