4th Annual 

Mycelium Mysteries

A Women's Mushroom Conference

September 25, 26, & 27, 2020 •  Virtual Conference

Thank you for a wonderful virtual event!

~ Thank You ~

To all who sent in proposals

We received more workshops than a weekend can hold! 

​

Mark your calendar for next year call for workshop proposals in early 2021 when we will be Celebrating the 5th anniversary of Mycelium Mysteries!

The Grandmothers of Our Ecosystems

​

Workshops will be offered at the beginner through advanced levels, and include topics in wild mushroom skills, fungal ecology, fungi and human health, and ethnomycology. This is a place to share knowledge and get comfortable with using our mycological skills in a supportive, fungal community!

This weekend-long women's retreat will focus on understanding fungi as the Grandmothers of our ecosystems. Silently shaping the soil beneath our feet, fungi are key players in the health of Earth and trajectory of human culture around the globe. Still, we find ourselves in a time where the study of fungi is considered to be a neglected megascience, their mycelium, a mystery. It is our goal to help modern women connect with the roles and wisdom of our female ancestors who always maintained and shared their visceral understanding of the Fungal Queendom.

​

Midwest Women’s Herbal held the 1st annual Mycelium Mysteries, A Women’s Mushroom Conference, on October 6,7, & 8  2017. This event was the first women's mushroom retreat in the entire world. Midwest Women’s Herbal is committed to providing herbal education and opportunities for transformation, immersed in the Wise Woman Tradition. 

Guiliana Furci

Keynote Speaker

​

Keynote Address: Women in Mycology  ~ Since fungi were studied as plants for so long, many female botanists made significant contributions to mycology. Later, with the recognition of fungi as a Kingdom in their own right, women have increasingly taken on a fundamental role in all continents. Giuliana will take us on a time travel to learn about the women who have shaped mycology as it is today.

​

Workshops

The 4th Annual: Mycelium Mysteries A Women's Mushroom Conference will include:

• Returning instructors: Linda Conroy, Cornelia Cho, Sonia Horowitz, Sue Vanhook, and many more. Click here to see the full list of instructors. 

• Wild Mushroom Skills: Gathering, identification and preparation 

• Fungal Ecology: How fungi continually shape our environments 

• Fungi & Human Health: Mushroom nutrition, medicine making & pathology 

• Ethnomycology: Mythology & herstory of women in mycology 

• Mycopigments (fiber dyeing with mushrooms)

• Mycomythology 

• Mushroom identification

• Cultivating/farming mushrooms

• Mycoastrology

• Mushroom life cycles

• Bees, and mushrooms

• Focus on the healing qualities of specific mushrooms (e.g. lions mane) 

• Mushrooms in the apothecary and in clinical practice

• Being a citizen scientist

• Psychedelic mushrooms and plants

• Grief and mourning: The role of mushrooms

• Mushroom cooking demo

• Opening and closing ceremonies

• And much more! 

​

Friday, September 25

​

WELCOME 

1-1:45pm CST     

Opening Ceremony 

w/ Ruth Barrett & Lauren Cahillane

​

~PARTICIPANTS WILL CHOOSE ONE WORKSHOP FROM EACH SESSION~ 

​

WORKSHOP SESSION 1 

2-3:30pm CST
Women’s Magical Chant w/ Ruth Barrett 
            -OR-
How to Make Your Co-incidence Matter: Become a Citizen Scientist w/ Giuliana Furci

​

WORKSHOP SESSION 2 

4-5:30pm CST    
 Forbidden Wisdom w/ Mary Lou Singleton
            -OR-
Mushrooms in the Kitchen & Apothecary

w/ Linda Conroy 

​

MUSHROOM COOKING DEMO

5:30-6:30pm CST    
w/ Dani Lind of Rooted Spoon 

​

KEYNOTE

6:30-8:30pm CST      
Women in Mycology w/ Giuliana Furci 

Tentative Schedule 

(Subject to Change)

​

Saturday, September 26

MORNING MOVEMENT
7:30-8:30am CST

Moving Like a Mushroom Yoga

w/ Mary Bue 

-OR-

Meditation with Mycelia

w/ Sue Van Hook

​

WORKSHOP SESSION 3

9-10:30am CST

Intro to Mushroom ID

w/ Sonia Horowitz

-OR-

Medicinal Mushrooms in Clinical Practice w/ Cornelia Cho

​

MISO & TEMPEH COOKING DEMO

10:30-11am CST

w/ Linda Conroy 

​

KEYNOTE

11am-12:30pm CST

A Reading and a Talk on Mourning, Healing and Mushrooms

w/ Long Litt Woon, author of A Way Through The Woods  

MARKETPLACE

12:30-1:30pm CST

​

WORKSHOP SESSION 4

2-3:30pm CST Fruiting Fungus Lifestyles w/ Garbriela D’Elia

-OR-

Mycopigments- Dyeing Fibers with Mushrooms  w/ Alissa Allen

​

WORKSHOP SESSION 5

4-5:30pm CST

Marvelous Ms Mycelium

w/ Gina Rivers Contla

-OR-

Becoming Friends with Death:  An Interview with a Death Worker

w/ Rebakah Dawn & Lauren Cahillane

​

KEYNOTE

6:30-8:30pm CST

Poetry w/ Dominique Christina

Doctor, Destroyer, Diviner, Delighter - Women, and Sacred Plants

w/ Mariavittoria Mangini

​

TALKING STICK

8:30-9:30pm CST

Holding Space for Women

w/ Linda Conroy & Abby Wagner 

Sunday, September 27

MORNING MOVEMENT 

7:30-8:30am CST

Moving Like a Mushroom Yoga

w/ Mary Bue 

-OR-

Meditation with Mycelia

w/ Sue Van Hook

​

WORKSHOP SESSION 6

9-10:30am CST

Mushrooms as a Regenerative Resource w/ Sue Van Hook

-OR-

Mushroom Foraging: Tips, Tricks & Tools of the Trade w/ Rebecca Chandler 

​

WORKSHOP SESSION 7

11am-12:30pm CST

MycroAstrology w/ Gabriela D’Elia 

-OR-

Legendary Lion’s Mane

w/ Gina Rivers Contla

​

MARKETPLACE

12:30-1:30pm CST

​

WORKSHOP SESSION 8

2-3:30pm CST

Cultivating/ Farming Mushrooms

w/ Roxanne Hanna

-OR-

MycoMythology w/ Sonia Horowitz 

​

WORKSHOP SESSION 9

4-5:30pm CST

Bee Mushroomed
w/ Loni Jean Ronnebaum 

-OR-

The Key to Mushrooms

w/ Rebecca Chandler

​

CLOSING CEREMONY

5:45-6:15pm CST

w/ Ruth Barrett

​

POST CONFERENCE WORKSHOP

7-8pm CST

Todo acerca de los hongos

con Guiliana Furci 

(All About Mushrooms Workshop en Español w/ Giuliana Furci)

Click here to register for the Post Conference Workshop. 

Fall 2019 Mushroom Conference Recordings!

Order individual recordings from the Fall 2019 Mushroom Conference, or order the entire bundle! New recordings are marked in the shop below.