The Ancestral Healing Podcast

About The Ancestral Healing Podcast

Dive into the magic of ancestral connection, animism, and earth-based spirituality for personal, cultural, and planetary healing. Hosted by Joseph B. Shumway, the Ancestral Healing Coach and world-renowned genealogist, this podcast explores how to cultivate deeper spirituality, purpose, belonging, and aliveness by reconnecting to the Earth, Ancestors, and the non-human world. New to spirituality? Ancestral Healing is a powerful gateway for “spiritual newbies” to reclaim intuition and develop nourishing practices that can reweave us back into the interconnected web of life! Ancestral Healing is not only a powerful tool for healing intergenerational trauma, but a pathway for humans to come back into right relationship with the natural world and the Divine. Learn more at https://ancestralhealing.coach. healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Joseph B. Shumway

Category

health & fitness · religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Apr 2025

Latest episode

1 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

11 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   1 Sept 2026

   Ancestral Amnesia: The Three Layers of Ancestral Disconnection Trauma

   In my work I hear many folks express a similar ache. And it usually sounds something like: “I don’t really have a culture.” Or: “I feel disconnected from my ancestors.” Or: “I’m drawn to earth-based spirituality, but I don’t know where I belong.” And beneath those words, there is often something much deeper than curiosity. There is longing. There is grief. There is a yearning for belonging that lives not only in the mind, but in the body. For many of us — especially those of us who are white Americans — the longing for healing is deeply entangled with the longing for belonging. We are looking for something rooted. Something older than consumer identity. Something more nourishing than individualism. Something that connects us back to land, body, community, spirit, and the ancestors who came before us. And yet, when we reach for those roots, many of us find fog. We find silence. We find a family story that begins only a few generations back, often after migration, assimilation, and loss have already taken their toll. This is what I often think of as ancestral amnesia. Ancestral amnesia is not the absence of culture. It is the forgetting of it. It is what happens when we are severed from the earth-based traditions, land relationships, ritual practices, languages, traditional foods, songs, stories, and communal structures that once helped our people know who they were and where they belonged. And this forgetting did not happen all at once. For many white Americans of European descent, it happened in layers. And I would like to explore three distinct layers of ancestral disconnection trauma that I often guide clients in tending. The first layer: spiritual severance The first layer is spiritual severance from ancestral lands and ancestral lifeways. For many of us with European ancestors, this severance began generations — sometimes many centuries — before our people ever crossed an ocean. Through conquest, empire, colonization, Christianization, and the suppression or absorption of older earth-based traditions, many of our ancestors were gradually disconnected from the ways their people had related with the sacred. This does not mean our ancient ancestors were all innocent, enchanted forest witches dancing peacefully under the moonlight. Let’s not romanticize here. Our ancestors were human. Complex. Capable of beauty and harm. Just like us. But it does mean that many of them lived through real disruptions in their relationships with land, seasons, affinity spirits, ancestors, community, and the more-than-human world. Older ritual calendars were interrupted. Sacred places were renamed, destroyed, demonized, or folded into new religious structures. Local spirit relationships were condemned or forgotten. Communal ways of tending the dead, the land, and the cycles of life were reshaped under pressure. And over time, many of those ancestral ways became harder and harder to access. Not because they were meaningless. Because they were severed. And most of the time, intentionally. The second layer: physical severance The second layer is physical severance from ancestral lands. Even after older spiritual traditions were disrupted, many of our ancestors still remained physically rooted in place. They may not have have still related with the land in the same ritual or religious ways their older ancestors had, but they still lived among familiar hills, rivers, plants, seasons, cemeteries, dialects, foodways, and community memory. There is a kind of belonging that comes simply from being held by place over generations. But for many of our people, even that was eventually broken. Through famine, poverty, war, displacement, enclosure, economic pressure, forced migration, or the desperate hope for survival, many ancestors left the lands their people had known for generations. Some chose to leave. Some had very little choice at all. Many carried grief they had no time, language, or support to process. And when people leave land, they often lose more than geography. They lose relationship with local plants. They lose sacred sites. They lose language and songs. They lose the daily intimacy with the mountains, waters, meadows, and groves. They lose the places where their ancestors are buried. And that kind of severance lives in families. It echoes through bodies. It becomes part of the inheritance. The third layer: cultural severance The third layer is much closer to home for many of us: cultural severance through assimilation into whiteness. For many European-descended immigrants to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other settler-colonial contexts, survival and belonging often came at a cost. To become “white” was to flatten. To soften the accent. To stop speaking the language. To change the name. To distance from the foods, songs, customs, rituals, and ethnic identities that marked one as foreign, poor, dangerous, undesirable, or not-yet-assimilated. Irish, Italian, German, Scandinavian, Slavic, Jewish, and many other lineages each carry their own complex stories. These histories are not all the same and they should not be collapsed into one tidy narrative. But many of them do share a painful pattern: distinct peoples who were gradually absorbed into a constructed identity of whiteness. And whiteness is not “culture” in the way our ancestral cultures are culture. Whiteness does not give us a rooted relationship with land. It does not teach us how to tend the dead. It does not give us songs from the village, prayers from the hearth, seasonal rites from the fields, or stories braided through place. Whiteness offers proximity to power in exchange for forgetting. And many of our ancestors made that exchange under pressure. Some did it for safety. Some did it for survival. Some did it for access. Some did it willingly. Some did it harmfully. Most did it without ever fully understanding what they were signing up for and what would be lost in the forgetting process. “I don’t have culture” often means “I inherited disconnection” So when white folks say, “I don’t have culture,” what I often hear is something more precise: “I have inherited disconnection.” “I have inherited forgetting.” “I have inherited the ache of severed belonging.” And I want to say this gently but clearly: that disconnection is not your fault. But healing it is part of our responsibility! Because ancestral reconnection is not about escaping accountability. It is not about bypassing the realities of colonization, racism, whiteness, patriarcy, or historical harm. It is not about inventing a fantasy past where our ancestors were all wise, innocent, earth-loving mystics who never participated in harm. Absolutely not! We are not doing spiritual cosplay in this house! The work is deeper than that. Ancestral reconnection asks us to become honest enough to hold complexity. It asks: * Who were my people before whiteness? * What did they lose? * What did they choose? * What were they forced to abandon? * What harms did they survive? * What harms did they participate in? * What grief was never metabolized? * What beauty is still waiting to be remembered? * And what healing can I participate in now? Remembering responsibly I believe many of us carry ancestral cultures in our bodies that are not gone, only sleeping. No, they are not always intact. They are not always easy to find. And they are not always available in the forms we wish they were. But they are definitely not entirely lost! There are still records. There are still places. There are still names. There are still stories. There are still songs, plants, foods, seasonal practices, folk customs, prayers, and fragments of memory waiting to be approached with humility and care. And there are ancestors, dear friend! Not as abstract symbols. Not as aesthetic accessories. But as real, relational beings who can be engaged, healed with, learned from, and brought into the work of repair. This is not only an individual healing project. It is lineage work. We are not meant to carry these disconnection traumas alone. Our ancestors are part of the wound, yes — but they can also become part of the healing. And for those of us who have felt like cultural orphans, this matters. Because the absence we feel may not be emptiness. It may be a doorway. A doorway into grief, accountability, and remembering. A doorway into more honest belonging. In the video I’ve included, I walk through what I see as the three major layers of ancestral amnesia: spiritual severance, physical severance, and cultural severance through assimilation into whiteness. My hope is that it offers language for something many of us have felt but have not always known how to name. And perhaps more importantly, I hope it offers an invitation: Not to romanticize the past, bypass harm or pretend we can recover everything exactly as it was. But to begin remembering responsibly. To ask better questions. To grieve what was lost. To reckon with what was carried. And to listen for the whisperings of your ancestors and their beautiful cultures that are still waiting, somewhere beneath the forgetting, to be re-engaged, reanimated, and tended with love and care. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   6 Apr 2026

