Many of us have experienced unexplained phenomena in our lives, occurrences often caused by spirits whose transition into the afterlife was interrupted at the time of death due to trauma on this plane, or because of unfinished business that kept the soul anchored to the Earth.
Caught in earth-bound patterns indefinitely, these corporeal spirits need help to progress with their transition. Until help is received, they persist in making their presence known, creating disturbances in our everyday waking life.
A psychopomp’s (from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός, psychopompós, literally meaning the ‘guide of souls’) responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. In Psychopomp work, the practitioner works directly with these souls in non-ordinary reality, guiding them compassionately through the process of transitioning on to their next journey.
In order to locate these disincarnate spirits, the psychopomp journeys to their helping spirits to assist in locating the soul in the non-ordinary reality. Once found, they will communicate with the unwell spirit to determine why they are trapped in their current state.
In most cases, the spirit is happy to move on when given the chance to do so. Some may need mediation due to fearing persecution because of the choices they made in life or feeling unworthy of an elevated state of being. Some may be locked in their own story of trauma, replaying itself over and over, and need convincing that there is another way.
Often, working from a place of compassionate action, establishing trust, and reminding them of the love that is available to everyone, will be sufficient in bringing them to a place where they can begin to transition. There are others who are more anchored in, invested in staying on the Earth, causing harm to the living, in which the psychopomp may utilize other rituals to remove the spirit.
The role of the psychopomp is to ensure the boundary walls between the living and the unwell dead are delineated and secured. Once a spirit is ready for elevation, often the gates through which they pass are made available by a higher ancestral being on their blood lineage, or other helping spirits where they will move into an elevated state of being.
The Foundations of Psychopomp Practitioner Training is based on years of training and tending in these ways and seeks to support others enhancing their natural gifts, learning new ways of engagement, and strengthening current practices as they related to the unwell dead.
I’m most grateful to be co-weaving this community of psychopomps with fellow skilled ritualists, and now to welcome the 4th gathering of deepening potent skills in assisting the nonblood lineage lamented.
WHAT WE WILL DO:
The intent is to learn how to assist non-blood lineage ancestors to wellness. In order to do this, you will learn a working knowledge of:
- Advanced skills for protection and ritual embodiment
- Your own soul’s dying process,
- Realms and landscapes the dead inhabit
- Guidance from a personal helping spirit who will assist you with your work
- Honed tracking ability via tracking helping spirits to assist in your work
- Your unique ritual you will use to cross over the dead and variations
- How to work with the varying degrees of the unwell dead, through soul retrieval, curse unraveling, and extraction.
- Enhanced ritual protection strategies
- Divination through dreams of the dead and how to navigate liminal terrains
- Rituals of appeasement, grief, holy belonging, and forgiveness to assist the troubled dead
- Rituals for assisting individual souls to wellness
- Rituals for collective unwell dead populations en masse/land clearings
Required Engagement and Commitment
Below are the many ways we will commit to the vessel of learning in community with one another. This includes ways we will connect, dates of engagement, and approximately how many hours of commitment you will engage in should you decide to join the practitioner training.
- Opening Ritual Call. TBA
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6 live classes. There will be 6 days of instruction/ritual meet-ups via the zoom platform~ 1st Friday’s of each month for 4 hours each beginning in August and through January) From 11am-3pm.
(NOTE: Attendance is essential as you will be learning/enhancing your ritual skills, working in dyads to apply the work, and each session builds on the prior session work. They will also be recorded in case you must miss on an occasion but I strongly encourage you to attend as you will miss the applications of the work in breakout sessions during our four-hour sessions). - 6 Monthly Continuing Practice Calls. We will meet via zoom as a group on the 2nd Friday of each month to continue to explore psychopomp practices and deepen our skills, share insights and provide an opportunity for Q & A. These will be 2 hours in length from 3 pm to 5 pm.
- 6 Continuing Education Calls. We will meet via zoom as a group on the 4th Friday’s of each month to explore fields related to psychopomp work with guest teachers. These will be 2 hours in length from 3 pm-5 pm Eastern.
- Group Application. Once a month you will meet in dyad pods for experiential practice. These will be scheduled at the convenience of your pod member and should be account for each of you holding space for one another to practice. Anywhere from 1.5-3 hours in length.
- Group Pod Gatherings. Additionally, there will be 3 scheduled group meet-ups with a larger pod for entrainment, connection, and Q&A. These group meet up will be facilitated and scheduled by a graduate of the Foundations of Psychopomp training. They are to be at least one hour in length, but often folks chose to hang out and deepen their connection with one another.
- Personal Mentoring. 3 personal mentoring sessions with Shannon to resource you around your work as you progress through the training.
- Learning Resources . Additional course content will be dropped down on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month to review, material covered in both the 4 hour classroom and our continued practice experience. They will also provide resources for further exploration and provide exercises for you to do on your own.
- Private connection space. This is the space where we will gather virtually to deepen our connection with the work and each other. There will be a feed to ask questions about content, connect with other participants, and share experiences as you navigate through the material. No public social media or additional login is required.
PREREQUISITES AND AGREEMENTS
Those interested in psychopomp come to this foundational course with a few requirements to participate:
- Be skilled at journey/drop-in meditation with a solid group of helping spirits already sourced. (A minimum of 2 years of journey work for self and others)
- Have done ancestor work and are sure that your matrilineal and patrilineal ancestors are well in spirit.
- Have taken the foundational course Forces of Nature
- Have good ritual hygiene, meaning, you come to the work knowing how to anchor in solid protection for yourself and others and are well boundaried in your spiritual practice.
- Are willing to commit to 6 months of lessons and dyad (pod) group work. This equates to 12-15 hours a month of dedicated time.
OFFERING COST
The cost of the training is $2000 if applying and accepted before June 1st, and $2500 if applying after June 1st. Those in previous cohorts wishing to take the training again are able to join for $1500. Payment plans are available and those details will be addressed if you have been accepted into the training.
I’m looking forward to the skilled and shared wisdom of everyone anchored in the work. We’ll be diligent, take it slowly, be connective, and well resourced as a community of healers working in tandem for the collective healing much needed at this time.
Application:
Please fill out the application of intent to join the 4th cohort if you feel called to the practitioner training, and meet the prerequisites. You can do that below.
The deadline for application TBA. As 20 seats are available I encourage you to apply sooner than later as acceptance will be given on a first-come basis.
For over 30 years she has committed her life to partnership with others in transforming trauma and cultural wounding for both the living and the dead. She has a Masters degree in Professional Leadership and Counseling with a focus in Jungian and Gestalt modalities, is the founder of Red Earth Healing, a student of Yoruba culture as an initiate of Ọbàtálá, and Ọ̀ṣun, in the lineage of Olúwo Fálolú Adésànyà Awoyadé from Òdè Rẹ́mọ. making pilgrimages to work with elders in West Africa. She is also a devotee of Nepali shamanism, and other diverse indigenous paths of her ancestors. She is a certified practitioner and teacher of Dr. Daniel Foor’s Ancestral Lineage Healing method.
Her recent and older people of blood and bone hail from the British Isles, France, West Africa and Cherokee and Kaskaskia/Illini nations. Committed to collective healing, she holds grounded, empathic, non dogmatic, heart-centered ritual space which supports presence, trust, and community rooted in the ancient ways of being of service to the Earth.