The Opening Earth
Reckoning, Sorrow, Courage, and Service
Our bodies and psyches are also the land. Earth changes are also deeply personal.
This series proceeds from the view that humans are also the Earth, that “nature” or “the environment” are fictions, and that we are embedded in a much wider community of kinship. Ecological catastrophe, years of global pandemic, and ongoing centuries of cultural harm – these are our times, with a forecast to intensify. And they are also playing out in our larger body.
The teachings and practices of this series are an invitation to those impacted by the Earth changes, those run through with sorrow by our choices as a species, and those called into fierce love and courage as a way to meet the times. When the troubled futures we have invoked here on Earth become present-tense, what now? When we enter more fully the storm of consequence, who are we? Who are we in these times? Who are we today?
Curriculum
What's Included
What's Included:
- Four recorded 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: Reckoning
- Explore connections between ancestors, Earth, and the body
- Reflect on dynamics of victim/victimizer and possession/depossession
- Consider honesty and reckoning on both personal and collective levels
- Practice knowing self as Earth and disidentifying from elder forces
Lesson Two
Lesson Two: Sorrow
- Reflect on compounded ancestral, cultural, and ecological losses
- Learn to expand range for grieving by aligning with elder powers
- Question unhelpful distinctions between human and Earth sorrow
- Practice allowing in both grief and joy with acute spiritual support
Lesson Three
Lesson Three: Courage
- Release blocks to more fully loving both with and as the Earth
- Explore love as action and lifestyle more than emotion and state
- Consider ways to melt pettiness and cultivate a world-shaped heart
- Practice giving and receiving love as an extension of the Earth
Lesson Four
Lesson Four: Service
- Learn cross-cultural frameworks for service over multiple lifetimes
- Consider the dance of being and doing, effort and surrender
- Invite the softening of rigid identity and egotism in living our calling
- Practice being enough and letting service arise from this state
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.
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 like trauma, bonding, psychosis, and belonging. The course is not a replacement for direct, living support and/or professional medical advice, and 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 both within and outside the field of psychology, and the online Community Forum includes BIPOC and LGBTQ-only discussion spaces.
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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