   Ep 8. The Wheel of the Year: A Compass for Belonging in the Cycle of Life

   Step into deep relationality with the Earth and the natural rhythms and cycles of life with the Wheel of the Year. This sacred compass teaches us how to align our lives with the natural world in nourishing and restorative ways. To access a free download of the Wheel of the Year, visit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TfnRb8gdOyHypdXBkSJ0O2sKYoE70loa/view?usp=sharing (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TfnRb8gdOyHypdXBkSJ0O2sKYoE70loa/view?usp=sharing) The Eight Sabbats Samhain (Hallows Eve) Yule (Winter Solstice) Imbolc (Candlemas) Ostara (Spring Equinox) Beltane (May Day) Litha (Summer Solstice) Lughnasadh (Lammas) Mabon (Fall Equinox) Upcoming Events To learn more and to register, visit: https://www.ancestralhealing.coach/events (https://www.ancestralhealing.coach/events) April 30, 2026: Free teaching about Ancestral Lineage Healing in Salt Lake City, Utah May 16, 2026: Ancestral Lineage Healing 101: A 1-Day Intensive workshop in Salt Lake City, Utah May 20, 2026: Free online teaching (Intro to Ancestral Lineage Healing) (NOTE: In the episode, I said May 13th, but had to shift). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   5 Mar 2026

   Ep. 7. Ancestor Altars for Newbies: The Basic B***h Guide to Keeping It Cute, Sacred, and Personal

