This is not your typical “facilitator training”. This is something deeper. More personal. More spirited.  

The Saoró Cacao Facilitator Training is a guided weekend retreat and experiential learning journey held by Shamanic Practitioners, Julieann Byrne and Vivienne Dempsey, and guided by seasoned Cacao Facilitators Gary Patterson and Amerie O’Shea. The weekend is designed for those who feel called to sit with Ceremonial Cacao as a sacred plant teacher –  whether or not they intend to share it with others.  

During this weekend, you won’t just learn about cacao, you will meet it.  

You will be guided through Cacao Ceremonies coupled with different healing modalities under the guidance of our experienced facilitators. Each ceremony is unique but all are centred around the wisdom of this heart-opening plant. This is an opportunity to invite cacao into your body and allow its wisdom to accompany you on your spiritual path in a deeply personal way.  

While many trainings focus on what to do with cacao, we focus on how to be with this medicine.  

We offer you the space to explore your own authentic relationship with cacao before ever thinking about facilitating for others. This is not about adopting a formula, this is about discovering your own unique, creative relationship with cacao and using your own unique voice, journey and inner guidance to share this medicine with others (if you wish!)  

You’ll journey with cacao through ceremony, movement, ritual, sound, and stillness, discovering how this medicine wants to speak through you. No two people receive it in the same way—and that’s the magic. This experience is held by shamanic practitioners with years of ceremonial experience. You’ll be gently guided by our experienced cacao facilitators into your own authentic connection.  

Whether you feel called to eventually hold space for others or simply wish to receive the medicine for yourself, this weekend of immersion offers something rare: you will be held in a safe space to experience ceremonial cacao and given the opportunity to listen, to learn, to share, to experience, and to transform yourself, before sharing the medicine with others.  

Held during a powerful seasonal shift, the Spring Equinox.

A conversation on ceremonial cacao & training with Saoró

– Deepen your personal relationship with cacao as a teacher, ally, and ceremonial medicine  

– Explore the ceremonial roots of cacao, honouring Indigenous wisdom and cultural lineage  

– Discover your own voice—how cacao moves uniquely through you and how to trust that guidance  

– Learn to hold space that is trauma-aware, grounded, and energetically attuned  – Experience a 21-day guided Cacao Dieta, helping you integrate the medicine beyond the weekend  

– Receive the support of a community that uplifts your growth and journey 

This experience takes place in beautiful remote locations in the Irish Countryside. Our most recent training took place in the heart of nature at Castlecomer Discovery Park, Co.  Kilkenny, during the powerful seasonal and celestial window of lughnasadh and the Lions Gate Portal. This upcoming training will take place in The Yoga Space Blarney, in County Cork in the days leading up to the Spring Equinox in 2026.

Cost: €850

Includes all ceremonies, dieta guidance, manual, support, and connection with our growing  Saoró community. 

Book in for a free discovery call

If you’re feeling curious or called, we invite you to book a complimentary discovery call with Vivienne. This is a space to explore the training, ask questions, and feel into whether it’s the right fit for you before committing.

To do so, either Direct Message @saoroexperience on Instagram OR Email info@saoro.org and we will set up a call.

• Cacao, Cacao & Me

Vivienne Dempsey

I started to work with Cacao in a small way with tentative steps in 2019, and by 2020 it became a daily practice, a comfort and an integration tool.

• Vivienne Dempsey

• Energy Healer, Massage, Shamanic Practitioner

Julieann Byrne

My name is Julieann. I work in West Dublin as an intuitive, healer offering Reiki and Shamanic Healing and a Facilitator of Sacred Space.

• james

• Cacao Facilitator, Yoga

Amerie O’Shea

My name is Amerie O’Shea, and I am a cacao facilitator, breathwork facilitator, and yoga teacher with over 5 years of teaching experience. I am the founder of my own yoga studio based in Blarney, where I regularly hold sacred space for healing, connection, and inner balance.I completed my cacao facilitator training with Saoro two...

• james

• Cacao, Cacao & Me, Featured

Gary Patterson

As a young man growing up in the west of Ireland I had shut down my feeling heart, it was too painful. Nothing dramatic but a consistent stream of “big boys don’t cry, get up and get on with it, don’t be a soft lad, toughen up...

• Gary Patterson

“This was truly amazing experience, deep immersion in the ceremonial cacao medicine, cacao dieta, I could say that cacao was flowing in my veins for the whole month. No better team to train than Saoró, their absolute reverence tp the spirit of Cacao and the TOP quality bars are a true indication of being in service to this plant medicine. Thank you Vivienne and Team for all the teaching, laughter and healing :)”

Marcin Stanek

Marcin is a sound healer, DJ and a musician whose life’s journey has been guided by the transformative power of music and sound

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“This training has been more like a homecoming, back to the self. Held in such a nurturing surroundings by the most attentive and knowledgeable people within the Saoró family. This training has opened up a whole new way for me to show up in the world. The way in which the course was delivered was with a sense of ease and professionalism. The acceptance and warmth that each facilitator has shown throughout the training and dieta has felt like a warm motherly hug.

