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Wailing Women
A Half-Day Retreat for the Alchemy of Grief Through Art
Grief takes many forms—loss, trauma, heartbreak, miscarriage, separation, or the quiet ache of being fully alive in a tender world. Whatever you carry, this retreat is a safe harbor for your sorrow, rage, and release. We have created a space where you can feel held and restored.
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Wailing Women is a half-day immersion into the art of grieving well. Through ceremony, guided creative expression, sound, and somatic healing, we move beyond simply surviving grief and into transforming it.
Together, we remember that our tears are holy saltwater, our voices are medicine, and our bodies are the vessels through which love and loss are reconciled.
The Experience
​This intimate retreat invites you, powerful woman, to move grief through the body, rather than holding it inside. Guided by three healers—Ayla Reed, Maggie Leverett, and Abby King Roberts—you’ll be led through a restorative journey of release, expression, and integration.
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Saturday, December 13 | 11:30 AM – 4:00 PM | The Medicine House | Aubrey, TX
Arrival & Grounding | 11:30 AM – 11:45 AM
You arrive, step into the sanctuary of The Medicine House, and leave the outside world behind. Settle in as your body and mind begin to release tension and find presence.
Cacao Ceremony & Heart Opening | 11:45 AM – 12:30 PM
Guided by Abby, we'll sit in ceremonial circle with Cacao, meeting with the spirit of this plant teacher to soften your heart. This ceremony prepares your body to hold, express, and release the grief you’ve carried for so long. This is a ritual of opening and honoring your own life and losses.
Alchemical Painting Journey | 12:30 PM – 3:30 PM
You will feel. You will create. You'll move grief through your body and onto your canvas, led by professional artist, Maggie Leverett. Regardless of your artistic skill level, you will be guided in turning what weighs on your heart into something tangible and transformative—something yours.
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As you paint, Ayla and Abby will support you with gentle herbal allies, somatic touch, and energetic holding. This is your time to move, release, breathe, and express—however it comes through you.
Nourishment & Rest | 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM
We'll take some time to nourish our bodies with a seasonal meal prepared by Ayla. This is your reminder that truly taking care of yourself is part of the healing journey.
Closing & Integration Circle | 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM
We'll gather and share in a closing circle. Each woman leaves with her painting—a symbol of her courage and alchemy, carried by the collective strength of women who know the weight of grief and the beauty of release.
The Spirit of Cacao
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Ceremonial Cacao is a living plant teacher. In sitting with her, you are invited to feel fully, meeting both joy and sorrow, sweetness and bitterness, in the safety of her presence. She is a teacher of what I call the rubber band stretch, or the secret third thing—the integration and reconciliation of opposites that expands our capacity for this complex, devastatingly beautiful experience of Life.
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Plant spirit communication, to me, is the meeting of vital life force energy between a plant and yourself. In this ceremony, I will be sharing my relationship with Mama Cacao with you, introducing you to a dear friend who carries the medicine of Mother Earth herself. When I first connected with her, the sensory experience itself became a doorway into my own heart, and there's nearly nothing I love more in this life than connecting people to plant spirits.
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Cacao holds so much space for reflection, emotional release, and integration. Through connection to her spirit, we will engage the elements, moving through the alchemical spiral of earth, fire, water, air, and aether as we prepare, drink, and commune with this medicine. She offers us a rich opportunity to soften, expand, and be held. No prior experience is required. I absolutely cannot wait to share this with you.
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Abby
Meet Your Facilitators
Hosted by Ayla
Ayla Reed is an Oracle Healer, ancestral medicine woman, and the founder of The Good Medicine Collective; a living body of work that bridges the realms of science and spirit. Rooted in the bloodlines of her Cherokee and Norse ancestry, Ayla carries forward ancient healing traditions through a modern, trauma-informed lens.
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Her work is not a prescription; it is a reclamation. She helps others return to right relationship with their bodies, their lineage, the earth, and the unseen.
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With one foot in the ancient world and one in the now, Ayla creates spaces where the body speaks, the soul remembers, and the Earth holds us in her rhythm. Her medicine honors the unseen, the intuitive, the ancestral, and the elemental. Through her guidance, clients reconnect with their inner healer and remember what has always been whole beneath the hurt.
Maggie
Maggie Leverett is a full-time artist from New Orleans, Louisiana—a city alive with art, music, and soul, and the birthplace of her passion for creativity, animals, and beauty. Growing up in such a vibrant and expressive place shaped the way Maggie sees the world and planted the seeds of her artistic journey.
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Her life has also been profoundly shaped by grief. She lived through the upheaval of Hurricane Katrina and later endured the heartbreaking loss of her sister, Lacey.
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Maggie believes her sister’s spirit continues to walk with her, guiding her brush and infusing her artwork with a presence beyond this world. Through painting and poetry, Maggie channels memory, loss, and transformation, offering her work as both a sanctuary and a point of connection.
Abby
Abby is a trauma-informed zero point energy worker, integrative health practitioner (IHP), and herbalist who loves connecting people with plant spirits. She guides sensitive, spiritually-minded souls to restore balance in body, mind, and spirit, helping them reclaim their wholeness, reconnect with their light, and move through life with clarity, ease, and joy.
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From as early as she can remember, Abby was talking to plants. Even without words, the Earth felt alive and responsive. Life’s weight pulled her away from that connection for a time, and she spent years navigating trauma loops—anxious, depressed, and searching for meaning. Energy work gave her a foothold out of darkness, and studying Chinese Medicine and Vitalist herbalism awakened her to the Vital Force in plants—the same intelligence she had felt intuitively as a child.
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Today, her work is about guiding others out of similar darkness, integrating it along the way.
The energy exchange for this retreat is $444.
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Your investment includes a full, transformational half-day experience, offering tools, guidance, and support for deep emotional and creative healing:
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Guided Cacao Ceremony led by Abby King Roberts, including education on plant spirit communication and take-home resources for connecting with the spirit of Cacao
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Trauma-informed, step-by-step painting experience with Maggie Leverett, turning grief into creative expression; All materials provided
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1:1 gentle somatic support and energetic work to aid release throughout the day with Ayla and Abby
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A delicious, seasonal, nourishing meal prepared by Ayla, designed to restore your body and mind
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Herbal teas and hydrosols for grounding, nervous system support, and emotional balance; protective plant allies and aromatics infused throughout the space
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Guided reflection, movement, and ritual integration to process and release grief safely
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Heart-centered closing circle with communal witnessing
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Your painting to take home as a tangible symbol of your journey and alchemy
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Connection with a sacred, supportive sisterhood in a safe and intimate setting
