Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! We have had students move to Taos from all over the country and different countries as well. The majority of students relocate to be in Taos for the program.

The Abominable Snow Mansion is owned by an elder who practices herbalism and has many medicinal plants and gardens growing and educational opportunities. They can offer tenting options, or a private room. They have work trades available as well through woofing.

We recommend that you look on Facebook groups: Taos Rent Me or Taos Rentals
You may also look at the local newspaper or on Airbnb for longterm rentals.
You can camp along the ski valley road in one place for 3 weeks at a time in an RV or camper, or tent.

We have had all genders, ethnicities, ages and types of people be part of Native Roots. Ages generally range from 17- 70. Students with all physical and mobility conditions are welcome. We believe the type of students that aligns best with this program is wanting to come into practice with self and others, or already is, and cares about serving community. We have had doctors, lawyers, therapists, massage therapists, nurses, students, back-to-earthers, urban dwellers, and people that just need to heal or find guidance come to these classes. Our class ratios differ each year in terms of cultures and ethnicities represented. We welcome all and everyone.

Yes. We offer a sliding scale to increase accessibility as well as work trade options that can be completed before the program begins. Classes are by donation to tribally affiliated members of NM.

Upon registration and initial deposit fee we will send you a form to complete. You choose the amount and payment date. Payment must be completed 1 month before the start date of the class. Payments are non-refundable and non- transferable. Payments can be made through cashapp, Venmo, pay

This course is set up to support students in coming into practice with the tools that they are learning on themselves and others.  Each student comes into practicing on others within their own timing, however many students feel comfortable making medicine, working with medicinal plants and doing energy work or bodywork by the end of the class in the traditional and ancestral medicine ways.  

The online and in person classes include a certificate of completion. This course does not certify people to be practitioners. We feel that each person comes into that preparedness of practice in their own unique timing. There is no license in the United States for the practice of herbalism. What this course offers is a relationship with plant medicines and with the human bodies. We will cover specific body systems and medicinal plants for the body systems, how to make and prepare medicinal plants as flower essences, teas, tinctures, and oils. If you have specific questions for clients or case studies feel free to bring them to class with any questions you may have. That said we do not feel this course is a clinical herbalism course for people that choose to practice in that way. While we cover the clinical uses of plant medicines we focus more on the folk practices and uses of bodywork and herbalism. How ancestral medicine is passed down and the initiations into practicing them is earned when the student it ready. This is a course focused on listening to the body, and the medicines that come through for the body mind and spirit in that ancestral tradition of the teachers. Many people come into a practice after this class. Its incredibly transformative and it will support you in your journey towards practitioner or already as a practitioner in ways that many other classes don’t. In the long run these teachings I incorporate into my practice with clients every day and feel they are what make the formulas that come through for a client so effective.

Morgaine Witriol

Bio:

Morgaine Witriol is founder of the Native Roots School of Ancestral, Folk & Herbal Medicine in Taos, NM, a collective of 10 different teachers that teach each about their own ancestral healing modalities.  Morgaine is a clinical herbalist, wild crafter, gardener, medicine maker and intuitive being in service to the plant and fungal folk.  At her private practice in Taos, NM people can recieve a combination of clinical, spiritual and medical intuitive treatments including bodywork, herbal consults, somatic trauma release, repatterning and reconditioning intergenerational and ancestral wounds, lymphatic drainage, abdominal massage, and sound healing.  Morgaine’s focus in her practice aside from trauma work is focused working with people that were diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, arthritis, depression or hard to treat chronic disease that western medicine is stumped by.  At Native Roots, Morgaine teaches about reclaiming one’s own ancestral traditions as a displaced person, Jewish Folk Medicine, SW Materia Medica, Herbal Allies for Trauma & Grief, Ethics, Cultural Appropriation, Plant Energetics, Energywork, Clinical Herbalism, Flower Essences, Medicine Making and leads several multi-day field trips doing medicinal plant walks.   Really she feels she teaches how to come into relationship with elemental, plant and fungal medicine, and then the indigenous science from all cultures of listening to the body and its layers of epigenetic, ancestral, childhood, organ, and energy center imbalances.  Morgaine developed and ran educational programs accredited through the University of NM, has taught at the American Herbalist guild conference twice, UNM Albuquerque and is now teaching at Northern University on herbalism for the nursing department.  Her favorite people to teach are doctors, nurses, children and teachers.  She has led plant and mushroom walks for the New Mexico Association of Osteopathic Medicine, Flower Hill Institute, presented for Native Plant Society, and taught wellness through plant and mushroom medicine for Taos Municipal Schools Employees. 

 

In 2010 Morgaine lived in Belize and had the opportunity to apprentice tropical medicine with one of the most revered medicine men in the country the late Don Heriberto Cocom for 1.5 years and with his good friend Don Reginaldo Chayeux in Guatemala.  She brought groups down to study Mayan medicine, herbalism and abdominal massage with him for 7 years until creator called him home.  She collaborated for 10 years with his Nonprofit Association to support the protection of the fully Mayan run rainforest Reserve Bio Itza and brings groups of students to study with him. Morgaine has recognized the importance of honoring healing modalities of all cultures and especially the ones of our own tradition even if they have been forgotten by a few generations.  

