The Opening Earth
Reckoning, Sorrow, Courage, and Service
A four-part series from Dr. Daniel Foor
This course is on demand, and may be enjoyed at your own pace.
About the Course
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?
About the Course
This course is for ritualists and witches, healers and guides, writers and educators, and anyone seeking more deliberate use of speech and power in their daily life and relationships. Teachings will benefit those who want to reclaim or enliven their prayers, learn about curses and ways to neutralize harmful magic, or deepen understanding of the power of words and clear intent.
The approach will be kind, safety-oriented, but also unfiltered with respect to concerns around right use of power. The intent is for those who join to acquire more understanding of and skills for prayer, unraveling curses, and responsibly wielding power.
Our bodies and psyches are also the land. Earth changes are also deeply personal.
– Daniel Foor
Four recorded 90-minute lessons
Guided, experiential practices with each lesson
Extensive additional resources featuring diverse voices
Lifetime access to all course materials
Access to a dedicated community discussion space
Course Curriculum
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: 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: 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: 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
Register for Practices for Grieving and Heartache
3 and 6 month payment plans available at checkout at 0% interest.
Supporter
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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.
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.
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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