Wise Womb Way:
Herbalism for Every Era of a Woman’s Life
February 27 – March 3, 2027
Casa Curativa, Tzununá
Lake Atitlán, Guatemala
An immersive 5 days on Lake Atitlán learning to read your body's seasons, make medicine with your own hands, and understand your cycles as divine intelligence.
Herbalism as Remembrance
The Wise Womb Way begins with one truth: your body carries intelligence that has been building for millions of years. Cycles, seasons, rhythms, signals. Your body speaks a language, and this course teaches you to listen to it.
Plants have been companions to this listening since the beginning. Rooted in place, shaped by season, alive within the same web of intelligence as your own body. Their history with women runs deep, passed hand to hand through every generation that knew how to tend and be tended.
This is the lineage we work with in Wise Womb Way. This course will teach you relationship over formula, nourishment before intervention, patterns before diagnoses with the central theme of the female body as a living ecosystem.
When you leave here, you will know how to read your body's signals, understand your cycles, choose plants that meet them, and make the medicine yourself.
That knowledge belongs to you, this is your invitation to reclaim it.
What You Will Learn
This course follows the full arc of a woman's life. Discover the 13 phases of womanhood from first blood through menopause and beyond. Each archetype on the Women's Wheel of Life carries her own herbal allies, her own physiology and her own medicine.
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Journey through all 13 archetypal phases of the Women's Wheel of Life: the Daughter, Blood Sister, Maiden, Lover, Mother, Midwife, Amazon, Matriarch, Priestess, Sorceress, Crone, Dark Mother, and the Transformer
Study each phase through three lenses: the mythic resonance, the physiology and hormonal shifts, and the plants that meet her where she is
Cultivate body literacy for every stage of life, learning the herbal allies and energetic patterns that speak to each phase's distinct needs
Recognize which phase you currently inhabit and gather the tools to tend yourself and others within it
Recover and reclaim the full arc of your own story, celebrating every era that has shaped you and every era still to come
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Learn to read plants through your senses: taste, texture, scent, color, and growing environment as the first language of herbal medicine
Study the tissue state framework and how heat, cold, dampness, dryness, tension, and stagnation manifest in the body, and which herbal actions meet each state
Explore herbal actions and energetics as a system for matching plants to people rather than plants to diagnoses, a relationship-centered way of practicing
Study constitutional herbalism and learn to recognize your own elemental tendencies as the foundation for a personal herbal practice
Gain fluency in the vocabulary herbalists use to describe a plant's actions, affinities, and appropriate preparations across organ systems and life phases
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Map your menstrual cycle to the seasons and moon phases: follicular, ovulatory, luteal, and menstrual phases each carrying their own energy, needs, and herbal allies
Study female anatomy and physiology through a vitalist lens, understanding the body as a living ecosystem
Learn to read tissue states (heat, cold, damp, dry, tension, stagnation) as a language for understanding what is happening in the body and what it is asking for
Explore fertility awareness, contraception, and reproductive choices across the full lifespan including pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause
Develop the skill of matching herbs to specific tissue states and cycle phases
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Explore nourishment as the foundation of women's health at every life stage, from menarche through menopause, understanding what nourishment at each phase requires
Study the nutritional needs of each major organ system: what it does, what it needs to thrive, and how food and herbs work together to support it
Learn ancestral and seasonal eating as a way of aligning with the rhythms of your body and the land
Reclaim eating as ceremony, restoring the simple act of feeding yourself as a practice of self-knowledge, care and deep nourishment
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Learn the foundations of plant medicine making including constituents, solubility, menstrums, and ratios, so you understand not just what to make but why each preparation works the way it does
Make tinctures, teas, infused oils, vinegars, and more in hands-on lab sessions guided by clinical herbalists
Understand how the same plant speaks differently depending on how it is prepared, and develop the confidence to choose a preparation that meets the body's specific needs
Leave with medicines you made yourself, ready to use, share, and keep making at home
Ground your practice in the ethics of medicine making: relationship with the plant, restraint in harvest, and the understanding that living medicine is meant to move and be shared
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Mayan Abdominal Massage: Rooted in the healing traditions of the Lake Atitlán region, this hands-on introduction works with the abdominal organs and pelvic bowl, supporting circulation, organ alignment, and a deeper connection
Fire & Cacao Divination Ceremony with Nana Ixquix: Cacao has been used across Mesoamerica for thousands of years. In this ceremony led by Nana Ixquix, we learn the ancestral medicine of cacao
Learn Traditional Songs: Learn songs that carry the medicine of each archetype on the Women's Wheel of Life and discover how voice and vibration have always been tools of women's healing
Create Personal Rituals: Each phase of a woman's life carries its own ceremonial language.
