Winter Ancestral Medicine Circle

This guided space is all about connecting to our own wise loving ancient queer ancestors of blood and bones or of adoption who lived before the troubles – before colonialism, before empires like the Roman one, before monotheistic religions, before heteronormativity.

Event Details

Date & Time: December 13th, 2023,  January 17 & 31, 2024, February 7 & 28, and March 13th, 2024, 6-8pm

Format: workshop

Audience: LGBTQIA+

Language: English and Deutsch

Minimum Knowledge Level: you need to have worked with this system before, if you have not please book a session to find out which lineage you will work with. More information in the FAQ further down the page

What to Bring: Comfortable clothing

Solo or Partnered: Solo

Price: 120-160 Euros for all 5 dates

What we will do

Each time we meet there will be a space for silence and arrival, simple grounding exercises, and a sharing circle.

After that we will enter ritual space and each of us will meet with ancestral elders on one of our lineages of bone and blood (whether we have ever met our parents/grandparents or not) or of our adoptive caregivers. We ask that they heal that lineage up until the last ones who recently (in our lifetime) died.

This process starts with establishing respectful clear boundaries with the recent dead and connecting to wise loving ancient ancestors who lived before the troubles. It is them who do the healing. We are the ones asking them to do it. Each of the steps will be explained and each participant gets to have their own pace and rhythm.

After meeting with our lineages we will have another sharing circle and an informal hang-out with tea and snacks.

Quite a few of the participants have already done this kind of ancestral healing as taught by Daniel Foor. If you have not done this kind of ancestral healing, no problem! Just – before this course starts – book one session with me in Berlin or one of my 75+ colleagues online to figure out which lineage you will be working with. There are many practitioners from many places of the world and all kinds of different ancestries that offer online sessions. Most of us offer low-cost sessions to marginalized folks. See the link below.

FAQ

Why ancestors of bone and blood / adoptive parents? Why not any queer ancestors or ones of vacation or spiritual lineage?

It is beautiful and important to do that. It is simply not what this circle is about. This circle is about facing and getting to know the ancient ones we are made of, the ones who are deeply invested in helping us by making sure the dead on that line change. When the dead are not well they cannot join their vibrant powerful kind ancestors. They are like ghosts that stop the lineage-specific goodness and wisdom from reaching us fully. This is often especially relevant to our lives when the recent dead, possibly the ones with remembered names, are unwell. Another layer is that many of us, especially queer people, have hard times with or reject our families of origin because we were harmed by them. Having super clear boundaries with the living can be the best thing to do! However being in touch with cool, loving, quirky, powerful ancestral great great great… great grandparents who are in their integrity does something magical to the sense of who we are, to our identity. A „new“ and truly loving family. In my case they made me feel held and safe like I never felt before and helped me come to terms with my Nazi fascist grandparents. You can read more about that on my website, see below.

Why is this important when there is so much else to do / to worry about?

All over the world people are in touch with and in gratitude to their ancestors and commune with them regularly. This used to be the same here in central Europe – until the troubles came. It is something normal, not even „spiritual“, just a thing like body hygiene or dancing or sports or play. Something humans do. When we don’t, we miss out on powerful guidance, support, and wisdom. When we don’t it is so much harder to be regulated and have a sense of direction and a sense of who we are. When we do, we are better friends, better partners, better comrades in our collective actions for justice and earth honoring and for an end to the many -isms. When we do, we care for the ones who came before us, and they care for us in return. Only they are so much wiser and more powerful than we are… In these times of turmoil, war and terror, and mass extinction we need all the support we can get.

Why am I, a white German cis femme, offering a practice that a white cis dude from the us is teaching?

Being in touch with our own ancestors is accessible to anyone. There are countless ways of doing this. I chose this approach „ancestral medicine“ because it focuses on ritual safety and because the lineage healing process as we learn it in the training is not copying ancestral traditions or rituals from any culture, religion, or specific lineage of spirituality.

It is based on a synthesis of common knowledge from many places, such as „the dead are present / many of them are unwell / the dead can change / there are well ones who can support when we ask them / ritual safety and good boundaries are very important“. I respect that whenever other „ancestral medicine practitioners“ do use rituals they learned from specific places or people they name what they are and why they feel it is okay to do this. I personally do not offer rituals that are clearly not from the European places my people are from. Another reason I chose Daniel Foor’s approach is that it is embedded in a community of practitioners that come from many different ancestries and traditions. We keep each other in check around power dynamics, we support each other, and we learn with and from each other. We disagree with each other and have conflicts, and it is amazing to do all this with the backing and guidance of all of our ancestors. There are things I do not like, and many more I like a lot. It is complicated. How could it not be? Being in touch with our own people is accessible to anyone – it can be hard to do on our own, though. Especially when we did not grow up with any guidance on this. It is very dear to my heart to bring some basic skills on this to my fellow queers. Join us!

Who is the guest presenter Tsepo?

Tsepo Bollwinkel Keele is gifted with a rich ancestry of the South African Sotho nation and the Indigenous Khoi/San peoples on one side and with Norsemen and British/Germans on the other side. Tsepo is a queer Black African living in German exile. They are lecturing about social and environmental justice including an animist framework into every practice. They see the urgency to embrace Earth honoring thinking and doing in all aspects of liberation efforts. For Tsepo healing the disconnect from Earth, Unseen Worlds, and Ancestors is a beautiful way of empowerment.

Why do I have to book a session if I have not done this kind of ancestral work before?

Simply because figuring out which lineage to start with is one of the only steps in the process that requires a lot of spoken guidance when we do it for the first time. It is not possible to do this for 8 people at the same time, plus many participants already know which line they are dealing with. So… it is the only thing that does not work in a group very well unless all start this process together.

What happens in between our circle evenings?

Every Wednesday we do not meet you will receive an email with suggestions, ideas, and links related to ancestral healing topics. You can always book individual sessions with me in Berlin or one of my 75 + colleagues online. The combination of individual sessions and in-person circles is lovely though not at all necessary.

What if I miss a session or change my mind?

No worries. Everyone will have their own pace and rhythm. We cannot give you part of your money back if you miss sessions – there are only eight spots and it is a closed group and both Anna and Tsepo are paid for their work and the amazing Karada house cannot reduce rent just because you can’t make it. For the same reason, with registration, you agree that you will not be refunded if you cancel your booking after December 6th, 2023. Anna is available via email if you have any questions or concerns before booking. 15-minute info phone calls are possible, too, schedule by email gestaltundkunst@gmail.com 

Accessibility Note

The space, KARA, is on the ground floor but has three steps to enter the house. A ramp for wheelchairs is available at all times. There is also a parking space available right in front of the door if needed. KARA has an accessible bathroom available. There are no thresholds in the entire house. The garden is only partially accessible at the moment. During the workshop, we will sit on the floor. Sitting in a chair can also be provided. Adaptations for physical needs will be shown and can also be provided upon request. If you participate in this workshop and need more assistance please message us at info@karada-house.de beforehand. 

Safety Concept & Regulation

Please consult our safety concept and regulations for this event here.