ONLINE COURSE
Inhabiting the Times
Ritual for Cultural Change
with Dr. Daniel Foor
A live, six-part series: Aug 17, 19, 24, 26, 31, and Sept 2 at 12:30pm EDT
May we move from an unshakable steadiness that can face both life and death. When we move through crises, may it be together and with resolve to embody our values.
Despite an incredible capacity for creativity and tenderness, we humans are still struggling to manifest global conditions that are loving, just and ecologically sustainable. Climate change and the rapid loss of biological diversity are as undeniable as the cultural toxins – poverty, sexism, racism, war, religious intolerance – that profoundly shape the lives of most human beings. Despite so much goodness, we’re not turning the corner on necessary changes.
This six-lesson course is an embodied inquiry into persistent cultural troubles as well as pragmatic actions and antidotes to those troubles. Participants will learn ways to effectively resource themselves to work for systemic change by better understanding the intersections of ritual, psychology and complex systems. Each lesson will include two guided practices and the approach is heart-centered, non-dogmatic, anti-supremacist and culturally inclusive.
Investment
This course is offered on a sliding scale and all payment levels include monthly payment options.
For this offering, we are also offering a pick-your-payment option. Please use this alternative payment option if the standard payment levels listed above are beyond your current financial means.
Curriculum
What's Included
What's Included:
- Six live lessons, each approximately 90 minutes in duration
- Two guided, experiential practices accompanying each lesson
- Access to a dedicated community forum for those engaged in similar learning
- Responsive and helpful support, if needed, from Ancestral Medicine staff
- Lifetime access to course resources
Lesson One
Lesson One: Sharing, Greed and the Creation of Poverty
- Discuss the enduring harms related to class, poverty and exploitation of labor
- Reflect on the psychological dynamics of greed, scarcity and hoarding
- Consider food, land and resource control in light of other cultural harms
- Seek to access and align our values with sacred reciprocity and abundance
- Practice ritually embodying fairness, generosity and respect for Earth
Lesson Two
Lesson Two: Animism, Human Supremacy and Extinction
- Discuss the human choices catalyzing irreversible ecological catastrophe
- Explore the psychological dynamics and cultural tenacity of human supremacy
- Consider animist, relational ethics as one pragmatic alternative to supremacy
- Reflect on ways to deeply embody animist values in our lives and choices
- Practice heart listening and connection in ritual with other-than-human kin
Lesson Three
Lesson Three: Celebrating Gender and Sexual Diversity
- Discuss fatal impacts of misogyny, gender-based oppression and sex negativity
- Consider the pervasiveness of body supremacies, including in spiritual traditions
- Explore the sacred roots of queer-celebrating feminism and sex positivity
- Seek to align our values with divine celebration of gender and sexual diversity
- Ritually call in blessings for our personal experience of sex and gender
Lesson Four
Lesson Four: Colonialism, Indigeneity and Sacred Space
- Discuss historic and ongoing manifestations of imperialism and colonialism
- Consider connections between war, domination and ownership of land
- Welcome the other-than-humans into our consideration of impact and remedy
- Explore an ethic of consent and sacred space in interrupting colonialisms
- Ritually invite sorrow for what is and guidance on your role in the healing
Lesson Five
Lesson Five: Uplifting Ancestral and Ethnic Diversity
- Discuss the fiction of race and fatal impacts of racism and ancestral supremacies
- Explore the creation, misery and tenacity of white and European supremacy
- Consider the psychological and systemic antidotes for ancestral supremacies
- Invite personal soul alignment with generations of inspired freedom fighters
- Bring heart, humility and ritual presence to the trauma of ongoing racism
Lesson Six
Lesson Six: Respecting Cultural and Religious Difference
- Discuss ongoing global devastation from diverse forms of ideological extremism
- Explore the psychological dynamics of rigidity, ego inflation and righteousness
- Consider ways that even life-affirming views can become rigid and harmful
- Learn to apply kindness and self-responsibility to places of personal rigidity
- Invite the elder powers to kindly make space for the world’s horror in your heart
About the Instructor
Daniel Foor, PhD
Dr. Foor is a licensed psychotherapist, doctor of psychology, 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 currently lives with his wife and two daughters near Granada, Spain in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Frequently Asked Questions
This course directly addresses often vulnerable topics related to ongoing violence and harm in the world. The material may stir complicated emotions for some participants, and support outside the vessel of the lessons may be important as the course is not a replacement for individual or personalized support.
Enrollment includes 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.
To the very best of our ability, yes. All Ancestral Medicine offerings seek to embody an anti-racist, feminist, LGBTQ-celebrating, decolonizing and Earth-honoring ethic. They are also class-aware and internationally conscious. We offer a heartfelt, non-dogmatic approach that seeks to honor each participant’s unique life experiences and ancestral storylines. Resources included with each lesson favor ancestrally and geographically diverse voices, and the online Community Forum includes BIPOC and LGBTQ-only discussion spaces.
All of our lesson videos have 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.
