Practice at the Crossroads: Acupuncture, Alchemy, Spirituality, and Healing

A Year-long Alchemical Healing Mentorship with Lorie Eve Dechar and Benjamin Fox

Presented in Partnership with A New Possibility and Healthy Seminars

Mentorship opens with a live webinar weekend event on January 22 & 23, 2022

We are currently no longer accepting new applications for the 2022 mentorship program. If you would like to be notified when the next mentorship program opens in 2023 please fill out the form below.

January 22, 2022 – January 21, 2023 (a one-year virtual commitment with no scheduled sessions in August or December)

January 22 and 23, 2022, available On-Demand (6 CEU/PDA/CPD)
April 2, 2022, available On-Demand (6 CEU/PDA/CPD)
June 12, 2022 , available On-Demand (6 CEU/PDA/CPD)
September 17, 2022 , at 8:30am – 3:00pm Pacific / 11:30 am – 6:00 pm Eastern
November 19, 2022 , at 8:30am – 3:00pm Pacific / 11:30 am – 6:00 pm Eastern
January 21, 2023 , at 8:30am – 3:00pm Pacific / 11:30 am – 6:00 pm Eastern

Please note there will be an additional two, one and a half (1.5) hour group office hours between each of the scheduled live sessions

Thursday, February 10, 2022 at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern 
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 2 pm Pacific / 5 pm Eastern
Wednesday, April 27, 2022 at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern
Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 2 pm Pacific / 5 pm Eastern
Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern
Tuesday, September 6, 2022 at 2 pm Pacific / 5 pm Eastern
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern
Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 2 pm Pacific / 5 pm Eastern
Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern
Thursday, January 5, 2023 at 2 pm Pacific / 5 pm Eastern

We will assign reading from Lorie’s three books, it will benefit you greatly to make the investment in these books for the fullest experience of the mentorship.

Five Spirits, Kigo, and The Alchemy of Inner Work

Five Spirits

Click to purchase

The Alchemy of Inner Work

Click to purchase

READING MATERIALS: Books will not be included with your Mentorship registration fee.

The syllabus will include concepts, tools, skills, and practices drawn from Chinese medicine, Western depth psychology, somatic psychotherapy, consciousness studies, energy medicine, and alchemical traditions. The emphasis will be on ways of working that support the arising of new possibilities rather than the return to old ways of being.

Participation in this year-long mentorship will provide participants with an in-depth understanding of Alchemical Healing and transformation as well as support in developing skills to work clinically and personally at the psycho-emotional and spirit levels.

You can expect to gain entry-level mastery of specific diagnostic and therapeutic skills drawn from:

Five Element Acupuncture

  • Working with the Elemental archetypes
  • Integrating CSOE into practice
  • Application of Five Element Unblocking Treatments (do we want to include these?? … let’s discuss)
  • Bringing seasonal energies into practice; working with the Sheng and K’o cycle as applicable to psycho-emotional and spirit-level treatment

Archetypal (Jungian Depth) Psychology

  • Amplification of a psychic process using archetypes
  • Dream Work Basics
  • Active Imagination
  • Working understanding of transference, counter-transference, and conscious work with field dynamics
  • Entelechy and the Self / Manifesting Destiny and Tao

Zen Buddhist Meditation 

  • Deep listening and speaking from xin
  • Mindfulness in practice
  • Activating the healing power of silence

Lorie Dechar’s original work with the Five Spirits, somatic knowing, and Taoist and European alchemical traditions

  • Familiarity with the energetics of the “Axle and the Wheel” of wushen and wuxing
  • Inner Sensing Practice
  • Understanding the dynamics of the subtle body 
  • Training in “seeing” to the level of shen for diagnosis and treatment
  • Creating safe “alchemical vessels” or therapeutic containers for transformational processes

In addition, the program will provide training in: 
Alchemical tools, including Spirit Points, Flower Essences, and Essential Oils
A Five Spirits Approach to Trauma
A Heart-Centered Approach to Boundaries
Clearing and Possession

  • Ancestral issues
  • Boundary violation
  • Shamanic vs. Alchemical approach
  • Integration vs. Exorcism

You will also receive: 

  • An introduction to consciousness studies that will support practitioners in more fully accessing the power of Chinese medicine and other holistic practices.
  • Year-long supervision of clinical practice from Lorie.
  • Year-long support for personal inner work process from Lorie, Benjamin, small group partners, and the larger community.
  • An alchemical community of hearts, minds, and voices gathering to explore the edges of healing.
  • A community of seekers willing to exit states of denial and addiction and open to the opportunities (gold) buried in the crisis / impasse (lead) of our current planetary crises.

