January 2018
Greetings all.

Thanks for your kind words and prayers upon the birth of our daughter. We're well here, adjusting to new rhythms, cozy amidst a cold spell here in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

This year I'm traveling less to focus more on family, mentorship of the ancestral healing practitioners, developing quality online courses, and sinking into the second book. That said, there are some exciting happenings both here in North Cackalacky and elsewhere.

The intensive this month in the S.F. Bay Area is full with wait list but the two talks are open to all (Jan 16th in the City & Jan 17th in Mountain View, details below). Then the next training is April 13-15th in Victoria, BC. I don't have other three-day ancestor intensives set up after April, and I'm considering still offering one or two in 2018, so feel welcome to let me know if you think there's local interest and want to explore this.


I'm jazzed to be co-creating a day of ritual learning with Bayo Akomolafe in from India to North Carolina of all places. Monday, March 19th in Carrboro, NC

Spaces are over half full for  the third practitioner training  and interest now exceeds available spaces, so do apply if you have in mind to be with us as I'm guessing it'll be closed by sometime in February and I don't anticipate running it again until later in 2019. We gather  May 8-13th & Oct 2-7th, 2018 in  Highlands, NC  and all other work between retreats is at distance from wherever you're at.

Thanks again to the 200+ international participants in the first ancestral lineage healing online course. I'm heartened by the learning and breakthroughs that folks are reporting so far and look forward to the Part Two of the course starting this Sunday.

If last year was an indicator here in the United States, the year ahead could be pretty special. Keep doing what helps you to stay resourced and well connected to love, the Earth, and good people (human and otherwise) through all that's ahead. Your specific contributions and gifts are essential.

With gratitude,

Daniel

(828) 767-9234
ancestralmedicine.org
Ancestral Lineage Healing Events  
Berkeley, CA / Victoria, BC / TBD

Everyone has loving and wise ancestors, and by reaching out for their support we access tremendous vitality for personal and family healing. Relating with our ancestors encourages healthy self-esteem and helps us to clarify our destiny, relationships, and work in the world. 

Participants will learn to relate safely and directly with family and older lineage ancestors, both helpful guides and those still in need. See link for description. Folks new to ancestor work, adoptees, and those with a tough experience of family are welcome. Healer folks will learn new skills to support your work with clients.
Decolonizing the Dead:
Partnering with the Ancestors for Cultural Healing
A Collaboration with Bayo Akomolafe
Monday, March 19th / Carrboro, NC

We all have ancestors who continue to influence our lives in the present. And until very recent times nearly all of these lineage ancestors engaged in some form of ancestor reverence during their time on Earth. Yet relatively few modern Western peoples actively relate with their beloved dead and many even distance from their roots due to painful legacies. For millions of Native and African-ancestored peoples in the Americas this breakdown of relationships between the living and the dead is a legacy of European colonialism. For many of European settler ancestries, these troubles began even earlier with the rise of Roman and Christian Empire. Fortunately our ancestors dwell in the present and can become a source of nourishing and empowered relationship no matter how troubled your people's specific historical journey. 

This co-led day with Bayo and Daniel will be a weave of embodied learning and inclusive ancestor-focused ritual. Participants can expect to learn one framework and some tangible skills for drawing on the support of their pre-colonialist, earth-honoring ancestors for personal, family, and cultural healing. No prior experience with mythopoetic decolonization work or ancestor-focused ritual required. Folks of all backgrounds warmly welcome. Cost is $120 for the day, spaces are limited, and registration is open ( details here). Bayo will also be guiding a talk the evening before in Greensboro, NC.

Bayo Akomolafe, Ph.D., is a lecturer, speaker, author, and proud father whose work of responding to civilizational crisis is inspired by indigenous cosmologies and an ecofeminist ethos. His offerings are international in scope and fed by his roots in Yoruba-speaking Nigeria, his adoptive home of Chennai, India, and devotional love of his wife Ej and their two children. He is the author of  These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to my Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home. For more information see:  bayoakomolafe.net.
Animism and Earth Reconnection
A Five-Month Online Course
April 15 - August 5
Details & Registration by Early February

Despite being all 'ancestors this' and 'ancestors that' and writing a book on ancestral healing, that specialization actually arises for me from a more long-term and sustained devotion to the Holy Earth and the other-than-humans. I first learned to talk about that as shamanism and paganism, but I have settled on the descriptor of animism. And however works...dirt-worshipping relationship with the rest of life. 

Like the Ancestral Lineage Healing Online Course, I'll be trying to pour everything I've learned over the last 25 years of witchery into an accessible, non-dogmatic, culturally-mindful offering. There will be 14 lessons with some break in between, exercises and ritual skills with each lesson, a discussion space, and lots of prompts to get out and engage in some place-oriented ritual with the others wherever you happen to reside. Registration along by next month!
Ancestral Lineage Healing Practitioner Training
May - October 2018

This six-month training in the ancestral lineage repair method is for experienced ritualists who are psychologically well, already in relationship with their own ancestral lineages, and called to guide ancestral healing for others. Training begins and ends with a residential retreat in  Highlands, NC. Between retreats participants will engage in five monthly group video conferences (May-September), five individual mentorship sessions with Daniel, and one-on-one ancestral healing sessions with other trainees by phone or video conference.

Graduates of the practitioner training may then pursue certification in ancestral healing. This will be the third cohort of ancestral healing practitioners. The next (fourth) group is not likely to begin until late 2019. Spaces are limited and half full with lots of interest. For details: ancestralmedicine.org/practitioner-training/
Free Resources
Ancestral Healing, Animism, & Cultural Healing

I'm committed to keeping my offerings accessible to folks of variable means and diverse backgrounds. This also includes: 
  • Free audio/video resources. On the bottom left of the homepage of my site are hours of links to interviews including this archive of past talks
  • Blog posts. I have a half-dozen posts with intent to add more as time permits (link to blog).
  • Voices of the Earth Project. From 2009-13 I founded and helped guide a non-profit (Earth Medicine Alliance). One project interviewed earth-honoring teachers such as Alex Stark, Graham Harvey, etc: www.youtube.com/user/EMAVoicesOfTheEarth/playlists
I'm also open to new interview opportunities and ways to bring animist teachings and practices and ancestor reverence and ritual to new audiences. 
Personal Sessions

Sessions are reserved for current or past trainees in ancestral healing and clients with whom I already have an established relationship. I occasionally do consults for folks working in ritual arts or other leadership capacities and can make referrals to other practitioners, so it's still fine to reach out. Same if you're considering the practitioner training. And if you know you're seeking personal ancestral healing work, consider these wonderful people I've trained and believe in ( link for practitioner directory). Sessions can be Skype, Zoom, phone, or here in Asheville. For more info see:  sessions and the online scheduler. 
Ancestral Medicine: 
Rituals for Personal and Family Healing

The book seems to be reaching some folks in good ways since the July 2017 release. Thanks all for your part in that! For ways to support the work of ancestral and cultural healing, consider:

---Buy an copy for yourself or a friend. The book's now available through all major distributors. For links to those sites please see the  book info page.

---Help make connections for podcast and radio interviews. If you know folks who offer these services and you feel the book and ancestor work could be a match for their practice, feel good about reaching out. My publisher (Inner Traditions) is happy to send along a copy of the book to established interviewers. 

---Write a book review. And If you're willing to offer a review on Amazon, Good Reads or somewhere else that's great! Some publications and journals also invite more involved reviews.