My name is Tsepo Bollwinkel Keele. I am a black South African in German exile and work both as a speaker and trainer in the field of social justice and as a classical musician.

My ancestors come from both the South African Sotho Nation, which largely defines my identity, and from the indigenous Khoi/San of South Africa. And also Norsemen and British/German people are my ancestors.

After initially working politically as an activist, I went into educational work in order to make my contribution to liberation by deconstructing oppressive structures. i want another world. That is my motivation and intention. For me, the essential word to describe such a different world is justice.

And after more than four decades of activism and two decades in political education, it has become increasingly clear to me that this work has a gap: I am more and more convinced that social change not only needs activism and deconstruction, but also healing.

Healing and (re)connecting to ways of life before the colonial and capitalist project, before the Cartesian worldview, before patriarchy, before our domestication by the city. Without healing processes, every vision of a different society, every political awakening, will arrive in the same destructive and extractivist patterns that people (and those around them) have been suffering from for centuries. Movements for justice and individuals experience this all too well.

Reconnection is also a very personal issue for me, because living in exile means being separated from people, landscapes, languages, cultures, knowledge, worlds of belief and faith. Many people are like me for a variety of reasons: people from the many diasporas, people who have been separated from their origins or had to separate in order to survive. And because we actually all (have to) live in deep separations – isn't reconnection a matter for everyone? To nature, to places and places, to history and stories, to people (especially in this pandemic), to your own body?

In a long night on YouTube that started with music from my Sotho Nation and continued with post-activist theory, I came across a speaker I really didn't want to listen to. But perhaps because he was introduced by an African philosopher whom I respect very much, or because he spoke Yoruba fluently, or because he struck me as sincere and honest - anyway, I also checked out his organization's website. Here it is: ancestralmedicine.org

And surprising myself with that, I very quickly signed up for a course there in the method called Ancestral Lineage Healing. In an international learning group, which fortunately included many BIPoCs and queer people, I found a way that enabled me to personally heal and reconnect. A path that at the same time enables me to criticize the conditions more comprehensively and has inspired me for new approaches to change.

Not bad. Pretty good actually. So good that I decided to do the Ancestral Lineage Healing Practitioner training, which entitles me to use this method one-on-one with interested people. And then I will also acquire this qualification for group work.

So what is this Ancestral Lineage Healing?

Ancestral Lineage Healing is a way to get to know one's own origins, the gifts and burdens that are passed on intergenerationally in our families and also in our communities, a way to explore them safely and not in a retraumatizing way and to come to terms with one's own identity in a healing way connect to.

Through introspection, meditation and vision we build relationships with supportive aspects and parts of our ancestors and with all the good forces of our planet that want to support us. In this work, communication with the ancestors and the family history can succeed, in which history filled with shame and guilt can also be processed and integrated.

And this healing can happen when, beyond the limitations of our personal history and situation, we see ourselves as part of the bigger picture and turn to the tasks and responsibilities that are given to us - supported and nourished by deep connection within the inside and within the outside. And that gives strength and visions for change, especially for a new beginning in society.

My offering:

In individual sessions (usually via Zoom), we work on the healing of one lineage of ancestors as an example. After a short preliminary talk, 5 to 7 sessions usually follow until such a lineage is complete. Clients can then decide whether they would like to work on further series independently or seek the support of me or my colleagues again.

Costs:

Preliminary talk (30min)    free of charge

1st session (90min)           € 100

each additional (60min)    € 75

Up to and including July 2022, sessions for BIPoCs, trans* and inter people as well as people in the area of low income are free of any charge.

After that, the prices for these groups of people are €50 each from the first session.

Since the process of my certification will not be completed until July, the price for all other people until then will also be reduced to €50 from the first session.

Languages:

I offer sessions in German and English.

Important:

1. Ancestral Lineage Healing is not a form of therapy and cannot and does not intend to replace it.

2. It is also not a genealogical study, but encourages such work.

3. Ancestral Lineage Healing does not require any particular religious stance, but it is spiritual.

Interested?

Write me an email at:

ancestralhealing@tsepobollwinkel.com