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Ancestral Medicine Updates on COVID-19 Pandemic
 
Greetings!

I hope you're staying healthy, spacious, and well resourced amidst the intensities.

Although we've already been in communication with everyone who has registered directly, in light of the unfolding conditions, all in-person Ancestral Medicine events through May have been cancelled. This includes the Asheville and Australia intensives. All online offerings are still happening as planned. For the intensives scheduled for June (Ireland) and July (Edinburgh & Berkeley), we'll message folks in mid-April to take a pulse on the state of the world and the viability of in-person gatherings at that time. This is also the case for any in-person events August or beyond.

Especially if you are in the United States where we are barely even testing, now is a time for seeking out reliable science and enacting that guidance even if those around you are not yet doing so. This includes understanding each of our roles to play in "flattening the curve" and how to participate in that. It's also a time to ask for the help you personally need and to be responsive to those who need a (washed) hand or some extra care and kindness.

I'll be sharing reflections as time permits on social media or perhaps via blog posts. I'm guiding a free/open teaching and discussion space next week (details below), and I've also included a few recent thoughts below in a less formal social media voice.

Through the hazards and demands of all that's ahead there's also great opportunity for slowing down, earth connection, and strengthening of communities ties. Steady steady.

With care,

Daniel
 
 
 
 
Interesting and potent times. Mostly importantly and before and throughout all musing on the spiritual and ecological implications, please be informed on the science of this particular virus and how that informs the health and safety of you, your family and loved ones, and your larger community.

And with clean hands and a resourced immune system (or not as your case may be), you're warmly invited to an hour-long online meet-up this coming Thursday, March 19th at 4pm Eastern time. No cost, open to all. The recording will be up on the site within a few days but we're not sending it out to specific people afterward.

As for focus we'll talk about things like disease spirits, grieving, humility, interconnectedness, fear, mortality, love, and how to avoid fatally hazardous new age thinking. There will be time for questions and sharing a bit. It's ok to join and then multi-task if your day calls for that. It's a good time to synch up with other caring people. We won't spend any time freaking out, just being together in presence.

*For more ways to join the live call, scroll to the bottom of the email.
 
 
American Reflections on COVID-19
Speaking from a U.S. perspective, we are on the front end of a potent, life-altering public health crisis that's being criminally mismanaged by the federal government. Setting aside the rage at that, what do we therefore do? Here are a few things that feel clear as I've tried to make sense of the unfolding...

1)Take it seriously. Look at the situation in Italy. If anything their medical system and infrastructure is better than here. On Jan 31st they had one case. That's six weeks ago. They are having to make the call on who gets treatment and who dies because the systems are maxed out. Everyone who dies in that way has family, could be your family or mine. Only stores and pharmacies are open, and domestic travel is restricted indefinitely. There is a good chance that's us in a month more or less as we are doing *way* less than Italy did to address it.

2)Don't trust the numbers here in the U.S., at least not until there is widespread testing (and it's not in the works). Because there is very little testing being done, there is no way to know how widespread the virus is. Like I have no idea how to even get a test...oh right, I'd have to go see a doctor in person first, because everyone in the U.S. rushes to do that. The lack of testing contributes both to fear and quicker spread of the virus due to cavalier behavior. For example, I feel a little under the weather. Nothing major, almost certainly a mild cold from Maeve's relentless germ bomb of preschool. I could A)tell myself there are no cases here in Asheville area (trusting the numbers) and go about my business or B)take note that there's almost no testing in the Asheville area, so there's truly no way to know and therefore be way more cautious. Looking at the numbers can enable sloppy behavior and at this stage that's potentially fatal, if not for you then for others. Do I wish I knew what actual infection rates are? Yes. Are we likely to know anytime soon? No.

3)Get informed on what's working in more responsive countries. In China one of the main strategies is to take everyone's temperature before they enter any building/community space and if they have a fever to route them to a fever clinic where they get tested on site. It's helping. Rachel Maddow had a good segment on this last night. We are light years away from that kind of coherent response here, but it's good to actually be informed on what helps (e.g., just staying home with family to 'self-quarantine' will likely get all family sick...but we don't have the infrastructure in place for other options).

4)Actually be prepared in a steady, not-freaking-out way to spend some time close to home. This can be a great time to get out on the land, up your Vitamin D (and immune system) with sunshine, and tend to all the things that get swept aside in the rush of life. Along with this, try on the highly vulnerable practice of asking people you know and love for what you need. If you also voted for a progressive because you want more income equality, maybe you are in a position to share a little with one or two really vulnerable people in your life. If you think Jesus is awesome, this is a time to really skillfully love thy neighbor because most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and we're on the front end of this. If we can't speak up for what we need, it's hard for this moment to have maximum positive impact. It's ok to need some help.

5)Look out especially for the vulnerable people near to you. They may not see themselves as vulnerable. Don't assume that everyone knows what to do. Ask them about their plans, talk them through it all. For those closest to you, it's ok to respectfully get a little up in their business as we all have a lot of impact on each other in this moment. If you don't know what "flattening the curve is" and why it's very important and how you can participate in doing that, google it. It's real and important.

It's possible to bypass the broken response of the federal government and get educated on what's happening in a grounded, science-informed way. There are lots of blessings ecologically and culturally that are starting and will continue to arise from this, and one is for people to rely less on big broken systems and to directly act to love and care for one another in real time.

In it together, like it or not, ready or not. As is always the case anyways, in it together.

- Daniel Foor
 
Registration is open for both Foundations of Ritual
and Practical Animism Online Courses!

 
 
Ritual is both art and discipline, cultivation of personal intuition and renewal of ancestral knowledge, instinctual and learnable. The styles and approaches to ritual are as diverse as people, human and otherwise, and the only ‘wrong’ ways to approach may be those that become untethered from love, wisdom, and relationality.

Topics will include relational etiquette, protection, invocation, trance, prayer, offering practice, and other elements found in many approaches to ritual arts. Participants can expect to learn skills they can apply in everyday devotions as well as one flexible framework with which to share about their experiences and approach to the sacred.
If you have previously taken Foundations of Ritual, you can enroll again for only $60 here.
 
 
 
Animism gets at what people often mean when expressing a call to indigenous traditions or shamanism but does so in ways that avoid some pitfalls of those terms. Some kinds of people animists might relate with include: plants, animals, fungi, mountains, metals, fire, bodies of water, spirits of wind and weather, deities, human ancestors, star people, and others we don’t have words for in English. Animists also tend to be concerned with the welfare of our diverse human kin.

Participants will learn to more firmly anchor their everyday lives and rituals in animist values, be they newly crafted or from intact traditions. The approach is non-dogmatic and inclusive to people of diverse ancestries. Daniel shares conceptual frameworks and the heart of the work is experiential. Daniel is not an Indigenous person or presuming to represent any specific tradition (Indigenous or otherwise); this is a core values approach to loving the Earth.
 
If you have previously taken Practical Animism with Daniel, you can enroll again for only $90 here.
 
 
Stay tuned to the newsletter here for our exciting announcement of Animist Psychology online course next month!
 
 
New blog post!
We have an extensive archive of other free media featuring Daniel's teachings as well as interviews with guest teachers. We are continuing to build these resources, which cover a range of topics on all things ancestors, animism, ritual, and Earth reconnection.

*More ways to join Love, Pandemics & the Earth Online Call
via Zoom and Phone:
 
Topic: COVID-19 Online Meetup (free, public)
Time: Mar 19, 2020 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)


Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/148047874

Meeting ID: 148 047 874

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