Ancestral studies Course
Have You Been Hearing the Bones of Your Ancestors Rattling to Get Your Attention?
Is it time to open the book to your own family history? What have your ancestors passed on to you? How have you benefitted or been hindered by events that unfolded long before you were born? Who was your great, great, grandmother and why is it so difficult to track her down?
When you take time to inquire and research, you will discover your family’s strengths
and their traumas. Maybe your family is wracked with addiction, betrayal, and escapism, but also with art, music, humor, and self-preservation. Has that played out in your own life? Did you repeat history or change the story completely? What have you passed on to others in your family or in your community?
Taking time to study your ancestry can be healing-- and also unsettling. By studying on your own, but within the support of a group you can begin to follow the threads of time feeling a web of safety within your discoveries.
Note: You need not know your birth parents or family if you are willing to explore via DNA testing-- Inquire about how this is possible. (Contact form at the bottom of this page.)
For this course there are two paths you can choose-- but even if you choose one path and your friend chooses the other, you'll still be able to study and explore together.
Path of the Ancestral Tree
The path of the Ancestral Tree takes time to incorporate encounters with trees in to your studies. Examine the trees on your property and in your community and learn the trees of your ancestral lands and how they were useful to the people at that time and place. This part of the course adds significant depth and time to your studies. The Ancestral Tree path encourages the participant to partake in a forest camping adventure-- either solo, with a partner or with the group. The main study book is "Growth Rings: Ancestral Tree Meditations & End of Life Guided Journal" but all books on ancestry are encourage!
Path of the Bone Finder
The Bone Finder path studies just the bare bones of where and who your ancestors were. This is an endless path that you will enjoy for the rest of your life-- but studying within a supportive group and resource- sharing will build a solid foundation for exploration and record keeping. This is the core of the course studies without studying trees or forest camping. There is no main text book for this path, but for record keeping you may wish to purchase "Growth Rings." And, all books on ancestry are encouraged!
Both Paths Join Together
The Bone Finder path is the core ancestral studies which we all will be participating in! We will meet virtually each week. Those who take the Ancestral Tree path also meet virtually each week, but a half hour before the Bone Finders join.
Fair EXCHANGE Options
If you are unable to pay the full donation amount consider trade...
*Some of these options will be filled for each course. Submit your request early if you wish to do Fair Exchange.*
- Dry firewood, gallons of maple syrup, truck load of "ready" compost, landscaping, simple carpentry, house painting, plumbing services, gift certificate to your store or restaurant, snow plowing, stone work (rebuild stone wall/remove old well) dumpster for removal of junk/truck transport to dump, simple repair work (broken lamps need fixing) tire/oil change, dog training or grooming, car detail cleaning, professional editing services, online gift certificate to your Etsy store or something similar... if those don't fit, make a suggestion.
This will need to be discussed in advance of your payment so we can come to an agreement! Use the message box below to send an inquiry.
TREE and BONE Course Enrollment Fee- Full Donation
This is the option if you are able to pay the full donation amount for path of the Ancestral Tree. Thank you!
Minimum Payment + Fair Exchange OR BIPOC/ESL
Use this option to pay if you are engaging in the partial payment plus doing Fair Exchange. (You'll need to have the Fair Exchange agreement ahead of time!)