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Sharon is a queer independent scholar, writer, and educator working in arts, activism, politics, and cultural histories. Their areas of interest are in philosophy, divination, journeying, ritual, and connection to a meaningful ancestral practice in reciprocity and right relationship with the land. They approach this work through the examination of capitalist systems, community ecosystems, unsettling settler colonialism, and solidarity networks to support new paths forward. Descended from multiple Northern European-American lineages, they identify themselves as a person working within syncretic American folk traditions, primarily rooted in the study of Irish and Germanic traditions and folklore. While they’ve had a lifelong personal spiritual practice, their work has recently shifted towards more public-facing service with a committed devotion to community, land, and spirit.
Sharon has a BFA in studio arts from Cornish College of the Arts with a focus on critical theory and cultural criticism. They co-teach a monthly Plant Medicine Lab and the year-long Earth Medicine Practitioner Training Program with Madrona House founder Vanessa Ainslie. In the past year, they've completed Lora O’Brien’s Ogham Journeys course, as well as their year-long Cóir Mentorship Program through the Irish Pagan School, a program designed to assist mentees through extensive and rigorous course programs centered around Irish traditional practices, folklore, and history. They continue to learn from mentors and colleagues across their various communities, as well as an ever growing library of books, academic papers, blogs, and websites. In addition to teaching at Madrona House, they are currently in their third year as an adjunct instructor in the art department at Cornish College of the Arts, with an emphasis on the ethics and practicum of curatorial and exhibition practices; as well as production of the annual Cornish BFA exhibition. They are currently working on a long term project examining the Pacific Northwest’s regional arts ecosystems over the last twenty years, small pieces of which are regularly published on Dimensions Variable.
Sharon has a BFA in studio arts from Cornish College of the Arts with a focus on critical theory and cultural criticism. They co-teach a monthly Plant Medicine Lab and the year-long Earth Medicine Practitioner Training Program with Madrona House founder Vanessa Ainslie. In the past year, they've completed Lora O’Brien’s Ogham Journeys course, as well as their year-long Cóir Mentorship Program through the Irish Pagan School, a program designed to assist mentees through extensive and rigorous course programs centered around Irish traditional practices, folklore, and history. They continue to learn from mentors and colleagues across their various communities, as well as an ever growing library of books, academic papers, blogs, and websites. In addition to teaching at Madrona House, they are currently in their third year as an adjunct instructor in the art department at Cornish College of the Arts, with an emphasis on the ethics and practicum of curatorial and exhibition practices; as well as production of the annual Cornish BFA exhibition. They are currently working on a long term project examining the Pacific Northwest’s regional arts ecosystems over the last twenty years, small pieces of which are regularly published on Dimensions Variable.
upcoming classes
MONTHLY DROP-IN SERIES
Cost: Sliding Scale $20-$40 One sponsored spot open to BIPOC per class |
plant medicine learning lab
Each class will define the physiological actions, subtle energetics, history, folklore, and magical uses of a different plant each month. During our time together we will craft a take-home remedy and participate in a sound healing journey to meet the Spirit of the plant.
This class is co-taught by Vanessa Ainslie and Sharon Arnold and offers a space to deepen your relationship to the land while cultivating good practices and right relationships through a decolonized viewpoint of plant medicine. 10% of all proceeds are donated to the Liberation Medicine School, a POC and Queer led movement around liberatory practices of decolonizing ourselves and society. |
"I believe a huge number of the tools we need to work through the limitations of capitalist systems, and possibly the dismantling of them, are provided through collaborative education and community conversation. In opening up access to herbal knowledge, histories, lore, and magical uses; we are empowering each other through learning, and fostering a reconnection to the land in right relationships and reciprocity. In making herbal practices fun, exciting, and educational, each person walks away with something they’ve learned, made, and can continue to use."
