Absolutely. We’re non-dogmatic, meaning we don’t require or expect any particular belief system. Instead, we offer tools and frameworks to help you develop your own practice in a way that feels authentic and aligned for you. This can look a lot of ways to a lot of different types of people. Some folks come to us with deep religious practices already established. Others relate to terms like “witch” or are interested in exploring paganism or other types of Earth-based spirituality. Some might lean into shamanism. Some might be interested in what’s just beyond the appealing trinkets in the local metaphysical shop. Some may be therapists, healers, and holistic care providers. And yet others may be more activist-oriented, with roots in social change work, wondering how ritual and personal healing can impact the culture we live in. 

Whoever you are, we offer an array of courses for different stages and levels of experience and interest. We strive to offer a welcoming and grounded approach to spiritual practice.

Ancestors focus: The ancestors are the collective wisdom of our species and they’re also the specific rowdy dead people who you knew during life and who now have gone ahead. We have several paths into ancestral healing and reconnection and each one supports the other. An in-person intensive is indeed intense, and involves several days of group learning, ritual, trance work, song, altar creation, and direct communication with your people. Ancestral Lineage Healing is a 12 session course with loads of support and resources including 24 live calls with a diverse array of teachers, small breakout sessions to support learning, and lifetime access to 18+ hours of recorded lessons. Many people take the course multiple times (you get a steep discount after your first time). If you’re not ready to dive into that, you can try a beginner two-part series to get some questions answered first. Working one on one with a practitioner offers a different sort of intimacy and saturation and sessions are available internationally in nearly 30 languages. You can also read the book, watch a free intro talk, or keep your eye on our announcements via email to attend a live one-time event online.

Many people dive into the work with both feet: attending an intensive, taking the course, and working with a practitioner all in one season. Others prefer a more gradual approach. Some only read the book or take the online class. It’s all up to the environment you favor and the price point that feels most accessible. Have a look at our ancestors page to learn more.

Earth focus: Animism is a generalized set of values that stands in contrast to human supremacy and affirms that we human folks are just one kind of person in a very diverse web or network of personhood. These extended family members include the plants, animals, mountains, rivers, ancestors, stars, deities, and 1,001 others. 

Our most foundational offering centering animist ethics and Earth-honoring spirituality is the full-length online course Animism and Earth Reconnection (formerly known as Practical Animism). Adjacent courses include Animist Psychology, focused on the intersections of animist values and psychological healing; The Opening Earth, a short course about embracing calling through turbulent times; and our full vocational program, the Animism and Earth Ritual Practitioner Training whose first cohort is early 2026.

Ritual arts focus: Whether the focus is on the ancestors, the land, or the sacred more generally, we also do some teaching focused specifically on reclaiming our innate capacity to engage in ritual as both play and science, technique and cultural art. Our two most fundamental offerings in this regard are Foundations of Ritual, an eight-series course on the building blocks of relationally-oriented spiritual practice, and Initiations: A Life of Ritual. The Initiations course is a longer twelve-session offering that explores the human lifespan as an initiatory journey and draws on cross-cultural teachings and practices surrounding rites of passage and developmental stages. Consider also the short, four-session course Spirit Contact for Beginners.

Psychology and healing focus: Our founder and director Daniel Foor has worked as a licensed mental health professional and holds a Ph.D. in psychology. In addition to Animist Psychology, he has also guided a number of short courses on topics of more psychological interest like Rituals for Healing Trauma, Skills for Healthy Conflict and Boundaries, and Practices for Grieving and Heartache. A three-course package (12 lessons in total across three themes) Evil, Curses, and Possession also includes a healthy dose of psychological material as do numerous public talks like Embracing Change and Transformation.

Cultural healing focus: All of our work resides at the intersection of psychology, ancestral healing, Earth reconnection, and ritual arts. Our norm is having these themes run through all of our offerings, but there are a few offerings that center cultural change work. Our most substantive offering in this regard is the full-length Ancestors and Cultural Healing course. Inhabiting the Times is a self-paced course that’s a great intro to supremacy culture and the antidotes to different expressions of this type of confusion. Daniel is also outspoken about the cultural issues of our times on social media and in various public interviews which you can find listed here (scroll way down).

