~ A Year of Gaia ~
Online Course Portal

Welcome to a year of transformative self care!

Welcome beloveds, I’m so overjoyed to have you on this journey with me as we enter the realms of the sacred plants together. These practices are my devotional offering to the earth, our beloved Gaia. May we learn to listen well to all the other voices we share our home with, and care for ourselves and each other with compassion.

I hope this year is full of self nurturing and healing for you! In this course I’ll guide you through the roots of our practice at The Gaia School. You will form deep, more intimate, relationships with plants as you move through every season. We will learn directly from our plant teachers every month through tea meditations, communication with live plants, harvesting, medicine making, and ceremonies.

I recommend always watching the welcome video for each month’s lesson, and then go through the content for that month as you have the time and space to receive it. Think of moving through each month’s lessons as you would read a book. You will have lifetime access to the content, so go at your own pace. Take your time and enjoy the journey! Slow you down when you need to linger more deeply with certain allies.

I invite you to get to know a few plants deeply each month through tea meditations, medicine making, and connecting to the live plants themselves that surround you. The most important practices are your direct experience with the plants. Get to know the allies that grow near you… and explore the practices we introduce as a way to open the lines of communication between you and the plants.

We will have Zoom chats 2x a month to check in if you’d like to join us! Invites will be sent to you via email, and we’d love to see you in person! The calls are always recorded and upcoming zoom dates will be posted. Our live zoom classes will help you go deeper into the course, and a great space to ask questions.

Please join our group Facebook forum! Our forum will be the space for you to ask questions, and for us all to chat with each other. Please share photos, experiences, and ask questions! If you are interested in receiving a certificate for this course, visit our information on the the Certificate Track. Each module you will complete homework, which will take you deeper into journeying with the plants and learning their medicine. I recommend this option if you are looking to offer plant medicine to your community in the future!

I send you so many blessings as you receive the medicine of the plants into your life more deeply… May you receive their healing touch and support in the moments you most need it.

Welcome to a year of falling in love with Gaia and yourself.
May the plant spirits guide you,
Sage L. Maurer

Welcome Video ~ Please watch first!

Honouring The Gateway

Entering the spirit realms of the plants is like walking through an ancient gate. Into a world of playful spirits, whispers, songs, prayers, the laughter of our ancestors, rivers of tears, births and deaths, limitless love, and the ancient wisdom of Gaia. When we greet the spirits of the plants humbly, without expectation, the elders meet us with gratitude that we have finally returned. In this course you will learn to communicate with the plant realms who have been supporting you for your entire life.

I was 14 years old when I began consciously communicating with the plant world. Partnering with the spirits of the plants for personal and collective healing quickly became my life path. At 15 years old I dedicated myself to Gaia our beloved mother, in a promise to walk beside her for the rest of my life. The ancestors and plant teachers have been teaching me over many years since then, and this course was created to help others learn directly from the plants teachers themselves. Many of us have forgotten how to hear the natural world communicating with us. I have been walking a path of listening to the spirits for as long as I can remember. It has been a rich path of healing and coming home… to myself and to the earth. For many of you this will feel like a return home as well.

Over the years the circles we have formed at The Gaia School have been my soul family, and each of you have been medicine to my heart alongside the plants. Thank you for joining me beloved family. May our journey with the plants be blessed, and may you receive the medicine you need most.

Video ~ Blessings and advice for your journey!

A Year of Gaia
Modules

12 Monthly Lessons & Bonus Lessons
Live Zoom Class Recordings ~ Password is gaialiveclasses

~ Bonus Lessons ~

Also given via zoom recordings!

Join us on Facebook where we will share our experiences throughout the year!
Please use the forum to ask questions and learn from each other’s journeys.

Tea Meditations ~
Journeying with the Plant Teachers

Daily Tea Meditations

All of our ancestors were taught by the plants themselves…

The basis of our practice at The Gaia School is meditating with plants. We focus on communicating with the plants through our bodies, hearts, and consciousness to receive guidance and medicine from them. The plants move through us, communicating with our cells and organs, awakening and encouraging us to open. I find they help us listen more deeply from our hearts, to the spirits that surround us. They awaken hidden treasures within our soul. The plants move through our being with intelligence, observing and feeling what is happening within our mind, body, and emotions. When we meditate and enter into an altered state of consciousness, the plants are able to speak through us more easily. We practice opening to receiving these loving beings.

When we meditate with plants we become more receptive to the medicine and spirits of the plants. The plants speak to us through images, physical sensations, feelings, thoughts, and energy. The physical medicine of the plant acts as an anchor for the spirit and consciousness of the plant. As we receive directly from the plants, we learn through our own bodies. Every time we welcome a plant into our heart, mind, and body, it is able to speak through us.

