The Ancestral Now is a move towards creating a culture more attuned to the ancestral inheritance we all share through Deep Time, and rebuilding a humane foundation from which to stabilize a more vibrant future.
Hello, I am Ramon Castellanos, A Little Bit About Me:
About Me: I was born into a Cuban household devoted to the Lucumi traditions of the Caribbean, who have roots in the Yoruba people’s of Nigeria, and was fully initiated into the tradition as an infant. My grandmother was a medicine women and my first teacher; she gave me an early education in animism, spirit work and magic. As a teenager I underwent an extreme form of Shamanic Sickness/Kundalini syndrome that activated spontaneously, nearly killing me.
I also spent my 20’s living and working at Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in the wilderness of New Mexico, where I befriended and learned directly from wolves. This decade of life was also characterized by working and apprenticing closely with a variety of teachers and becoming very ill once again (and healing from the health challenges thankfully). I now live on the Big island of Hawaii. I have taught intensive courses on internal alchemy, Ancestral lineage repair, shamanic practices, health and healing.
To get a deeper dive into my story, visit my page: Who Am I?
The Ancestral Now is about honoring the vast lineage that has shaped the modern human so that it honors us. When we do this, the Ancestral becomes a root system, and the wind at our backs, propelling us forward in auspicious ways anchored in something more stable than the latest fad.
The Ancestral is a ‘source fire’, lighting up the human soul.
The structure of The Ancestral Now includes free, paid, and full member access.
Scheduling
As an artist with a bit of a rebellious streak that creates what I feel is a ‘living work’, being predictably productive with exact quotas for output is not something that I can make work, but I respect and admire those who can. 🙏
That said, I do stay consistent, and publish a mix of free and paid work on one of four days a week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday. I do my best to schedule in advance so you get no more than 2-3 emails from me a week. If needed, I send out one email with multiple links, to help keep your email load low.
Offerings for Free Members:
Essays, Newsletters, The Living Ancestor Podcast, Offerings To The Spirit of Practice, public articles and long free previews on paid work (typically)
Offerings for Paid Members:
+The Primordial Shamanism ‘Light-Stone Body’ Phase Course: Applied Practical and Esoteric Shamanism
Primordial Shamanism is the ‘flagship’ methodology expressed through The Ancestral Now. It is an expression of both contemporary Western shamanism, and the indigenous wisdom traditions we have inherited from the Ancestors of deep time.
It has emerged today, from within our culture, to address the challenges and opportunities of our time; from accessible tools meant to help reconcile mundane concerns to deep ecstatic states of communion with the divine.
It presents of a vast treasury of tools, embodied skills and recontextualizations around modern shamanic practice that are critical to the reawakening of authentic shamanism in contemporary 21st century life.
The ‘Light-Stone Body Phase’ is the foundational course of the methodology, which is offered the low cost that it is, as gift I feel everyone ought to have access to. The course (which is currently being built one module at a time) offers instruction in:
Embodiment
Learning to speak the language of energy
Feeling The Breath of Life
The Primary Triune & ‘opening’ the energy body
The central importance of the heart
The Magic and medicine of offerings
Guardianship practices
Multi-Dimensionality & Magnetics
Ancestral Context
Relating to omens (synchronicity)
Basic divination and it’s central role
Understanding animism
Building spiritual ecologies
Soul recovery
Living one’s destiny
‘Spiritology’
Cosmology and Context
All the above + a treasury of support & challenge…The Source Well and The Soul Forge
The Source Well:
This is a multimedia piece of art (released 1-3 times a month) that is meant to inspire, connect you to beauty, and stay in touch with the pulse of The Ancestors…it is a well of support. The somatic sense it is intended to create is richness. Themes can include animism, fiction, poetry, videos, practices, prompts, and more. I weave together whatever wants to come together, to help you build a well of inner resources meant to reanimate life and connect you to a living cosmos.
The Soul Forge:
This is a multimedia piece of art (released 1-3 times a month), meant to challenge you to greater integrity, resilience, or a sense of purpose. It can range from embodiment practices to magic, and everything in between. It can be a reality a check, a practice, a contemplation, a reminder that life is temporary, or anything in between. It is a cave of transformation, a place of practical application, a forge for the soul.
The Elaborations Podcast
The Elaborations Podcast: This is a podcast that is only accessible to paid, and it goes DEEPER into the topics covered in long-form articles, paid member materials, or Primordial Shamanism. It is a bit more free-flowing in schedule but is regular enough to be useful. I love talking elaborations, it’s a lot like having a conversation with me.
Founding Members
Shapeshifting Stories Course: This is a powerhouse methodology that can drastically change a person’s life by altering their understanding of their life story. Though simple prompts and a continuous writing process, one creates profound shifts in their energetic body.
If you are a founding member, access the Shapeshifting Stories Course Here
‘The Mystery Chest’ for Paid and Founding Members
This kind of work is fundamentally art, and like art, it is a living work. Sometimes inspiration strikes, and creations that are unplanned and have nowhere precise to go, emerge. This is the mystery chest.
Supporting My Work
The paid and founding members help support what I am doing here and make it possible. I thank you deeply for that. Like any ongoing work, it takes devotion, dedication, and love. For those of you who cannot afford a subscription, I do have a potential solution! Which is:
