Initiations: A Life of Ritual
Winter
Practices for Living and Dying
with Dr. Daniel Foor
Winter season begins January 21
Winter teachings explore the journey from elderhood through our return to the ancestors after death.
Initiations: A Life of Ritual is a course that explores how we navigate the seasons of life – from our birth to our return to the ancestors – through the lens of rituals that we use along the way. We incorporate insights from developmental psychology, diverse religious and spiritual systems, and pragmatic ritual arts, all rooted in an internationally aware, anti-oppressive cultural sensibility.
During the Winter session, teachings emphasize our conscious commitment to an ethic of service, understanding death as a rite of passage, and becoming whole and stable. Deeper themes include tethering identity to older sources, ego death, and the far reaches of human potential.
Investment
This course is offered on a sliding scale and all payment levels include monthly payment options. The options below are for live, interactive lessons for the Winter season only. To opt in for access to all four seasons of this course, click here.
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.
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.
Curriculum
What’s Included
What’s Included:
- Three recorded lessons with experiential guided practices and extensive additional resources.
- Three live teachings with Daniel and 30-minute breakout groups, including optional BIPOC and LGBTQ+ affinity spaces.
- Multiple support calls per lesson led by experienced ritualists.
- Access to a private course connection space to to ask questions, connect with other participants, and share experiences from your corner of the Earth.
- Lifetime access to course materials.
Lesson Ten
Lesson Ten: Elderhood, Humility, and Mending the World
- Consider elder rites of passage and pathways for ongoing cultivation
- Affirm the power and importance of joy, levity, play, and irreverence
- Learn to anchor identity to more stable ancestral and ecological sources
- Ritually turn toward and recommit to alleviating the suffering of the world
- Enjoy resources on elderhood rites of passage and responsibilities
Lesson Eleven
Lesson Eleven: Eclipse, Dying, and Becoming Ancestor
- Explore death of the body as a rite of passage to becoming ancestor
- Learn ways to further support ego death before physical death
- Continue to soften unhelpful binaries and to access unitive states
- Practice steady communion with elder forces for more effective service
- Enjoy resources on the ancestralization process and post-death journey
Lesson Twelve
Lesson Twelve: Awakening, Wisdom, and Becoming What Is
- Explore teachings on consciousness after dying and becoming an ancestor
- Learn pragmatic ways to prioritize soul cultivation over the lifespan
- Reflect on your life through the long view of increasing love and wisdom
- Practice experiencing personal center as opening to the ground of being
- Enjoy resources on the far reaches of human development and potential
Lesson Ten: Elderhood, Humility, and Mending the World
- Consider elder rites of passage and pathways for ongoing cultivation
- Affirm the power and importance of joy, levity, play, and irreverence
- Learn to anchor identity to more stable ancestral and ecological sources
- Ritually turn toward and recommit to alleviating the suffering of the world
- Enjoy resources on elderhood rites of passage and responsibilities
Lesson Eleven: Eclipse, Dying, and Becoming Ancestor
- Explore death of the body as a rite of passage to becoming ancestor
- Learn ways to further support ego death before physical death
- Continue to soften unhelpful binaries and to access unitive states
- Practice steady communion with elder forces for more effective service
- Enjoy resources on the ancestralization process and post-death journey
Lesson Twelve: Awakening, Wisdom, and Becoming What Is
- Explore teachings on consciousness after dying and becoming an ancestor
- Learn pragmatic ways to prioritize soul cultivation over the lifespan
- Reflect on your life through the long view of increasing love and wisdom
- Practice experiencing personal center as opening to the ground of being
- Enjoy resources on the far reaches of human development and potential
Four Seasons of Ritual
Elderhood through post-death. Themes include humility, service, ego death, rejoining the ancestors, and stabilizing love and wisdom. Learn More
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
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
Pre-recorded lessons will be released every other Saturday at 12:00am US Eastern with the first winter lesson, Lesson Ten, available on January 21.
Live teaching calls with Daniel followed by practitioner-led breakouts will be held on the following dates (all times are US Eastern).