Through each module you can choose 1-3 plants to journey with. Below is a guided meditation for you to journey with each ally. You can choose the plants we work with each month through the course. Always journal after your meditation what your experience of the plant was like for you. From the taste and feel in your body, any sensations, images, or messages that came through you. As we receive directly from the plants, we create space for the plants to speak to us…

Tea meditations usually last for about 20 minutes, and can also be incorporated into a daily practice of meditation or rest. Use the linked spodify playlists for music if you like, Feel free to pause the recording at any time, and rest into receiving the plant without distraction of my voice if that is most helpful.

Plant Journey ~ Guided Tea Meditation (with music)

Guided Tea Meditation in Spanish

Video ~ Our Tea Meditation Practice

Instructions for a Tea Meditation

Set the sacred space

Light a candle, and burn some blessings herbs (evergreen resin, juniper, mugwort, copal, sweetgrass, cedar, sage). For those working with the sacred wheel, construct a simple circle with rocks or stones. Sometimes I just choose 4 stones for each direction, with a candle at the center. I recommend some relaxing music for journeying. You will find a music playlist at the bottom of this page to use for tea meditations.

Create a tea of the plant ally

Brew a tea of a plant you would like to journey with ~ As you make the tea, ask the spirit of this plant to come visit with you. I recommend holding the plant material in your hand for a few minutes, breathing the scent, and asking from your heart for this elder to join you. Let the plant know that you would like to connect. If you are needing a specific kind of medicine, ask the plant for the support you’re seeking.

Ground into your seat

Find a comfortable chair by your candle. I recommend a Backjack and some pillows so that you are closer to the earth and grounded on the floor. Get yourself really comfortable with pillows and maybe a blanket. Set up your comfort for meditation. This is more important than you think, since discomfort will distract you too much. This time receiving from the plants should feel like a delicious moment of rest in your day.

Turn your gaze inward

Bring your attention to your breathing, and into your body with each breath. Turn your gaze inward to below your skin, and meet yourself with compassionate presence. Allow any body sensations to come through your awareness, moving your loving attention through your body as you breathe. Spend 5 minutes or so breathing and grounding into yourself gently.

Invite the spirit of the plant to join you

As you drink the tea slowly, invite the spirit of the plant to join you. Visualize the plant in your mind. Ask for the plant to come be with you and help you to know its medicine. As I visualize the plant in my mind, I often like to make sacred offerings to it in spirit, as a way of giving love and honour to this holy being. You can also offer sacred smoke to the spirit as you are welcoming it to join you.

Spend time asking the plant to show itself, listening quietly within to the plant’s subtle energy. Let go of any need for a specific experience, and just allow the spirit of the plant to show itself on its own time. Allow the spirit to get to know you as you sit together, inviting it into your heart and body. If your mind wanders, just invite the plant to anywhere your attention or thoughts are drawn. Asking for its support wherever your thoughts go… Continue to return to your breathe, and the feeling of the plant with you.

Ask the plant for support

Observe how the plant feels in your body and being. Allow any messages, thoughts, images, feelings, or sensations to happen. Continue to welcome its spirit to join you, asking if the plant spirit has anything to show you. Anything it wants you to see or feel. What it would like you to know… If it is quiet, just enjoy resting with the tea, breathing, and allowing yourself to receive the healing energy. Through the meditation continue breathing slowly and deeply, listening and asking the plant to show itself to you. Take all the time you would like to receive its energy and medicine. Enjoying being together, without demanding or rushing your pacing together.

Offer gratitude and thanks to the spirit of the plant for anything you received, and offer some blessing herbs to the loving guide who joined you. You may want to bless yourself with the smoke, and then write down in your journal anything that came through in your experience with the plant. What your body felt, how the personality and energy of the plant felt. Any images, sensations or thoughts that came through. If it was simply a quiet time of rest, that is just what you needed…

Music for Tea Meditations & Year of Gaia Welcome

Spodify Soundtrack for Meditations

Opening Circle Prayers

Calling in medicine from all directions…

Sacred Wheel Prayer

Honouring Gaia & Plant Teachers

CHANTS ~ Earth My Body ~ The River is Flowing

If you feel like joining us in prayer, please speak this prayer at home so we can collectively call in the spirits of the sacred wheel and our plant teachers. You can print these prayers to read out loud if you like, or write your own.

In Spirit we gather together in sacred circle to call in the medicine we will receive this year.
We call on the spirit of the earth. The spirits of the plants, and our ancestors. We call on the medicine lineages we each carry. May we listen to our beloved plant elders from our heart…

We call and offer gratitude to the Spirits of the North

Energies of Earth and of Gaia’s green body. We call on the strength of our earth family to support and guide us on our path forward. We ask for your help to grow strong roots like the oak, deep into the earth. My we weave our roots with the roots of our grandmother trees and the roots of our plant elders. May we awaken in our hearts to all of the love and connection we are surrounded by here. May we find ourselves deeply at home in our bodies, our feet rooted in mother earth. 