The Mentorship will follow the cycle of the seasons beginning in January with a two-day weekend introductory live virtual session that will include Q&A and break-out sessions. Five subsequent one-day virtual live sessions will be scheduled seasonally with emphasis placed on the related seasonal Element and Spirit. There will be seven full days of live teaching via Zoom.  Recordings of the live virtual sessions will be made available.

The in-person Zoom sessions will be supplemented by:

  1. Additional pre-recorded lectures to be viewed between live sessions at your convenience.
  2. Assigned readings and suggested ongoing “lab work” with partners between live sessions.
  3. Monthly Office Hours with Lorie and Benjamin to discuss experiential exercises, demonstrations, and case presentations.
  4. An “Alchemical Opus Project” – specific suggestions will be offered but each project will be individually designed by the participants to support personal integration of the material.
  5. Membership in the A New Possibility network community for ongoing access to a vibrant broader community of people committed to Alchemical Healing. 


PREREQUISITES FOR PARTICIPATION

The Mentorship will be geared towards certified practitioners of acupuncture and Chinese medicine who are interested in working “alchemically.” This focus will entail the expansion of clinical skills in the domain of emotion, psyche, and soul as well as a deep dive into the spiritual and transformational aspects of Chinese medicine. The program will also be open to practitioners and committed students of other healing modalities as well as anyone seriously interested in becoming an Alchemical Healer. The caveat is that during the Mentorship we will at times be speaking the untranslated language of Chinese medicine and a certain amount of “confusion tolerance” will be necessary for those not yet familiar with the language.

Participants who fully engage in the practices, experiential exercises, readings, classes, in-person office hour meetings, and who complete and submit a final project will receive certification in the art of Alchemical Healing and will have the confidence to apply alchemical tools and in their own lives and practice. Graduates of this program will have discovered their own “unique alchemy” that will allow them to work effectively and joyfully with specific commonly encountered symptoms as well as the epidemic of soul suffering and longings of our time.

Though we had always conducted our mentorship gatherings in person prior to the pandemic, we have been teaching exclusively online since March 2020. Initially, we had our own doubts and reservations; however, our experience has shown us that it is possible to create sacred containers for doing deep inner work via Zoom. We’ve realized a level of intimacy and connection that we would have previously thought impossible. In addition, we do have an online community forum that allows for ongoing communication and connection between online settings. The added bonus of offering the mentorship in an online format is that people from all over the world are able to participate without having to fly to the Stages 5-6 times in one year, which is of course cost prohibitive for many people.

The mentorship provides a deep immersion in a year-long curriculum with a closed group of people. This program is perhaps the single best way to get the most of our time, energy, and attention. Though we are equally committed to bringing the best of our presence and teaching to our membership community, the nature of the platform simply doesn’t allow for the same kind of depth and continuity that the mentorship allows. The network does, however, provide a wonderful context for connection to a vibrant community of healers, regular inspiration for your own personal healing journey, resources for your professional healing practice, including other online courses, and ongoing contact with Lorie and Benjamin via monthly community Zoom meet-ups. 

The focus of the mentorship is deep experiential learning, peer connection, and alchemical transformation. Although maximizing the quantity of CEU/PDAs will not be a focus, we have made available a maximum of 50 CEU/PDA you can earn during the one-year program.

A maximum of 42 hours can be earned as live CEUs if you join during the actual Zoom live presentations.

The breakup of available CEUs/PDA’s is as follows.

Mentorship:  seven six hours days (7X6=42)  through the year which can be done as live webinars or watched on-demand (recordings) within 3 months of the live stream for CEU/PDA.

A Five Spirit Approach to Treating Shock and Trauma, approved for 4 distant acupuncture CEU/PDA (available on-demand only)

Boundaries: A heart-centred Approach, Approved For 2 Ethics (ET) And 2 Safety (SA)CEU/PDA (Available On-Demand Only)

There are 2 ethics and 2 safety hours included in the 50 hours of CEU/PDA.

Acupuncture Regulatory bodies our CEU/PDA certificates will fulfil:

  • NCCAOM
  • California
  • Florida
  • Texas
  • CTCMABC
  • CTCMPAO

Yes, the following payment options are available:

Early bird rate is $3500 USD if paid in full by Nov 26th.

The regular rate is $5000 USD, however, you can save $1,500 if you make a single payment by the early bird deadline (November 26, 2021).

Make 4 payments of $1315 USD each (total $5,260). The three subsequent payment cycles are every 100 days based on the date of your initial payment.

Note that the 100-day interval is for registrations now until December 15th. The interval changes to 90 days for registrations from December 16th onward so the fourth and final payment is completed before the end of September 2022.

