My Journey into Ancestral Healing & Grief Work
The Call: When Everything Changed
I had an advisor in undergrad tell me not to bother applying to graduate school. He said I wouldn’t get in because my writing wasn’t strong enough, because I wasn’t smart enough. And for years, I believed him. It took four years for me to undo the damage of that one sentence.
Four years later, I got into NYU for my Master’s degree.
But the real moment that changed everything wasn’t rejection. It was loss.
“Titi, call me back—it’s an emergency.”
I answered the phone.
“Titi, Nana died.”
...Who?
“Nana.”
...Who?
“Jade.”
…WHAT?
There are moments in life that split time in half—the before, and the after. My niece’s transition was that moment. A wave of confusion rushed over me. I understood what my ears were hearing, but my brain and heart refused to process it.
And then something else took over. Deep breath in, Minerva. Deep breath out. Stay grounded. It was time to elevate her spirit in the ancestral realm.
And so, my work began.
Grief cracks open the soul. It forces us into transformation, whether we are ready or not. And in the depth of my sorrow, I did what I have always done in times of deep uncertainty—I went to my shrine.
I sat there crying, praying, asking for guidance. Oya and my Ancestors answered.
"Apply for the Ph.D. program at CIIS."
It made no sense. I had one week to apply, but the autobiographical statement flowed out of me effortlessly—I did not struggle for words. My best friend said it needed no edits.
Jade was always the first person to make me feel like I had something to offer as a writer. I had edited all her college papers—so much so that we used to joke that I’d walk across the graduation stage with her. Losing her was unimaginable.
But my Ancestors made it clear: this loss was not an ending. It was a portal. A summons. A path I had to walk.
So I did the only thing I could do. I listened. I wrote. I submitted the application. I got in.
The Call had been made.
The Surrender: When Everything I Knew Fell Apart
But before I arrived at my dharma, I had to surrender everything I thought I wanted.
For years, I believed my purpose was to build a career in non-profit work. I had spent seven years at the International Rescue Committee—first as a Refugee Youth Program Manager, then as an International Health Unit Manager. I was making strides. I thought I was on the right path.
I applied for a Ph.D. program at Columbia University in Sociology in Education. I applied for a yearlong fellowship. I was in the final rounds of both.
Then, I got rejected. On the same day.
Devastated doesn’t even begin to describe it. I had poured everything into those applications. And yet—doors closed.
I laid in bed and spoke to the universe.
"Okay, Universe. Obviously, I had it all wrong. I surrender. Show me where I am truly meant to be."
And so, I let go. I enrolled in yoga teacher training. I made a radical decision: when I finished, I would quit my job, leave my apartment, and heal my ancestral wounds.
This was not just about personal healing—it was about reclaiming something much deeper.
I went to Florida to spend time with my only living grandparent. Then, I traveled to the lands of my mother (Puerto Rico) and my father (Dominican Republic)—not just to visit, but to understand.
This was my initiation into ancestral healing.
The Path: Healing, Spirituality & Answering the Ancestral Call
It was not a picturesque Eat, Pray, Love experience. It was raw, painful, and transformative. I met my darkness, head-on.
I spent time in Aguadilla with my titi, reconnecting with family. Then, I traveled across the island with my sister-friend CarmenLeah, visiting her uncle and exploring the coastline and mountains. Puerto Rico grounded me in my maternal lineage in a way I had never known before.
I began weaving together practices that had always called to me: yoga, meditation, breathwork, Ayurveda, Ifa. The deeper I went into these traditions, the more I understood—healing was never just personal. It was ancestral.
When I moved to the Bay Area, I continued this journey, eventually becoming a certified Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor and a priestess of Oya in Ifa.
Through this process, the vision became clear.
What if we stopped seeing grief as something to "get over" and instead saw it as a portal to transformation?
What if we reclaimed ancestral ways of mourning, of honoring, of keeping our dead alive?
What if death was not an end, but a relationship—one that required tending, devotion, and ritual?
My niece’s transition was not just a loss. It was an initiation.
I founded Roots Healing (now Sagrad@) to bring these medicines together and cultivate liberatory, decolonized spaces where grief, spirituality, and healing could coexist.
And now, I was walking toward the final step of the journey.
The Arrival: The Work I Am Called to Do
My life story is uniquely mine, and yet, it is part of a greater fabric.
Each chapter—the rejections, the grief, the surrender—was leading me here. To this moment.
The moment where I could say:
I am here to hold space for grief.
I am here to teach ancestral healing.
I am here to help others tend to the sacred threads that connect them to their lineage, their rituals, and themselves.
This work—my Ph.D., my offerings, my teachings—is not about me. It is about all of us. It is about remembrance. It is about liberation.
Because none of us are free until all of us are free.
Ready to Walk This Path Together?
This is the work I do now:
1:1 Grief & Ancestral Healing Sessions → Tending to grief in a way that is sacred, embodied, and rooted in ancestral wisdom.
The Sacred Ritual Course → A self-paced journey into stillness, ritual, and spiritual tending for more profound connection to Self.
Writings & Teachings → Sharing wisdom, reflections, and tools for ancestral healing and grief work.
If you feel called to walk this path with me:
