Taught by Mary Evans! The Full Moon craft night we will be making our own spell candles by hand crafting candle labels. Using the archetypes of the Tarot, each participant will choose or pull a tarot card to focus on. We will make original artwork inspired by the tarot that reflects each of the participants wishes, intentions, or personal goals.
Materials are included in the workshop cost. Each participant will take home their own spell candle.

SPACE IS LIMITED! Click here to register

Searching Collective presents a night of exploratory sounds 

Featuring:

Casino Space Travel (Joshua Tree, solo)

Dreamstream (Joshua tree, solo)

Brent Vallefuoco (Long Beach, solo)

Aeon Jung (Wonder Valley, Duo)

The show will open with a Communal Drone where the audience is welcome to bring their own acoustic instruments and join the performers for a collective improvisation

5pm doors

530-630 - Open Community Drone

630-930 - Performances

Suggested Donation: $5-$20

Hi-Desert LGBTQIA+ literary alert! We are thrilled to be hosting esteemed author and book publisher Michelle Tea to the Hi-Desert.  Please join us on Thursday, September 12, 2024 6:30 pm at Milk Thistle, Yucca Valley for a free public reading by Clem Goldberg from their new book, _New Mistakes_, recently published by Dopamine Press! We are thrilled to be hosting decades-long queer writer Michelle Tea

Dopamine Press https://www.dopaminepress.org/ is a queer literary organization that aims to elevate LGBTQIA+ writing and writers through publishing, reading series, literary tours and workshops. We look to promote and nurture queer work that falls outside of the mainstream storytelling. These works amplify experimental and brave LGBTQIA+ stories, highlighting intersecting identities, raw courage, and other stylistic stories of unvarnished queer existence.

https://www.michelle-tea.com/

Michelle Tea is the author of over a dozen books of memoir, fiction, poetry and children's lit — including her latest, Knocking Myself Up. Her memoir Valencia won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction, even though it was obviously all true. It was also made into a sprawling, feature-length art film using nearly 20 different directors and different Michelles. Her recent-ish essay collection, Against Memoir, was awarded the PEN/America Diamonstein-Speilvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. She is also the recipient of the legendary Rona Jaffe Awards, and a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow.

Clement Goldberg is an award-winning Multidisciplinary Artist, Writer, Director and Animator who is non-binary trans and queer. They work across disciplines to create satirical yet hopeful projects that center collective grief rooted in climate crisis, cultural erasure and extinction. Their feature film project Let Me Let You Go was a Page International Screenwriting Award quarter-finalist and a Stowe Narrative Lab participant before receiving a 2022 Creative Capital Award. Let Me Let You Go is currently in Development with Electric Skin and Executive Producers Zackary Drucker, Silas Howard and Lilly Wachowski. Clement’s debut novel New Mistakes is forthcoming from DOPAMINE Press / Semiotext(e) September 2024.

https://clemgoldberg.com/about/

MilkThistle Yucca Valley is an apothecary, gallery and community workshop space just outside of Joshua Tree National Park in Yucca Valley, California. They offer tarot readings by appointment or drop in from Friday-Sunday and host the Hi-Desert Zine Zone Library.

https://milkthistleyuccavalley.com/

Folk Herbalism for Self and Community Care

A class series for folks looking to begin or to deepen their relationship with herbs. Each week we will review one topic in herbalism from a perspective of self care and sharing with our communities. This is not an herbalism certification course, but a circle of sharing and learning our experiences with plant medicine together.  

Limit 10 people per class. It is highly encouraged that folks attend each class but if you cannot the class will be recorded. 

September 8th - Intros- What is Folk Herbalism? Intro to ethics and preparations- teas and infusions

September 22nd- Herbal preparations part 2 - extractions and topical preparations

October 6th - Immune support through adaptogens, anti-virals and immune-modulators

October 20th- Respiratory, Allergy and Inflammation Herbs

November 3rd- Nervous System Support- Nervines, Cardiacs and Carminatives

November 17th- Energetic Medicine and Flower Essences

December 1st- Medicine Exchange, Flower Essence Review and Closing Circle

Registration open through Friday, September 6th or until all spots fill. Click here to register

The final class in the Tarot Summer School series- learn about the meanings and elemental associations of the 16 Court Cards! We will also have some time in this final class for review and practice readings.

