What's New!
Black Folk Herbalism
with Carolyn Jones & Matthew Wood, MS

Covid & Friends
with Matthew Wood, MS & Phyllis D Light, MA
With COVID & Friends (influenza, strep throat, seasonal allergies, common cold, etc) in our environment, Matt and Phyllis recognize that our communities are still in as much need as ever. They have set up this series to:
- host a monthly check-in with the community
- describe and compare their experiences and those of their clients, friends, and families
- share remedies that have been working for them and others
- answer questions & open dialogue with you!

Native American Tree Medicines
with Paul Red Elk
This is a comprehensive class of trees of the upper midwest, including the Trees of the Big Woods and Boreal Forest, Savannah, Prairie, and Bog.
In this class, you will learn:- The deep spiritual connection with the trees
- Traditional Native American Wild Food
- Traditional Native American History, Stories, and Lore
- Traditional Native and Western Medicines

Natural Alternatives for Pet Care
with Will Winter, DVM
In this monthly class, Will Winter teaches you how to naturally prevent and remedy common health issues and concerns for cats and dogs.
Teaching centers around what you'd want from a family vet who takes a natural health approach: a well-rounded education, decades of experience, and good ol' Folk Wisdom, with a caring heart and discerning mind.

Free Classes
Doctrine of Signatures
is Returning!
Subscribe to join the live monthly summaries. If you are subscribed to the Library, you have access to all previous and upcoming DOS classes. We also have a DOS subscription option for people who wish to join outside of the Library.

