Practical
the
Magic
retreat
4 days of grief work, witch work, and margaritas in Astoria, Oregon
La Mort is headed to the hazy hills of Astoria, Oregon this September to celebrate the premier of Practical Magic 2. Join us and an intimate group of other death doulas, hospice workers, grief counselors, and chaplains for four days of replenishment, craft, and practical magic. Together, we will create and consume sacred plants, craft tools for deathwork, grieve, and build the skills needed for a Grief Apothecary Certificate.
September 10-13th
Payment plans available
Practical Magic
Creaky floors, candlelight, and a weekend spent in sisterhood, craft and incantation.
Our time together will open on a Thursday evening. You’ll meet your fellow witches, deeply - no normalcy or niceties needed, and drop in together at a family style dinner.
By Friday, you’ll engage in sacred magic play togther and welcome your higher selves to the house with plant medicine. We’ll offer guided reflections and plenty of quiet time to simply be with whatever arises. And we’ll wrap with a film premiere, in honor of Practical Magic 2 finally hitting theaters. Bring your best witchy attire and prepare to toast to sisterhood with a salt rim and the midnight moonlight.
Saturday is for integration, incantations, and witchy deathwork crafts. You’ll deepen your practical herbalism and plant ally knowledge as it applies to death, dying, and grief support. You'll learn tea blends for grief and for sleeplessness, and explore aromatherapy for bedside support. You’ll turn to your hands by firelight (or candlelight, depending on how dramatic we're feeling), to make flower crowns and totem dolls as small vessels for grief, memory, and intention. You'll end the day with a working apothecary knowledge base, and a toolkit built from old traditions.
We’ll close by Sunday morning with a ritual by the water. Release what needs to be released. Coffee after. Goodbyes to new best friends.
Hearth and Haven
Astoria is hilly and Victorian-lined, tucked against the Columbia River, thick with antique shops, indie boutiques, and charismatic breweries. If the name Astoria rings a bell, it's probably because the classic The Goonies was filmed on these same steep streets.
Rosebriar Mansion will be our home for the weekend. It was once a church, built to house the Sisters of the Holy Names convent, and it still carries the bones of that life: the original stained glass windows, a saintly shrine, and confessional rooms (that now hold board games).
All witchy, death-tenders are welcome
We are witches, death doulas, grief tenders, and apothecary nerds, and we built this retreat for us: equal parts sacred and unserious, equal parts altar and margarita. We welcome you to this weekend of magic, ritual, candlelight, and sisterhood if your service is to death and grief. Come craft, learn new tools for your practice, and be in community with other witches like you.
Are you local and want to attend, but don't need to stay at the church?
We now have an option for you too!
Join us for coffee and tea, all daytime activities (including plant medicine and crafts), and a community lunch.
Spots are limited and held on a first come, first serve basis.
Want to stay at the church with us? Select the enrollment option that suits you best
Price includes accommodation, all meals and medicine. Spots are limited and held on a first come, first serve basis.
Shared room
4 left
The ultimate slumber party for soon-to-be witch sisters
Queen room
1 left
If you’d like to share this room with a friend, reach out to us privately for a special price
Your hosts
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.
This year, Lauren completed her education and training to become a licensed psilocybin facilitator in the state of Colorado, which will allow her to legally facilitate psilocybin journeys for people facing end-of-life and their families, supporting them through grief, in either a healing center or their own homes. She believes plants and mushrooms are allies in life and death.
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.
Our Teaching / Learning / Creating Style at La Mort
We leave behind the polished, gate-keepy approach to education. We teach in ways that carry story and experience. We listen. We laugh (a lot). We go off-script sometimes. We cry (with you)(for those you’ve loved)(for those we’ve loved). We like science and studies and logical frameworks, but also mysticism and poetry and all that stuff. We really love to honor history and those who came before. We move through some serious curricula, but don’t take anything too seriously. We dedicate ourselves to seeing you, and want you to feel seen. We deeply honor our intuition and yours. We lead with integrity (always). And we welcome the odd-balls and misfits, because it takes one to know one.