FOUNDATIONS OF HERBALISM
175-HOUR CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
2025 Enrollment IN ASHEVILLE, NC - join our waitlist
registration is currently closed for our foundations of herbalism program but students can still register for the online study here or for one of our weekend immersions here.
Did you know that the herbal journey that led to Twin Star began right here in Asheville?
For over two decades Twin Star has been training folks in the Art, Science and Spirit of Herbalism. Lupo began her own herbal education, in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in the late 90’s, at the North Carolina School of Natural Healing (which became the Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism). She quickly went from student, to a beloved local herbal educator and flower essence practitioner. In 2007, after sharing her knowledge and her love of the southern plant medicines, with hundreds of area students, Lupo and her children moved back to the Northeast. Shortly afterwards, Lupo launched Twin Star Herbal Education and Community Apothecary in Connecticut. In January of 2023, Lupo returned to Asheville, to the home of her heart, and has slowly began offering her unique style of Ritual Herbalism, in the home of her heart, once again.
We are thrilled to announce our most popular program, now offered in Asheville, NC
This program is for anyone who wants to be empowered to take care of their own health! The FOH course was designed to lay out a solid foundation for becoming a family and/or community herbalist. Participants will experience both the art and the science of Herbalism by learning how to identify (and ethically) wildcraft, gather and grow medicinal plants as well as become competent in making high-quality herbal extracts and a variety of botanical preparations. This course is appropriate for beginners as well as those who have already begun their studies. Our goal at Twin Star is to give you a many of the healing tools you need to feel self sufficient when working with herbal medicine by combining plant wisdom, both intuitive and scientific modalities as well as energetic healing. We have been offering this beloved program since 2012 years, and nearly 20 times over!
Twin Star Herbal Education draws upon traditional, holistic plant based modalities that empower individuals to live a healthy and peaceful modern life. Our most popular class, the Foundations of Herbalism program runs throughout the growing seasons each year, March through October. Each monthly session (module) is based upon one of the seven sacred healing centers (chakras), and the corresponding physical system of the body with an emphasis on the numerous herbs, flower essences and aromatics that deeply support and nourish the body, mind and spirit. Throughout this course, we honor and recognize the significant connection between well-being and our direct relationship with nature. This program provides the opportunity to continually deepen that bond by spending time in Natures classroom discovering the numerous healing benefits of the plants that grow all around us.
By strengthening our knowledge and understanding of herbal wisdom we reclaim our health back into our own hands and continue to evolve the healing exchange between our communities, our planet and ourselves.
Join us for our 2024 foundations of herbalism Course IN asheville
Our Foundations of Herbalism is a both a LIVE ONLINE and IN-PERSON learning experience, consisting of a combination of live online lectures paired with hands on, in person learning, consisting of over 50 in-depth lectures with monthly full day in-person herbal learning days and monthly plant identification walks, as well a beloved community herbalist celebration event and herbal graduation.
Our 2025 class lectures and scheduled full-day in-person learning days will be announced.
These days will consist of plant and mushroom identification walks, herbal medicine gardening, ethically wildcrafting and harvesting, plant spirit philosophy and botanical exercises as well and incredible herbal remedy making lessons (in which you will begin to build and take home remedies for your own at home apothecary).
We offer a limited number of spaces each year to create an intimate class experience.
Topics Covered IN foundations of herbalism
Herbal Healing • History of Herbalism • Herbs for all Systems of the Body • Herbal Remedies/Recipes • Plant Identification Walks • Medicine Wheel Gardening • Wildcrafting/Foraging • Harvesting/Planting • Plant Actions and Energetics • Botany • Medicinal & Edible Herbs and Mushrooms • Flower Essence Therapy • Aromatherapy • Herbs & Essences for the Chakras • + More
foundations of herbalism Course Overview
Each module is made up of about 15+ hours of total class time. Participants will create a variety of herbal remedies throughout the program to take home and will be responsible for 50+ hours of homework/self study. Students will receive a Community Herbalist Certificate for 175 hours of studies upon completion of the course.
Foundations of Herbalism InStructors
Max Patch, NC
Lupo, circa 2003 with Jeannie Dunn of Red Moon Herbs and fellow Appalachian Herbalist Melissa Fryar.
