Traditionally through years of apprenticeship in a lineage, including personal dieta with the plants. Modern paths add trauma-informed training, ethics coursework and supervision. There is no legitimate 3-month certification — anyone claiming otherwise is a red flag.

No — and most people who feel called to help would serve their community best as integration coaches, therapists or circle-holders, not as ceremonial facilitators. Serving medicine is a very specific vocation.

Not when you feel called — most people feel called far too early. Readiness looks like: years of consistent personal practice, an ongoing relationship with your own teachers, deep familiarity with your own shadow, humility about what you don't know, and a community that can honestly reflect you back. Facilitation is a lifelong apprenticeship, not a certificate. If the answer to "who is holding me?" is unclear, you are not yet ready to hold others.