Care for the Dead and Dying
Teachings and Practices for Conscious Transitions
A four-part series from Dr. Daniel Foor
This course is on demand, and may be enjoyed at your own pace.
About the Course
Like any major life transition, death is an initiation. One that profoundly affects not only the person dying, but also those who remain. Across cultures and throughout history, the presence, skill, and relational care of loved ones before, during, and after death have been understood as essential to the well-being of the departing soul and the wider community.
This self-paced course offers an inclusive, cross-cultural framework for tending the dying and the dead—not as a medical or religious protocol, but as a relational, soul-level practice rooted in respect, presence, and humility. You’ll learn tangible skills for accompanying loved ones through the end of life, the time of death itself, and the often-overlooked months that follow.
Rather than treating death as a singular moment or an unspeakable rupture, the course approaches dying as a process with before, during, and after phases, each carrying unique opportunities for loving, ethical care.
You’ll be invited to examine your own assumptions about death, soul, time, and continuity while gaining practical tools you can put into practice when the moment arrives. This overview course does not treat in detail practical matters like treatment of the body, legal inheritances, etc.
The course is about showing up skillfully, relationally, and consciously for others and for yourself during life’s biggest transitions.
Death is not a singular moment but a rite of passage that unfolds over weeks, months, or even years
– Daniel Foor
More about the course
This course blends cross-cultural teachings, reflective inquiry, and practical ritual skills to support participants in developing foundational confidence and clarity around death care. Specific spiritual beliefs or prior training are not required.
You will…
- Gain a broader, non-reductionist understanding of death, informed by cultural and animist perspectives.
- Build concrete practices for tending loved ones before death, at the time of death, and in the months that follow.
- Learn tools for presence when fear, grief, uncertainty, or spiritual complexity arise.
- Acquire language to counter the isolation, avoidance, and fragmentation that often surround dying.
- Develop ethical grounding for supporting others without imposing beliefs, bypassing grief, or overreaching your role.
Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on humility, consent, relational awareness, and cultural sensitivity, recognizing that death care is deeply shaped by ancestry, worldview, and lived experience.
FREE LIVE CALL
As part of this offering, all participants are invited to a complimentary 90 minute live call with Daniel Foor on Wednesday, February 11 at 9am NYC | 15h CEST featuring live teaching, reflection, and space for questions about the course material.
If you purchase this course after February 11, 2026, the recording will be included in your course portal at no extra cost.
Four recorded lessons, each approximately 90 minutes in duration
Two guided, experiential practices accompanying each lesson
Carefully curated resources to accompany lessons
Lifetime access to all course materials
Access to a dedicated community discussion space
Course Curriculum
Lesson One: The Soul, Death, and What Follows
- Explore cross-cultural teachings on death, dying, and the soul
- Reflect on your own mortality and essential preparations for death
- Consider the perspective of death as a rite of passage for the soul
- Practice accessing guidance and inner knowing on the topic of death
Lesson Two: Tending at the End of Life
- Learn ways to apply key cross-cultural teachings on preparing to die
- Consider ritual practices intended to clear the way for the next reality
- Reflect on personal blocks to embodying presence with the dying
- Practice honoring both what continues and what ends after death
Lesson Three: Supporting at the Time of Death
- Release conditioning that views the time of death as a singular moment
- Explore important teachings on consciously meeting the time of death
- Reflect on personal assumptions about the body, soul, and time of death
- Practice dual awareness of body and soul in live presence with others
Lesson Four: Postmortem Care for the Soul
- Explore cross-cultural views on the period of roughly one year after death
- Learn tangible and inclusive ritual skills to assist the recently deceased
- Consider personal and cultural implications of conscious death practices
- Practice partnering with guidance to call in support for one who has died
Register for Care for the Dead and Dying
3 and 6 month payment plans available at checkout at 0% interest.
Supporter
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This rate helps us make our work accessible to those with modest means and applies if you have investments, a retirement plan, and/or access to economic abundance.
Standard
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Our standard rate allows us to sustain our work. This typically applies if you’re employed in the Global North, and you’re able to provide for your needs in a consistent way.
Reduced
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This rate applies if you’re relatively less economically advantaged in the ways listed under “standard rate” or that cost is simply out of reach for you financially.
This short course deepens one's understanding of the various meanings of death. While it is an ending, it is also a beginning of what comes next. A new journey. A most ideal program for anyone who wishes to further understand this rite of passage, both for themselves and for those they may be guiding and supporting through the dying process.
– Wendy Dudley
Course Schedule
This is a self-paced course. You’ll receive access to all four lessons at once and we’ll email you once a week from your date of purchase to remind you to keep pace—you can opt out of these at any time.
Purchasing this course also includes attendance at a one-time free talk with Daniel Foor on February 11, 2026. See above for more.
You’ll also receive access to our connection space, a conversation forum where you can interact with other participants and Ancestral Medicine staff, and attend free events from time to time.
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. Daniel is passionate about training aspiring leaders and change makers in the intersections of cultural healing, animist ethics, and applied ritual arts. He lives with his wife and two daughters near Granada, Spain in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Frequently Asked Questions
This course is designed to explore mental health and ritual topics through an animist lens, and participants may find themselves reflecting on tender or vulnerable topics surrounding death. The course is not a replacement for direct, living support and/or professional medical advice. Enrollment does automatically include access to our Community Forum—an online discussion group of students past and present, including supportive members from Ancestral Medicine’s Practitioner Network and Ancestral Medicine staff. Sharing experiences, reflecting on practices, and making connections in this private online community can provide one form of support.
Ancestral Medicine offerings are rooted in feminist, decolonizing, anti-racist, LGBTQI-friendly, class-aware, international, Earth-honoring ethics and a heart-aware and non-dogmatic spirit that seeks to honor each participant’s unique life experiences and ancestral storylines. Resources included with each lesson favor ancestrally and geographically diverse voices.
All of our lesson videos have auto-generated closed captioning, as well as a full transcript and additional downloadable audio-only versions. If you have needs not met here, please feel free to reach out to us with suggestions at info@ancestralmedicine.org.
If you have general questions about our organization, offerings, or values, you may enjoy our Frequently Asked Questions page. If there’s something else, we’d be happy to help! Reach out to info@ancestralmedicine.org and someone from our team will be in touch, usually within 1-2 business days.
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