Our Community of Ancestors | February 2020

Meditation assists me to bring more of my own spirit down into my body, into each chakra, and into my grounding to anchor my soul’s relationship with myself and the earth.  I can hear my own soul better when I am grounded.  Preparing to write this newsletter includes going into meditation to sit and listen to that quiet stillness, to be open to what my spirit has to say. 

I was barely grounded, barely settled, had barely taken a breath when suddenly a loud eruption of my ancestral community came through to get my attention.  They insisted; “You must talk about us, about ancestors, about how we are there for them!” 

Don’t get me wrong, I love my relationship with my ancestors.  Building a relationship with my ancestors has been my focus for the past 5 years yet explaining how to build a relationship with your own ancestors is another story.  In our western cultured mind, most of us did not grow up with the concept of even having ancestors.

If your mind is interested in understanding the concept of venerating your ancestors, then I suggest you research it online.  There are so many cultures that respect their ancestors and have sacred dates throughout the year to make time to honor their ancestors publicly.  Acknowledging our ancestors as part of our spiritual development is an interest that is growing rapidly even in our western culture.   Here is a link to Encyclopedia.com on the history of ancestor worship.https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ancestors-ancestor-worship

When a loved one dies it is natural to feel the spirit of the partner, child, parent or grandparent who has passed around us.  We might even naturally think of our loved one when making a special food or visiting a special place that you share an experience with them.  In those moments you ARE spiritually sending burst of love to them in the spirit world, letting them know that you still remember them.  Therefore, each of you have some experience with what this feels like at a soul level. 

Ancestor worship, or ancestor veneration takes this to a whole new level of building community with your ancestors.  Personally, initiated and trained in the traditional Sangoma way of working with Ancestors did not teach me how to build a relationship with those who came before me.  Simply sitting in meditation and tuning in to my ancestors daily is what taught me.  My ancestors taught me how to be in relationship with them.   Sitting in silence with your own ancestors is how you begin your own ancestor journey. 

I would like to express, as well, that for me, working with ancestors does NOT replace my relationship with God.  Working with my ancestors blends with my relationship with God.  I am acknowledging all that my ancestors went through over thousands of years.  Acknowledging their struggles, traumas, and conflicts they survived through so that I, as part of their future generation could survive, grow and thrive.  Acknowledging, the love, joy, hope, brilliance and genius they passed on to me through their DNA so that I, can add their strengths to mine, to be the best version of myself possible.  Passing on their knowledge and wisdom to my own future generations, has become a practice that I value greatly.

Where does one begin this ancestor journey?  For me, I began first by sitting in quiet and imagining my ancestors.  If I had any, what might they look like, sound like, be like, and feel like?  Being a woman, inspired me to call in all the women in my ancestral lines to surround me.  Creating a large circle that encompassed me.  I imagined turning 360 degrees and looking at all the faces of my female ancestors to experience them on the other side of the spiritual veil that separates us.  I did this for about two weeks daily. 

Then, I felt ready to shift my senses to my ancestors who had inhabited a male body, calling them in to also surround me 360 degrees, creating a large circle that encompassed me.  Again, I allowed my soul sense to see, feel, know, and hear my male ancestors. I sat with them daily for two weeks.  What this allowed me to create was a relationship with one female and one male ancestor that I would build a deeper spiritual connection with from each group.  Giving myself permission to narrow the scope of my learning allowed me to take bite size experiences that I could build on. 

Hesitant to begin my acquaintance with my mother’s ancestral line, or my father’s ancestral line, also provided rich conversations with my own parents as a place to continuing to build my relationship to my ancestors.  My family conversations about ancestors revealed deep pain, and trauma in both lineages.  However, those same conversations led to hearing stories of great strengths.  Gaining this sense of, and awareness of generations past, allowed perspective as to why my ancestors chose the paths they chose or addictions and lessons that they chose.  Over time, I found myself, having compassion for those lives lived before me. It was not overnight and in fact it has been years in the making. 

Healing old wounds does take time and in ancestor work it is the awareness that you just might be handed the mantle of continuing your ancestors healing through your own life.  In some cases, those old ancestral wounds may take many generations of healing before it disappears completely from our DNA. 

Ancestor work is a subject that could be explored for years.  This month’s newsletter is just a jumping off place to your own journey.  Visit the Energy Tips segment of this newsletter to guide you through a starting place.  If you find yourself super curious and wish to go even further in ancestor work then I highly recommend Daniel Foor’s work, https://ancestralmedicine.org/  as well as his book by the same name. 

If you have enjoyed this Newsletter, please share it with others and invite them to sign up for our mailing list to receive a new newsletter each month. 

Energy Tips

Ancestor work is some of the most profound spiritual work that I have ever done.  Once I began building my spiritual community with my ancestors, I really felt deeply content in my life for the first time.  The term content has come up often from others who began doing their own ancestral practice.  So, here is a tip to help you get started. 

1. Create a quiet space where you will not be interrupted for about an hour. 
2. Create a small little alter.  On this alter, place an offering of a glass of water, a flower/plant, and a candle.  As you create this small alter, be tuned in to your maternal and paternal ancestors. 
3. Ground yourself by calling upon your own spirit to align with you, move into your body and anchor your spirit to the center of the earth. 
4. Choose which lineage you wish to acknowledge first; maternal or paternal?
5. Now as you are tuned in to your chosen lineage, begin first with gratitude.  In ancestor work gratitude is the place you always want to begin.  Thank your maternal and paternal lineage for giving you life.  You can of course give more gratitude to your ancestors if you choose but for some there is so much pain that just giving thanks for your life may be as much as you can do to start. 
6. With each line, call forth the ancient ancestors that remember what it is like to be one with the rhythm of nature and mother earth.  Call forth the ancient ancestors who remember what it is like to by in rhythm with the planets and stars.  Calling in the most ancient ones of your ancestral lines who remember their own ancient knowledge and wisdom draws upon the ancientness of your own DNA. 
7. Sit with each line separately as you see, feel, sense, know, and maybe even hear them as they move in close to support and share their love for you. 
8. Spend as much time as you are comfortable with. 
9. Allow yourself to feel your own DNA come alive in your bones. 
10. After you have completed your connection with your ancient ancestors, acknowledge their presence and thank them for visiting with you. 
11. Then open your eyes and make notes in your journal of your personal experience with your maternal line and your paternal line. 
12. Make a commitment with yourself and your ancestors when you will create some quiet time to meet with them again.