To experience the unique gifts of the facilitators was such a blessing, one that not only teaches but heals. I have finally found a way in such a safe space to set down all that I have been carrying that no longer serves me.

I look forward to a bright and beautiful future standing shoulder to shoulder with such an incredible tribe of empowered souls. I do plan to hold space within in my own community intertwining Cacao, reiki and crafting. Awakening the sleeping 2 inner creators. This training has delivered the nurturing my soul has long been yearning for.”

Sinead King

Sinead is a Cacao Facilitator and Reiki practitioner

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“My experience training as cacao facilitator with Saoró has been simply amazing, I have met wonderful people, had the best teachers and learned so much, I’m extremely grateful to have been given this beautiful opportunity. The support received before, during and after the training has been the best support I have ever received. I have learned so much and I have enjoyed every moment of it.

The cacao dieta has been life changing, the bond with Mama Cacao and my fellow trainees and teachers has gotten even more deep. I will indeed shout from the top of the mountain about how amazing is this beautiful plant medicine and how amazing Saoró community is.”

Raika Tienert

Raika is a Kundalini energy facilitator & pet bereavement counsellor

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“When I signed up for the Saoros Cacao Facilitator Course, I was initially seeking guidance to ensure my cacao ceremonies were conducted correctly and to enhance them. However, the course turned out to be unlike any other. During this period, I was facing personal challenges, and the course unexpectedly provided a sanctuary for personal healing. It was a truly transformative experience, allowing me to heal and grow on a personal level. This personal transformation has, in turn, elevated the way I hold space for others in my ceremonies. Here’s how the course impacted me:

• Personal Growth: The training facilitated deep personal healing, which was essential during that time. –
• Enhanced Ceremonies: The insights and techniques learned have enriched my practices, allowing me to offer more profound experiences to participants.”

Ellie McDowell

Ellie is a Massage Therapist, Reflexologist, Reiki Healing,
Cacao Facilitator, Forest Bathing.

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“Where do i even start, the Saoro Facilitator training has been life changing for me! Its as everything does came at the most perfect time and I got so much from my weekends, I really learned how to connect inwards with Mama Cacao and all the different ways we can share her with others too!!

The support from Vivienne and the other facilitators during the Dieta was amazing and from the group as a whole! I know going forward that if I need any support at all it is there and I can’t wait to start hosting my own events!!”

Jaymee Duggan

Jaymee is a Beauty, Massage and Holistic Therapist at Jaymee’s Health & Beauty

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“When friends ask me about Saoró’s cacao training, I find it a bit hard to explain — because it’s not really just a training, it feels more like a retreat and a healing experience – a weekend of learning through embodiment rather than written materials. Over the weekend, we explored how cacao can enhance various healing modalities—guided meditation, yoga, and breathwork. For me, I experienced a pretty big emotional breakthrough during Gary Patterson’s breathwork session (Anam Beo). Feeling safe enough to truly release emotions is something I’ve always struggled with so I really didn’t expect that kind of transformation from a “training” weekend in such a short time surrounded by people I was meeting for the first time — but that’s the magic of it.

Thank you again, Gary, you’re a gift. Saoró’s training isn’t just about learning to work with cacao—it’s about self-discovery, emotional healing, and forming a personal relationship with this medicine. From that, you’re then guided into a supported month-long dieta, preparing you to share cacao in your own unique way based on your personal experience with the medicine. All that said, my words still fall short of describing the true magic that is a weekend in the hands of Saoró. They create such a fun, light-hearted, playful environment for you to truly be yourself. You feel seen and you feel safe in every single moment. If you’re on a healing journey, I couldn’t recommend them more. You don’t just leave with a certificate—you become part of a community of healers and artists who value freedom, authenticity, and are just about having fun. For me, cacao lifts my mood, has replaced coffee, and supports me creatively—whether I’m painting, playing with clay, or sharing her with friends. x”

Kate Browne

Kate has recently joined the Saoró team

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“I loved the whole weekend. It didn’t feel like a training it felt like an emerging, a homecoming to my people. Sharing experiences and guiding the group through our own stories was a very unique way of learning.”

Nikki Solyom

Nikki is a Yoga teacher, cacao facilitator, qualified fitness instructor, personal trainer, NeuroMuscular therapist, and Pilates instructor

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“I have loved my experience of training with Saoro. Right from the start I found them very friendly and I loved meeting all the different facilitators who skillfully demonstrated how they incorporate cacao into their offerings. This was a really collaborative and creative way of teaching and has inspired me in many ways. I found the retreat training incredibly nurturing and then enjoyed the spaciousness of having time at home on the dieta with the continual support and then coming back together again for the second weekend of training.

The continual support from the Saoro team along with the sense of community that they built has been incredible and I’ve felt held and supported along this beautiful journey. I am now inspired in many ways of how to work with cacao and am already adding it into my offerings with more ideas to come. I would highly recommend training with Saoro and welcoming the magic of cacao into your life!”

Suzanne Cromie

Suzanne is a Yoga Instructor, Massage Therapist, Cacao Facilitator, also offering Sound Healing, Life Coaching services

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