Twin Star has always been blessed to have a tremendous staff, of highly qualified and well respected herbal instructors. Our online learning days will be hosted by Lupo Passero, who teaches about utilizing and understanding herbs for all systems of the body, plant spirit philosophy and basic herbal concepts and procedures. AS well as Rebekah Sutter, who offers her years of experience as an apothecary expert and herbal creatrix, in teaching both the art and science of making herbal preparations. And Kaitlyn Scott who offers beautiful presentations on each of the seven chakras and how they correspond with herbal healing.
We are also thrilled to host and amazing team of local and beloved Asheville area Herbalists for our in person days. Each Saturday will be spent with a very special Asheville area herbal expert, out in the field, wildcrafting and creating herbal preparations for participants to take home. Learn more about our amazing team of Asheville Area instructors, bios below!
PLANT POWER
Our teachers have a passion for and connection to the plants and it shines like a field of sunflowers. Through both lecture and storytelling you will be taken on a journey of discovery of the vast and historical traditions of herbalism. You will be immersed into a deep knowing of the plants you study and gain an understanding on how they support the human body. You will become enchanted by the spiritual magic of plants and find your own passion for and connection to nature. You will work directly with the plants to make various forms of medicine while being told stories of the way our ancestors made these medicines before us. With each step forward, this class empowers you to reconnect with herbal traditions and empowers you to bring forward your own deep knowing and continue along your path.
Meet Your Teachers
Lupo Passero
An Herbalist for over two decades, Lupo has been invited to teach at various institutions around the country including, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Western Connecticut State University, Yale University and The Graduate Institute. Lupo’s immense love for travel has lead her to teach numerous herbal trainings and retreats throughout Central America, Europe and the UK. She has had the privilege of studying under the tutelage of many great teachers including Himani Ellis, Rosemary Gladstar, Pam Montgomery and a host of traditional and indigenous Medicine People from across the globe.
Lupo recently returned to the “home of her heart” in Asheville, NC where she splits her time between Connecticut, Costa Rica and Mexico. She and her two grown children currently reside in the Southeast, but will always have a home in New England. When she is not traveling or teaching she can be found foraging the mountains of Appalachia, or harvesting in her medicine wheel garden in the hills of Connecticut, or traipsing through the jungle, usually with her camera in hand and always with ceremony and ritual in her heart.
Melissa Fryar
Melissa Fryar is an Asheville born Appalachian herbalist who was lucky enough to be born in her favorite plant and foraging land. She has studied with some amazing herbal elders including Rosemary Gladstar and Deborah Francis, and more importantly, from her grannies and the plants and trees themselves. Her passions include: food as medicine, folk and regional plants, a sweet old hound dog named Bocephus, and her family. She hopes to be a student for the rest of her life. Melissa has taught regionally for several herb schools and at various conferences throughout the area. She can be reached at rootmama13@gmail.com
Rebecca Vann
Rebecca has been an herbalist for 20+ years having gained a wealth of knowledge and experience in medicinal herbs and practices. Her work in herbal education as both a teacher and administrator, natural products labs, and various versions of cultivation has taken her along a path of herbal medicine that focuses on Nutrition, Biodynamic Agriculture, Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Postpartum Care, Clinical Herbalism, Flower Essences Therapy, Bionetics, community building, program development, mentorship, and most recently distilling. These days you can find Rebecca wildcrafting and cultivating the plants used in her potions and distillations over at her apothecary, aurum apotheca, teaching for Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine and the Veterans Healing Farm where she also manages their organic herb and flower farm.
Jeannie Dunn
Jeannie Dunn is the owner of Red Moon Herbs. Red Moon Herbs has seen many changes over the past 30 years. Throughout these changes, the focus and mission of the business has remained strong and true: to create herbal products from local, abundant plants. As an herbalist and NC native, Jeannie has been wildcrafting and making herbal extracts, oils and salves for over 17 years. She studied at the NC School of Natural Healing and One World Healing Arts, but her herbal roots go much further back, to the back-to-basics lifestyle infused in her as a child. She picked strawberries, canned vegetables, and pulled weeds from row crops with her parents and three siblings on their multi-generational family farm in Efland, NC. Today, knowing the powerful beneficial properties of those “weeds”, Jeannie happily uses them in her cooking, herbal elixirs, and magical concoctions. In the last several years, she has embarked upon a new endeavor at Spiral Mountain — where the vision is to create a place where everyone feels welcome, and where we can learn about sustainability and regenerative agricultural practices together in community. She enjoys time with her 7 kids, two humans and five goats.