Our founder Daniel Foor trained as a mental health professional (LMFT in California, USA) and completed a doctoral degree in psychology, and because of this, he often speaks to the psychological aspects of our work with the ancestors, Earth reconnection, and ritual arts. Some of our offerings even center psychology (e.g., Animist Psychology among other offerings.)

Additionally, we sometimes collaborate with practitioners more firmly rooted in the field of psychology: teachers of Internal Family Systems (IFS), Depth psychology, Family Constellations, eco-psychology, or similar modalities. Also, many in the Ancestral Medicine Practitioner Directory have professional training in mental health and may elect to weave ancestral healing practices into their other offerings.

The relationship between our offerings and psychotherapy is generally complementary. Psychology as a field is tricky and varies from one practitioner to the next. The field can come with a lot of Euro-centric, colonialist, sexist, classist, pathologizing baggage that reproduces harm. Likewise, good therapy can absolutely be a life-saver that leads to lasting healing, happier relationships, and a greater ability to engage in work for cultural change.

Daniel’s vision for the field of psychology is that it evolves to be of true service to the Global Majority, and expands to more often consider decolonial and liberatory approaches that include Earth reconnection. These are the sorts of inclusions we fold into our work at Ancestral Medicine.

We’re non-dogmatic and not trying to sell you on any particular beliefs. But we are animist.

We see animism as a practical, non-dogmatic way of living with respect for both human and other-than-human kin. Drawing on scholars like Graham Harvey, we relate with animism as an ethic, sensibility, or set of values (in contrast to human supremacy) rather than as anything terribly religious. If your heart relates with beloved pets, whales in the deep blue sea, or the land where you live as part of your community, you probably know what we’re talking about already.

One of our specializations as an organization, ancestral healing and reconnection, can be usefully understood as an expression of animist ethics because we’re validating the personhood or the reality of the ancestors. We hold no attachment to others adopting the language of “animism” but we do care about relationships and there being more love and care on Earth.

Our approach to animism, ancestor reverence, and ritual arts draws inspiration from teachings found in many different cultures.

Beyond this, Daniel is the founder and senior teacher with Ancestral Medicine and as such his approach to practice generally informs the teaching and direction of the organization. For more on Daniel’s training and influences see his bio. And also, we’re a diverse network of teachers and ritualists, all of whom are strongly encouraged to bring their unique gifts and goodness.

At Ancestral Medicine, cultural healing refers to the ongoing work of repairing historical and intergenerational harm while fostering respect, accountability, and reconnection. It is woven into our values, our teachings and offerings, and our participation in activism or collective action.

We approach cultural healing by honoring diverse ancestral traditions, addressing the impacts of colonialism and systemic harm, and creating spaces that are inclusive, trauma-aware, and culturally respectful. This means supporting historically marginalized communities, consistently offering financial accessibility, and prioritizing ethical engagement with ritual and spiritual practice.

Beyond our teachings, we contribute to cultural healing through charitable giving, community initiatives, and amplifying the work of practitioners dedicated to justice, equity, and ancestral reconnection. For more on our commitments, visit our Collective Action page.

Daniel is the founder and lead teacher with Ancestral Medicine and as such his approach to practice informs the tone and direction of the organization. If you take a course with Daniel, you will find a U.S. citizen of mostly English and German early settler-colonialist roots discussing an array of topics relating to animism, ancestral healing, psychology, and cultural change (for more on Daniel’s training and influences see his bio). If learning from someone of this background doesn’t work for you, but you’re still drawn to the content we’re sharing, you might notice which other courses and offerings are happening at any given moment as we do host teachers with a diverse array of backgrounds. In the end, our approach may not be for you and that’s okay.

Our work is rooted in animist ethics, psychological wellness, an ethic of cultural healing, and pragmatic ritual arts, none of which are unique to Indigenous people. 

Although many of the world’s Indigenous peoples would probably align with a generalized animist ethic, there’s also nothing terribly unique about loving and honoring the Earth and the many beings. The roughly 95% of humans on Earth who are not legally or politically Indigenous also have rich traditions of relating with our other-than-human kin as well as innate longing for intimate, sustained relationships with the land. There is no need to seek to legitimize this love or longing for wholeness by associating with Indigenous people or teachings.

