OPENING CEREMONY and Closing Dance with Rosa Tupina & Wash Fernandez

Nicole telkes – cofounder & Director of moonflower

Nicole Telkes is a Practicing Herbalist, RH(AHG), writer, speaker, and naturalist from Austin, TX. She has a background in botanical studies, plant conservation work, community activism, and herbal first aid clinics. Nicole has spent the last 20 years traveling around wild and weedy corners of North America, studying and using bioregional native and naturalized medicinal plants, and wrote the book: “The Medicinal Plants of Texas”. Nicole is the lead teacher and founder of the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine in Austin, which has offered one-month to one-year onsite and online education in holistic western herbalism since 2003. Nicole is a founder of the Traditions Not Trademark Free Fire Cider campaign, working to protect our traditional remedies for future generations. Nicole is also a Co-Founder of the Moonflower Herb Fest.    wildflowerherbschool.com nicoletelkes.com

Maria elena martinez-our Meme

Maria Elena is a retired teacher, a life-long student, and social activist working in her community for many years in the area of bilingual education, social and political change, and women’s right. She currently volunteers at the Indigenous Women’s Network/Alma de Mujer Center, a community retreat center that provides a sacred space for various groups to gather, learn, heal, and do ceremony in Austin, Tx. After studying with Doña Enriqueta Contreras for many years, Marie Elena teaches Shamanism, supports a community drum circle, and offers spiritual healing work in her community.

beth ebbing johnson- cofounder 2016

Beth’s love of herbs and nature came from growing up on her family’s farm for the first 18 years of her life. She started her herbal school journey in 1997 at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts(SWIHA) in Tempe, Arizona. She studied many holistic modalities including Herbalism, Hypnotherapy, Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Energy work & others. She graduated with a degree in Holistic Healthcare with a specialty in Western Herbalism. This lead her to many different herbal jobs from large corporate herbal companies to local herb shops until finally her dream of owning her own herb shop came true in 2012. Sacred Moon Herbs was born in Dripping Springs, Texas. This is where she teaches others daily about the plants & healing modalities. Beth loves community. She has served as the local chapter president, and is a member of the American Herbalists Guild. She is a member of the American Botanical Council, a corporate member of the United Plant Savers, and a co-founder of the 2016 Moonflower Herb Fest. She continues to educate herself at herbal conferences and courses from around the world, and is very grateful for this plant path in her life.     sacredmoonoherbs.com

Mary ayodele-Keynote 2018

Mary Ayodele is a prophetess, community herbalist, educator and cultural preservationist in Houston, Texas. As Foundress of the Institute of Africana Cosmology, she shares the significant cultural and spiritual importance of plants in African traditional and diasporic religions, and their kinship to Native American ethnobotany. She teaches about the healing wisdom of Africana people worldwide in workshops, lectures, and apprenticeships. africanacosmology.com/

Maria carbonell

Maria Carbonell is a practitioner of Ayurveda, energy healer, aromatherapist, and sacred plant medicine healer. She founded Sama Ayurveda in 2009, and is passionate about helping anyone with a desire heal from the inside-out to harness the power of their body’s natural ability to self heal and restore balance and energy flow. She has studied at Dhyana Center in Sebastopol, CA and California College of Ayurveda, along with learning Marma Therapy from Dr. Vasant Lad, and holding certifications in Essential Oil Therapeutics from Floracopiea in Grass Valley, and Reiki at Usui Reiki, Santa Barbara. samaayurveda.com/

Amy Kreydin

From 1994-1999 I received my introduction to botanical medicine in the mountains of Northern New Mexico through formal and informal mentorships with an herbalist, a curandera, a permaculture landscaper, midwives at the birth center, and a Native American healer at the Taos pueblo. In 2004 I graduated reflexology school and started my full-time practice, The Barefoot Dragonfly, a few minutes North of Boston, Massachusetts. I attended Jane Buckle’s clinical aromatherapy program at the Harvard teaching hospital, Boston Medical Center, with Kathleen Duffy a nurse-herbalist-aromatherapist and graduated in 2011. I moved my practice to sunny Austin in the Spring of 2013. In 2016 I received my advanced diploma in aromatic medicine with Australian formulator and author, Mark Webb. In addition to seeing private clients I offer community and practitioner classes, am working on my fourth aromatherapy book, and provide commercial consults for businesses and companies integrating aromatics into their products or services. My CV is available at: http://www.thebarefootdragonfly.com/amys-cv/

nicole finkelstein

Nicole Finkelstein, is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, licensed acupuncturist, and registered herbalist who was raised as a naturalist on her family’s berry farm in rural Ohio. She spent much of her childhood exploring the plant kingdom and testing botanical remedies passed down through generations of Appalachian healers. With over a decade of Western and Eastern herbal study, she founded Herban Austin -an herb farm in Central Texas where she cultivates botanicals for both Traditional Western folk and Chinese medicines.

margi flint

Margi Flint has enjoyed EarthSong Herbals family practice & herb school in the seacoast town of Marblehead, Massachusetts since 1977.Over these many years she has become their “Village Herbalist.”Margi continues to teach Advanced Clinical Studies.She is on the staff at Pacific Rim College in British Columbia, Earth Medicine Institute in Hawaii plus guest lectures at numerous Universities and symposiums nationally and internationally.Her most revered teachers are the plants and her clients.Flint is the author of a textbook, now in its third edition, titled The Practicing Herbalist, meeting with clients, reading the body.Copies will be available for purchase.

