ANCESTRAL HEALING
Practitioner Training
Learn to safely and effectively guide
ancestral healing practices for others.
About the Training
Most healing modalities focus on the individual—the psyche, the self, the personal. Ancestral Lineage Healing expands the frame.
This training equips practitioners to work skillfully with inherited trauma, cultural rupture, and the living presence of the dead. Not as metaphor, but as relationship.
You’ll gain rigorous ritual competency, ethical frameworks, and practical skills to help clients draw on ancestral support to deeply transform personal and collective pain.
The result is deeper repair, clearer direction, and a way of practicing that honors psyche, lineage, and culture, all with humility, kindness, and an ethic of empowerment. You’ll learn to help your clients turn their generational burdens into inherited blessings, and to help them live into those gifts for the good of the world.
Whether you’re a therapist, ritualist, healer, activist, clergy member, or emerging practitioner of another type, this program will strengthen your capacity to serve with depth, discernment, and confidence. What you learn with us will complement your current practice, and the work can also stand alone if you intend to make ancestral healing a primary offering.
More About the Training
By participating in this training, you’ll join an international network of over 250 ritualists, holistic healers, psychotherapists, activists, and change makers representing more than 30 nations and languages. If you feel called to support others in their ancestral healing, we encourage you to apply.
In this training you’ll learn to:
- Skillfully guide the complete, step-by-step Ancestral Lineage Healing process
- Understand psychological, cultural, and spiritual layers of ancestral work
- Assist the dying as well as the recently deceased to join the ancestors
- Navigate work with the troubled dead and other hazardous spiritual dynamics
- Help clients clarify and embody greater soul-level alignment and life purpose
Personal transformation is central, but not the training focus.
You will learn to partner with your ancestors as collaborators in new and profound ways, full stop. However, the focus of this training is on building your skills and capacity as a practitioner in service to others. From this ground of deepened partnership with your ancestors, your ritual facilitation and leadership skills will become more steady, clear, and effective.
Free Event: Q&A with Daniel & Practitioners
Join us on May 6 for 90 minutes in conversation with Daniel and three experienced practitioners of Ancestral Lineage Healing (Amber McZeal, Rowan Carr, & Teagan West) to discuss the upcoming training and share from their experience working professionally with ancestors and culture.
This event will be held live on Zoom, and will be recorded. A recording will be shared with all who register within 48 hours after the event.
Sign Up for Free
Testimonials
Why Become a Practitioner of Ancestral Lineage Healing?
Transform Generational Pain
Learn to honor both personal and collective pain, transform ancestral burdens into blessings, and move from unconscious inheritance to conscious relationship.
Deepen your Professional Practice
Bring new capacities to confidently work with intergenerational influence, cultural recovery, and ritual arts to whatever skills you're already rocking in the world.
Develop as a Ritualist
Get confident safely and skillfully navigating boundaries with the troubled dead and active relationship with the healed ancestors, both in your own life and for others.
Expand your Community
In addition to joining an inspiring international network of ritualists and change makers, working professionally with the ancestors shifts one's sense of belonging and community.
Support Cultural Repair
Trying to resolve collective wounds at the individual level only goes so far. This training equips you with skills to navigate cultural rupture and repair with humility and ancestral support.
Clarify Path and Purpose
Partnering with the ancestors naturally brings greater clarity to you as a practitioner and to the clients you support. When so much is turbulent in the world, this alignment is precious.
Training Structure
The training unfolds over eleven months (Sept 2026 – July 2027), and for most practitioners-in-training the certification phase will continue beyond July 2027.
The primary components of the training include an abundant blend of live and pre-recorded teachings, international guest presenters, small-group and individual mentorship and supervision sessions, and peer practice exchanges. The time commitment is approximately four to six hours per week for the duration of the training. It’s a thorough and demanding training process.
Our training structure is designed to support an international cohort and includes teachings across varied time zones for global inclusivity. Our Practitioner Network based in over 30 nations reflects this commitment to geographic and cultural diversity.
The foundational 10-month training is structured around three “Practice Intensives” and two accompanying “Interim Periods.” This is followed by the Certification Phase which proceeds at the pace of the client. Learn more about each below.
Each of the practice intensives follows a similar pattern. For each week of the intensive, there are three steps: watch a pre-recorded lesson along with a demonstration video, attend a practice session with your peers and an experienced practitioner to enact new skills, and finally attend a Q&A call with Daniel to review and integrate new learning. This pattern repeats weekly for the duration of the intensive and all elements missed must be made up.