Daniel is not an Indigenous person and does not presume to teach or represent any Indigenous system. 

He has spent dedicated time over the past twenty years in ceremonial space with some Indigenous teachers, especially with Native North American ways (primarily Lakota and Native American Church) and the late Buryat Mongol teacher Sarangerel Odigan. But he is unequivocally not a representative of those traditions and they are not an active part of his path. 

Daniel has also studied and respects the Earth-honoring traditions of his ancestors from Northern Europe, but these are not especially featured in the teachings of Ancestral Medicine, they’re not an active focus, and they are not Indigenous traditions per se.

Daniel has trained in West African Ifá/Òrìṣà tradition.

Although Yorùbá people are not technically Indigenous based on the legal/political definition of that term, Daniel has a long-standing involvement in Yorùbá traditions, and a white person from the U.S. participating in West African traditions may raise questions for some. Daniel’s involvement with Yorùbá Diasporal traditions began in 1996 and deepened through four pilgrimages to Nigeria (2013-2017) as well as hosting his Yorùbá teachers in the United States. While Daniel is initiated in several Yorùbá lineages or priesthoods (Ifá, Ọbàtálá, Ọ̀ṣun, Egúngún, and Òṣùgbó in the lineage of Olúwo Fálolú Adésànyà Awoyadé of Òdè Rẹ́mọ), no Ancestral Medicine offerings have any intent or presumption to teach Yorùbá culture, and Daniel is not a working priest in any of those lineages. He may at times reference basic principles found in the tradition (or others) and may even pray a little in Yorùbá as is customary for any awo Ifá, bàbá l’órìṣà or ọ̀jẹ̀-in-training; this is just one way he happens to pray based on his ritual training. He maintains an active relationship with his teachers in Nigeria and directs substantial financial support to them for their services. Most importantly, the offerings of Ancestral Medicine don’t center Yorùbá traditions and he’s not going to speak on something if he’s not confident about it. 

Daniel is also a practicing Muslim.

Although not raised in the tradition, he began observing salah (five times a day prayer) and Ramadan in his early 20s for a few years before being called in other directions. After over two decades away, Daniel stepped back into regular practice in 2022 and this continues today. This means he may at times pray in Arabic, wear a kufiya, and/or reference the Quran as one source of inspiration. Rest assured that he’s too old and chilled out to be pushy or preachy about others’ spiritual identities, and he holds Islam to be compatible with the core values of the organization. Like everyone else, Daniel contains multitudes and is full of (hopefully self-aware) contradictions.  

Our network is diverse

Ritualists in our global network number more than 200 as of early 2025 and we host many other outside presenters.  Each of them naturally draw upon their distinct life experiences, places and language of origin, diverse heritage and training in other lineages of practice when serving as Ancestral Medicine teachers, course supporters, or practitioners of ancestral healing. We celebrate this richness and diversity of expression within the larger framework of our shared organizational values. Whether people resonate or not with Daniel as a person, the organization includes many awesome people, each with their own unique gifts, lineages, and story to share.

We take concerns about cultural respect and appropriation seriously.

With respect to the more general dynamics, cultural respect calls for clear attribution of sources; accurate representation of one’s degree of training; ongoing connection with lineage when at all possible; clear lineage permissions to teach any given body of material; consideration of impact with respect to historical/ongoing power dynamics; and ongoing tangible reciprocity with living elders and communities. We’re tracking these concerns. They matter to us. 

We tend not to teach specific songs, prayers, symbolism, prescribed offerings, or cosmology. We will reference global learnings, teachings, and ideologies, and we’ll always attribute these ideologies to their source. If questions arise about specific instances, we commit to understanding and addressing them in ways that center the concerns of people directly involved, and we welcome specific questions with respect to any given practice or teaching that is a part of our offerings in the world.

Yes, and he’s also a teacher, business owner, author, husband, and the father of two young children who is also trying to decompress from decades of U.S. work-centric life.

Online engagements are almost always easier, and you’re always welcome to let us know what you have in mind by emailing info@ancestralmedicine.org. If Daniel is not able to accept a given invitation, we’ll likely refer you to the wonderful people in our Practitioner Directory.