To register for the in person series, click here.

To register for online access and replay, click here.

Tarot Summer School class #3 is all about the suit of cups and the suit of pentacles! How to work with them, what their associations are, evolved and unevolved (shadow) meanings, common misconceptions and more.

To register for the in-person series, click here.

To register to join online and for the replay, click here.

Animal Communication facilitates a heart to heart connection with a human and an animal as a pathway of communication between souls.

Join Morgan for this immersive, 3 hour workshop designed for you to learn how to connect and communicate with your animals at home or in the wild!

Whether you're a seasoned animal lover or just curious about the topic, this workshop is perfect for anyone looking to enhance their bond with animals.

Discover how to connect and listen to them heart-to-heart, find out what they want and need, and strengthen the unique soul-to-soul connection we share with our beloved animals at home and within the animal kingdom.

During this in-person event, I will guide you through a special meditation to relax our minds and center our hearts. Following, I will facilitate exercises to deepen your understanding of what Animal Communication is and we will discover how to tangibly gain access to it. It is a two part process of using your intuition and telepathy to build a heart-to-heart connection. During a partner exercise, we will do a photo exchange, where you will be communicating with a students’ animal. You will learn through this immersive workshop, that the communication comes through from an animal in a variety of ways; dialogue, thoughts, feelings, images, physical sensations, and even tastes and smells! You will take home a variety of tips, tools and validation to use and practice with your animals at home after the workshop. We will share our experiences and I will answer your questions.

* Please bring photos of your animals. If you do not have hand held pictures, cell phone photos are welcomed.

* Please bring a journal and a pen/pencil to take notes.

* Refreshments and snacks will be served

Maximum attendees: 10

Cost $55

You may find Morgan at:

Website: morganmellick.com

Instagram and Facebook: @theanimalalchemist

Email: hello@morganmellick.com

Register here

Tarot Summer School Class #2 is an overview of the suit of wands and the suit of swords: how to work with them, their evolved and unevolved (shadow) meanings, misconceptions, elemental associations and more.

There will be some time for discussion and practice at the end of this class!

To register for the full series at Milk Thistle, click here

To register for the online version and replay, click here

Tarot Summer School is an opportunity to learn the basics on the 78 tarot cards and how to work with them for self reflection and spirit connection. Class is offered live at Milk Thistle in Yucca Valley, but this option is to tune in live class via zoom, or watch the replay.

In this first class, we will go over the ethics of tarot reading, and then review associations and meanings of the 22 Major Arcana cards.

July 21st- Overview of the Suits of Swords and Wands

July 28th- Overview of the Suits of Cups and Pentacles

August 4th- Overview of the Court Cards and review

Register for in person 4 class series here

Register for online class here

Singing and songwriting are powerful avenues of healing and expression. Whether you yourself are a singer or a beginner and enjoy expressing yourself through song - if singing lights you up then this workshop is for you.

We will talk about the importance of breath and feeling and we will chant the universal “Om'' together. We will all write our own short songs with emphasis on themes relevant right now in our daily lives. We’ll then share our individual song pieces with each other in a safe space and talk about what feelings are associated with them. How can the art of song be used to process emotion? What lyrics do you feel the most from? What part of your body do you feel those lyrics in? These are just several questions we will explore in this workshop.

Cost $28

Sunday, June 30th at 5:30pm

Register here

A Summer Solstice / Full Moon in Cancer event at Milk Thistle!

From 12pm-6pm we will have $22 mini readings- Jaya will be giving tarot readings, Corinna astrology readings, and Haley reiki sessions.

At 5pm we will have local vendors, Aaron Sheppard of Lazerbeam Roadkilla will pop up for Solstice/Apothecary themed flash tattoos, Sky will be doing a live painting raffle, Soul Glow Aura Photography will be doing Aura photography and readings, Citlali Tamales will be serving food, All Roads will be serving mocktails.