 

Morgaine studied at the Northwest School for Botanical Studies, The Dandelion Center, California School for Herbal Studies, The Dhyanna Center, Blue Otter School, Acutonics Institute for Integrative Medicine, Ethnic Studies and Anthropology at the University of Colorado. She often attends herbal and mushroom conferences.

 

 She grew up with an immigrant community and found herself easily honoring the elders that still remembered their own language, their own healing modalities and traditions from that community. It was a journey of many years before she started to look deeper into reclaiming the healing practices of the ancestral traditions that she came from and hopes to share with all people of European descent to remember to honor their own ancestors, to connect to the land and the people that are currently practicing and keeping the context of European tribal healing traditions alive today. She hopes to create a safe space to bridge the intergenerational gap of knowledge, cultural similarities and healing tools to encourage self healing and community healing. 

 

Morgaine worked for Teambuilders counseling Services in 2008 in Taos, New Mexico as a Comprehensive Community Support Specialist teaching “life skills” including communication, stress and anger management, and parenting skills and offering social work opportunities for children and their parents. Later she worked at nonprofit Rocky Mountain Youth Corps with “at risk youth” doing hands-on experiential learning in nature focusing on useful life skills and training once a week for teens. Afterwards she ventured to Guatemala to volunteer at an orphanage and was responsible for 30 girls ages 10-17 as their live in caretaker and teacher for 5 months. in 2011 Morgaine found herself homebound and endured hurricane Sandy’s destruction leaving 13 million people on the East coast without electricity. She coordinated one thousand volunteers a day in Staten Island, New York and spent months doing grass roots disaster recovery with Feeding Family including immediate needs donations and distribution of water, food, respiratory masks, clothing, tho food, medications and animal rehoming, demolition, and later therapeutic urban gardening in elevated community garden beds, fundraising, and more demolition, raw sewage clean up and mold control.

Israel Lopez Jaro

  • Intuitive Coaching & Counsel, Life Coach, and Ceremonial Mentorship
  •  Art Therapy
  • Community Reconnections and Healthy Relations
  • Coyote Teachings for Repatterning Old and Unhealthy Habits
  • Self Healing Techniques and Tools
  • Reaching Sobriety and Coping Mechanisms For Addiction
  • Coping With Death, Grief and Loss
  • Shadow work: Dive into Shadow with Compassion

Miriam Foronda

  • Elder’s Counsel: Intuitive & Spiritual Guidance
  • Energetic Cleansings/ Limpias
  • Heart Healing and Healing Through Hands
 

NM Heritage Discount Applied

 

Rates:

$225-375 sling scale for 1.5 hours, $300-500 for 2 hours

 

Miram’s sessions are intuitive. Her body and words are a vessel for divine healing and often she channels intuitively the heart medicine that supports one to create and develop their own healing. Miriam awakens the self worth, self value and realignment with ones higher self.

 

 

Morgaine Witriol

A combination of these services is provided in one session. Distance sessions and in person.

$150 deposit is quired in advance

Rates:

$225-375 sling scale for 1.5 hours, $300-500 for 2 hours

By-donation for all New Mexican heritage peoples

  • Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Trauma Release: Physical and emotional trauma release with energetic work. This may include repatterining of old habits that no longer serve a person, healing intergenerational and ancestral wounds, somatic healing of childhood or past trauma and emotional traumatic events held in different parts of the body.
  • Sound Therapy: Tuning forks and Tibetan Singing Bowls are used as tools to assist in alleviating chronic pain, trauma, stress, emotional and physical ailments, and in the release of negative energies
  • Herbal Consult:  Available by phone or in person.  An evaluation and assessment of the whole person will be made and a custom formula will be recommended based on clinical knowledge. 
  • Energetic Herbal Assessment:  Let the herbs choose you.  An energetic assessment will be made to see which medicines want to work with your body, mind and spirit.  
  • Custom Clinical Herbal Formula: Tinctures, teas, oils, salves and flower essences are available for purchase without assessment or consult.
  • Spirit Recall & Alignment with higher self, grounding and energetic alignment. Removal of energies .
  • Healing Ancestral and Intergenerational Wounds for past, present and future generations
  • Soul Purpose Alignment
  • Shedding of Illness on an Energetic Level: Often times the root cause or source of an illness is at a spiritual and emotional level. This session will be to address the root cause, and have you the patient work through and transform and shift the body of the illness into health. This could be a physical pain body, emotional or spiritual pain body.
  • Lymphatic Drainage: Warm oil with Guasha and Cupping techniques applied to help with scar tissue, toothaches, stagnation in body, trapped heat, and release of deep toxins
  • Castor Oil Packs: Hot oil packs applied to the body.  Castor oil can help break up scar tissue, cysts, and tumors, relieve arthritis and pain in joints and muscles, boost immune function and the lymphatic system, and clear acne and other skin issues, and constipation