HEALING WITH THE ANCESTORS:
Finding and walking your deeper path
In Gaelic culture (that of my ancestors), a conversation with a new acquaintance does not begin with the question, “What do you do?” Instead, the introduction process begins with the question, “Who do you come from?” or, alternatively, “Who do you belong to?”
It is only once the listener has honed in on a precise geographical and genealogical understanding of the new friend’s origins - spanning back as many generations as possible - that they will feel that they can begin to understand who this person has become.
Marching into battle, Gaelic soldiers used to recite out loud their sloinearachd (pronounced SLOO-ner-ahk), over and over proclaiming their lineage, “I am the son of —-, who was the son of —--, who was the son of —--...”. The thrumming names of their ancestors providing them with the courage, pride, and sense of self necessary to show up bravely.
These ancient traditions are a far cry from most modern, “western” cultures in which we prefer to believe that we have each sprung up, entirely original and individual, as if from stone itself. Disconnected from, unaffected by, our genealogical pasts and unresponsible for the futures of our descendants.
But we are not.
Healing with the Ancestors - Cohort
Healing with the Ancestors: Finding and Walking Your Deeper Path is a year-long cohort for up to 20 participants in which each participant will work to develop a deep and present connection to their ancestors, cultivating an awareness of their lives, not merely as a series of accomplishments or accumulations, but rather as one act in a much larger story that ripples back and forth across time.
Intention & Content
Throughout the course of the year, participants will:
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Reconnect to their specific ancestral lineage, ancestors, culture, and heritage
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Be guided through a multiplicity of wisdom and ceremonial practices for healing and expansion, including (though not limited to):
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Gaelic/celtic wisdom traditions and ceremony
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Mayan fire ceremony, nahuales, and ancestors
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Greek god twins Artemis and Apollo practices
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Egyptian goddess Isis intiations
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Heart-centered meditation
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Global mysticism traditions
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Ancestral Energy Healing practices
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Uncover (or affirm) the deeper path that is calling to them in this lifetime to become a good ancestor and step ever more boldly in that walking. This deep calling to heal, transform, and/or carry forward the patterns of the lineage may reveal itself in any of the following areas:
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Career or vocation
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Relationships
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Healing work
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Finances or resources
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Generational trauma or undealt with emotions
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Important Note:
You do NOT need to have specific or even general knowledge of your genetic/blood ancestry in order to participate in this cohort. If you are adopted or for other reasons do not know who your specific ancestors were or even the geographic area/culture from which they derive, this is not an issue for the work we will be doing.
While, of course, if you do have specific information on your ancestors, you will make use of it, those who do not have this information will still be able to participate fully in exploring and building a connection back to a sense of ancestral connection and relationship.
Please reach out if you have any questions at all about this or anything else!
Format
The cohort will take place over 12 months from mid-January 2025 to mid-January 2026. All sessions will take place virtually over zoom, so participants may call in from anywhere.
The format will be as follows:
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Once monthly 3-hour sessions with the entire cohort, led and guided by Naomi
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Once quarterly (4 total) one-on-one 90-minute Ancestral Energy Healing Sessions with Naomi (in person when possible or over zoom)
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Monthly assignments that will invite participants into about 30 minutes per day of individual work (as schedules allow, with the understanding that doing the work every day will most likely not be possible)
Cost
The cost of the cohort is 13 payments of $150 - a deposit, plus the twelve months of the cohort.
In acknowledgment of variations in people’s capacities to pay, please inquire if cost is a hurdle to your participation.
The cohort will be capped at 20 participants.
To Register
Please email Naomi at naomi.mcdougalljones at gmail dot com to secure your place, indicating which monthly pay scale you would like to commit to.
Naomi McDougall Jones
Naomi McDougall Jones is a 15-time award-winning storyteller, changemaker, and future-weaver working across books, film, television, and the healing arts.
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Naomi has worked professionally as an Ancestral Healer, Priestess, and Witch for the past two years and has spent the past ten years studying deeply across a wide range of spiritual, ancestral, and wisdom traditions. These include Zen Buddhism, Tucson Mystery School (Ann Marie Chiasson), Gaelic/Celtic wisdom traditions and ceremony, Mayan fire ceremony, nahuales, and ancestors, Greek god twins Artemis and Apollo practices, as well as a wide range of global mysticism traditions.
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In the other part of her career, she is a leading advocate for gender parity in cinema, Naomi has written for The Atlantic, Ms. Magazine, and Salon.com, and her TEDTalk, What It’s Like to Be a Woman in Hollywood, has been viewed over 1.2 million times. Her first book, The Wrong Kind of Women, enjoyed wide critical acclaim. Her second book, American Selkie: One Woman's Journey Back to Wildness, Ancestral Wisdom, and Magic will be published by Penguin Life in 2027. Naomi wrote, produced, and starred in Imagine I’m Beautiful and Bite Me, each of which won numerous film festival awards. She co-founded The 51 Fund, whose projects include Sundance winners Cusp and Shayda, the latter acquired by Sony Pictures Classics and Australia’s official entry for a 2023 Academy Award. Her narrative change work includes The Light Ahead podcast and Avalon: Story, which incubated a number of initiatives to reimagine media’s role in building equitable futures.
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Her own ancestral lineages trace back entirely to the British Isles (with some Viking blood woven in), primarily Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man. Any traditions or practices that Naomi shares that are not from her own lineage are done so having received the training and permission of those wisdom keepers.
