RVML Ashland Events

FREE ADMISSION – 1757 Ashland St., Ashland, OR. One mile west of I-5 Exit 14.

This lecture introduces participants to the Doctrine of Signatures- an ancient approach that suggests a plant’s appearance offers insight into its healing properties.

This is a way of seeing plants as teachers, each bearing visible signs of their healing gifts. Rooted in Hermetic philosophy, folk tradition, and deep observation, this presentation invites participants to attune to the symbolic language of the green world.

Explore the historical roots of this concept, its use in both folk and clinical herbalism, and practical examples of plant signatures that connect form with function.

Through stories and clinical examples, learn about how the colors, shapes, and gestures of a plant offer clues to its purpose.
Tricia bridges traditional wisdom and contemporary herbal practice, offering both inspiration and useful frameworks for herbalists, students, and plant lovers alike.

Tricia Amara is a clinical herbalist with over 30 years of experience in herbology, nutrition, and holistic healing. A professional member of the American Herbalists Guild, her approach combines deep-rooted traditional wisdom with evidence-based practice.

With academic training in biology, botany, and nutrition from Willamette University, Oregon State University, and post-graduate studies through UC San Diego and the Ojai Center for Phytotherapy, Tricia offers individualized care that addresses the root causes of imbalance.
Raised on the island of Maui with a physician father, Tricia’s early exposure to both conventional medicine and the healing power of nature shaped her lifelong calling. Her practice began as a clinic and apothecary in Encinitas, California and now flourishes in Ashland, Oregon.

She specializes in creating customized herbal treatment plans using teas, tinctures, and topical remedies, while empowering clients to reconnect to body, nature, and self.

FREE ADMISSION – 1757 Ashland St., Ashland, OR. One mile west of I-5 Exit 14.

“Bridging Divides” Learning to Depolarize Our Relationships Video & Discussion facilitated by Marla Estes, MA.

THIRD WEDNESDAYS Monthly at 7pm: Sep 17, Oct 15, Nov 19, Dec 17, Jan 21

Wed. Sep 17, 7pm: Video: “Why Meeting in the Middle Isn’t Enough for Today’s Trickiest Debates”

Join us as we explore how to move beyond black-and-white thinking and gently nudge ourselves toward greater nuance.

“Throughout history, thinkers from ancient Greece to China have practiced the art of contemplating different perspectives, in order to gain a more comprehensive view. Meanwhile, in America today, we can hardly engage with different perspectives, let alone integrate them. Our viewpoint diversity has become a weakness, rather than a strength.” -Stephanie Lepp, Creator of Faces of X

Join facilitator Marla Estes, MA, and learn how to “depolarize within.” Watch fascinating and insightful videos carefully selected to explore ways to depolarize and then engage in a facilitated discussion to help integrate new perspectives.

With a background in Psychology, Marla created Building Bridgers in 2017 to address the growing social and political polarization in our country.

For nearly 20 years, she has been giving presentations, movie nights, book groups, workshops, and classes helping people learn to develop insights and skills in approaching difficult conversations, deepening and growing healthy, functional, and fulfilling relationships.

Note: This event is not recorded.

FREE ADMISSION – 1757 Ashland St., Ashland, OR. One mile west of I-5 Exit 14.

“Finding attentional sovereignty in an age of digital distraction.” This is the tale of our time. As implied by the name of the presentation, we currently have an immature relationship to technology that is guided by naivete, selfishness, and addiction. Whether it’s weapons of mass destruction or distraction, they are expressions of our collective lack of wisdom.

Technology is an inextricable part of humanity, and we must learn to have a healthier relationship with it. We are being tested to see if we deserve continuance in the Universe. We can only save the world and pass one down worth living in if we cultivate the love and wisdom needed to be responsible stewards of our godlike technology.
Come and learn about what technology is and what its optimal role in human civilization could look like. We need as many people as possible to have these conversations.