The first of three practice intensives is six weeks and the other two are four weeks in duration. Time commitment during intensives is around 6-7 hours per week, and this flow is in effect for just over three of the nine months of the training. Also, for the weekly Q&A call during intensives, there will be an option to attend with an experienced a different practitioner-mentor for great time-zone accessibility.
Between the three Practice Intensives, there will be two-to-four-month-long Interim Periods. During these times you’ll complete peer exchanges to practice new skills, attend small group and individual mentorship sessions, attend teachings from guest teachers, and attend demos and teachings with Daniel. The time commitment during these periods is around 4 hours per week. The two interim periods make up nearly 6 months of the 10-month training.
To complete the program and become certified as an Ancestral Healing Practitioner, you must attend (or make-up) all required training elements, be in active connection with your mentors and other supervisors, provide documentation for 40 public client sessions, and complete a reflective case study of your work with one public client.
If their mentor agrees and all other training requirements are complete to that stage, practitioners-in-training can begin to see public clients after completing the second Practice Intensive. If they have met all requirements of the Certification Phase, they can complete the certification process shortly after the third Practice Intensive, although most take longer.
Eligibility & Prerequisites
This is an advanced training intended for those with a strong foundation in personal healing, ritual arts, and Earth-honoring practice. Much of what you’ll learn will build on prior experience. Without certain foundational elements in place, some teachings might not make sense or be possible to embody. Please review the details of all three prerequisties before applying.
We ask that applicants be grounded in their own psychological and spiritual well-being prior to application. While the training includes personal and ancestral healing, the focus is learning to guide ancestral healing for others.
Qualities we value in applicants:
- Ongoing commitment to personal healing and wellness
- Vocational calling to serve others through ritual arts and spiritual practice
- Experience with ancestral reverence and ritual
- Historical and cultural literacy and commitment to justice and equity
- Established practice in some kind of healing art or work for cultural change
- Earth reverence and ecological awareness
- Openness to learning and being part of an international community
1) Prior to beginning the training, enroll in or complete any version of our 12-session foundational course, Ancestral Lineage Healing.
This requirement may be fulfilled by participation in previous cycles of the course or through enrollment in any of our 2026 cycles. Upcoming courses will run on Mondays beginning May 11 or Mondays beginning September 28. Register for the May course here.
Although not impossible to take the September 2026 course to fulfill this prerequisite it would make for a busy start of the training to also be taking the course, and this option only makes sense for those already steeped in the work in other ways (e.g., session work, in-person intensives) at the time of their application.
2) Complete four Ancestral Lineage Healing sessions with the practitioner of your choice from our network by September 1, 2026
We require applicants to experience the work they’ll be training for, from the client perspective. Low-income, online sessions are available in many languages and time zones. Search the Practitioner Directory.
3) Be sure that two or more of your primary/foundational ancestral lineages are in a healed condition by September 1, 2026.
Applicants are requested to have carried out ancestral lineage healing work – through any combination of personal sessions with Network practitioners, online coursework, in-person intensives, or personal ritual work – along at least two of your blood lineages in ways that result in healing for any along those lineages who are still in need.
This criteria establishes a baseline of ancestral wellness within the training vessel and creates a foundation from which to learn to guide others in their healing. At least four foundational lineages must be in a healed state before seeing public clients (as early as April 2027).
Internet access and comfort being online. The training is held online using Ancestral Medicine’s course portal, connection space, and Zoom for live teachings. Applicants need a reliable internet connection, a relatively quiet space during teachings and practice sessions, the ability to use and/or install basic applications for accessing documents and recordings, and an openness to engage in online spaces.
Availability for scheduled group exchanges. The weekly exchanges during Practice Intensive weeks and group mentorship meetings are important to attend live. Multiple options for international scheduling will be provided. The schedule for additional required teachings rotates to support international accessibility. Trainees are encouraged to attend teachings live as much as possible – recordings of all teachings are also provided along with a pathway to still receive credit for missed teachings.
Time commitment. The three Practice Intensives are four-to-six weeks each and require at least six hours per week. The training requirements during the interim periods between intensives will require about three hours each week. The training is a big commitment, and it’s likely manageable if you’re not concurrently doing multiple other trainings.