We call on the wisdom and strength of the earth to help us live in right relationship with all beings we share this home with. May we work together for collective peace and healing, knowing our healing is dependant on the healing of the whole. We ask for forgiveness for the harm we have caused. We remember in our hearts the responsibility to heal and care for what has been harmed. We pray that we hold each other close in partnership, taking compassionate care of our beloved family.

We call on the spirits of the Earth to help us to nourish ourselves and each other. May we hear the call of all beings in need of food and shelter. May we help create home for each other and all beings who call this earth home as well. We call on the strength of our ancestors, the animals and plants, to teach us the ways of healing and compassion.  May we honour and dance through the natural cycles of the earth.  We call on the spirit of winter retreat and hibernation, reminding us to go slow, to simplify, to rest and restore our energy and reserves. We honor the teachings of the spirits of the North, and pray for blessings, abundance, and health for all of the earth. Blessed Be.

Sending gratitude and thanks to our plant allies of the North, Nettles, Burdock, Reishi, Chickweed, Astragalus, Osha, Siberian Ginseng, Oak, Chaga, Cedar, Comfrey, Marshmallow, Juniper, Ashwagandha, as well as all of our beloved trees and medicine roots.

We call and offer gratitude to the Spirits of the East

Energies of Air, to bring us awakening and clear sight. Help us to remember the wisdom, songs, and prayers we carry. We call on you to help us remember the teachings we have received, and help us to continue to walk a path of deep listening. May we learn to see ourselves and others more clearly through the lens of love and compassion. 

We call on the spirits of the Winds from all directions to awaken our ears and eyes to the messages being sent from Spirit. May we hear the instructions we are given from the spirits of the earth. May we receive the breath of life that nourishes and awakens, and continue to breathe the breath of life onto all things. May the air that we breathe be blessed and purified, bringing life and energy to all. 

We call on the spirits of the East to help us to create more peace and understanding in our minds. We call on collective healing of our minds and nerves. May we be filled with lightness, ease, peace of mind, and clear awareness. May our consciousness return continually to peace and openness. 

We call on the spirits of Air to sing through us, carrying the songs and music of all that surrounds us. May we be filled with the music of life, and be a channel for the spirits of the earth to sing through. We ask for our words and communication to be blessed, compassionate, and kind. May all that we speak contribute to the wellbeing of life, and the awakening of our collective consciousness. We call on the sacred winds to blow through our lives - clearing, bringing spaciousness, harmony, and peace. Blessed be.

Sending gratitude and thanks to our plant allies of the East, Oatstraw, Blue vervain, Holy Basil, Sage, Peppermint, Yarrow, Lemongrass, Chamomile, Pine, Juniper, Wormwood, Skullcap, Thyme, Lemon balm, Birch, Spruce, Fir, and all of our mints, evergreens, grasses, and air nature plants.

We call and offer gratitude to the Spirits of the South

Energies of Fire, to bring us the strength to be warriors and protectors of the earth. Help us to burn away what holds us back from full loving. Light up our bellies, hearts, and minds with joy and warmth. Help us have strength in body and soul to meet what challenges us. May we be empowered to move through these times of big transformation on earth and within ourselves. May we be filled with the warmth of the sun and gratitude for all of our blessings. We ask for the purifying flames of fire to burn away all that needs releasing within and around us, clearing away the old and making way for new awakening and unfolding.

We call on the spirits of Fire to bring us joy, reminding us to play, to laugh at ourselves, and enjoy life while we are here… Knowing all moments are precious and fleeting. May we be more free, wild, and full of life. We call on the freedom of fire to help us break free from anything that binds us or holds us back from our true joy. May we learn to love ourselves as we are in full truth, raw, and always changing. We call on the spirit of transformation to teach us to let go and shed what we must let go of. May the warrior spirit of fire protect us from anything that harms, and light our way through all places of shadow and struggle. May we be illuminated and awakened in the pure flames of creation. We honour the teachings of the spirits of the South, and pray for the freedom, protection, and happiness of all beings on earth. Blessed be.

Sending gratitude and thanks to our plant allies of the South, Ginger, Damiana, Cacao, Angelica, Calamus, Cinnamon, St John’s Wort, Turmeric, Calendula, Dandelion, Cayenne, Bitter orange, Sassafras, Schizandra, Elecampane, Pepper, Sarsparilla, and all of our spicy fire nature plants. 

We call on and offer gratitude to the Spirits of the West

Energies of Water, to open our hearts to feel and awaken to love. We ask that you help us to follow our dreams and heart’s guidance. May we trust our feelings and where they guide us, moving always towards love. We ask for your help in opening our hearts to love more freely, even when we know we will experience loss. Help us to let go and relax into the great rivers and tides of life. May the spirits of the waters help us to shed the tears we hold back, filled with love for ourselves and all of life. May we wade into the deep waters together knowing we are held in the arms of compassion and peace.