• What are the origins of technology/ why do we have tech, and all the other species don’t?
• How technology affects society in complex and unseen ways
• The rise of the internet, the iPhone, and social media
• The intricacies of how our phones damage our mental and physical health
• What conditions make us susceptible to addiction, vs what conditions make us more sovereign?
• What role should technology play in a healthy and harmonious civilization?
• Some tips for how to find technological balance

“We have paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.” – E.O. Wilson.

Beni Oren is a writer, speaker, and facilitator. His facilitation skills range from meditation to qigong to intentional communication practices. He is a systems theorist and social philosopher concerned with designing a regenerative civilization. He is a culture architect interested in seeing a world where we collectively and harmoniously reach our highest potential.

He grew up on the beautiful beaches of Southern California. His journey began with a transformative meditation retreat at 19 years old, which opened his eyes to the great mystery and inherent beauty within all of life. Since then, he has lived his life seeking to understand global suffering and how we can create the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.

FREE ADMISSION – 1757 Ashland St., Ashland, OR. One mile west of I-5 Exit 14.

We tell our stories in order to live. We change our stories in order to heal.

Whatever the medium, the creative process can take you to places your usual habits of mind rarely go. Places containing riches- buried memories from childhood, ancestral and past life traumas, guidance from angels, elementals, and other divine messengers- which make up your unique soul signature. In this presentation, Victoria Costello, an Emmy Award-winning, six times-published author of memoir and fiction and a popular teacher for WritingWorkshops.com, demonstrates how anyone can access these untapped resources to excavate the bones of a new, healing story.

Victoria introduces her own groundbreaking, trauma-informed approach to the hybrid genre of life writing called autofiction, mixing memoir and fiction to tell a deeper truth with the intention of uncovering and mending a psychic wound. As she demonstrates in excerpts from her own writing and that of her students, it is in this tension between what actually happened to you and what might have happened that a new, healing story can be found. One offering a valuable lesson for your soul path.

To develop her approach, Victoria has drawn insights from narrative medicine and various family therapy modalities. She has fused these with ancient beliefs and practices adopted from her study of Goddess-centered and indigenous peoples, including American Indians and Druids. This storytelling method has proven to be both therapeutic and creatively productive, as demonstrated by the writing output and personal growth achieved by dozens of writers who Victoria has taught and mentored. Writers who began their stories by asking a simple yet powerful question… what if?

• What if I had had a different response to the violence that blew up my childhood?
• What if I asked the soul of my unborn child to tell our family story?
• What if I recreated the devastating impact of the Armenian genocide on multiple generations of my family?

In the words of one of her students: “I have an MFA, and I’ve workshopped with many authors over the years, some quite famous. I feel that Victoria’s workshop helped me the most because of her gift of balancing a writer’s personal trauma with the craft of writing.” -Hannah, PA.

From this presentation, you will gain a basic understanding of how Victoria’s unique approach to life writing can repair the psychic wounds that can and often do haunt us all of our lives. In the process, you’ll acquire some solid writing tips to propel your own healing stories onto the page and beyond.

Victoria Costello began her career in journalism and documentary filmmaking, earning an Emmy Award as writer for her Disney Channel TV special, THIS ISLAND EARTH followed by WOLF NATION, a portrait of the Northern Arapaho Wolf Clan on the eve of the restoration of the Gray Wolf to Yellowstone National Park.

She earned an MFA in Writing from Mills College, and worked as a science blog editor for a S.F. research publisher before becoming a full time author and writing teacher. Her debut novel of autofiction, ORCHID CHILD, published by Liminal Books in 2023, won first place in General and Cross Genre Fiction in that year’s Best Book Awards and received a Silver Medal in Visionary Fiction from the IPPY awards. She has taught life writing for the OLLI/SOU program and teaches writers of all levels with Zoom classes in memoir and autofiction at WritingWorkshops.com. She has made her home in Ashland for the past three years.