If you cancel before December 31st, 2021, you can receive a full refund less our non-refundable eCommerce fee of 5%.

Starting January 1, 2022, If the mentorship is not a good fit for you, you can cancel by January 31, 2022 and receive a refund of what you have paid, minus a $500 withdrawal fee and minus $75 for the 3 CEU introduction course. (Total $575)

No refund as of February 1, 2022.

You cannot transfer or sell your registration to this mentorship.

We will not accept more than 28 students into the program.

You will have access to recordings and materials during the mentorship period and until March 31, 2023.

Please note, quiz access to complete for CEU/PDA will be made available for 3 months following each live session. You have 3 months to complete the CEU requirements for each live section of the program. Final access for the last live session will end March 31, 2023.   Please plan accordingly so you can complete the CEU requirements within the 3-month time allocation for each live section.

We will assign reading and suggestions for integration of the learning between live sessions. Our experience has shown us that each person chooses a level of engagement that works with the demands of her/his life. Obviously, the more time you can devote to engagement with the material, the more you are likely to take from the program. However, alchemy takes time. It invites us into a life-long attitude and approach to understanding ourselves that cannot be rushed. We support our participants individually in finding their own right relationship to the work.


We consider healing work, or any work that addresses the level of our souls, to be sacred, and sacred work requires a temenos – a container that is held and protected in order that the sacred work can be performed within that space. “Soul work” is healing that reaches to the deepest parts of what makes us human. A “vessel holder” is a person who tends that container by bringing attention to the individuals within the program – checking in with them regularly, watching for shifts in energetic dynamics, attending to difficulties – both personally and collectively – as they arise.

Taoist alchemy is the organizing principle of the entire mentorship program. We reference the classics, including works by Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu and later works by contemporary scholars. Both the Five Elements and Five Spirits are Taoist alchemical systems.

There is no guarantee that we will, especially in a world that is subject to so much upheaval, but our hope would be that we will offer the mentorship again after this year.

Our mentorship has always consisted of roughly 75% acupuncturists, but we have also had doctors, nurses, psychotherapists, bodyworkers, midwives, and artists participate. Some of the curriculum is oriented to acupuncture and Chinese medicine, but as you’ll discover if you read our book The Alchemy of Inner Work, Alchemical Healing is accessible to anyone who is interested and committed to her/his own healing journey.

Course Instructors

Lorie
Lorie Author

I am passionate about my work as a clinician, teacher, mentor, dream tender and poetic scholar. In addition to writing the first and only modern book on the Five Spirits of ancient Chinese medicine, I have worked for over three decades to integrate the principles and practice of Chinese medicine with Western depth psychology to create Alchemical Healing, a therapeutic modality directly focused on the psycho-spiritual and soul issues of our time. Responding to the needs of a small group of students at Tri-State College of Acupuncture, where I taught for fifteen years, I developed the Alchemical Healing Mentorship. Expanding far beyond my original vision, the Mentorship has served as a training program, learning collaborative, and alchemical laboratory for an ever-growing international brigade of health care practitioners and committed explorers of healing and consciousness transformation. Having co-founded A New Possibility in 2012 with my husband, Benjamin, we have since gone on to write The Alchemy of Inner Work, a manifesto for the emergence of a new view of health and healing and a guidebook for the alchemical adventure of personal inner work that leads to global outer change. My third book, Kigo: Exploring the Spiritual Essence of Acupuncture Points through the Changing Seasons, brings together my over three decades of clinical experience into a handbook for practitioners who are looking to touch the soul through the portal of the points. I am now thrilled to be mentoring practitioners, while integrating the vision of our work into a wide array of online courses that will facilitate conversation and activism around critical issues related to personal and planetary healing.

Benjamin
Benjamin Author

In my work as an astrologer, I lean into the wisdom of the cosmos, looking to the ancient language of the stars to help people know themselves more deeply, to discover meaning in the inevitable challenges of embodiment, and ultimately to actualize their potential in crafting a purposeful life. My vision for A New Possibility coalesced in 2005, partly the hope of over two decades of unrelenting personal soul searching but more so a premonition of who I was still in the process of becoming. I had met Lorie nine years earlier (you can read that story in our book!) and the crucible of our intimacy had initiated healing I knew I needed but hadn’t previously been ready to take on. Our years of collaboration in the Alchemical Healing Mentorship, the creative birthing of The Alchemy of Inner Work, and the crises facing us in this current cultural moment have brought greater urgency to my dream of building a healing community. The community network that I founded is the expression of this calling. The world needs each of us to do the work of waking up to our own healing. My passion and commitment are to this awakening. I consider it my privilege to collaborate with others in staying focused on the path.