08/20/2026
In this lecture, Sandra will explore the possibility and the transformative benefits of being in a more conscious relationship with the ancestors. The idea that our ancestors have any kind of existence beyond this earthly one, much less that they have a desire to be in relationship with us, is unfamiliar for many of us in modern Western culture. For the Dagara of West Africa, this relationship is essential to the wellbeing of each individual and the entire community.
Situating our understanding in Jung’s conceptualization of the collective unconscious provides a psychological framework that, like genetics, allows us to trace the footprints of our ancestors across time and space. According to Jung, the collective unconscious is “the mighty deposit of ancestral experience accumulated over millions of years.” Enhancing the epistemological and ontological parameters in Jung’s psychology using Malidoma Somé’s cosmology and what Gregory Cajete, a Tewa Indian, terms “indigenous science” provides a framework of understanding that allows us to listen to and understand the nature of the relationship between the living and the dead, in a way that allows us to address and transform patterns that may have deeper roots in our ancestry.
Sandra Easter, MA, PhD, author of Jung and the Ancestors: Beyond Biography, Mending the Ancestral Web received her M.A. in Applied Psychology from the University of Santa Monica and her Ph.D. in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is a Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher and Mentor and has additional training in Indigenous African Spiritual Technologies, DreamTending, and the Process of Council. She has been a practicing psychotherapist for over 35 years and currently maintains a practice in Denver, CO. The foundation of her work lies in the psychology of C.G. Jung, Indigenous Science, Buddhism, and the experience of the undivided relationship between the embodied world and the psyche.
