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A seven-session pre-recorded digital course in Lithuanian pirtis tree tradition. Learn at your own pace, from anywhere in the world.
Seven trees, and what a Lithuanian healing tradition understood about each of them, through medicine, poem, folk song, charm and the heat of the pirtis. Drawn from folk archives and primary sources, most of it never translated into English before.
Seven sessions · Pre-recorded · Available now
Curated and taught by Silvija Šuliokaitė - pirtininkė, herbalist, born in Lithuania, working from inside the tradition.
“It’s not just a sauna, it’s nothing short of a sacred experience. I found that the different trees brought forward different emotions and ideas for me, and I will carry those with me.”
— Caroline, pirtis ritual at Emerging Earth
Seven trees, and what a Lithuanian healing tradition understood about each of them, through medicine, poem, folk song, charm and the heat of the pirtis. Drawn from folk archives and primary sources, most of it never translated into English before.
The seven trees: Birch — Beržas · the first tree Oak — Ąžuolas · it will not comfort you Linden — Liepa · Laima's tree Pine — Pušis · orientation and the resin Juniper — Kadagys · the tree of every threshold Hazel — Lazdynas · discernment and boundaries Maple — Klevas · completion and your own voice
Each session is around 40 minutes: a charm from the Lithuanian healing archive, the tree itself, its folklore, and how to work with it in the pirtis. Each closes with questions to carry with you. Yours to keep, with no expiry, so you can learn at your own pace.
Who this is for: Sauna practitioners and guides wanting to go deeper into the trees they work with. Herbalists and plant practitioners curious about the pirtis context. Anyone who has sat in the heat and wanted to understand what they were sitting inside. Those reconnecting with Lithuanian or Baltic heritage, wherever they are in the world. Anyone drawn to the tradition for reasons they can't quite name yet.
Curated and taught by Silvija Šuliokaitė, pirtininkė and herbalist, born in Lithuania, working from inside the tradition.
Instant access. Because the course is digital and begins straight away, purchases can't be cancelled once access is provided. If anything isn't working for you, write to me at hello@birchhouserituals.co.uk and I'll do my best to help.
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How each of the seven trees behaves in heat, and what that means for the body in front of you.
When to gather each one, and how to make a whisk that actually holds its function.
Healing charms from the Lithuanian folk archive, in the original language, and the logic underneath them.
Which trees pair, in what order, and why the sequence matters more than the technique.
When to hold a tree back. This is the part that gets skipped and it's the part that keeps a session safe.
The cosmology beneath the practice — the gods, the gender of trees, and why the pirtis became the last place this tradition could survive.
How to build a session that has an arc, rather than a series of rounds that happen to follow each other.
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The charm — a healing charm from the Lithuanian folk archive. Spoken in Lithuanian first, then translated. Where it came from, how it was used, and what it tells you about the tree.
The tree — the species, where it grows, when to gather it, how to make and prepare the whisk, and what it does once it's in the heat.
The cultural layer — the folklore and the documented practice. You can't work with a plant properly without knowing how the people who used it understood it.
The practical — how to bring this tree into a session. Sequencing, technique, what to pair it with, and when to leave it alone.
Each session runs 35–45 minutes.
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Who This Is For
Sauna practitioners and guides wanting to go deeper into the cultural and medicinal layer of the trees they work with.
Herbalists and plant practitioners curious about the pirtis context.
Anyone who has sat in the heat and wanted to understand what they were sitting inside.
Those reconnecting with Lithuanian or Baltic heritage, wherever in the world they are.
Anyone drawn to the tradition for reasons they can't quite name yet.
Seven trees, and what a Lithuanian healing tradition understood about each of them, through medicine, poem, folk song, charm and the heat of the pirtis. Drawn from folk archives and primary sources, most of it never translated into English before.
The seven trees: Birch — Beržas · the first tree Oak — Ąžuolas · it will not comfort you Linden — Liepa · Laima's tree Pine — Pušis · orientation and the resin Juniper — Kadagys · the tree of every threshold Hazel — Lazdynas · discernment and boundaries Maple — Klevas · completion and your own voice
Each session is around 40 minutes: a charm from the Lithuanian healing archive, the tree itself, its folklore, and how to work with it in the pirtis. Each closes with questions to carry with you. Yours to keep, with no expiry, so you can learn at your own pace.
Who this is for: Sauna practitioners and guides wanting to go deeper into the trees they work with. Herbalists and plant practitioners curious about the pirtis context. Anyone who has sat in the heat and wanted to understand what they were sitting inside. Those reconnecting with Lithuanian or Baltic heritage, wherever they are in the world. Anyone drawn to the tradition for reasons they can't quite name yet.
Curated and taught by Silvija Šuliokaitė, pirtininkė and herbalist, born in Lithuania, working from inside the tradition.
Instant access. Because the course is digital and begins straight away, purchases can't be cancelled once access is provided. If anything isn't working for you, write to me at hello@birchhouserituals.co.uk and I'll do my best to help.