Starting at 8pm, for sunset we will have DJ Freak Daddy, followed by Desert Chrome’s Witches from Next Door Pole preformance and Eternal Pearl.

Suggested donation $10-$20 to support preformers and the space!

A three class series exploring the medicinal and spiritual uses of common plants and flowers around Joshua Tree- including creosote, ocotillo, globe mallow, desert willow and more. Each week students will learn about the plants and have one homework or ritual to complete before the next class to come back and share about. No experience required. Classes must be taken as a series - but will be recorded if one has to be missed.

Celebrate the energy of new beginnings that the summer solstice brings with this poetry workshop at Milk Thistle! Local author Alexandra Martinez will guide you through this introductory poetry workshop where you’ll either leave with some fully developed poems or the beginnings of some for you to work through on your own. This solstice writing workshop is geared toward introducing new writers to creating their own poetry writing practice via various prompts but all skill levels are welcome. We’ll be reading and studying poetry together written by poets Safia Elhillo, Ingrid M. Calderon Collins, and Nick Rossi.

Register here

A three class series exploring the medicinal and spiritual uses of common plants and flowers around Joshua Tree- including creosote, ocotillo, globe mallow, desert willow and more. Each week students will learn about the plants and have one homework or ritual to complete before the next class to come back and share about. No experience required. Classes must be taken as a series - but will be recorded if one has to be missed.

Explore how herbal first aid can support your summer adventures and body under the desert sun. In this workshop, we’ll cover common summer ailments, acute herbal preparations, and the many ways first aid plant allies (including our desert plant friends!) can provide care through trying and hands-on making. We’ll then begin the process of piecing together your own first aid kit. Each participant will blend and go home with a first aid salve and herbal hand sanitizer. A supply list with supplementary information will be provided to take home.

Topics included: heat (dehydration and heat exhaustion), bite and wound care, sunburn/aftersun care, and first aid plant properties. All materials are included. Bring your questions, curiosity, and a notebook and snacks for yourself (if you need). If you’d like to attend, but the cost is prohibitive, please contact us.

A three class series exploring the medicinal and spiritual uses of common plants and flowers around Joshua Tree- including creosote, ocotillo, globe mallow, desert willow and more. Each week students will learn about the plants and have one homework or ritual to complete before the next class to come back and share about. No experience required. Classes must be taken as a series - but will be recorded if one has to be missed.

Register here

Flower Essence of the Desert is a 3 hour workshop all about Mojave Desert Flowers and their spiritual and energetic meanings. We will meet at Milk Thistle for the first hour and try different essences and discuss their different meanings. Then we will meet at a nearby location for a demonstration and each participant will make their own essences. There will be an option to return to Milk Thistle so students can share their essences with each other.

Please bring one glass bowl. One dropper bottle will be provided and additional will be available for purchase.

Register here

A workshop about two herbs ruled by Venus- the planet of Taurus season! Rose and yarrow are amazing herbs for protection and love, as well as containing a multitude of medicinal qualities which we will discuss.

Participants will make an 8oz herbal glyercite to take home.

Limit 12 participants

Register here

Art by Peyton Stewart

Music by Davie Blue Jay and Hannah Mills

Witches Brew Bar

A workshop all about the many uses of mugwort for medicinal and divination practices, plus a flower essence meditation. We will make a mugwort shea butter salve together that each person can take home to continue their work with this plant.

to register, go to “book an appointment” and scroll to the bottom

Space is limited to 12 people.

A hands on workshop exploring the many uses of a common kitchen herb- rosemary! Rosemary can easily grow in the desert and is ancestral to the medittereanean/swana region, also used widely in the americas/turtle island for folk magic and wellness.

Class includes a presentation and zine on rosemary’s many uses, plus everyone will make their own rosemary body oil, divination candles, and rosemary salt baths to take home. All materials included!

Limited to 12 participants.

