Manipulation, Fear,
and Deception
Inviting awe in a world driven by fear
SIX TUESDAYS
BEGINNING NOV 11
11:30am Vancouver | 2:30pm New York | 20:30 Madrid
About the Course
Fear, manipulation, and deception are often cast as the antagonists in personal growth and spiritual circles. We’re encouraged to transcend or banish these qualities in ourselves and to name and judge them in others—as if they don’t shape our lives as much as love or courage. Yet we know that ignoring what unsettles us only drives things unconscious where they take on even more power.
This six-part course draws on cross-cultural spiritual teachings, modern psychology, and movements for systemic change to take a different approach. We’ll lean into some of the most shunned dynamics rather than pretending these currents aren’t part of the human and more-than-human world. We’ll intend to meet fear and manipulation directly without judgment, bypassing, or collapsing into shame.
Expect to explore the uncomfortable places where “love and light” spirituality often refuses to go. In doing so, uncover deeper truths about yourself, your community, and the collective patterns we’re all swimming in as well as antidotes to the harmful patterns where we get stuck.
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Not sure it’s for you? Join us for a free talk on similar themes on October 21.
About the Course
Fear, manipulation, and deception are often cast as the antagonists in personal growth and spiritual circles. We’re encouraged to transcend or banish these qualities in ourselves and to name and judge them in others—as if they don’t shape our lives as much as love or courage. Yet we know that ignoring what unsettles us only drives things unconscious where they take on even more power.
This six-part course draws on cross-cultural spiritual teachings, modern psychology, and movements for systemic change to take a different approach to fear and manipulation.
We’ll lean into some of the most shunned dynamics rather than pretending these currents aren’t part of the human and more-than-human world. We’ll intend to meet fear and manipulation directly without judgment, bypassing, or collapsing into shame.
Expect to explore uncomfortable places where “love and light” spirituality often refuses to go. In doing so, uncover deeper truths about yourself, community, and the collective patterns we’re all swimming in as well as antidotes to the harmful patterns where we get stuck.
—
Not sure it’s for you? Join us for a free talk on similar themes on October 21.
Practice distinguishing between protective and paralyzing fear
Build resilience and stay connected when fear intensifies
Become more aware of how deception shows up in everyday interactions
Learn strategies to reduce the impact of fear-driven cultural conditioning
Course Overview
Fear and deceit are part of the ecology of our reality, seen and unseen. Animist traditions look to our other-than-human kin for inspiration, relational intimacy, and a greater sense of belonging and community. Great. But if we idealize the natural world as purely harmonious, innocent, or nurturing, we participate in a distortion that denies the messy, predatory aspects of the Earth and of our nature. Our other-than-human relations, just like any human community or psyche, include deception, manipulation, and fear.
Not always, of course, and not always with the human capacity for calculated cruelty. But pretending those realities don’t exist, or romanticizing nature or the unseen as endlessly benevolent, is neither skillful nor honest. This avoidance postpones a reckoning with what we’d rather not face, distorts our relationship with the world, and makes us less prepared for the complexities of intimacy, power, and responsibility. It also feeds a toxic positivity that can leave people feeling isolated or broken when their lived experience doesn’t match the sanitized story.
In this six-lesson course, we’ll center fear and manipulation as sites of inquiry in service to life, love, and liberation. We’ll explore how these forces move through our personal, ancestral, and collective lives, and how they can be exploited in systemic ways. Teachings and practices will help us discern what is sacred and even protective about fear, with an intent to dissipate shame and judgment that keep us from honest reflection and meaningful change. Each session includes 75 minutes of teaching followed by practitioner-anchored breakout groups for discussion and integration.
