Deathie Mystery School

A 4-night mystery tour through the deathie arts: intuition and altars, reiki attunement, and death doula training

Join us in Cape May, NJ to step through a portal - into death doulaship, into devotion, into deathwork discernment. Spend 4 nights in a Victorian house near the sea, building an advanced, holistic deathwork toolkit: learning to tend to the physical and practical act of dying through hands-on death doula training; practicing easing the sacred, energetic transition of death with Holy Fire Reiki; and understanding how to keep yourself healthy and honored as an embodied threshold guide.

3 ways to join: all inclusive, curriculum only, or a la carte

May 11–15 in Cape May, NJ

Hosted by:
Lauren Carroll, Melissa Delizia, Morgan Fava, Lauren Seeley

See Enrollment Options

Most deathwork education teaches you one thing at a time. This retreat teaches you everything at once.

Over 4 nights and 4 days, this intensive brings together energy work, death doula training, intuitive practice, and emotional embodiment into one holistic deathwork education. Morning ocean offerings. Evening cacao ceremonies. Classes by day, community by night. The way it was meant to be: in person, in community.

Below are our trainings and workshops (all available with our retreat package or entirely a la carte)
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Energy Work for Dying

Holy Fire Reiki 1 & 2 Attunement

A journey into the sacred practice of Energy Work for those called to support the dying and the grieving. This training explores energy hygiene, intuition, and the flow of life and death as interconnected forces. You’ll receive Holy Fire Reiki I and II attunements, learn to work with your own energy and with others, and practice opening portals to ease transitions at the end of life.

Included with all-inclusive & curriculum-only registration, OR,
$900 a la carte

Led by Dr. Melissa Delizia

Death Doula Training

the fundamentals of death doulaship

A hands-on foundation in the ancient, sacred art of accompanying the dying. This training moves through the full spectrum of death doula work: understanding the dying body and what changes to expect, the home care practices families can reclaim, the legalities, paperwork, and red tape, and the options available beyond the industrial funeral complex.

Included with all-inclusive & curriculum-only registration, OR,
$250 a la carte

Led by Lauren Carroll

Intuition & Altar Making

intuitive deathwork & sacred-self altars

A half-day workshop built to help you carry your intuitive wisdom into the deathwork space, and honor it with a physical form. Through tarot, wax readings, partnered intuitive practices, and journaling, you'll deepen your relationship with your own inner knowing. Then, you'll craft an altar to your sacred self - a tangible, living monument to the wisdom, grief, gifts, and mystery you bring to this work.

Included with all-inclusive & curriculum-only registration, OR,
$111 a la carte

Led by Lauren Seeley

Emotional Complexities

Remaining present in emotionally complex situations

A half-day exploration of the emotional interior of death doula work. How do you stay present when presence is hard? How do you provide what a dying person or grieving family needs without losing yourself in it? Through the lenses of intuition, discernment, and devotion, this class moves through the emotional complexities of holding space at the threshold, and helps you find your own steady ground within them.

Included with all-inclusive & curriculum-only registration, OR,
$222 a la carte

Led by Morgan Fava

Our Cape May Sanctuary

Our trainings will be hosted in a meticulously restored 1800s Victorian home that perfectly embodies the spirit of Cape May's golden age. The house features period details, high ceilings, and the kind of atmospheric charm that makes Cape May one of America's most beloved historic destinations.

We'll gather in the spacious shared spaces throughout the house. From the formal dining room where we'll share our meals to the cozy parlor for evening conversations and tarot readings. Those staying with us for the whole retreat will have their own private bedroom.

Why Cape May?

Cape May is known as one of America's most supernatural cities, where spirits linger in nearly every Victorian home and historic hotel. From the "Lady in Blue" at the Inn of Cape May to the ghostly innkeeper still tending guests at Hotel Macomber, the city's tragic history of fires, drownings, and Civil War-era drama has left an abundance of otherworldly residents. It’s the perfect backdrop for those of us who work at the threshold.

This training experience is for…

…thresholdkeepers of all kinds, who want to tend to death on every plane: physical, practical, emotional, energetic, and spiritual…

…those whose deathwork training has felt one-dimensional: too practical without the energetic, or too spiritual without the grounded skills to back it up…

…those just beginning, who want to start with a foundation more holistic than most get in years, or those with rich experience who need more support navigating the emotional weight of this work…

…those who want to ease transitions not just with presence, but with their hands and their energy…

…those who want to bring more reverence and devotion into their practice.

