Bones of Belonging: Early Bird
$347
Early Bird Pricing ($347) is open until Saturday, November 28th, 2026. After that, the price is $397 for standard tier.
If you would like to join Bones of Belonging premium tier that includes a private 1:1 clairvoyant reading with Deanna, please follow this link: Reserve the premium spot here.
BONES OF BELONGING
A 5-week guided writing journey of exploring your southern Italian & Sicilian ancestry. Uncovering & retelling your family's stories through myth infused & creative writing. During which you will choose a personal keepsake project created with your family's stories.
Bones of Belonging will take you on a 5-week voyage into the depth and bones of your family’s story, the present, the past and the archived. Together we will traverse through three generations of your family lineage- you, your parents and your grandparents- with the intentions of digging deeply, reflecting, uncovering and writing the bones of their- and your- stories.
Sicilian/Mediterranean mythology will be woven into our journey, where we will explore meaning through storytelling, symbology and archetypes. These myths will guide us in understanding our own inner selves, what we carry within and the stories of our predecessors. Throughout our sessions, you will be guided in visualization meditation to seeing your ancestors in a new light as the main characters of their stories that they lived, created and passed down.
In the beginning of our journey together, each person will reflect and decide upon one personal keepsake project of their choice. This could be anything from a photo album with lines from your written passages, a scrapbook with handwritten stories, a simple Zine or booklet that can be printed out and given as a gift, a series of poetry, etc. The creativity and potential are endless, and the only important thing is that you choose something that brings you joy and connection to your lineage. At the end of the 5 weeks you will have a complete keepsake with your writing and any other details you choose to include.
During our time together, you’ll build an ancestral altar in your home, where you can connect with your ancestors, have a sacred space to open up the veils and write and also share the stories you've written with them.
Bones of Belonging may be for you if:
You are feeling a pull toward your Sicilian/southern Italian roots and want to explore it from the comfort of your home.
You enjoy processing through writing and storytelling.
You would like to preserve precious memories, stories and family details in a meaningful way.
You’ve always wanted to make a family keepsake, to preserve your family’s stories or give to someone you love.
You’re drawn to Sicilian myth and folklore, and feel that these myths and their symbology can support you in understanding your own life.
You feel like the keeper, the guardian, the sentimental one in your family lineage.
You have only fragments of your family’s story, or relatives who are no longer here to ask, and want to explore what you do know in a deeper way.
IF YOUR FAMILY’S STORIES ARE FRAGMENTED OR LOST:
Bones of Belonging is a bit different than a genealogy or research program. We won’t be searching for records or documents. Instead, we will be expanding into the stories of the previous two generations of our family members, and of ourselves, in a unique way that infuses mythology and creative writing.
Everyone’s relationship to their ancestry looks completely different. Some of us have more fragmented, broken or forgotten pieces, scattered parts here and there, and we will be working with that. Not to “make up” stories, but to give their lives imagination from the bits and pieces that we know of them, or how I like to think of it, to weave the loose threads that have been left forgotten and frayed. Our writing will be a cross section between what we actually know about our ancestors, what we feel, and what we could imagine their lives to have been like. We will be opening the doors of our perception to see them in a new light and give movement to the still images we have of them in our minds.
A personal message from Deanna ❤️ If there are relatives in your family lineage that you never had a chance to meet, because they passed away before you were born or when you were very young, this program is a chance to meet them in a different way. The idea for Bones of Belonging came to me recently as I've begun the process of writing my 2nd book, which is a retelling of my grandfather's story. I never had the chance to meet him, as he passed away quite young, however I have always felt deeply connected to him and have yearned to explore that connection. Through writing about him, I am discovering a relationship and a profound healing that I did not know exists...and this is what I want to share with you in Bones of Belonging.
HOW THE FIVE WEEKS FLOW. Please keep in mind these are very light descriptions, and each week will be full of so much depth, discovery and detail.
