House of Roots and Bones: Advanced Ancestral & Family Work Department

XI. ADVANCED ANCESTRAL & FAMILY WORK
HORB ANC 501 — Advanced Ancestral Veneration & Family Spirit Work
Explores sustained family spiritual practice rooted in relationship, identity, obligation, and discernment. Students learn to distinguish honoring, petitioning, and consulting the dead while addressing complex family dynamics and boundaries. Establishes the advanced framework for family spirit work throughout the department.
HORB ANC 502 — Genealogy for the Rootworker
Teaches research skills using census records, death certificates, church records, newspapers, oral histories, and more. Students learn to navigate the unique challenges of Black American genealogy and to separate evidence from speculation. By completion, each student can construct a defensible multigenerational family history.
HORB ANC 503 — Recovering the Forgotten Dead
Addresses ancestors with lost or incomplete records, teaching methods to reconstruct identity through family, community, and historical context. Students learn to honor what is known without inventing what is not, and to remain comfortable with uncertainty. Memorial practices for unidentified family dead are explored alongside continued research.
HORB ANC 504 — The Family Bible as Spiritual Archive
Examines the family Bible as sacred text and repository of family memory. Students learn to read handwritten records, photographs, letters, and other artifacts while also preserving and dating them. The course reveals the Bible as a meeting place of Scripture, genealogy, material culture, and ancestral memory.
HORB ANC 505 — Inherited Gifts & Family Callings
Examines spiritual gifts, vocations, and callings within families. Students investigate how families recognized, encouraged, or concealed spiritual ability and distinguish family reputation from unsupported claims. Teaches that calling is demonstrated through responsibility and development rather than merely claimed through ancestry.
HORB ANC 506 — Ancestor Dreams & Visitations
Explores dreams and experiences involving the dead, comparing memory, symbolic, grief, and genuine visitation dreams. Students learn disciplined dream journaling, interpretation, and confirmation while avoiding projection. Teaches discernment without dismissing the mystical understanding of ancestral visitation.
HORB ANC 507 — Ancestral Correction & Troubled Family Legacies
Addresses family histories including abuse, betrayal, addiction, and unresolved wrongdoing. Students learn to honor lineage without romanticizing the dead or perpetuating harm. Prayer, remembrance, truth-telling, and boundary setting are examined alongside practical responses.
HORB ANC 508 — Objects of the Dead
Studies clothing, jewelry, tools, letters, photographs, quilts, and other belongings left by the dead. Students explore the meaning, preservation, and respectful handling of inherited objects. Teaches that not every item is spiritually active, while preparing students to work intelligently with family material culture.
HORB ANC 509 — Naming the Dead
Examines given names, surnames, nicknames, and spoken remembrance as genealogical and spiritual tools. Students learn how names preserve identity, reveal kinship, and carry power in prayer. Emphasizes accurate documentation and respectful use of names in ancestral work.
HORB ANC 510 — Building a Family Ancestral Archive
A capstone course requiring students to create an organized family archive. Includes photographs, documents, oral histories, recipes, remedies, and spiritual practices with sources and context. Students learn preservation, digitization, labeling, and proper documentation so future generations inherit an accurate and meaningful record.