I’m wondering…

  • No. The retreat is designed to meet you where you are. Whether you're just beginning or have years of deathwork experience, the curriculum builds a holistic foundation that will add depth to whatever you're already carrying.

  • Reiki 1 will be completed ahead of time via an online module before we gather in Cape May. Reiki 2 attunement happens together, in person, with Melissa. No prior experience is necessary.

  • All trainings and workshops, your own private bedroom in the Victorian house, all meals, snacks, and drinks throughout the retreat, and an exclusive private ghost tour of Cape May.

  • All trainings and workshops, including your Reiki 1 & 2 attunement and Death Doula proficiency certificate. Accommodations and meals are not included — you'll arrange those independently.

  • Yes — there is a direct bus from NYC into Cape May, making it accessible without a car.

  • You'll leave with a Holy Fire Reiki 1 & 2 certification and a Death Doula Proficiency Certificate.

  • The retreat is intentionally intimate — 5 spots in the house, 5 curriculum-only spots, and up to 5 per individual a la carte class.

  • We'll send registered attendees a full preparation guide ahead of the retreat. In general, come ready to be present, get a little witchy, and spend time by the ocean.

There are 3 ways to join.
Pick the one that suits you best

May 11–15 in Cape May, NJ
Extended payment plans through PayPal, Klarna, and Afterpay.

Curriculum Only

Receive attendance to all trainings and workshops (includes your Reiki 1 & 2 attunement and Death Doula proficiency certificate), but stay, eat, and drink on your own.

All-inclusive

Stay with us in our haunted Victorian home, eat and drink with us at no extra cost, receive attendance to all trainings and workshops (includes your Reiki 1 & 2 attunement and Death Doula proficiency certificate), and experience a private ghost tour.

A la Carte

Take one class (or two or three) with us. Stay in Cape May on your own terms.

Your teachers

Lauren Carroll

Lauren Carroll, co-founder of La Mort, is a Death Educator & Holistic Funeral Director who is passionate about weaving community and family back into the death space. Her work centers around re-aligning our culture with Mother Earth and helping humans remember how to love one another. She is a former board member for the National Home Funeral Alliance and co-founded The Deathwives. She lives on an urban farm at the base of a mountain where she tends to her animals, raises her two children, and dances around bonfires on the full moon with friends while listening to Nick Cave.

Melissa Delizia

Melissa Delizia, MSW, LSW, DSW (she/they) is a death doula, educator, professional coach and social worker whose work lives at the intersection of sacred care, transformative education, and social justice. With a Doctorate in Social Work and certifications in grief companionship, deathcare, and sacred ceremony, Melissa brings both clinical insight and spiritual depth to their offerings.

Their practice is rooted in ancestral connection, mediumship, and energy work, with a focus on holding space for queer and trans individuals navigating death, dying, and grief. Melissa approaches this work with reverence, tending to the liminal with embodied presence and a belief in the healing power of collective care and ritual.

As an educator and adjunct professor, they are dedicated to reshaping how death is taught and understood—centering marginalized experiences, challenging systems of harm, and cultivating spaces where grief and identity are honored in all their complexity. Whether teaching or learning, Melissa holds a deep commitment to equitable deathwork and heart-centered education.

Lauren Seeley

Lauren Seeley is an artist, death and grief doula, and death educator whose work weaves together death literacy, spiritual practice, and end-of-life care. Her interests and research span the tender edges of both human and pet end-of-life care, LGBTQIA+ and trans-centered deathwork, memory care, ritual and ceremony, and the many ways we honor the dead through funerary and disposition practices. Lauren currently works at a funeral home in Brooklyn, NY, where she holds space for the living and the dead, and facilitates the Silent Book Club of Death, Brooklyn’s quiet little refuge for readers who aren’t afraid to sit with the big questions.

Morgan Fava

With over a decade of study in the realms of death, dying, and grief, Morgan has journeyed through significant loss and transformation in her own life. As a certified death doula, energy healer, Akashic record practitioner, and ceremonialist, she is dedicated to supporting individuals and families through the sacred transition of death.

In her work, she provides compassionate guidance and education, helping to create a more peaceful and serene end-of-life experience.