Week 1: Arrive. Introductions and intentions, a guided visualization of your family constellation, and building your ancestral altar.
Week 2: You. Explore our 1st Mediterranean myth. Guided meditate journey that will lead us to write about where you stand in your lineage and what brought you here to where you stand today. The Silver Thread of Ancestry. This week there is a Saturday co-working session to further explore these themes.
Week 3: Your parents’ generation. Explore & discuss our 2nd Mediterranean myth. This week we will dive into our parent's stories, seeing them from a different perspective as the main character in their lives. We will use tools from a guided meditation to take us on this journey. This week there is a Saturday co-working session to further explore these themes.
Week 4: Your grandparents. Explore & discuss our 3rd Mediterranean myth. A deep meditation in connecting with an ancestor who wants to step forward from the veil and share their story with you. We will channel and write about what comes through as a fable or a letter. This week there is a Saturday co-working session to further explore these themes.
Week 5: Weave and honor. Finishing up the last details of your keepsake, where we will then share with the group and close together at the altar. This Saturday's session will be reserved for sharing pieces of our keepsake and writings, and closing up our beautiful circle.
SESSIONS:
Our Tuesday sessions are the heart of the program, and each one has a few components. We open with a simple check-in, then I introduce that week’s mythology story and we explore its meaning, symbology and how it connects to that week’s theme. After that we do a simple 15-20 minute guided visualization meditation, and then a writing prompt together that ties everything in.
Your longer writing and the creation of your keepsake project will happen either between sessions or during our Saturday co-working sessions, which are also led by simple discussion and prompts about that week’s theme, and a time to work together on our keepsake projects, whether it be writing, crafting, researching or discovering. I’m still fine-tuning the exact timing of each call, so I don’t want to promise a minute-by-minute breakdown, but this is the overall flow.
All sessions are recorded in case you miss one.
Tuesdays, 2 pm–3:30 pm EST// 8pm-9:30pm CET : Jan 19, Jan 26, Feb 2, Feb 9, Feb 16
Saturdays, 10 am-11:15 am EST// 4pm - 5:15pm CET : Jan 30, Feb 6, Feb 13, Feb 20
Since we are blessed to be a worldwide community, please doublecheck timing for your specific timezone beforehand 😌
GROUP SIZE AND POLICIES
This journey is intended to be deeply intentional and intimate. We will be exploring our family roots and lineage together and sharing our process with the group along the way. I will be right there beside you, doing my own keepsake project and also uncovering my family's story. It is a journey we are taking together. The group will be limited to 12 people. It will run with a minimum of 5 participants and if the minimum isn’t reached, you’ll be notified before the program begins and refunded in full. Payments are non-refundable.
A NOTE ON THE WORK
This is a guided creative and spiritual journey. It is not therapy and doesn’t replace mental health care. All meditations are optional, and you can pause or step away at any time. What comes to you in a visualization is what you receive, not a fact about your family. If working with family history feels heavy, take it at your own pace.
ABOUT DEANNA AMODEO
Deanna Amodeo is of Sicilian descent on both her mother’s and father’s side. She grew up visiting her family on the island, and two years ago she returned to Sicily to create a home there to further explore her roots. She is currently living between the Madonie mountains, where she runs a small agriturismo with her partner Dario, and the bustling streets of Palermo, where she is writing her second book- a mythological retelling of her grandfather’s story.
The authoring of this 2nd book is what inspired the creation of Bones of Belonging, after having deep moments of grieving and healing while writing about a relative she never met, but always felt deeply connected to. Deanna sees herself as a storyteller who looks for the heart and the synchronicity in everything. She longs to tell the stories that were lived but never shared. Her style is influenced by mythology and magical realism, bringing us into worlds that we cannot see with our eyes, but we know within our hearts and souls.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU JOIN
You’ll receive a confirmation email from Deanna. As we approach closer to the start date, I’ll send a welcome email with your Zoom link, altar instructions, and everything you need to prepare for the first session.