   An altar is a powerful tool that can support our practice in connecting and working with our ancestors (as well as other spirit powers and guides). In this episode, Joseph breaks down the what, why, and how of creating and working with ancestor altars in a simple, fun, and grounded way. This is a perfect episode for both spiritual newbies as well as those looking to expand their current altar practices. ALTAR DEDICATION PRAYER: “I offer this altar to my wise, loving ancestors—both of blood and other lineages. May it be a sacred space where only healed, loving ancestors and other benevolent beings may reside; and may it serve as a space for deepened connection and relationship that will only serve my highest good and well-being.” NOTES ON SMUDGING: In the FAQ section, I discussed the cautions around using palo santo and white sage, but I missed offering my suggestions for alternate plants to use for smudging. Here are my go-to ones (or other common ones I suggest), but there are SO MANY other possibilities! - Rosemary (OMG, my absolute fave!) - Sagebrush - Red Cedar (leaf or wood sticks) - Juniper leaf - Mugwort - Cypress leaf - Sweetgrass braids (only source from ethical growers!) For any of these, you can take fresh leaves, bundle them together with thin string (kite string works great) and let them dry for a week or two before using. SECTIONS: 9:40 - What is an altar? 20:05 - Finding a Space 22:20 - What items should I use? 29:47 - How do I set up my altar? 32:55 - Examples of my altars 37:16 - How to cleanse and dedicate your altar 43:03 - How do I work with my altar? 45:28 - Offerings (the what, why, and how) 53:36 - How do I maintain my altar? 55:27 - FAQs - Cultural appropriation, white sage & palo santo - Will my ancestors freak out? - What if I don’t feel or notice anything with my altar? 1:03:32 - Wrap-up & Final Thoughts CONNECT: Learn more about my work at https://ancestralhealing.coach (https://ancestralhealing.coach) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

4. 

   28 Dec 2025

   Ep. 6. Spirituality After Religion: Reclaiming Your Spiritual Path with the Ancestors

   How ancestral healing supports religious trauma recovery and helps you rebuild the spiritual path that’s actually yours. For those who have stepped away from toxic religious systems and organizations, finding a new spiritual path and framework can feel scary and uncertain. In this episode, Joseph shares more about his own journey in leaving Mormonism to find more joy and fulfillment in Animistic, earth-centered practices anchored in ancestral healing and connection work. As a gay ex-Mormon, Joseph discusses several ways that Ancestral Lineage Healing work can help support folks in healing and recovering from religious trauma, as well as finding our own Animist-based spiritual path. Finally, Joseph outlines four suggestions for those who are new to navigating a post-religious life and seeking their own new spiritual paths and frameworks. Curious how Ancestral Lineage Healing work might support your own healing path? Schedule a FREE 20-minute consultation with Joseph at: https://scheduler.zoom.us/joseph-b-shumway/discovery (https://scheduler.zoom.us/joseph-b-shumway/discovery) Or, visit https://ancestralhealing.coach (https://ancestralhealing.coach) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

5. 

   8 Sept 2025

   Ep. 5. Colonialism and The Six Cultural Wounds

   Colonialism has created tremendous harm to humans and the non-human world alike. In this episode, I dive into what we refer to as the Six Cultural Wounds (or Six Cultural Supremacies). These ideologies serve as foundations from which all of the many harmful expressions of colonialism and capitalism stem. Ancestral Lineage Healing work is about healing wounds brought about by a broken culture, its power structures, and systemic patterns. Hence, when we tend to our ancestral wounds, we’re loosening the grip of the darker forces that underpin these structures and systems! The Six Cultural Wounds/Supremacies, as taught to me by my teacher Dr. Daniel Foor, are: Human Supremacy Cultural Supremacy Ancestral Supremacy Religious & Ideological Supremacy Cis-Hetero Supremacy (aka Gender & Sexuality Supremacy) Economic Supremacy SAMHAIN 2025 ANCESTRAL HEALING INTENSIVE! Join me and five of my beautiful colleagues in Union, Washington, USA, October 30-November 2 at the Sacred Waters Center for an in-person intensive where you’ll learn and experience the steps that are part of the Ancestral Lineage Healing process! For details, and to register, visit: https://redearthhealing.org/ancestral-lineage-healing-intensive-union-wa-2025/ (https://redearthhealing.org/ancestral-lineage-healing-intensive-union-wa-2025/) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

6. 