New to Herbalism?
These are some great courses to get you started on your herbal journey.
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Free Classes
BundleLearn herbal medicine from MWIH with free herbalism classes online led by an outstanding lineup of Traditional Western herbalists.
Free
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Herbal Medicine Making - Beginner to Advanced
Course4.7 average rating (17 reviews)In this course professor Lori Rose, PhD. teaches you how to make herbal remedies: teas, infusions, decoctions, tinctures, salves, hydrosols and more! Enjoy pre-recorded videos, helpful handouts and live online classes.
$25 / month
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Plant Walks with Lise Wolff
BundleJoin Lise Wolff in a series of online plant walks covering 3 seasons. 100+ plants, look-alikes, herbal medicinals, & foraged foods.
$30 / month
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Holistic Herbal Assessment Skills
Course5.0 average rating (15 reviews)$880
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Family Herbalist Course
Course5.0 average rating (2 reviews)Learn the use of herbs for many typical household "emergencies" and almost any health issue in the online Family Herbalist Course.
$40 / month
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Herbal Dosages
Course5.0 average rating (4 reviews)Matthew Wood and Phyllis D. Light discuss the many approaches to dosing known and used in herbal medicine. They will speak from their own background and experience. Phyllis Light has used a wide variety of preparations and dosages from tea to tinct
$48
Subscription Courses
One great monthly price with lots of amazing content.
Many available a la carte too.
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Monthly Class - Herbs A to Z - Materia Medica
Course4.9 average rating (34 reviews)Looking for one of the best herbalist courses for beginners? Learn with our A-Z herb classes online with MWIH Materia Medica.
$8 / month
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COVID & Friends
CourseMonthly class on herbs for seasonal illnesses with open dialogue for questions that arise from illnesses like COVID, colds, strep, & more.
$25 / month
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Native American Tree Medicine
BundleNative American Tree Medicine covers Native American history and stories along with wild foods and Traditional Native Medicines.
$24 / month
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Natural Alternatives for Pet Care
CourseJoin Will Winter, DVM in this monthly class where he talks about natural alternatives for pet care.
$16 / month
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Real Spirit Journey
Course5.0 average rating (9 reviews)The Real Spirit Journey Podcast and classes with Master Herbalist and Shaman Matthew Wood and Businessman, Remote Viewer and Modern Shaman, Jon Baklund.
$18 / month
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Family Herbalist Course
Course5.0 average rating (2 reviews)Learn the use of herbs for many typical household "emergencies" and almost any health issue in the online Family Herbalist Course.
$40 / month
-
Herbal Medicine Making - Beginner to Advanced
Course4.7 average rating (17 reviews)In this course professor Lori Rose, PhD. teaches you how to make herbal remedies: teas, infusions, decoctions, tinctures, salves, hydrosols and more! Enjoy pre-recorded videos, helpful handouts and live online classes.
$25 / month
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Medical Astrology Sun Signs
Course4.9 average rating (15 reviews)For herbalists and astrologers on all levels! Get out charts! Get out your herbals! Month by month, sign by sign, starting with Capricorn in January, this class will cover the health strengths and weaknesses of each sign, including the influences of
$45 / month
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Plant Walks with Lise Wolff
BundleJoin Lise Wolff in a series of online plant walks covering 3 seasons. 100+ plants, look-alikes, herbal medicinals, & foraged foods.
$30 / month
Unique Online Herbal Education
taught and curated by
World-Renowned Herbalist & Author
Matthew Wood
Grow your herbal education by leaps and bounds with online herbal education from the Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism.
Other benefits include:
- Herbal Study Programs with the freedom to explore
- Options to study at your own pace
- Live, online, and recorded classes (all classes are recorded!)
- Learn from a variety of knowledgeable & experienced instructors
- Affordable payment options
- Online help from herbalism teachers
- Free, lifetime access to a private, online herbal community
- Certificates designed and signed by Matthew are available
Recent Blog Posts
"...medicine, to be holistic and curative, must include
mythic elements to satisfy the soul and spirit."
- Matthew Wood
Mission Statement
Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism
The focus of Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism is on a spiritual practice of herbalism, healing, and medicine. The main points in this approach are an overall emphasis on Nature as a Living Being, acknowledging the body, soul, and spirit, the four directions or elements, the seven lessons of the medicine path (described below), and the plants themselves. This is undertaken from a vitalist, holistic, natural, and traditional perspective.
The Living Nature (anima mundi) is experienced through the heart, both as a loving presence and as a fountain of wisdom. In order to practice herbalism, healing, and medicine in a sacred way we need to understand the basic principles by which Nature regulates her creatures. The traditional name for this knowledge is natura sophia (Nature Wisdom).
The Living Nature encompasses the mineral, plant, animal, and human worlds. As an herbal program, our emphasis is on the plant world, which provides so many of our great healing remedies. However, the animal world is also of great importance because it is the source of our animal vitality (vital force or qi), senses, instincts, emotions, and dreams. We sleep and dream only because we are warm-blooded animals. Internal exploration shows that the dream world is the spirit world; this is an age-old teaching of shamanism, Native spirituality, and the Nature Wisdom tradition. The human adds just self-consciousness and self-determination (a two-edged sword).
So we also need to study the animal world. This includes the vital force, which is also equivalent to the animal self (the double with which we co-walk during life in the body), the so-called etheric body, light-body, or energy body. It is the actualization of the animal self in dreamtime that allows us to have eyes and ears in the spirit world, for the animal world is the source of sensory awareness. The animal carries the human into the spirit world. This is why the eternal symbol of the shaman is the Human/Animal. This is known as the Old, Old Path, innate to the Living Nature. This is not a religion but an experience.
The mineral world adds the physical Earth, which we need to learn to approach in a sacred manner, with regard to our growing, picking, and selection of herbal medicines, and our living upon the surface.
Thus, Nature Wisdom encompasses the four elements (earth, water, air, and fire), also the fifth (spirit, inspiration). It also teaches us that the medicine of Nature is based on natural laws. These include the law of action and reaction (“karma”), manifesting as the great therapeutic laws of similars (like to like) and contraries (hot to cold). Healing proceeds from the “touch of the essence,” through similarity or opposition, then continues through the healing principle of the law of direction of cure and the law of the healing crisis. These three constitute the basic directives for healing from an innately spiritual perspective, in alignment with the Living Nature. There are, however, a total of seven laws, the higher four constituting therapeutic letting go, therapeutic sight, therapeutic grabbing hold, and therapeutic authority and responsibility.
These seven principles also correspond to the organizational themes of spiritual life, the seven levels or rungs on the shamanic ladder (“Jacob’s ladder”), which led us to self-knowledge and the opening of spiritual vision. For this reason, therefore, our curriculum also offers material on the spiritual journey through life.
These are the principles of Nature Wisdom and the way our school of herbal medicine is organized. A secondary mission will be to collect and offer materials relating to the history of herbalism and herbal practitioners in the last several generations.
Matthew Wood, MSC (Herbal Medicine), Registered Herbalist (AHG)
Lowgap, North Carolina
9:35 am, Jan. 30, 2019
Testimonials