Six live 75-min teaching calls with Dr. Daniel Foor
Six small 30-min breakout sessions with trained ritualists
Over 20 carefully curated resources to accompany lessons
Unlimited access to recordings and course materials
Access to a dedicated community discussion space
Course Curriculum
Lesson One: Deception, Manipulation, and the Holy
- Explore diverse spiritual teachings on deception and manipulation
- Consider how commonplace lying, deceit, and manipulation can be
- Practice releasing shame in support of honest introspection
- Honor ways you’ve both enacted and experienced manipulation
Lesson Two: The Many Faces and Children of Fear
- Explore different intensities, forms, and flavors of fear
- Consider ways that fear gives rise to diverse human behaviors
- Identify sources of guidance and wisdom for being with fear
- Practice increasing your capacity to be with what scares you
Lesson Three: Bad Deceit, Good Deceit, and Core Values
- Consider forms of manipulation in service to love and ethics
- Anchor in core values and self-love to support deeper reflection
- Practice suspending condemnation in service to understanding
- Practice more fully honoring the ways you personally deceive
Lesson Four: Honoring both Personal and Collective Fear
- Practice distinguishing personal, cultural, and species-level fear
- Consider the role of tenacious, unhelpful cultural conditioning
- Learn to stay connected to support when dancing with big fears
- Engage in guided practice around the global impact of fear on Earth
Lesson Five: Remedies for Intentional Exploitation of Fear
- Consider ways bad actors and systems intentionally exploit fear
- Reflect on the leveraging of fear in modern spiritual materialism
- Explore ways to reduce your ability to be manipulated due to fear
- Inviting guidance on ways your life choices may be driven by fear
Lesson Six: Awe as a Path of Transformation
- Explore diverse teachings on fear and awe in devotional practice
- Reflect on experiences of overwhelm, flooding, or visionary states
- Consider fear in relation to humility, faith, and the source of power
- Practice, with support, sharing presence with what intimidates you
Register for Manipulation, Fear, and Deception
3 and 6 month payment plans available at checkout at 0% interest.
Early Registration | 25% Off
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Sale price available until September 20 or while spaces last
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.
Course Schedule
SIX TEACHING CALLS WITH DANIEL FOOR
- Tuesdays, Nov 11, 18, 25, and Dec 2, 9, 16
- at 11:30am Vancouver | 2:30pm NYC | 20:30 Madrid
CLASS STRUCTURE
Each live 105 min session will include 75 min of teaching and guided practice with plenty of time for live Q&A. 30 minutes in small breakout sessions anchored by trained ritualists in the Ancestral Medicine Practitioner Network.
All calls will be recorded and available in your course dashboard indefinitely. Look for recordings in 24-48 hours after the live call.
About the Instructor
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
6 Tuesdays | 105 mins
2:30pm New York | 20:30 Madrid | 11:30am Vancouver
Call 1: November 11
Call 2: November 18
Call 3: November 25
Call 4: December 2
Call 5: December 9
Call 6: December 16
The timing of the main calls favor participants in Europe and the Americas. Thanks to our international community of learners for your understanding around the challenges of time-zone inclusivity. All who register get lifetime access to recordings, and you’re welcome to send in questions for our teaching team to answer during live calls or in written form.
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.
All live teaching calls will be recorded and made available 24-48 hours later in the course portal to watch and listen to at your leisure, with indefinite access.
All our live calls are held via Zoom. Shortly after you register, you’ll receive a welcome email with instructions for locating this event – and its call information – in your Ancestral Medicine account. There’s no need to wait for that email, however. Registration automatically enrolls your Ancestral Medicine account in the event and places it in your Student Dashboard.
All of our lesson videos have auto-generated English subtitles, as well as downloadable audio-only versions of the lessons. If you have needs not met here, please feel free to reach out to us with suggestions at info@ancestralmedicine.org.
Should you wish to withdraw from an online course for any reason, please contact us at info@ancestralmedicine.org to request a full refund within the refund window of that specific course. For this 6-week course, you can request a refund before the second call begins.
Enrollment includes access to our Connection Space – an online discussion group of students, staff, and members from Ancestral Medicine’s Practitioner Network. Sharing experiences, reflecting on practices, and making connections in this private online community can provide one form of support.
You can also bring questions to the instructor during live calls.
Have a question that’s not answered here?