September 2016
Greetings!

Wishing you all a great last few weeks of summer!

Earlier this month, I was blessed to enjoy my third pilgrimage to Nigeria to train with Yorùbá elders. For folks curious about West African Ifá/Òrìṣà tradition or why I love the culture enough to study Yorùbá language and keep returning to Nigeria, I'm guiding a free/open discussion tomorrow (Wed, Aug 31, 8:30pm Eastern) on my recent trip and involvement with the tradition (link to join here or call-in details on the calendar of events).

The next few months I'll be in Boulder, CO (flyer here), Berkeley, CA, Portland, OR, Athens, GA, and Saxapahaw, NC for ancestral and family healing intensives, teachings, and sessions. Also I'm excited when out to the Bay Area to be collaborating with Day Schildkret of Morning Altars for a day of earth ritual (9/28) Crafting Autumn Altars for the Dead (Facebook event & info below). Day's work is gorgeous; hope you can join!

Earth and land-focused rituals in Asheville, NC this month and next as well as the monthly ancestors circle are ongoing. For offerings with an emphasis on social and earth justice see:
Lots of ongoings, trying to keep the newsletter succinct and clear for folks in different places; just reach out if anything's not clear.  Thanks all for your service for a kinder more sane world.
Ancestral and Family Healing Intensives
Boulder, CO // Berkeley, CA // Portland, OR 
Athens, GA // Saxapahaw, NC // Rowe, MA

Everyone has loving and wise ancestors, and by reaching out for their support we access tremendous vitality for personal and family healing. In addition to supporting repairs with living family, our ancestors encourage healthy self-esteem and help us to clarify our destiny, relationships, and work in the world. 

Participants will learn to relate safely and directly with family ancestors, both helpful guides and the dead who are still in need of assistance. Expect to engage lineage ancestors through prayer, song, visioning practices, offerings, forgiveness work, and group dialogue. This is the foundational ancestor training I've guided throughout the United States since 2005. 

There are no prerequisites, however, experience with inner work/psychological healing and relating with spirit guides/teachers are both helpful. Folks new to ancestor work, adoptees, and those with a tough experience of family are welcome. Those with a healing arts practice will learn new skills to support your work.

Spaces are limited; preregistration and full attendance requested. Trainings are 10am-5pm each day. Just be in communication if you need a reduction in cost to be able to join us. 
Full details for each specific offering are available on my calendar of events. Please see the ancestors page of my site for details on my approach to the work.
Crafting Autumn Altars for the Dead 
Wed, Sept 28th, 10am-5pm in Wildcat Canyon (Richmond, CA)
A Co-Created Day of Earth Ritual w/ Day Schildkret and Daniel Foor

Join Day Schildkret and Daniel Foor for a day of ritual tending in Wildcat Canyon to feed your blood ancestors and the many spirits of place with earth beauty and land art. As the autumn veils begin to thin, access to our loved ones on the other side grows stronger. We'll spend the day learning a seven-step process to create earth altars. Working with the land and found materials we'll ritually feast and commune with both our recent and older lineage ancestors for personal healing, empowerment, and the well-being of our families. Through shared time in embodied, heart-centered ritual we'll also honor the collective movement into Autumn, the upcoming Rosh HaShanah Jewish New Year holiday, and our connection with the land and peoples in the Bay Area. (Facebook event page)

No experience necessary. Cost for the day is $80, no one turned away for lack of funds. Expect some gentle hiking over the course of a day on the land. For more info on Day's work or to register for this one-time co-created goodness, please see: morningaltars.com/events
Ancestral Healing in Jewish Traditions 
Three-day Intensive, Thurs 9/29 - Sat 10/1 
Berkeley, CA (Facebook Page)

When rooted in the traditions of our blood lineages, practices of ancestor reverence can bring about family and cultural healing. Jewish tradition is ripe with practices for honoring the ancestors, and offerings in this series will draw on practices based in the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic and mystic teachings, and Jewish lore across time and place. We warmly welcome participants across the spectrum of Jewish experience, including those new to Jewish practice, those new to ancestor work, adoptees, and those with a tough experience of family.

In the days before the Rosh Hashanah, we'll convene in Berkeley, CA for Hillula: An Ancestral Healing Intensive in Jewish Traditions. A Hebrew word meaning praise-celebration, hillula suggests a festive pilgrimage to honor the continued influence of our great ancestral teachers. This three-day immersion will include practices for relating safely and directly with helpful family and lineage ancestors as well as those still in need of assistance. We'll gather Thurs, Sept 29 - Sat, Oct 1, 10am-5pm (encouraged Friday evening prayer service 6:30-8pm). Cost for the training is $400, some spaces available for reduced payment. People from all backgrounds welcome, spaces limited, and pre-registration requested. Be in touch with questions or register: ancestralmedicine@gmail.com.

This training will be co-led with Taya Shere of Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute (www.kohenet.com) and (www.holytaya.com).
Ancestral Healing and Social Justice 
Online Course, 8/18- 9/15 (Info & Registration Link)
Day Training, 10am-5:30pm
 10/2 in Berkeley, CA (Facebook page) & 10/30 in Athens, GA

Both the online course and day training in Berkeley will focus in on the role our ancestors play in the pursuit of social and earth justice. We'll consider ways in which the unhealed dead already speak through so many of our current cultural conflicts and how we can more consciously invoke ancestral support for necessary change and healing.

