A 15-week creative writing workshop in the sacred art of ancestral storytelling
To be a storyteller is to be a keeper of the flame, a bridge between the world that was and the world that is yet to come.
We are all walking archives.
Carried within our memories, our family habits, the rhythms of our speech, and the very marrow of our bones are the maps of those who walked before us. Yet so much of our ancestral history remains fragmented — locked away in dry census data, faded photographs, and the silent spaces between family secrets. How do we reclaim these fragments and breathe life back into them?
Cracking the Ancestral Code is a transformative, 15-week creative writing workshop designed to help you excavate, honor, and craft the stories of your lineage. Whether your family history is a sprawling, multi-generational epic or a quiet collection of half-remembered folklore, this course will give you the tools to transform raw memory into powerful, resonant narrative art.
Together, we journey through the three movements that carry a lineage from memory into living narrative.
We move past dry dates and historical facts to mine the sensory truths of the past. Using family heirlooms, recipes, photographs, and regional landscapes, you will learn to use the five senses to bring the ghosts of your history vividly onto the page.
We explore the sacred ethics of the storyteller — how to navigate complicated family truths with grace, honor the distinct musicality and cadence of ancestral voices, and craft character sketches that render your people as three-dimensional human beings.
We examine the concept of “blood memory” — unearthing the blueprints of survival, defiance, and triumph left behind by your ancestors. You will learn to structure your narratives so they become a source of strength for the present and a legacy for the future.
This workshop welcomes writers of all backgrounds and skill levels — from seasoned essayists and memoirists to those picking up a pen for the very first time. If you have a burning desire to listen deeply to the past and find your voice in the present, your seat at the table is waiting.
More than a class — a season of guided instruction, sacred ritual, and community held together from the equinox through the winter drums.
Deep, intimate hybrid workshop sessions limited to 12–15 participants.
Guided access to and participation in sacred seasonal checkpoints throughout the autumn.
Full participation in the nine-day ancestral ritual, including the cemetery visits and the final drumming and storytelling circle.
For online students — a curated package of ritual elements and sensory tools mailed to your home, so you can perform local actions in tandem with the cohort.
A dedicated set of reduced-fee seats for community members who exchange labor in the Center’s organic garden for tuition and fresh harvest meals.
A seat at Voices from the Roots, our live closing circle where we speak our ancestors’ names into the room together.
The semester is woven through the season’s living rituals. There is community feasting the entire time.
Our first Saturday gathering. Weekly hybrid sessions run 1:00–3:00 pm Pacific through December 12.
A nine-day elevation encompassing Día de los Muertos on November 2nd — cemetery visits, offerings, and the raising of ancestral names.
We celebrate the ancestral new year alongside the living tradition of New Orleans.
A closing drumming and dance in honor of Shango and Obatala — the season carried out on the rhythm of the drums.
One course, three ways to enter — so that ability to pay never decides who gets to speak their ancestors’ names. Enrollment is capped at 12–15, with an intentional balance of in-person and online seats.
For those able to pay a little more and sponsor a neighbor’s seat at the table.
The full and honest cost of the course, its rituals, and its materials.
For fixed-income elders, students, and community members facing financial hardship. Choose the amount that works for you at registration — no one is turned away for lack of funds.
Every graduate receives a beautiful physical and digital Certificate of Ancestral Storytelling Arts — a formal recognition of your voice, your history, and your creative labor. To earn it, students attend at least 12 of the 15 sessions and present a completed narrative at the Voices from the Roots final reading.
A celebratory, live community reading where we stand together and speak our ancestors’ names into the room. The ancestors are waiting to be heard.
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