BotanicWise

Women's Herbal Gathering

September 26-28, 2025

BotanicWise Women's Gathering

Join me for the best weekend of the year!

The BotanicWise Women’s Gathering is a unique event dedicated to preserving plant traditions through story, song, ceremony, hands-on activities, and educational classes.

This event brings together young and old, honoring the wisdom of plants and celebrating the beauty of community. This year, we are honored to host a distinguished lineup of respected plant-loving presenters, including Rocío Alarcón, Tammi Sweet, Sydney Baston, Dr. Jody Noé, Mary Blue, Tonya Lemos, and more!

Our 2025 Theme is “Cultivating Compassion”

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately.

Whichever way you turn, it only takes a moment, if you are paying attention, to see the need for compassion and healing.

I’ve been thinking about how to overcome feelings of overwhelm and helplessness when I see the suffering of those dear to me, as well as distant strangers.

I’ve been thinking about how to address big issues like global suffering and climate change, without burying my head in the sand and convincing myself that one person can’t make a difference.

I’ve been thinking about the need for compassion. Right now. And wondering how to cultivate it in my daily practice.

Are there concrete steps we can take to cultivate compassion, easing pain around and within us?

“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”

~ Pema Chödrön

When we listen from the heart, we create space for someone to be where they are and who they are, without trying to change them or be the answer for them.

Being “seen” and “heard” can be profoundly healing.

“It’s not caring about suffering that drains us. It’s feeling incapable of making a difference. The best cure for feeling helpless is being helpful. Even if you can’t make people feel better, you can make them feel seen. The most basic act of compassion is acknowledging distress, not assuaging it.”

~ Adam Grant, Psychologist

In a moment of deep listening, a “fellowship of shared feelings” is born. This is one definition of “community.”

And this fellowship of shared feelings is essential to wholeness. Only by supporting the individual can the group be whole. When we value the gifts of an individual, we also strive to support, help, and care for them.

Community weaves together the gifts of every individual to create a fabric that brings together and gently holds us in the cradle of nature, where mentorship, support, nurturing, and love can easily happen.

This is healing.

If we allow our roots and branches to stretch, reach and support others, then the potential rises for something BIG to happen.

Join me for a life-changing weekend of support, healing, joy, and celebration of each other and this beautiful planet we call home.

Join me for the best weekend of the year!

The BotanicWise team is working hard to craft the 15th Annual Women’s Herbal Gathering. This event will be held in-person at the Kempton Community Center in Kempton, Pennsylvania.

Each track of classes will develop aspects of plant medicine, weaving together a tapestry that brings the psyche, the body, and the soul together in wholeness.