Register here (scroll to bottom)

Free zine making workshop as part of Morongo Big Read and the Zine Zone Reading Library!

Preregistration through Morongo Big Read Required. Register here:

Zine Making 101

A hands on workshop exploring the many uses of a common kitchen herb- rosemary! Rosemary can easily grow in the desert and is ancestral to the medittereanean/swana region, also used widely in the americas/turtle island for folk magic and wellness.

Class includes a presentation & zine on rosemary's many uses, plus everyone will make their own rosemary body oil, divination candles, and rosemary salt baths to take home. All materials included!

Limited to 12 participants.

Register here (scroll to the bottom!)

A six class series about learning different practices of folk herbalism, the actions and usages of different herbs, their energetics and properties for taking care of yourself and those around you. Each class there will be one homework assignment to work with one plant in the form of tea or tincture and report back in the next class, and then we will discuss a new topic related to herbalism. Great for learning in community and for those with are beginning to intermediate in their knowledge of herbal medicine.

Mondays  5:30pm - 7pm

February 5th - Introductions. plants are your friends and allies- integrating herbal medicine into your daily life

February 19th- Kitchen Witchery- fire cider and other folk herbalism preparations and practices

March 4th- Immunomodulators, anti-virals and adaptogens- supporting your immune system 

March 18th- Regulating your Nervous System with Nervines & Carminatives

April 1st- Grief, Trauma and Basics of energetic medicine

April 15th Flower Essence Case Study & final review

Limited to 10 spots. Email about potential work trade. Register here.

Lymphomania is the sensational elemental experience that has lymphomaniacs  saying “my body has never felt so good!”

Join Winky Moon IN PERSON AT MILK THISTLE  for a journey through the 7 layers of  the body’s tissues to learn what your lymphatic rivers are reflecting about your world! Winky brings 10 years of study and practice in ayurveda and yoga, a life time as an “outsider” ( elemental pun, but for real)  as well as their sense of humor and curiosity to lend a lens  into how to assess the  elemental qualities presenting in each of our  unique body’s cascading chain of tissues. We then explore how these elemental patterns reflect in the flow of our lives, as well as some tools to help us break the physical chains of habit energy lurking just beneath the surface of our skin!

In this 2 hour IN PERSON LIVE intensive workshop Winky will dive into the anatomy, physiology and mythology of the lymphatic system, elemental tissue assessment, tools and potions, wrapping everything up with some guided self lymphatic massage and a few goodies to take home ;•)

Space is limited and y’all are not gonna want 2 miss this one ! Excited 2 be there with everybody! Click here to reserve your spot.

Folk Herbalism Class #5: Filling your Heart Space- Grief, Trauma and Mental Health

A class discuss holding space for grief and sorrow with plants. Specific herbs, preparations, and practices for yourself and your loved ones.

Sign up for the class series here

Underworld Sound Spa w/ Michinyeon

As the veils grow thinner join us for an underworld sound spa energy healing experience. Let vocal and ambient sounds wash over you for emotional release and cleansing.

*Please bring a mat or something comfortable to sit or lay on.* 

미친년 / Michinyeon is an ancestral healing musical project by Kwonyin and Saewon. Inhabiting the liminal, crossing the threshold, incantations invoke underworld into sacred profane ecstasy.

Kwonyin is a channel of pearl consciousness, the wisdom of the emotional irritant creating iridescence. She offers her transmissions through the written word, performance art, and music. She is the creatrix of CATHARSIS, a guided deep dive to heal internalized oppression and self-repression through shadow integration, inner childcare, ancestral pattern interrupts, parts work, and deep yin embodiment practices. She resides in the mojave desert of california

Saewon is a flower essence maker, energy worker, inter-disciplinary artist, teacher and founder of Sun Song, an embodied research lab for plant collaboration, earth based healing and vibrational flower essence therapy. She has facilitated workshops and healing performances at places such as the Hammer Museum, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Current:LA, ICA SF and the Golden Dome School. 

To register- go to book an appointment and scroll to the bottom