In Partnership With...
The Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina are an ancient landscape holding us as we meet our own hearts- in the sacred pause between an old version of ourself and a newer one.
Are you interested in the merging of psychotherapy and shamanism?
The term "shamanism" is a tricky and imprecise word in today's world, so another way to describe this method would be:
Clinical work at the intersection between established psychotherapy modalities, earth-based spirituality, and ceremonially-induced states of awareness.
The quiet knowing.
If you feel an inner stirring or a resonance with these words, you may already be walking towards the lodge.
There comes a time when we are called to lay something down. A story. A role. A name. An identity that once helped us survive but no longer serves us.
The Death Lodge is a psychotherapy process, and it is also a ceremony- where we honor what is ending within us and make space for what is trying to emerge.
A Ritual Descent to shed your old life.
There comes a time when what we're carrying can no longer come with us. When the stories we've told ourselves about who we are and what we're responsible for begin to unravel. This is not a time for quick fixes or self improvement. This is a rite of passage.
Inquire
"Are you experiencing a challenge in the life you have created,
or feeling the call into another way of living that is unconcerned with the life you have outgrown? ...
The old maps that have guided your life are no longer useful.
'Throw them away,' your soul says."
-Kedar Brown, M.Ed., CHT
Rites of Passage Council
Maybe you're feeling called to lay something down. A story. A role. A name.
Based in psychotherapy but incorporating shamanic healing influences, the Death Lodge is a therapeutically held ceremony to honor what is ending and make space for what is waiting to emerge. It is not metaphorical. It is not always gentle. Yet it is one of the most loving and necessary gifts we can give ourselves.
The Container:
You will be guided with care and confidentiality by licensed mental health professionals and trained ceremonialists through ritual, storytelling, nature immersion, silence, song and deep witnessing- to grieve what has been, thank what has served you, and invite what is on your horizon.
In a Death Lodge circle, each participant has the opportunity to step into the center of the ceremonial space when called, engaging in a personalized Death Lodge ritual, held by the guides and witnessed by the circle. The work is slow. Intentional. Each ceremony may take hours.
The rest of the circle listens, waits, and holds. Being in the witnessing circle for each other deepens each of us into our own work.
In between ceremony sessions, there is facilitated integration.
A Death Lodge retreat is not an escape. It is a commitment to the deepest parts of yourself- the parts that are asking to die and those that are waiting to live.
And... there will also be space. For rest. For solitude and reflection. For time in nature. And for laughter, conversation, shared stories and nourishing meals together.
Staff Team:
I often staff Death Lodge trainings and retreats with my mentor in this work, Kedar Brown, who created this method. Though they do not involve use of psychedelic substances, Kedar's teachings have strengthened me as a psychedelic psychotherapy provider, and I'm honored to offer this opportunity to work with Kedar at this stage in his career for those who feel called. Note that you do not need any spiritual practice or beliefs to participate, but you will need to be comfortable with the staff discussing their spiritual frameworks.
About Kedar and Rites of Passage Council
Kedar's description of this work
2026 Death Lodge Offerings:
January Training
Therapist training in the method, both didactic and experiential. I am not facilitating this one, but I recommend it.
January 16-22
February Training
Therapist training in the method, both didactic and experiential. I am facilitating this one with Kedar.
February 6-12
Men's Retreat
Not a training. Personal discovery gathering for high achieving men in corporate leadership positions.
Oct 29th- Nov 3rd
Women's Retreat
Not a training. Personal discovery gathering for women in healing professions, staffed by women facilitators.
April 27- May 2
To Inquire
Do you think this might be for you?. Participation is by personal invitation and conversation.
If you feel called to join, reach out for a dialogue about whether this journey is right for you.
Email me at [email protected], and we'll set a time to talk.