Ceara Foley
Powerfully attuned to Nature as a child, Ceara’s relationship with plants are among her earliest memories. As a teenager Ceara began self study in magical herbalism and herbal medicine making. After traveling to her ancestral land of Ireland at age 18 and discovering the book “The Elements of The Goddess” by Caitlin Matthews she was ignited by a sense of purpose and passion for earth based ritual. By age 20 she held her first job in the herbal field with an aromatherapy company, created her first product line, and had been leading ceremony on several sabbats. After moving to Asheville in 1995 to formally study herbalism and learn directly from the plants in one of the planets most biodiverse regions, Ceara began stewarding Soulflower Botanical Sanctuary where she co created a coven and held space for women’s full moon circles for over a decade. In 2001 Ceara became the owner and director of Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism, the southeasts premier herbal studies school, where she has guided thousands to a deeper connection with the plant world, their innate power, and the healing wisdom of our true nature.
Investment
Tuition for this program is $2,750 ($2,500 + $250 non-refundable deposit). A deposit is required to hold your space in the class. Pay in full and save $250 deposit. Monthly payment plans and scholarships are available. If you are a new Twin Star student, please fill out this enrollment form upon registration.
Pay in full below or choose the $250 deposit to secure your space today. join our waitlist to be the first to know when registration opens again
foundations of herbalism Student testimonial: See even more below!
“Embarking on my herbalism journey with Twin Star's Foundations of Herbalism was one of the best decisions I have made! Joining this herbalism program allowed me to build a relationship with the herbs and to learn how they can serve both myself my community. The FOH program has allowed me to learn deeply about the medicine, both physical and spiritual, within each herb. As a woman of color, it's important for me to be able to share healing remedies with my community. This program has provided me with a foundation that will allow me to provide my community with wisdom that can be used for generations to come. It was an honor to partake in this program while learning from Lupo. Lupo has extensive knowledge and such a strong relationship with herbs. It was evident during this program that Lupo teaches with a strong passion for herbalism. Because of this, she creates such a welcoming, safe, and fun space to learn in.” —Kayla C, 2020 FOH Graduate
What Students Are Saying
“Oh boy, there's a lot!! I loved this class SO much. One of the most important pieces of wisdom I'll take with me is having reverence for the plants and treating them in a sacred way. I really appreciate that you brought this energy to the course. Listening to the plants Realizing on a deeper level how interconnected everything is. Learning about the medicine that grows in our own backyards that most people think are "weeds". Lol Learning all the actions of the herbs Medicine making - I had been a little afraid to do it on my own before the class, but I'm much more confident now and realize that it's not too hard.” - SL 2022
“The simple act of walking has shifted into a completely different experience for me since the beginning of this course. I have always loved spending time outdoors and admiring the world around, but now I feel like am wearing these super cool herbalist glasses that I can't ever remove. I see plants differently. I never thought I would be able to identify plants, let alone be able to remember ways in which to use them, but building on the tools that this class has provided, I am constantly surprising myself.” - ZK 2022
“I love the doctrine of signatures, the fact that our intuition will steer us to the plants we need, and that understanding of nature as always providing what humanity needs-- Such a comforting thought!!!” - GC 2022
“I have been opened up to the many different ways to prepare and combine herbs with purpose. I can address my issues with different herbal options, when only some things are available.” - LH 2022
“All the new and old knowledge I have from this experience has just been so life changing I will apply to all aspects of my life Mental and physical”. - JT 2022
"Foundations in Herbalism is a course for anyone who wants to learn more about cultivating and wildcrafting herbs. You will not only gain experience in herbal medicine making but will find a great community as well. Lupo has a wonderful way of presenting the herbs and teaches us to get to know them like we would a good friend. This course is life changing." Linda S. 2012 Graduate
"This class provides a great foundation in herbal medicine. Lupo's extensive experience and knowledge allows for her to meet the students where they are at, whether with lots of experience with herbs and plants or none at all! She helps us build a relationship with the plants" -M. B. 2013 Graduate
"The Foundations in Herbalism class helped me to make healthier choices in my lifestyle. I feel balanced in mind, body and spirit. Herbs do heal. I cannot wait to attend the level two portion and to visit Costa Rica!" -Lori A. 2013 Graduate
"This class changed my life. If there is anything I would suggest to do for yourself, it is this amazing class. I was gifted with life time wisdom & knowledge of plants, on top of finding an amazing tribe of souls." -Maria F. 2016 Graduate