ONLINE COURSE
Initiations: A Life of Ritual
Spring Season
with Dr. Daniel Foor
March 25 – April 25, 2023
From our birth until our return to the ancestors, the world will provide abundant experiences we can use to cultivate good character and grow into our authentic selves. Through a lifetime of initiations, we can mature into wise and kind elders and, in time, vibrant ancestors.
Initiations: A Life of Ritual is a journey through the seasons of life. Join us for a series of short, seasonal courses that explore stages of human development through the lens of ritual, psychology, and rites of passage.
The four-week Spring course centers on our journey from conception through childhood, and on healing the wounds and gaps we often encounter along the way. The course material weaves together insights from developmental psychology, diverse religious and spiritual systems, and cross-cultural ritual arts.
Ritual practices for transforming a lifetime of experience into wisdom, compassion, and presence.
In this course, you will
- Learn how to navigate rites of passage, transitions, and lifespan development through a framework built on spiritually and psychologically centered teachings.
- Experience how ritual arts can serve as essential life skills to effectively resolve developmental challenges as we mature.
- Set clear boundaries for consistent ritual and psychological safety, including for troubled family or cultural circumstances.
- Strengthen your practice through honoring natural cycles, including through our guided moon ritual calls.
- Engage this framework within an intentional online community, where you’ll enjoy support from experienced course supporters and affinity group spaces.
Investment
About our self-select pricing model:
- Supporter rate invites folks with comfortable financial means to contribute more. Your generosity covers the cost for us to offer reduced rates.
- Standard rate is the actual cost for us to offer this program and sustain what we do. If you are able to enroll at this rate, we encourage you to do so.
- Community rate invites folks with leaner financial means to enjoy Ancestral Medicine programs at a reduced cost. *Limited availability.
- Scholarships are for people experiencing sustained hardship or from economically under-resourced communities. *Limited availability.
All levels include monthly payment options, as well!
Money-back guarantee
If you’re not satisfied with the course after having engaged at least one lesson, we will grant you a full refund within 30 days of the beginning of the course.
What’s Included
- Weekly live teaching calls with Daniel, each 60-90 minutes. These calls are also recorded.
- Small-group breakout sessions during the teaching calls, facilitated by experienced practitioners. Includes optional breakouts for specific affinity groups.
- Generous collection of course resources, guided reflections, and suggested practices focused on the rite of passage for this season of life.
- Pre-recorded lessons, including transcripts and audio files.
- A guided moon ritual call Our Spring call will honor the first quarter moon.
- Access to our private Community Forum, where you can interact with Ancestral Medicine staff, course supporters, and fellow learners.
- Lifetime access to all course materials and recordings!
Developmental stages and ritual skills emphasized in the Spring course:
- Week one: Infancy, Voice, and Invocation
- Week two: Childhood, Boundaries and Safety
- Week three: Embodiment, Pleasure and Being Whole
- Week four: Rites of Passage for Babies and Children
Four Seasons of Ritual
Conception through childhood. Themes include voice, invocation, boundaries, pleasure, and living from wholeness and embodiment. Learn More
Adolescent to early adult. Themes include accessing spiritual guidance, passion and devotion, and working with grief and loss. Learn More
Midlife and early elderhood. Themes include clarifying destiny, sacred warriorship, making amends, and right use of power. Learn More
Elderhood through post-death. Themes include humility, service, ego death, rejoining the ancestors, and stabilizing love and wisdom. Learn More
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 runs from March 25 to April 25, 2023. Pre-recorded lessons will be released every Saturday at 12:00am US Eastern, beginning on March 25.
Live teaching calls with Daniel followed by practitioner-led breakouts will be held on the following dates (all times are US Eastern).
Week One: Thursday, March 30 at 3:30pm
Week Two: Thursday, April 6 at 3:30pm
Week Three: Thursday, April 13 at 3:30pm
Week Four: Thursday, April 20 at 3:30pm
Our Moon Ritual call, coinciding with the first quarter moon, will be on Wednesday, April 25 at 7:30pm.
All live teaching calls with Daniel will be recorded and can be viewed at any time in the online course space. The Moon Ritual call will not be recorded.
We recommend about 90 minutes to engage with the pre-recorded lessons, plus an additional 60-90 minutes for the live teaching call with Daniel. That’s approximately three hours each week.
The course is structured to follow an intentional sequence, so it’s recommended that you follow the lessons and practices in order. However, please don’t let the feeling of “falling behind” keep you from joining any of the live calls or engaging in the discussion forum. You’re very welcome to go at your own pace with the material.
For 2023, we have made significant updates to the structure of this course. Each course is now four weeks and coincides with significant dates for that season. There is also a moon ritual call that aligns with the moon phase for that season of focus. In addition, guided reflections and suggested practices that focused on that season’s particular rite of passage will now complement the lessons, live teachings, and additional resources for each seasonal course.
Other major changes from previous versions are largely schedule oriented. Initiations is now offered only as four separate season-based courses, instead of a whole year option so there are no interim calls between seasons, for example. We are also not offering affinity group calls separate from the teaching calls. However, each weekly teaching call will include the option for affinity group breakout sessions. Private space for affinity group conversation is also included in the course Connection Space.
Details for joining the 30-minute affinity-based breakouts and online discussion spaces are provided after registration. We ask folks to mindfully self-select for participation in these spaces, as best meets your identities and how you wish to be supported. You’re welcome to participate as often or as little as you wish. There’s also no pressure to opt in. We recognize there are many other affinity space interests. We encourage participants to self-organize through the private course connection space if interested in forming groups beyond those available.
Past participants of Initiations: A Life of Ritual will receive an email with a special discount for the Spring season. If you do not receive this email by March 15, please contact info@ancestralmedicine.org to request the link to register at a discount.
We’d be happy to help with any additional questions! Reach out to info@ancestralmedicine.org with your question and someone from our team will be in touch usually within two business days.