Aremisia hailey

Aremisa, known as the Coach Aremisa or the Indigenous Doula, is an Emotional Wellness Coach, former birth doula, community centered herbalist, teacher, and businesswoman. She has been serving the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the past 16 years in various community projects. Aremisa has always been dedicated to the empowerment of woman and families, helping to create stronger family units within her community. She is co-owner of Indigenous Remedies, which is the premier educational resource for herbal, holistic, and earth sciences and education. She and her husband, Malikk ‘Dr. Turtle’ Hailey, started the company in 2004.  As an Emotional Wellness Coach, Aremisa coaches women through traumatic womb experiences such as miscarriage, loss, cesarean, and other emotional womb issues. Her approach to healing is compassionate and facilitates the promotion of self-acceptance, self-love, and self-care. She is also a trained Four Elemental Mother’s Practitioner and is trained in Ancient Trauma healing. Aremisa often uses ceremonial science as means to healing with her clients Aremisa has also written several birth articles for the Dallas Examiner and has been a guest on a variety of online radio programs, and summits. Aremisa has been married to her wonderful husband for 15 years and is mother to Afu-Ra, Nekaybaw, and Kumara. irherbs.com

filiberto delgado

Born in Mexico in a Peasant family of indigenous origin, from the first years of existence as part of education for knowledge and survival as my first contact with herbal medicine. Learning about the knowledge and identification of Herbs was from 4 years to 17, as advised by my mother, who was a Community Healer with knowledge Inherited from my grandmother Tatara. After completing high school I decided to study in medical school, which on one hand made me doubt the effectiveness of traditional medicine but later reaffirmed it because the the doctors inside the School of Medicine were connoisseurs and practitioners of traditional medicine. Since then I have studied with different practitioners in several countries in lectures courses, books and with a group of Traditional Doctors to which I belong. I practice the art of healing by alternative means for the mind and the spirit.

Lauren Peterson

Austin-based Herbalist Lauren Peterson is a Juniper-lover, Sacred Journey School of Herbalism graduate and owner of White Deer Apothecary. Lauren’s passion for plants grew from her desire to deepen her connection with the natural world and nurture relationships that allow healing to take place. Her favorite places to be are outdoors, in the kitchen, and on the dance floor. whitedeerapothecary.com

ESTHER SCHROEDER

Esther Schroeder is from Venezuela. She obtained her B.S. in Engineering Science from the University of Michigan in 1982. She has worked in major hospitals as a clinical perfusionist and as a clinical research associate.   Esther is also a Certified Herbalist from the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine. She is the mother of three wonderful boys, and loves traveling and exploring foreign cultures. She has a distiller and enjoys making hydrosols, botanical lotions, and spagyrics utilizing the philosophical principles of alchemy. Currently, her focus has moved to the medicinal properties of metals.

cedar stevenS

For over 15 years, Cedar Stevens has practiced as a witch and potioneer. For thirty years she has been an avid botanist, herbalist, and gardener. Her background is in Botany and Population Biology and she spent much of her adult career in revolutionary environmental defense. Her magick is rooted in the egalitarian ecofeminist Reclaiming tradition, and she has launched her own Natural Magick tradition, integrating the gardening, Faery magick and native botany of central Texas into an initiatory Priestx training. The Moon rules her life and she is dedicated to the ReGreening of Planet Earth.

ROSA TUPINA YAOTONALCUAUHTLI and Wash Fernandez

Rosa Tupina Yaotonalcuauhtli has more than thirty years experience as a diverse practitioner in the healing arts, and a lifetime in spiritual practices. She has excelled in Public Speaking, Consulting, Training Services, and Holistic Healing. As a powerful Speaker, Consultant, Trainer, Healer, and Psychotherapist, she has been able to assist individuals and organizations to grow in many different aspects. Rosa has done outstanding work in the areas of Health, Community Development, Community Mobilization, Cultural Diversity, Spirituality, Human Relations, Organizational Dynamics, Youth Programs, and the Arts. Rosa has been honored by many groups and organizations that have recognized her work and dedication. She believes the arts are the expression of the spirit. She believes in striving for a balance of self, family, career, and community within a spiritual framework.

ginger webb

Ginger Webb is a community herbalist, mother, certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher, permaculturist, and wild plant lover. She has owned and operated Texas Medicinals, her herbal medicine making business, since 1999, supplying Central Texas with high quality tinctures, teas, salves, cordials, elixirs and syrups. She is the Founder, Director and Primary Instructor of Sacred Journey School of Herbalism, which offers many classes, including an 8-month, 200-hour herbalist training program, along with Community Classes, and Kitchen Witchery Classes. Her intention is not just to train people to become herbalists, but most importantly to help awaken and nurture their innate love for the plants and the Earth. Ginger counts many teachers along her herbal path, most notably Michael Moore (1999 SWSBM graduate) and Sage Maurer (Gaia School of Healing & Earth Education). She is one of the pillars of the Central Texas herbalist community, and may be best known for providing herbal care for midwives and mothers, free community herb walks, and partnering with our wild Texas plant medicines.  gingerwebb.com

ellen zimmerman

Ellen Zimmermann, M.A., Certified Herbalist founded EZ Herbs in 1995. Ellen is a Certified Herbalist, a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Marriage and Family Therapist and an avid gardener. She has successfully blended these professions to fulfill her mission of educating others on how to best use the plants and herbs we can grow in our own environment. Ellen studied with Master Herbalist, Rosemary Gladstar, where she developed a special interest and expertise in Women’s Health and the herbs most beneficial to women of all ages. As the founder and director of the Austin School of Herbal Studies she offers a variety of programs, classes and practicum sessions on a wide range of herbal topics.