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"Deeply settling and the story of Kotryna and her charm stayed with me."
— Emma
"Wonderful to listen to. I'm still feeling into which tree draws me."
— Tara
"Whole heartedly thank you for the knowledge you are sharing in the course. I am enjoying it so much.
— Louise
People have joined this course from the UK, US, Canada and Australia. The material is taught in English with Lithuanian charms and folk songs spoken in the original.
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The Trees
Available as the full course
ᛉ Birch — Beržas
The First Tree · Healing and Correcting · The Month of June
Released 15 June 2026
The charm of Kotryna Gailiuvienė, put on trial in the sixteenth century. Where to gather and when. Why birch always opens a session. Trees that once spoke, the gender of trees, Laima's cuckoo, and the rune that carries birch's name.
ᛉ Oak — Ąžuolas
It Will Not Comfort You · Perkūnas's Whisk · When to Hold Back
Released 14 July 2026
Three charms — the snake, the hidden women in the oak nest, and the moon that can never meet the giant. Gathering in August and why. Tannins, the six-hour cold soak, and the whisk that behaves like a puzzle. Romuva, the destruction of the groves, and how the pirtis became the last sacred space.
ᛉ Linden — Liepa
Laima's Tree · The Nervous System · The Art of Timing
Released 12 August 2026
Let it be soft as the linden leaf. The two-week gathering window. Why the leaf whisk and the flower whisk are different medicines. Phytohormones and the women's whisk. Laima, goddess of fate, and the whisk left on the bench for her after every session.
ᛉ Pine — Pušis
Orientation · The Resin · Open Hearts
Released 11 September 2026
Her needles grow in pairs, never alone. The Palanga charm. Why pine is gathered in winter. The resin, the amber, and the most extraordinary thread in this entire course.
ᛉ Juniper — Kadagys
Purification · Protection · Interruption
Released 10 October 2026
What tree bears fruit in winter and summer? Ne aš plaku, verba plaka. Why juniper works on the room, not just the person. The being present at every threshold and what that means in the pirtis.
ᛉ Hazel — Lazdynas
Discernment · Boundaries · The Practitioner's Tree
Arriving 9 November 2026
The tree of truth and justice. Air. Discernment. The forked branch that finds what’s hidden. There’s a lot inside this one.
ᛉ Maple — Klevas
Completion · Turning · Your Own Voice
Arriving 9 December 2026
The closing tree. Balance, completion, the return.
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Why I built this
For years now, something’s been bubbling in me… a pull to inquire, to reach a little deeper. Deeper into the traditions and old texts, into how we actually came to be inside this practice, especially now that it’s growing so quickly. Honestly, here’s why that led me here. I’ve wanted to help open up a deeper understanding (through a Baltic lens) of how people actually related to trees within this practice. Not just birch, because birch is the default everyone whisks with. I’m interested in what’s underneath that default. What was sung to one tree, what was asked of another. The kind of attentiveness our ancestors had toward these beings…attentiveness that’s mostly gone now, not because it stopped being true, but maybe because we stopped asking.
Tradition matters to me, deeply. And I don’t want to be trapped inside it either. I want to keep listening, stay open-hearted, keep sharpening the sensitivity to actually hear what the more-than-human world is saying instead of just repeating what’s already been said about it. This course is one attempt at that. Not the only way in, not a finished answer. A doorway and an invitation into the conversation.
Come for the whole circle, and notice which tree calls to you first. Most of these beings are common enough to find nearby, so you can keep building your own connection long after.
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Your teacher
Silvija Šuliokaitė — Pirtininkė & Herbalist
Born in Jonava, Lithuania. Trained at the Baltic Pirtis–SPA School and Perkūnija Sauna School. Working from inside a lineage — not inspired by one.
I work with the trees, plants and healing charms of the Lithuanian pirtis tradition. Most of what I draw on comes from primary sources and folk archives, and a lot of it has never been translated into English. I hold private rituals, women’s gatherings and group sessions in the UK and Lithuania, and facilitate at festivals and retreats across Europe.
I made this course because I wanted to go further than technique. I wanted to know how people actually related to these trees — through song, poem, charm, prayer, everyday life. What they said to them. What they asked of them. What they understood them to be.
This knowledge has reached people across the US, Canada and Australia — people with Baltic roots searching for a door in, and practitioners who want to understand what they’re actually working with. The digital format was intentional. This material was always meant to travel.
Taught from inside the tradition.
© Birch House Rituals 2026. This course carries knowledge that has been held carefully across generations. Please treat it with the same care — these sessions are for your personal practice and are not to be shared or redistributed.
With the Trees is shared for education and cultural understanding. It isn't medical advice and doesn't replace care from a qualified professional. Sauna, heat and plant medicine aren't suitable for everyone: if you're pregnant, have a heart condition, high blood pressure or any health concern, please speak to your doctor first. Always be certain of a plant's identity, and check local protection rules, before gathering or using it.