Spirits of the west, we ask that you help us enter into this great dreaming with the ability to swim through the dark waters of mystery. Help us to let go into the great ocean, through places of sorrow and suffering. May we be guided by the spirits, and the great wisdom of our intuition. May the waters of life cleanse places of suffering and pain, bringing healing, compassion, and peace. We call on the rivers of life to teach us of letting go into the great flow, of allowing ourselves to be held and love from all directions.

We call on the spirits of Water to flow through us, cleansing us, and bathing our souls in the waters of love and healing. May we enter into the unknown with peaceful surrender. May we find rest and comfort, drifting in the gentle arms of spirit as we continue to dream together. May our visions of collective healing be blessed and surrounded by a thousand arms of support. We pray that all beings be cared for with healing love and compassion. Blessed be. 

Sending gratitude and thanks to our plant allies of the West, Mugwort, Passionflower, Blue Lotus, Motherwort, Jasmine, Rose, Violet, Willow, Linden, Kava kava, Lavender, Hibiscus, Red clover, Wild Cherry, White Peony, Vanilla, Peach, Red raspberry, and all of the plants that bring us into the dreaming, open our hearts, and teach us of intimacy and love. 

We call and offer gratitude to the Spirits of Above

We welcome all of our spirit guides, our loving ancestors, plant spirit allies, all those who watch over us and support us on our journey. We honour and off gratitude for all the moments of support and love you have given us. We honour and give thanks to the spirits of the stars, planets, galaxies, and the billions of years of creation we are so honoured to be a part of. We send out love and blessings to all corners of the universe, grateful to be a part of this beautiful dance. Blessed be. 

We call and offer gratitude to the Spirits of Below

We welcome all of our loving ancestors, those who have come before, and those who guide us through the cycles of death and rebirth. We honor you and thank you for your wisdom and strength. We call on the loving spirits of those have walked this earth before us to help guide and teach us along the path. We pray that all who have passed into the spirit realm be cared for with love and protection. We honor and thank the guides and forces at work that help us journey through places of suffering, and those that help us to surface again to new life and light. May we carry the wisdom, strength, and medicine of our ancestors forward. Blessed be.

We call on and offer gratitude to the Spirit of the Sacred Center

We call on the healing wisdom of our hearts. We ask the powerful spirit of Love to call us home. May we always be held in the arms of this compassionate and loving family. May we find peace in our hearts, held in the arms of Spirit, fully received and loved unconditionally in all moments. We call on and give gratitude to the spirit of Love that fills our circle, asking that Love’s healing touch extend into every part of us in need of medicine. May the Love and healing we receive be given out into the world as medicine to all who need it.

May our journeys around the Sacred Wheel each be blessed.
May we receive the medicine we need from all directions, with gratitude in our heart.

May the plants guide our way…

Recommended Readings

The Gift of Healing Herbs by Robin Rose Bennett
Body in Balance by Maria Noel Groves
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Herbal Rituals by Judith Berger - You can find it here!
Opening Our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs by Gail Faith Edwards
Plant ID ~ Newcomb's Wildflower Guide
Longer recommended booklist has been emailed to you!

Supplies for A Year of Gaia

Here are supplies I recommend having for this course. When we get into medicine making, there will be added supplies listed below!

• A journal to record plant meditations & take notes

• Mason jars for medicine making & brewing overnight infusions or teas.

• Bamboo incense charcoal ~ I recommend this brand.

• A candle and blessings herbs ~ (evergreen resin, juniper, mugwort, copal, sweetgrass, cedar, sage, etc.) I recommend filling a bowl with salt as a censor to burn your blessing herbs in. A big flat rock works well too!

• Plants, dried and/or fresh ~ See the Certificate Track page for list of plants each month.

  SOURCES FOR PLANT MATERIAL

  Oshala Farm, www.oshalafarm.com. High quality organic herbs from the west coast. Good alternative to MRH.
  Mountain Rose Herbs,  www.mountainroseherbs.com. Generally quality (though sometimes unpredictable) organic herbs at a good price. Located on the west coast.
  Jean’s Greens, www.jeansgreens.com. High quality locally harvested herbs, located in NY.
  Blessed Herbs, www.blessedherbs.com. High quality organic herbs, located in MA.
  Pacific Botanicals, www.pacificbotanicals.com. Very high quality organic herbs at a fairly good price. Avena Botanicals, www.avenabotanicals.com. Very good high quality locally harvested tinctures, located in Maine. Good brands for tinctures & liquid extract capsules ~ Gaia Herbs, Herb Pharm, and New Chapter