Training Schedule
Cohort Nine orientations are in September and the first Practice Intensive begins in early Oct 2026. A detailed schedule will available in May 2026, and this is the general shape of the 10-month foundational training:
|
September 2026 |
Orientation sessions |
3 weeks |
|
Oct – Nov 2026 |
Practice Intensive One: Ancestral Lineage Healing |
6 weeks |
|
Nov 2026 – Feb 2027 |
Interim One: Deepening with the ALH Method |
14 weeks |
|
March 2027 |
Intensive Two: Cultural Layers and Client Challenges |
4 weeks |
|
April – May 2027 |
Interim Two: Public Practice and Supervision |
8 weeks |
|
June 2027 |
Intensive Three – Deepening and Other Applications |
4 weeks |
Price & Scholarships
The cost for this professional training and certification is $7,500 USD.
Payment plan options up to 24 months are available, and participants are required to commit to a payment plan upon acceptance. Full payment, or a first payment of your payment plan, is required to hold your place. A $500 USD discount is available for participants who pay in full within three months of registration.
We’re deeply committed to fostering a Practitioner Network that’s globally, economically, and culturally diverse. The cost of the program enables us to offer financial assistance to less economically advantaged applicants and supports a sustainable Network. If you’re economically advantaged (employed in the Global North, own property or land, expect some sort of inheritance, have investments, etc.) and you’re not comfortable with the idea that the cost of the training will support access for others, this probably isn’t the right program for you.
Scholarships
Cost reductions are typically for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color), applicants from the Global South, those who fluently speak a language other than English and aim to put that into practice with the ancestral healing work, and others from economically disadvantaged nations or backgrounds.
Our focus this training cycle is “Ancestors and Psyche” which means that current and aspiring mental health professionals from the Global South or other less advantaged backgrounds will also receive strong consideration for scholarships. We do our very best to find solutions for all qualified applicants, and we encourage all who are interested in join us to apply.
2026-27 Area of Focus: Ancestors and Psyche
The previous four cycles of this training (Cohorts Four-Eight, 2021-2025) focused on different geographic and cultural regions. The intent was to support international access to ancestral healing services, deepen historical and cultural knowledge among the AM Practitioner Network, and nurture a global vision of ancestral healing and cooperation. This has been a success, and Ancestral Lineage Healing sessions are now available in over 30 languages and nations.
The focus of Cohort Nine will be Ancestors and Psyche. This certainly includes but is not limited to psychology as a distinct field emerging from Euro-centric spaces in the last 150 years.
No matter the special focus of any given cycle, training fundamentals are consistent. What does change is the following:
- Guest teachers this cycle will largely be international mental health professionals or those in related healing fields who also have a background in ritual arts.
- Relatively more financial aid will be reserved for current and aspiring mental health professionals from the Global South or other less advantaged backgrounds.
This regional focus does not mean that everyone needs to have a background or active interest in psychology or mental health professionals. The lead teacher and founder, Daniel Foor, has a PhD in psychology and has worked as a psychotherapist; however, this is not expected of training participants. There is no need to meet any special criteria around the area of focus, there just might be a few more therapists in this cohort.
How to Apply
The application deadline is August 1, 2026 or until spaces fill. As we paused the training for one year to allow for various systems upgrades, at the time of the opening of this application, our interest list is ten times greater than the number of available spaces. Meaning, if you’re called to apply, best not to drag your feet. If the link to apply is still below, the application period is still open.
1. Confirmation Email
After you submit your application, you’ll receive an automatic confirmation email.
If you don’t see it, check your spam folder first, then contact: info@ancestralmedicine.org.
2. Application Review (Up to 2 Weeks)
Each application is reviewed by three team members to ensure a balanced and fair process. We typically respond within two weeks with either:
- An invitation to interview, or
- A notice that we’re unable to offer you a spot at this time.
If two weeks pass without a response (and you’ve checked spam), please reach out.
3. Interview Process
Interviews are conducted by respected practitioners on our team and also reviewed by Daniel Foor and Sophia Anjum, our Practitioner Network Assistant. Final decisions are usually made within a few days of completing interviews, and we’ll notify you as soon as possible.
4. If You’re Accepted
To complete registration, you’ll:
- Sign the training agreement form
- Confirm a payment plan
- Submit your initial payment
5. Preparing for the Training
After registering, we ask that you focus on completing any prerequisites or foundational learning by Sept 1, 2026, in advance of our first orientation meetings in Sept 2026.