   8 Jun 2025

   Ep. 4. Animism: Reconnecting to our Other-than-Human Kin

   Reclaiming and fostering an Animistic framework of seeing the world is a critical part of our Ancestral Healing journey, but also in returning to being in right relationship with Divine and the natural web of life. In this episode, I heavily reference and quote the work of Robin Wall Kimmerer (https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/), whose beloved book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, became such an important piece to help me begin deeply shifting my own ethos around the living, natural world when I shifted from a Judeo-Christian framework. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin outlines the sacred principles of the Law of the Harvest, which I would like to include here for your reference: * Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer. * Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need. Take only that which is given. * Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm. * Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share. * Give thanks for what you have been given. * Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken. * Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever. Upcoming Offerings * Digging in the Deep: Ancestor-Guided Genealogy Research (https://ancestralmedicine.org/online-course/digging-in-the-deep/) - This four-part class, offered through Ancestral Medicine, begins July 7, 2025. My colleague, Erica Nunnally (https://www.ericanunnally.com/), and I will co-weave teachings around blending genealogical research with Ancestral Healing and ancestral connection. * Ancestral Lineage Healing Intensive (https://redearthhealing.org/ancestral-lineage-healing-intensive-union-wa-2025/) - This three-day event will be held in Union, Washington, USA, October 30-November 2, 2025, at the Sacred Waters Center for Restoration and Retreat. I will be supporting the intensive with one of my mentors, Shannon Willis, along with a few of my other colleagues from the Ancestral Medicine practitioner network. I invite you to check out the details and join us if an in-person, immersive experience in the work calls to you! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

7. 

   12 May 2025

   Ep. 3. Ancestral Healing: What is it, and why is it important?

   There are various methods of ancestral healing. I share what I see as core, foundational concepts to approaching the work in the most helpful, safe, and nourishing ways. I provide an overview of Ancestral Lineage Healing—the specific approach and method in which I am certified—and how healing entire lineage systems is impactful for deeper, more holistic healing. As a follow-up note, in the editing process, I recognized a few instances where I referenced indigenous traditions in a past tense. This was because I was so focused on talking about my own lineage experiences, where indigenous (pagan) European cultures were dismantled and destroyed. HOWEVER, I want to fully acknowledge the many indigenous cultures and traditions that are very much alive and present today, and these cultures still have their own active ways of tending and relating with the ancestors. Kindness and apologies if anything I said in the episode lands poorly for Indigenous folks. Learn more about working with me at: https://ancestralhealing.coach (https://ancestralhealing.coach) MENTIONED RESOURCES: Ancestral Medicine (https://ancestralmedicine.org/) Ancestral Lineage Healing Practitioner Directory (https://ancestralmedicine.org/practitioner-directory/) Ancestral Medicine Book (https://www.innertraditions.com/books/ancestral-medicine) (by Dr. Daniel Foor) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

8. 

   2 May 2025

   Episode 2: Who are the Ancestors?

   We all have many ancestors! But not all the dead are equally well in spirit and safe to relate with. Learn the difference between the unwell dead, and who I refer to as the "capital-A" Ancestors! I also discuss how many folks of European ancestors have what I call "ancestral amnesia" when it comes to thinking about pre-Christian, pagan peoples as actual, real, and viable ancestors. Finally, I talk about other kinds of ancestors (such as land ancestors, knowledge/trade-lineage ancestors, etc.) and how they can provide important insight and wisdom for our land-tending and creative endeavors! Learn more about my work at: https://ancestralhealing.coach (https://ancestralhealing.coach). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

9. 

   2 May 2025

   Episode 1: A Need For Belonging and Reconnection

   Colliding social, economic and political turmoil, coupled with ecological collapse and an extinction crisis create the conditions for scary times. At the heart of it all, is a deep crisis of belonging. As humans, we have become separated and disconnected from the things that bring us a sense of wholeness, nourishment, and belonging. Ancestral Healing is a beautiful way for us to find our way back into right-relationship with the natural world and the spirit realms for the deep belonging we all need and yearn for! Suggested resources: Charles Eisentstein Separation vs Interbeing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4QTza15_T8) Book “The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible” (https://charleseisenstein.org/books/the-more-beautiful-world-our-hearts-know-is-possible/eng/separation/) Dr. Zach Bush “The Intelligence of Connection” Commune Blog (https://www.onecommune.com/blog/commusings-the-intelligence-of-connection-zach-bush-md) Podcast appearances (https://zachbushmd.com/all-appearances/) (so many amazing ones!) Learn more about my work at: https://ancestralhealing.coach (https://ancestralhealing.coach). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

10. 

    1 May 2025

    Episode 0: About the Host Joseph Shumway

    In this introductory episode, I share a little bit about my story as a gay person growing up in the Mormon religion and culture, along with the religious trauma I received from believing I was being possessed by an evil spirit of Satan. I recap how I found the work of Ancestral Lineage Healing and how finding new spiritual practices rooted in animism and earth-honoring frameworks were life-changing for me. Learn more about me at https://ancestralhealing.coach. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

11. 

    30 Apr 2025

    The Ancestral Healing Podcast Trailer

    Trailer for "The Ancestral Healing Podcast" with Joseph B. Shumway! Welcome! I look forward to you joining me on my journey! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healingwiththeancestors.substack.com (https://healingwiththeancestors.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

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