Ancestral Medicine

Daniel Foor, Ph.D., is a licensed psychotherapist and a doctor of psychology. He has led ancestral and family healing intensives throughout the United States since 2005. He is an initiate in the Ifa/Orisha tradition of Yoruba-speaking West Africa and has trained with teachers of Mahayana Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, and different indigenous paths, including the older ways of his European ancestors. He lives in Asheville, NC.

“Ancestor reverence is one of the pillars of Yoruba traditional religion, and it is my pleasure to recommend this book on ancestral healing by my student (omo awo), Daniel Foor (Ifabo wale). Through numerous visits to our home in Nigeria, I have overseen his initiations to Ifa, Orisa, and the ancestral medium society (Egungun), and I know him to be a person of good character. I urge everyone to benefit from his guidance on ancestral reconnection. Remain blessed.”

• List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Part One Foundations of Ancestor Work One My Personal Journey with the Ancestors Making Initial Contact • Family Research and Personal Healing • Learning and Teaching Ancestor Work Two Who Are the Ancestors? The Dead Are Not Dead • Family and Remembered Ancestors • Older Ancestors and the Collective Dead Exercise One: How Do You Feel about Your Ancestors? Three Spontaneous Ancestral Contact Dream Contact • Synchronicity • Waking Contact in Nonordinary States • Waking Encounters in Ordinary States Exercise Two: What Are Your Experiences with Your Ancestors? Four Ancestor Reverence and Ritual Common Intentions for Ancestor Rituals • Practices to Sustain Ancestral Connection Exercise Three: Ritual to Initiate Contact with Your Ancestors Part Two Healing with Lineage and Family Ancestors Five Family Research and Initiating Ancestral Healing Gathering What Is Remembered • Considerations before Working Directly with Your Ancestors • Choosing a Focus for Lineage Repair Work Exercise Four: Attuning to Your Four Primary Bloodlines Six Meeting with Ancestral Guides Ancestral Guides • Using Ritual to Contact Ancestral Guides • Ways to Deepen Relationships with Ancestral Guides Exercise Five: Seeking an Ancestral Guide Seven Lineage Ancestors and the Collective Dead Ancestral Lineage • Assessing the Lineage • Making Repairs with Older Lineage Ancestors Exercise Six: Getting to Know the Lineage Exercise Seven: Ritual to Assist Lineage Ancestors Eight Assisting the Remembered Dead Emotional Healing, Forgiveness, and Unfinished Business • Psychopomp, Elevation of the Dead, and Ancestralization • Work with the Very Troubled Dead and Related Spirits Exercise Eight: Ancestral Forgiveness Practice Exercise Nine: Soul Guidance for the Remembered Dead Nine Integration and Work with Living Family Prayer for Self, Family, and Descendants • Embodiment, Channeling, and Mediumship • Completing the Lineage Repair Cycle • Ancestor Work beyond the Lineage Repair Cycle Exercise Ten: Embody the Lineage and Offer Prayer for the Living Exercise Eleven: Harmonizing Your Four Primary Lineages Exercise Twelve: Ritual to Feast Your Family Ancestors Part Three Honoring Other Types of Ancestors Ten Ancestors and Place Home Is Where the Bones Are • Public Memorials and Monuments • Ancestors and the Natural World • Nine Suggestions for Honoring Ancestors of Place Exercise Thirteen: Cemetery Practice with Family Ancestors Exercise Fourteen: Ritual to Greet the Ancestors of a Place Eleven Affinity Ancestors, Multiple Souls, and Reincarnation Ancestors of Affinity • Multiple Souls • Reincarnation and Past Lives • Integration Work with Family, Place, and Affinity Ancestors Exercise Fifteen: Celebrating Ancestors of Vocation Exercise Sixteen: Harmonizing Ancestors of Family, Place, and Affinity Twelve Joining the Ancestors Preparing for Death • Funeral Rites and the Body after Death • Ritual Tending in the First Year after Death Exercise Seventeen: Conscious Participation in a Burial Exercise Eighteen: Ritual for the First Anniversary of a Death Appendix Distinguishing Talking with Spirits from Psychosis Notes Bibliography Index List of Figures Figure 5.1. Family pedigree chart Figure 5.2. Family pedigree mandala Figure 7.1. Layers of lineage through time Figure 9.1. Ancestral mandala