Our Daily Flow
9-10 am
Movement & Practice
10:30-1 pm
Lecture on the Platform
1 pm
Lunch at the Lodge
2-5:30 pm
Lecture / Medicine Making
in the Lab
5:30-7 pm
Optional Evening Activity
(Sauna, Fire, Etc) followed by Dinner
Why women join Wise Womb:
In a world that fragments women from their bodies, their cycles, and one another, Wise Womb Way offers something rare: a return to wholeness, relationship, and embodied knowing.
This is a threshold you cross.
You come to reclaim sovereignty over your body and your health. To learn practical herbal and womb-care skills that place knowledge back into your own hands, skills you will carry and use for the rest of your life.
You come to move beyond information and into lived practice. To feel, sense, and remember what your body already knows about its own seasons, signals, and intelligence.
You join because wisdom is not meant to be learned alone. Within this 5-day container you will be held in intentional sisterhood, learning in circle, honoring stories, and weaving together diverse lineages of feminine wisdom with care and respect. Indigenous teachings are held here relationally, rooted in place, in the people they belong to, and in reciprocity.
Experience herbalism as a way of life. One that includes nourishment, rhythm, ritual, song, and reverence for the earth beneath your feet.
You come to strengthen your capacity to care for yourself, your family, your community, and the generations of women still to come.
And you come because the more beautiful world we long for begins here: in women who are resourced in their bodies, confident in their knowing, and connected to themselves, to one another, and to the land.
Wise Womb Way is an invitation to remember who you are, and to walk that remembering forward, together.
Meet Your Teachers
Julia Bentley
Julia Bentely
Mother, Teacher, Birth & Postpartum Doula, & Steward of Casa Curativa
Julia Bentley, originally from Tennessee (ancestral territory of the Cherokee people), found her path into herbalism through her own healing journey from eczema and psoriasis. After studying with Sajah Popham, Julia moved to Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, where she founded Casa Curativa, a sanctuary where people from all over the world can connect with the healing power of plants.
A humorous and engaging teacher, Julia blends lightheartedness with deep wisdom, encouraging students to laugh and find humility in their practice. Her lectures on alchemy and the spagyric arts invite exploration into the more mystical aspects of herbal medicine. Julia’s entrepreneurial spirit shines through in her work, as she has cultivated Casa Curativa into not only an educational hub but also a thriving herbal brand, focused on quality, ethics, and community.
Living onsite at Casa Curativa with her son Emmitt, Julia continues to steward the sanctuary, nurturing both the plants and the community that surrounds it. Her teaching inspires students to embrace both the practical and the profound in their herbal practice, empowering them to create their own path in the world of herbalism.
Ashley McDonell
Ashley McDonell
Herbalist, Natural Builder, Full-Spectrum Doula
Ashley McDonell is a clinical herbalist, natural builder, and full-spectrum doula whose work bridges science, spirit, and ecology. As Director of Education at Casa Curativa, she guides a growing network of teachers, practitioners, and students devoted to restoring relationship-based herbalism to its rightful place at the heart of community health.
With over a decade of experience in clinical practice and herbal education, Ashley’s teaching merges physiological precision with ecological literacy, inviting students to understand the body as an ecosystem and the ecosystem as an extension of the body. She weaves rigorous study with story, song, and earth-based ritual—creating spaces where learning becomes an act of remembrance, and medicine becomes relationship.
In her clinical work, Ashley specializes in nervous system and hormonal regulation, digestive health, and women’s reproductive wellness, supporting clients through comprehensive assessment and plant-based protocols that honor the body’s innate capacity for repair and renewal. Her practice is rooted in reciprocity, reverence, and respect for the living world—guided by the belief that each act of healing contributes to the reweaving of our species back into the ecological web of life.
Lindsay Chestnut
Lindsay Chestnut
Herbalist, Astrological Guide, Musician
Lindsay is an herbalist, permaculture practitioner, and educator whose work explores the relationships between plants, people, and the patterns that shape both earth and cosmos. Raised in Michigan among the Great Lakes, her early background in entrepreneurship, leadership, and performance arts fostered a lifelong interest in storytelling and living systems.