4 PART SERIES
Mon nights from 7-9pm Nov 4, 11, 18, 25 Cost: Sliding Scale $80-160 One sponsored spot open to BIPOC Please note: We are approaching this work from the framework and context of (white) European heritage, but as we attempt to hold space for the breadth and complexity of lived experiences and lineages, all are welcome to join us in this restorative work. |
ancestral healing + REconnection: A restorative Practive
Join Sharon Arnold and Vanessa Ainslie during this 4 part restorative practice around healing, decolonizing, and unsettling settler colonialism. In this class we will explore how we’ve become severed from our lineages, how to acknowledge and hold space for who our ancestors were, how the trauma of loss shows up in the body, and how to reconnect to our ancestors through introductions, good practices, and building right relationships.
This series explores the following concepts:
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"My approach to ancestor work is directly informed by my own study of the lineage, traditions, and folklore of the various European peoples I am descended from. Across Europe, there are living traditions rooted in ancestor communication and veneration, even as they are often syncretic with Christianity. While we can’t claim an unbroken or unchanged line through time to the past, we can reconnect to these practices as diaspora in our respective regions, with respect and reciprocity to the richness and complexity of their origins.
It is my belief that for people who are called white, who carry the responsibility of confronting and dismantling systemic and structural whiteness; ancestor work is a critical piece of building new paths ahead that assist to dismantle white supremacy. It is impossible to determine who we are, or who we will be, if we don’t know who we were. This work makes room for us to face ourselves and our histories fully, unflinchingly, to locate ourselves within our lineages and in context with the larger world. Ancestor work isn’t meant to be easy, nor is it intended to absolve myself or anyone of the labor required to own our own complicitness in white supremacy. It’s meant to serve as a path to reconnection in ways that hopefully prevent us from further inflicting that trauma upon ourselves and others."
It is my belief that for people who are called white, who carry the responsibility of confronting and dismantling systemic and structural whiteness; ancestor work is a critical piece of building new paths ahead that assist to dismantle white supremacy. It is impossible to determine who we are, or who we will be, if we don’t know who we were. This work makes room for us to face ourselves and our histories fully, unflinchingly, to locate ourselves within our lineages and in context with the larger world. Ancestor work isn’t meant to be easy, nor is it intended to absolve myself or anyone of the labor required to own our own complicitness in white supremacy. It’s meant to serve as a path to reconnection in ways that hopefully prevent us from further inflicting that trauma upon ourselves and others."
Year Long Course: 108 hour training
Meets 2nd and 4th Sundays 1st year: Jan 12, 2020- Dec 20, 2020 Cost $2400 Payment arrangements available One Sliding Scale spot available for those who identify as BIPOC |
earth medicine
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"I am excited and honored to co-teach this two-year curriculum with founder Vanessa Ainslie towards the purpose of building and refining a holistic, grounded, and connected spiritual practitioner practice. What I bring to the course is a lifelong conversation with land, sea, sky, and spirit; an understanding of the daily work of a devotional spiritual practice; and both practical and scholarly perspective of the range of spiritual and cultural histories, folklore, and traditions present in our work. It’s my belief that a reconnection to the lineage and language of our ancestral prayers, offerings, ceremonies, and rituals are integral to our work as spiritual practitioners. In demonstrating the tools, the practical day-to-day, the how-tos, and the possibilities; this work strives to empower each of us with real-world knowledge we can carry forward, share, and pass on."
Coming this Winter
2 part class weeknights from7-9pm Cost $20-40 |
Therapeutic Communication
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Coming this Winter
2 part series weeknights from7-9pm Cost $20-40 |
energetic hygiene: tools + practices
Tools and techniques for self care:
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Coming this Winter
2 part series weeknights from7-9pm Cost $20-40 |
divination + the Clair senses
Join Vanessa Ainslie and Sharon Arnold for history, methods, and tools of divinatory practices! This class will include an overview of what divination is and does, and will demonstrate the various meanings of different archetypal signs and symbols. we also will discuss the clair-senses and how our intuition and powers of observation are as important to the work as the tools themselves.
This class will include:
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