Join Our Waitlist
If you feel called to this work, we encourage you to prepare now for the next open application period in 2026. The best way to do this is to work on your own lineages in the meantime. When you apply, we’d like you to be familiar with the process of Ancestral Lineage Healing, to know your guides, and to have at least two lineages in a healed condition.
The best paths to arrive here are as follows. Try one or all, whatever is most accessible to you: Enroll in Ancestral Lineage Healing online, attend an in person intensive, or work with a practitioner, many of whom offer low income options. The book is also an excellent start, and also the most economical.
Please enter your information below and we’ll be sure to send an email when the next application period opens.
Our Commitment
We recognize that participating in this training is a significant investment of time, energy, and heart. We honor that commitment by upholding rigorous ethics, mutual respect, and sincere accountability. In that spirit, here are some ways we strive to guide a training process — and steward an international network of practitioners — genuinely worthy of your trust.
Organized, effective training
This will be our 11th well-run immersive training in ritual arts. We’re not winging it; our process is cohesive, ritually effective, and dialed-in so you can focus on the heart of the matter.
Values-based approach
We’re a values-based organization. We keep our word, fulfill our commitments, and walk our talk. We expect the same from those in our Network which makes for a great collegial vibe.
Excellent customer service
We start and end on time with reliable tech. We go the extra mile to reply in timely, professional ways to all who place trust in us. We’re a team of caring people with deep commitment to our craft.
Cultural respect and humility
We’re committed to teaching and embodying Earth-honoring ritual arts in ways that are non-appropriative, non-dogmatic, kind, humble, and rooted in an international, decolonial ethic.
Personalized mentorship
We seek to nurture each person’s distinct strengths and calling. Our training model balances core proficiencies with personalized support in areas you still need to develop to flourish as a ritualist.
Extensive quality resources
Participation includes a Training Manual, access to all past and future Continuing Education offerings, discounts to AM offerings, and inclusion in an international network of Earth-honoring ritualists.
Generative view of conflict
Working at the intersection of cultural healing, Earth changes, and ritual arts means we’ll stir the pot in unpredictable ways. We welcome this and have clear policies to respectfully navigate conflict.
Uplifting peer community
Joining the Ancestral Medicine Practitioner Network brings you into collegial connection with nearly 300 kind and brilliant people from over 30 nations from Cohorts One through Eight.
About the Instructor
Daniel Foor
Daniel is a doctor of psychology, experienced ritualist, and the author of Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing. He is an initiate in the Òrìṣà tradition of Yoruba-speaking West Africa and has learned from teachers of Mahayana Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, and the older ways of his English and German ancestors. He is passionate about training aspiring leaders and change makers in the intersections of cultural healing, animist ethics, and ritual arts. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Granada, Spain in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
About the Team
The Ancestral Medicine Practitioner Network is an international association of nearly 300 ritualists and healers representing more than 30 languages and as many nations. Through the course of the training, you’ll learn from and be supported by at least 20-30 of these good people in your personal and professional development. To see just a few our team and mentors you’re likely to encounter:
Frequently Asked Questions
We understand that people have other commitments in their lives. This training is designed with some self-paced elements that trainees can complete on their own schedules, and all required teaching calls held over Zoom will be recorded. We also provide ample scheduling options for international participants.
That being said, there are many group and one-on-one training elements which require live participation. These include session exchanges with your peers, personal and group mentorship, live observations, and group supervisions. We except participants to attend live for most gatherings.
In the event of unavoidable scheduling conflicts, we expect trainees to communicate with us in a timely way to arrange for a solution. Before applying, please review the basic training schedule (see above) and, once available, the more detailed schedule to know whether you’ll be available during these dates.
The time to complete certification will vary from person to person. In general, we hope to see all trainees meet certification requirements within a year of the final Practice Intensive. It is possible for trainees to complete all training and certification requirements by the end of Practice Intensive Three (late June 2027); however, most trainees will still have outstanding requirements to fulfill by this time.
There is no upper limit on how long a trainee can take to complete certification; however, after year or so has passed from the end of their final Practice Intensive, those not yet certified will be asked to participate in a regular Renewal of Trainee Status process, which involves meeting very modest Continuing Education requirements. There is no additional cost associated with this Continuing Education; it’s only to keep one’s training engagement current.
We track all applications on a rolling basis and active applicants can expect to hear from Ancestral Medicine staff directly. Please note that our system automatically acknowledges receipt of your application.
See the “How to Apply” section above for an overview of the application process. You can also reach out to info@ancestralmedicine.org with questions.
