The Cavewoman Way
Michelle Rigling, PhD
Chattanooga, TN
The Psysterhood
Guide Training that Honors Women as Stewards of Sacred Medicine
The Journey
March 13 - 20, 2027
[Location: Contact Me]
Open to 9 women
The Invitation
For thousands of years, women have served as stewards of sacred medicines and initiatory ceremonies. The Psysterhood Guide Training is an invitation to step into this role in your community in a way that preserves the rites of the feminine and resists the capitalistic, medical and entrepreneurial forces that have historically dismissed, and often erased, women from sacred traditions.
A Wisdom Transmission
There are some things that can only be understood when experienced. There's no amount of reading, talking, or zoom modules that can prepare you to be a sacred medicine guide and yet that is the main form of training available in our society. Following the Mystery School tradition, this will not be a conventional training. It will be an experiential, ceremonial and devotional immersion into the realms of guiding. Blending spirit, safety, science, and soul, this weeklong experience honors the wisdom tradition of women holding space for psychedelic and sacred medicine journeys for their family, friends and community.
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Program Overview
With The Heroine's Journey as our framework, we'll experience thresholds and liminal spaces, create preparation and protection rituals, descend into the actual underground to encounter darkness and the unknown, and return with our own mythos - our own sacred stories - to guide us further down the path. After gathering resources, allies, and safety skills, we will commune with Mystery in our own group ceremony. This will offer an opportunity to both observe and apply some of the rites and practices from earlier in the week.
Something unique to our training will be considering the transpersonal and esoteric dimensions of this work. This will include energetic protections, astral parasitism, possession, and safeguards for both you, as the guide, and the journeyer. I believe that guiding sacred medicine experiences without these reference points is dangerous to everyone involved and it is my intention to provide a program that includes them.
We will end our time together by exploring how relationship, stewardship and sacred service are essential elements and how many practices in our modern culture overlook them. Throughout our week together, I will be sharing very direct and candid guidance, challenging preconceived notions, and letting you in on some insights that I can just about guarantee you won’t learn in any other training!
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The Map
The topics below offer a glimpse into our immersion. The incorporation of Latin is meant to invoke depth and mystery. It is not meant to be intimidating! It is an invitation to start leaning into a more poetic way of speaking and thinking...
HERSTORIA | Herstory
Tradition, Remembrance, Covenants
MYSTICA MEDICA | The Sacraments
Safety, Spirit, Pharmacology
CONSECRATIO | Devotional Preparation
Harm Reduction, Protection, Ethics,
Screenings, Set, Setting
LIMINUMS | The Threshold
Portals, Tethers, Anchors
MYSTERIA | The Mysteries
Rites, Rituals, Herbal Allies
MYTHOS | Sacred Stories
The Way of Council, Mythopoetic Integration, Hard/Disappointing Experiences
DISSOLUTIO | Dissolution
Descent, Darkness, Death,
Grief, Shadow, Surrender
INITIATIO | Initiation
Wild Communion, Encounters with Mystery, Sacred Vows
RENATIO | Renewal
Return, Recovery, Rebirth
MINISTERIUM SANCTUM
Sacred Service, Stewardship, Holding the Vision
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Passage
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Guide training programs cost $9500-$14,000. Retreats range from $2200-$5400. This immersion includes both and costs less than either. Why? Am I crazy? Is it a subpar training? No and No. The Psysterhood aims to preserve the wisdom tradition of community based care rather than engaging in this work as yet one more capitalistic, entrepreneurial venture. When sister can support sister, we step out of the over-culture and return to a more sacred and timeless way of engaging with plants and mushrooms. I have priced the 2027 program at a rate that reflects that it is the very first time it will be offered. And, in a delicate attempt to balance true accessibility with the enormous amount of time and resources that will go into making it possible, I am offering 2 pathways: Initiate & Apprentice.
INITIATE: $1699
This is the full tuition. Payment plans are available such as 6 payments of $285.
APPRENTICE: $1333
[2 available]
Apprentices receive a reduced tuition in exchange for 9 hours of service throughout the immersion. Early arrival may be required on Saturday. Payment plans are available such as 6 payments of $222.
WHAT IS INCLUDED
Preparation meeting (zoom),
7-day Immersion + Lodging
7 Lunches + 7 Dinners
Integration meeting (zoom)
LEGALITY & SAFETY
This program is a blend of harm reduction training and spiritual coaching. To tend to safety and legal considerations, we will be working with cacao and other low-risk herbal medicines in our in-person ceremonies. Additional details will be covered during your interview.
A NOTE ABOUT CLINICAL TRAINING
This training will not fully prepare you to be a psychedelic counselor, clinical guide, or offer psychedelic-assisted therapy. However, neither will the $14,000 programs. Those programs require that you already be a therapist, licensed counselor, or advanced clinician to join their program. Thus, it is the combination of a person's training/education in therapy + the psychedelic guide training that enables them to say that they are graduating psychedelic therapists. If you want to guide journeys in therapeutic professional settings or with sensitive groups (veterans, trauma survivors, palliative care patients), then you will need education, experience, and/or clinical supervision in those areas. This training prepares you to guide journeys for family, friends, or holistic health clients that you have a long-term relationship with as well as in community settings where multiple guides co-facilitate a group experience.
Important Details
ZOOM MEETINGS
Preparation: March 3, 2027 @ 7pm
Integration: March 31, 2027 @ 7pm
*Eastern Time*
IMMERSION SCHEDULE
Our program begins on Saturday, March 13 at 2:00pm. Everyone should plan to arrive by 1:00pm to settle in and be prepared to start on time. We will end no later than 3:00pm on Saturday, March 20.
LODGING & MEALS
To keep tuition low, indoor glamping in our Psyster Sanctuary is included (cot, floor mattress, etc.) Alternatively, you can car camp or upgrade to a twin or queen bed. Lunches and dinners are included. Attendees must provide their own breakfasts and breakfast beverages.
Eligibility & Application
To be eligible for this training, you must meet the following criteria: (1) you must have had a sacred medicine experience on your own, and (2) you must have some level of experience holding space for other adults (coaching, counseling, nursing, peer support, spiritual direction, hospice care, women's circles, midwifery, etc.) After submitting your application, I will schedule a brief interview with you to answer any questions you have and explain a few things. These are not meant to be intimidating; we just want to be sure this program is a good fit for you and your future plans. If accepted, you will have 14 days to submit your first payment towards tuition.
A Final Word
This program requires a minimum of 7 women. If this threshold is not met, we may have to postpone the program. Please apply early if you want to attend.
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Your Guide
MICHELLE RIGLING, PHD, M.Sc.
I am a Transpersonal Counselor, Trauma Informed Sacred Medicine Guide, Psychedelic Harm Reduction Educator, and Ordained Minister of a Psychedelic Church. I have guided both solo and group journeys for several years and trained two cohorts of trip sitters. No one was more surprised than me when I realized I was being asked to step onto the sacred medicine path. It’s an honor to walk it alongside you.
DISCLAIMER
Information presented by The Cavewoman Way is intended for informational purposes only; this program has not been evaluated by the FDA and the content presented is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Information shared in this program does not constitute legal or medical advice.
