HONORING THE ANCESTORS: Weaving a Tapestry of Love and Loss
Date: Saturday, November 2nd, 2024
Time: 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Arrive at least 10-15 minutes early. Doors open at 10 a.m. and close promptly at 10:30 a.m.
Location: Art Therapy Room at Southwestern College, Santa Fe, NM
Tuition: $175 early bird / After Oct. 28, $185 (plus sales tax for NM residents)
This workshop is open to all ages over 18 years old and all genders
New Mexico Therapists earn 5 CEUs (Certificates will be handed out at end of the workshop)
Between autumn equinox and winter solstice, the veils of relationship between the worlds are thin. The first days of November are a potent and beautiful time to honor our genetic and soul-related ancestors by invoking them into our circle and by journeying to their world, also known as the Otherworld.
In the British Isles, Samhain (pronounced saw-wen) is observed in early November. In the Catholic Church, All Souls Day is observed on November 2nd. In my own genetic lineages, there is the observance in Mexico of the Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and in Judaism there is the celebration of Sukkot. A recognition of the ongoing influence and gifts of our ancestors exists across many cultures.
In this daylong workshop-ceremony, we’ll gather together as kindred community to create a ceremonial container and to embrace our shared human tenderness as we explore our relationships with our ancestors. We will honor the lives of our ancestors and lovingly tend to our relationships with them.
I define ancestors as our deceased loved ones with whom we feel soul-related. For some of us, these ancestors are in our genetic bloodlines; for others of us, a beloved friend, teacher, or four-legged companion is an ancestor.
Note: Some of us may have ancestors with whom we do not wish to continue or cultivate a relationship. That is a valid and important spiritual/emotional boundary that is up to each one of us to decide.
INTENTION
The intent of this ceremony is to weave together our human challenge of embracing the finality of physical death while also opening to the timeless dimensions in which our love for our deceased loved ones continues beyond death.
This workshop-ceremony will include:
• A shamanic-psychotherapy teaching on weaving together the emotional-energetic fibers that nourish our ongoing relationships with our ancestors
• My Grounding and Merging Process, a guided journey through your energetic infrastructures to enliven and expand your energetic self-concept to include transpersonal dimensions
• A drum journey to expand awareness of our vulnerable, human experience of loss and death, and to facilitate grateful reunion with our deceased loved ones in psycho-spiritual inner space
• A trance posture journey to facilitate conscious relationship with the Otherworld
• Journaling questions to deepen your inner conversation about your relationship to death and your ancestors
• You’ll create your own small altar to honor your ancestors. In my Mexican maternal lineage we create small altars called ofrendas to honor and strengthen our relationship with our ancestors.
Bring:
• Two special objects to place on the altar that symbolize your connection with one or two of your ancestors
(IMPORTANT: Please remember to take these home with you)
• Journal & pen
• Yoga mat and/or blanket for lying down during journeys
• Eye-cover for journeying (a bandana or scarf will work well for this)
• Drum/rattle (if you have them)
• Bag lunch and personal snacks
• Water bottle
The following will be provided at the workshop venue:
• Backjacks and chairs
• Water and light snacks
• Extra drums and rattles will be available
IMPORTANT: I strongly recommend/request that all participants refrain from the use of non-prescription substances and alcohol for 24 hours before we meet.
Notes:
• Please refrain from wearing scented body care products
• Doors open at 10 a.m. and the workshop begins at 10:30 a.m. Arrive at least 10-15 minutes before the workshop begins
• Doors close promptly at 10:30 a.m. (You won’t be able to come into the ceremony space till the first break at about 40 minutes into the workshop. Late arrival will impact CEUs for therapists.)
• Please DO NOT come to this event if you are experiencing any symptoms of viral infection. Some attendees (including me) are at high-risk for complications due to viral infection.
• If you have to cancel due to illness, you will be given a credit towards the tuition amount for one of my pre-recorded courses (e.g., The Embodied Mystic) on the Teachable platform
I look forward to spending a day of deep soul nourishment with you in a circle of kindred community.
In Love and Transformation,
Luisa Elena Kolker
My “Honoring the Ancestors” Ofrenda, by Luisa Elena Kolker (Please do not share or duplicate this image)
“We must constantly reflect and align ourselves to ensure the essences of those we have lost remain active.”
—from the Popol Vuh, Mayan “Book of the Community”
“My papa has been dead all these years, and yet he is more real to me than almost anybody else. He never goes out of my life. I talk to him and consult him all the time. The older I grow, the better I know him and the more I understand him.”
—from My Ántonia, by Willa Cather
“Death is not an outrage.”
—Ram Dass