- Call 1: Tuesday, January 31 at 3pm
- Call 2: Tuesday, February 14 at 3pm
- Call 3: Tuesday, February 28 at 3pm
Practice and Ritual Skills calls with practitioners will be held on the following dates (all times are US Eastern):
- Call 1: Tuesday, January 24 at 3pm
- Call 2: Tuesday, February 7 at 3pm
- Call 3: Tuesday, February 21 at 3pm
Integration and Personal Support calls with course supporters start on January 23 and will be held every Monday at 10:00pm and every Thursday alternating between 3:00pm and 8:00pm every other week (all times are US Eastern):
- Call 1: Monday, January 23 at 10pm
- Call 2: Thursday, January 26 at 3pm
- Call 3: Monday, January 30 at 10pm
- Call 4: Thursday, February 2 at 8pm
- Call 5: Monday, February 6 at 10pm
- Call 6: Thursday, February 9 at 3pm
- Call 7: Monday, February 13 at 10pm
- Call 8: Thursday, February 16 at 8pm
- Call 9: Monday, February 20 at 10pm
- Call 10: Thursday, February 23 at 3pm
- Call 11: Monday, February 27 at 10pm
The weekly BIPOC call will be held every Sunday at 4:00pm US Eastern starting January 22.
The weekly LGBTQ call will be held every Monday at 2:00pm US Eastern starting January 23.
New Moon Ritual Practice calls will be held on January 21 at 4pm US Eastern and on February 20 at 4pm US Eastern.
Formal scholarships are no longer available for the full four-season course. For participation in just the Autumn season, please contact us if you are in need of financial assistance.
At a minimum, about 90 minutes to engage with the lesson video and guided practice and an additional 60-to-90 minutes each week to engage with the alternating Practice and Ritual Skills calls and the live teaching calls with Daniel. This does not include the optional Integration and Personal Support hours each week (though we strongly recommend you take advantage of this time if questions arise about the content), nor does it include any of the weekly affinity-based community calls, each one hour long.
The course is structured to follow a process that is intentionally sequenced, so it is recommended that you follow the lessons and practices in order. That said, please don’t let the feeling of “falling behind” keep you from continuing to engage in the discussion forum or joining any of the live calls. The lesson videos, live calls with Daniel, and Practice and Ritual Skills calls are all recorded to be viewed on your own schedule.
No. All opportunities to connect and engage with other participants – whether through the small breakout groups, discussion forum, or community calls – are entirely optional. However, most participants find a sense of camaraderie and support from others walking this path. We hope and encourage people to share their stories and experiences with one another, not in a spirit of comparison, but rather one of mutual inspiration and kindness.
Details for joining affinity-based groups and community calls are provided after registration. We trust participants to self-select mindfully into these affinity spaces. This applies also to the additional affinity-based breakout groups that follow each of the live calls with Daniel. Information about the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ community calls/affinity spaces we offer as part of our online courses is available here.
All of our lesson videos will have closed captioning, as well as a full transcript and additional downloadable audio-only versions. Live calls will have automatic AI-generated closed captioning enabled. Recordings of teaching calls will be available soon after they take place, accompanied by a full transcript a few days later.
If you have needs not met here, please feel free to reach out to us with suggestions at info@ancestralmedicine.org.
If you find that the material of this live teaching series is activating in a way that warrants reaching out for personal support, please consider those in the Ancestral Medicine Practitioner Network to be one resource. Most are available for private one-on-one sessions, and many are willing to provide low-cost sessions to support financial accessibility needs.
Enrollment also automatically includes access to course-specific Connection Space—a dedicated online discussion group for course participants to engage with one another, trained practitioners, and Ancestral Medicine staff. Sharing experiences, reflecting on practices, and making connections in this private online community can provide one form of support.
There is no expiration on your access to the course materials and live call recordings (personal support and community calls are not recorded) after the course is completed. Just log into your Ancestral Medicine account at any time in the future and you’ll be able to repeat or continue with any part of the course.
For those registering for the full year starting with the winter session, you may request a refund within 30 days (by February 20) of the release of Lesson Ten (the first lesson of the autumn teachings) due to an unexpected life circumstance or simply because you do not resonate with the material.
For those only registering for the winter series of teachings, we will honor refund requests up to the release of Lesson Eleven (by February 4). To request a refund, simply reach out to: info@ancestralmedicine.org.
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 a business day.
