January Ancestral Collaborations Workshop & Registration- RECORDED SESSIONS

In this four-part introduction we will receive the basic guidance we need to recover the everyday enchantments that unfold all around us when we invite the dead back into our lives.

Every single one of us has intuitive and imaginative powers that can allow us to collaborate with those on the other side to generate miracles. Together, in this empowering introduction, we will each access the wisdom of our ancestors and awaken to a world filled with possibility, wonders and magic.

Together we will explore both traditional and creative ways to summon the dead, honor their presence, receive their messages and guidance, and nurture beneficial relationships of healing and empowerment.

We’ll explore summoning spells and sacred offerings, miracle cultivation, the healing that comes from working with ancestral cycles, the guidance of animal allies, and the power of connecting with the subterranean rivers of renewal and rebirth within. What does it mean to collaborate with our ancestors beyond patriarchy, beyond anthropocentrism, beyond time itself?

Before religious and institutional intermediaries suppressed our conversations with the unseen world, the living routinely sought the guidance of their ancestors. Their collaborations with the dead kept these peoples in intimate relationship with the earth, connected them to the long story of their souls, and wove them into community with each other.

Each session will include activities, engaged storytelling, and ample opportunity for questions and conversation among participants.

Session 1: Making Space in Our Lives for the Dead

From daily rituals and litanies to ancestor altars and offerings to the departed, we will explore a rich variety of ways to summon the dead and make them feel welcome in our homes. We will address why there is nothing to fear from those on the other side—and why empire has cultivated superstitions and fears that we can safely let go of together.

We will expand our understanding of ancestral relationships beyond lineages of domination and power and embrace the entangled connections that weave us, often mysteriously, into the fabric of existence.

We will discover together that all the dead belong to us—and we belong to them—and how recovering this experience can transform our daily lives.

Session 2: Healing Collaborations

The dead don’t need healing—the living do. And the dead are uniquely positioned to help us bring about the transformations, manifestations, and empowerments that will let us know that they are really there and that we can trust them.

We will enter into this work slowly and carefully, being sure to address our relationships with the ancestors we fear and hate. We’ll talk about how forgiveness can unfold and why the dead are so eager to atone for their mistakes and misjudgments. We’ll develop practical plans for putting our own dead to the test in ways that feel doable and safe.

Most of all, we’ll explore what happens when we begin to realize that we have helpers on the other side—guardians and guides, problem-solvers and miracle-makers of all kinds. How do we address our own feelings of unworthiness? How do we let go of the delusion that we have to go at life alone? How can we feel embraced by the circling arms of all the ancestors eager to send us blessings and make real magic happen for us?

Session 3: Three: Communicating with Those on the Other Side

Everyone used to be fluent in the language of the dead—from how they spoke through the flowers and the birds to interpreting their messages in dreams and visions. Together we will identify different oracular tools that can help us recover our intuitive abilities.

We’ll talk about traditional systems of divination—the I Ching, the Tarot, astrology, conjure cards—and the wisdom of consulting with professional psychics and seers. We’ll outline helpful safeguards for working with these communications effectively and untangle ideas of fate and destiny from the unfolding possibilities of a multidimensional world. Issues to be discussed include precognition, prophecy, and the mysteries of time and space.

Finally, we will ground ourselves in the earth, revealing how the language of the dead is no different than the language of the entire natural world. How does communicating with those on the other side transform our daily interactions with trees and bees, mountains and river, stones and stars?

Session 4: Rebirth, Renewal, and Reunions or Becoming the Dead

What happens in our lives when we reconnect with the long story of our souls? How do we do this? How does reincarnation “work?” Who have we been? Who will we be? What does it mean to recognize ourselves once again as the dead themselves?

Once, the circular realities of birth, death and rebirth were ubiquitous and everyone knew that we always were returning to each other. The loss of this wisdom has led to nothing less than the imminent destruction of all life on this planet. How can recovering the lived experience of reincarnation give us the imagination and the resilience to step into a world renewed and revitalized?

Finally, we will take the confidence and the courage we have summoned with the help of the dead to collaborate with them in sending our prayers forward to our future selves. What would we do today if we knew we had all the time in the world? What prayers are we ready to carry with us lifetimes upon lifetimes? What does it mean to remember that we are all each other’s ancestors?

All sessions are recorded and sent to all participants after each session. There is always ample time for engaged participation, for questions and conversation, but the course can be accessed entirely from the recordings.