Please apply even if cost is a strong determining factor. Accessibility is a core value at Ancestral Medicine, and we are committed to evaluating applicants based on their merits and doing our best to find mutually agreeable financial arrangements when other factors favor participation.
In addition to payment plans of up to 24 months, we plan for a certain number of partial scholarships, and also oversee a Professional Development Fund for Ancestral Healing Practitioners that we may draw upon to assist applicants.
Our practice of centering equity as much as possible means that we favor scholarship applicants who are BIPOC, LGBTQ+, from the Global South, and/or who speak languages other than English. And we may elect to help any applicant with financial need. In each training cycle we also give priority to applicants who meet the special focus criteria. The focus for Cohort Nine is Ancestors and Psyche which means that we’ll be more likely to extend support to those in and around mental health professions from the Global South or other more economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
And about cost, just help us to know what you need, and we’ll do our best. If you don’t speak up, vulnerable as it may be, we can’t know if we’re able to meet you around it all.
There is no need to have any connection to the Special Focus of Cohort Nine to apply. Plus, the focus is “Ancestors and Psyche” so that applies to all of us. And more specifically, no, you don’t need to be a therapist.
The intent of the special focus each cohort is to support international access to training opportunities and ancestral healing services, as well as to deepen historical and cultural knowledge among the Ancestral Medicine Practitioner Network.
All past teachings from guests (over 75 hours of content) are accessible to the entire Practitioner Network, including incoming trainees (meaning that all trainees get access to teachings from previous years). Please see the relevant section higher up on this page for information about the Special Focus of Cohort Nine.
This is a professional training for ritualists, healers, therapists, and other kinds of cultural repair folks who feel called to guide ancestral healing work for others. This means that the material may be challenging and activating in ways that call for resourcing outside the training with whatever forms of support nourish you.
The more psychologically whole and resourced you are before the training starts, the better – as the focus will begin and remain on acquiring and embody ritual facilitation skills for the benefit of others. In other words, it’s decisively a professional training in ritual arts, with an eye toward trainees feeling personally supported in a kind and caring ritual vessel.
Deep ritual work carried out in partnership with the ancestors will inevitably surface material for healing and personal growth; this is fantastic and to be expected. In this practice, we tend to take this to our ancestors directly and also to the space of ancestral healing sessions, which can be scheduled in abundance at no cost with kind and trusted colleagues in the training.
In every cohort, we are not only looking for individuals with promise as ritualists of skill and integrity, but also those who represent diverse places, peoples, and life-experiences – including backgrounds affected by conflict or systemic injustice.
We navigate challenges that may arise in four intentional ways:
1) We invite a lot of space for cultural-level dialogue and holding a shared understanding that it’s not going to be perfect, but we can be kind. We encourage trainees to speak to whatever dynamic may need to be addressed, and that cultural healing is inseparable from ancestral healing. Within this, we agree to hold an ethic of humility, curiosity, kindness, and giving one another the benefit of the doubt when tougher moments need to be navigated.
2) We practice bringing what’s happening to our ancestors. They are the container for the larger working, including for teachers and staff. We slow down, resource with them and listen in together when the waters are fraught or when cultural pain is present. In this way, we balance modern day political frameworks and analyses with the sometimes surprising wisdom of our ancestors.
3) We provide affinity-based discussion groups in our online connection space to support folks in being well-resourced and connected to peers of similar backgrounds. Trainees are also welcome to self-organize gatherings, and our team is caring and responsive to any concerns that arise.
4) Finally, although Daniel is the senior teacher, the training model regularly includes the voices and perspectives of people of diverse ancestries, genders, nationalities, and life experiences. This includes guest teachers and experienced network practitioners.
The combination of these shared values – an ethic of kindness, direct ancestral dialogue, a mixture of different kinds of spaces, and diverse representation among the mentors and supporters – lead to good outcomes most of the time. And when it’s hard, we show up for the process and ask our ancestors to hold us through it all.
Visit this testimonials page to hear from practitioners who have participated in the training.
You may also reach out directly to those listed in the Practitioner Directory, especially if you feel someone there would be able to speak to your specific concerns. This directory does not include all of those in the Network as not all practitioners-in-training are featured there. So if you have a question you wish to direct to someone of a certain background (e.g., “Are there practitioners from Indonesia that I could speak with?”), you can message our team at info@ancestralmedicine.org and we may be able to make a connection for you if what you’re seeking is not available in the public-facing directory.
Have a question that’s not answered here?