After training as a yoga teacher and completing a Permaculture Design Certification in Guatemala in 2015, Lindsay pursued studies in natural medicine, nutrition, and aromatherapy before formally training with Sajah Popham through the School of Evolutionary Herbalism. She relocated to Lake Atitlán in 2020, becoming a key force behind Casa Curativa’s apothecary systems and operational development.
Known for her precision and organizational insight, Lindsay has helped design production workflows and quality control protocols that support the creation of consistent, potent herbal medicines. Her teaching weaves herbal energetics, physiology, astrology, and hermetic philosophy, guiding students to recognize the patterns connecting plants, bodies, and cosmic cycles through storytelling, somatics, rituals, and experiential learning.
Pricing & Accommodation Packages:
February 27 – March 3, 2027
Every package includes 5 nights in your chosen accommodation, 3 meals a day, and the full 5-day course.
GARDEN TENT
Canvas tent in the heart of the garden
Comfortable bedding and cozy rug
Shared hot showers and bathrooms
Access to shared kitchen
All inclusive: course, accommodation + 3 meals per day.
$1,475
SHARED ACCOMMODATION
Stay in our newest and largest accommodation The Lodge:
Comfortable single beds
Full shared kitchen and living room
Private terraces
All inclusive course, accommodation + 3 meals per day.
$1,610
PRIVATE ROOM
Lofty geodesic dome with lake views
King bed + full private kitchen
Private bathroom with bathtub and shower
Covered porch and artisan carpentry throughout
Intimate 12-sided rounded cabin
King bed + private kitchenette
Shared hot shower
Warm, cozy, and private (Mapacho the cat may visit)
Tucked right next to the river
King bed + outdoor private kitchen
Covered patio and outdoor living area
Shared hot shower
All inclusive course, accommodation + 3 meals per day.
starting at $1,700
Join us for Wise Womb
February 27 – March 3, 2027
Course + 3 Meals a Day: $1,250
(Accommodations not included)
Tuition Includes:
Full schedule of course activities
A 450+ page Wise Womb Way Course Manual
3x nourishing meals per day
5 days of experiential learning at Casa Curativa
What our students are saying…
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If you have questions about what the experience looks like, what to expect, or whether this course is the right fit for you, this is the space for you. We are here for it, and we can’t wait to connect.
FAQs
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Women’s Herbalism Retreat: Foundational Skills for Empowerment
During this immersive retreat, you will cultivate essential herbalism skills, including:
Medicine-Making: Prepare tinctures, salves, and herbal teas to support your health.
Plant Identification: Learn to identify and sustainably harvest medicinal plants in their natural environment.
Herbal Energetics: Understand the healing properties of herbs and how to effectively use them for specific ailments.
Hands-On Experience: Create herbal medicines that seamlessly integrate into your daily life.
Personalized Attention: Benefit from small course sizes, ensuring tailored guidance from our experienced instructors.
Immersive Setting: Enjoy the natural beauty of Guatemala, where the vibrant environment enhances your learning experience.
Build Connections: Form meaningful relationships with a supportive global community of herbal enthusiasts.
Practical Skills for Life: Gain confidence in using herbalism to nurture your well-being and support your community.
These skills will empower you to craft natural remedies for yourself and others, fostering a deeper connection to herbalism and enhancing your everyday life.
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This training is an intimate in-person container happening on beautiful Lake Atitlán, Guatemala at Casa Curativa in the tiny Lake town of Tzununá.
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You will be flying into Guatemala City’s La Aurora Airport. From the airport, Lake Atitlán is a 3.5 hour drive depending on traffic.
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Fly into La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City. From there it's a 3.5-hour journey to Lake Atitlán (traffic dependent). We recommend arranging a private transfer directly from the airport, or taking a shared shuttle from arrivals.
A travel tip worth taking: consider flying in a day early and spending a night in Antigua to break up the journey — it's a beautiful city and a gentle way to arrive.
Upon enrollment you will receive phone numbers of our trusted transportation contacts so you can coordinate options ranging from private cars to shared shuttles.
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Lake Atitlan, Guatemala is similar in altitude to Boulder, CO yet enjoys a temperate tropical climate year round. Temperatures rarely exceed 85 F/25 C. This is basically the land of eternal spring.
Bring long pants and socks (there are tiny biting bugs), and long sleeve shirts and a sweater for the evening. It can get a little chilly in the evenings.
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If you're interested in exploring additional in-person herbalism courses at Casa Curativa, we offer a variety of transformative experiences. Discover other immersive retreats and workshops that align with your interests and goals.
If you are interested in other In-Person Herbalism Courses at Casa Curativa: Explore our other courses, here.