All are welcome for these offerings, including those new to practices of ancestor reverence and ritual or new to work for social and ecological justice.

Ancestral Healing and Social Justice (Online Course). Because social justice can refer to healing needed along so many different fault lines in the human experience, I have narrowed the focus of the brief online offering to three specific themes: religion (session one), race (session two), and gender and sexuality (session three). There will be plenty of time each session for discussion as well as tangible suggestions for calling on ancestral help for personal and cultural healing. 

All sessions will be recorded for playback at any time (still fine to join for the remaining two sessions and listen to the recording for the first). If you're not able to attend the live sessions you can still send in questions. Cost is $60 for the series. Please talk with me if you need a reduction to join; I feel strongly about this offering being accessible. Those with a long track-record of working for social justice are welcome by donation. 

Calling Our Ancestors for Social and Ecological Justice. 
Berkeley, CA (10/2) and Athens, GA (10/30). 
The emphasis in this day will be on participants learning ways to strongly call on their wise and helpful ancestors for social and earth justice work (however that looks for you). Attendees will learn to recognize and more skillfully navigate the role that the ancestors (and the ghosts) play in interpersonal challenges as they relate to larger movements for cultural healing. Expect to leave the day with a handful of tangible, immediately applicable skills for what you already do.

Cost is $125 in Berkeley, CA (10/2) and $90 in Athens, GA (10/30). I feel strongly about keeping this offering being accessible; just talk with me kindly if you need a reduction to join, and we can make it work. Spaces are limited, pre-registration requested. To register, paypal to: ancestralmedicine@gmail.com. Be in touch with questions and feel welcome to share with folks who may benefit. 10am-5:30pm. (Facebook page for Berkeley 10/2)
Asheville Ancestor and Earth Rituals
September-October 2016

Sat, Sept 3rd, Ritual to Honor Spirits of Metal, Fire, and Technology. This invitation and the possibility of gathering depends on coal-generated electricity, petroleum extraction, extensive mining, and many combinations of metal, fire, and technology. This is also nature, also sacred. At over 1,000 mining sites (many still active) in Western N.C., humans have extracted mica, gemstones, lithium, limestone, sand, gravel, silver, gold, etc.. This taking-without-asking leads to ongoing disturbance and diminished trust between living humans and the many spirits of this land.

In this inclusive teaching and ritual, we'll listen in and give thanks for the tremendous generosity of the local earth that supports our modern ways of life. We'll give special praise to Ògún, a deity of iron, fire, and technologies in Yorùbá culture and Ifá/Òrìṣà tradition. Location is a private residence in Alexander, NC. Suggested donation $25, no one turned away. Potluck before circle from 5:30-7:30pm or so.

Wed, Sept 21st, Ancestral Healing Monthly Circle. Once folks are introduced to the possibility of transforming intergenerational pain and activating blessings along their ancestral lineages, it's often beneficial to have a regular group ritual to drop in together for that tending. Monthly gatherings emphasize learning to relate with blood/family ancestors and include prayer, visioning practices, and heart-centered dialogue. To join you'll want to have either attended a training or done one individual session to have context for what we're up to. 6:30-8:30pm, Asheville. Suggested contribution $30-40. 

Lightning
Sat, Oct 22nd, Honoring Spirits of Rain, Storm, and Transformation. Earth-honoring traditions encourage us to come into more conscious relationship with the natural world we call home. In this day teaching, we'll respectfully greet and ritually feast the powers who oversee weather, rain, and storms in Western North Carolina. This will include seeking to understand how these transformative energies inform our personal lives and relationships. 

We'll thank the spirits of storm and weather for the year's rains and for their role larger communal and cultural transformations. We'll also inquire about human-driven weather disturbances and the unseen or spirit dynamics of global climate change. We'll give praise to Ọya and Ṣàngó, deities of storm, fire, and transformation in Ifá/Òrìṣà tradition and Yorùbá culture; however, folks from all traditions are welcome, ritual will be inclusive.

Participants in the day training (11am-6pm) are warmly encouraged to stay for community potluck (6-7:30pm) and evening fire (7:30-10pm). The day's ritual will inform our apology to the spirits for human desecration of the atmosphere at the evening fire ritual. Location for the day training and evening circle is a private residence in Alexander, NC. Cost for the training is $90, flexibility if needed. Suggested donation for those attending only the evening circle is $25, no one turned away. 

To confirm, for directions, and for ways to prepare, be in touch: ancestralmedicine@gmail.com.
Personal Sessions

Individual sessions tend to be about ancestral and family healing, spiritual guidance and mentorship, or occasionally consultation for folks building a holistic healing practice. People sometimes reach out to try to make sense of a spiritual calling, and also have a background in psychology if you're struggling with the 1,001 things of life and just want to approach it all from a more holistic angle.

I offer a free 15-minute phone consult to decide if you'd like to set a session. Sessions can be by phone or Skype, in-person in Asheville, or sometimes in-person when I'm traveling to teach (e.g., CA, GA, NC, OR, CO). For more info see: personal sessions.
Dr. Daniel Foor | (828) 767-9234 | ancestralmedicine@gmail.com | www.ancestralmedicine.org