Beth Christy Draper
Paths of Holistic Healing Facilitation and Deep Nature Connection
In 2012, I set out to rediscover my human connection to nature and the land. I attended workshops and programs at the Maine Primitive Skills School, the Delta Institute of Natural History, and Mountainsong Expeditions – learning about botany, wild-foraging, hunting, tracking and rewilding. There, I discovered my passion for wild foods and medicine, ethnobotany and herbal studies. This awakening began a five-year course of self-study followed by the International Herb Symposium and a two-year herbal intensive and plant spirit medicine internship with the Gaia School of Earth Education and Healing. Sage Maurer, Founder and Professor, was my introduction to the medicine lineage of my Celtic and English human and Plant Ancestors from whom I continue to draw my strength.
Prior to living in the Monadnock Region of Southern NH, my home and creative work was based in Cape Cod Massachusetts where in 2003 I received a vision to publish Cape Healing Arts (CHA) Magazine in service to the community. CHA magazine brought holistic health practitioners together to connect, educate and amplify their messages of holism, health and healing for the planet. During its eight years of publication, Open Eye Communications and CHA Magazine built local community awareness and connection to each other and our Mother Earth through free publications, online education, holistic conferences, open houses and The Cape & Islands Wellness Expo.
Education, experience, certifications and memberships
2022 Celebrating the Divine Feminine UCC church service and sermon, Nelson Congregational Church
2022 Sacred Facilitator, Global Sisterhood
2021 Deepening Circle Facilitation Course with Kay Pranis – Burlington, VT
2021 Hidden Water Healing Circle Healing from Sexual Abuse
2021-2022 Culturally Responsive Teaching Course, Keene State College
2003-Present Healing the body, healing trauma through Iyengar yoga, dance, breathwork, meditation, massage, oxygen, infra-red sauna, flower essences, herbal medicine, Thai massage, EMDR, Reiki, Cranio-sacral therapy, guided meditation, gardening, wild foods and medicine, laughter, diet and nutrition, fasting, ritual, circle, prayer, sisterhood, ancestral lineage healing and opening to the guiding wisdom and ancestors of Nature
2021-Present Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective
2021 Developed curriculum and led educational module for Nelson Congregational Church on Christian colonial/indigenous historic and current events regarding the Indian Residential Schools in the USA and Canada
2020 Facilitated indigenous film, GATHER, with follow-up cast and community discussion
2020 Moon School, Global Sisterhood, Shaina Connors, Lauren Elizabeth Walsh
2020 Celtic Shamanism: Rituals, Myths & Journeys for reclaiming Sovereignty
2019-2020 Seasonal Wild Foraging: Wild Foods and Plant Medicine - Delta Institute of Natural History, Maine, USA, Arthur Haines
2020-Present Founder, Good Earth & Sky, dba: Earthwise Women Care
2020-Current Women’s Circles
2020 Global Sisterhood Facilitator Certification Program, Member HerCircle, Leadership Council, Global Sisterhood, Shaina Connors, Lauren Elizabeth Walsh
2018-2019 Advanced Sacred Plant Medicine Herbal Certification, Gaia School of Healing and Earth Education, Vermont, USA, Prof. Sage Maurer
• Medicine making and blending – tinctures, decoctions, extractions, teas
• Sacred blessing herbs and plants
• Tree medicines
• Social justice issues, racial oppression and white supremacy
• Queer and non-binary gender perspectives and sensitivities in herbal medicine practice
• Materia Medica
• Systems of the body with corresponding plant medicines
• Developed an Herbal Apothecary with over 60 medicinal tinctures, 50 dried plant herbs, roots and berries and a dozen developed medicinal blends for systems of the body support
2019 Ordained Minister (non-denominational), Universal Brotherhood
2019 World Plant Medicine Summit
2018, 2020 Healing the Wounds of Turtle Island Ceremony
2018 Decolonization Workshop, Sherri Mitchell
2017-2018 Sacred Plant Medicine Herbal Certification – Intro and year 1
• Meeting the plants, growing, caring for, giving gratitude
• Earth-honoring ceremonies rooted in the precolonial goddess traditions of ancient Europe
• Ethical harvesting and foraging practices
• Plant processing: drying, debarking, digging roots
• Celtic Drumming Ceremonies with the plants, processing and teas
• Systems of the body with corresponding plant medicines
2017 International Herb Symposium, Robin Wall Kimmerer – Keynote
2017 Developed curriculum, taught: Gathering, Processing and Cooking with Acorns Olivia Rodham Library, Nelson, NH
2016 Maine Primitive Skills School – Primitive Skills Club, Michael Douglas
2016 Taste of Herbs Course, Rosalee de la Floret, LH
2012 Gathering and Processing Acorns for Food – Mass Audobon Society, Arthur Haines
2009-2010 Founder and sponsor, Cape & Islands Wellness Expo: a 2 day, annual, live event with over 35 workshop offerings from local practitioners and over 100 local exhibitors. Created sponsorships to partner with other community businesses and organizations. Promoted event through the Chamber of Commerce, regional publications, online listings and newsletters, local publications and CHA Magazine receiving over 2000 attendees.
2003-2011 Founder, Cape Healing Arts Magazine: a free, quarterly, community publication to support holistic healing and health – body, mind, spirit. The magazine connected the health of our mother earth with our own health and shared ways of caring for her, ourselves and each other. CHA magazine celebrated community, healing, health, holism, food, poetry, music, dance, yoga, the ocean, her wildlife, our water, the beautiful place we lived in and helped to educate visitors to Cape Cod, MA, USA (homeland of the Wampanoag).
1997-2017 Healing and Self-Mastery, Donna Memont, Serenity Center
• Reiki I, Reiki II, Reiki III
• Grief Workshop
• Transmuting Trauma
• Vibrational Healing
• Wounds to Wisdom
1981-1985 School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA enrolled in Tufts University degree program
1979-1984 Youth Coach and Teacher ages 4-14 Southborough Youth Gymnastics Association
Offering Gratitude to my Ancestors and Teachers
During the course of my journey, I’ve had the privilege of working with many extraordinary teachers, mentors, practitioners and facilitators. Dawna Memont, Tricia Duffy-Roth, Alexander Teague, Lauren Walsh, Shaina Connors, Michael Douglas, Arthur Haines and many others. I extend my deepest gratitude and blessings for all the beings and spirits who have catalyzed and facilitated my own healing, learning and deepened my understanding of the healing process. I thank, with love, my mother, Paula Charlene Lea Flanagan Short Draper, my bonus mother, Patricia McGue Draper, my father, Richard Allen Draper, my brothers, Eric Joslin and Daniel Allen Draper, and my daughter, Rachael Francesca Liggett-Draper. I also thank my entire extended Family, Friends, Teachers, Mentors, Sisters and Ancestors who continue to guide and support me every day. Blessings most High to and for the unlimited and Glorious Love that we all are.