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Author Topic: It all starts with our ancestors  (Read 5650 times)

unveiledartist

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It all starts with our ancestors
« on: February 21, 2016, 12:08:16 pm »
In general, thats really how I feel. I started working with my ancestors more personally when my grandmother passed away two years ago. Id do something simple morning and evening. I pray and light a candle for her and a family. I try to keep in touch with living family and will do a DNA to know more about me. Im learnint my geneology at the same time.  

I dont really have a religious foundation like pantheons. Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)? If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?

I read up in an academic book about the history of sigils. Another book: Myth, Magic, and Mythology Encyclopedia about the different magic practices people have world over.

Does everything start with the ancestors with you? I know. Lots of questions. Sorry.

Sarah

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2016, 02:41:51 pm »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
In general, thats really how I feel. I started working with my ancestors more personally when my grandmother passed away two years ago. Id do something simple morning and evening. I pray and light a candle for her and a family. I try to keep in touch with living family and will do a DNA to know more about me. Im learnint my geneology at the same time.  

I dont really have a religious foundation like pantheons. Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)? If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?

I read up in an academic book about the history of sigils. Another book: Myth, Magic, and Mythology Encyclopedia about the different magic practices people have world over.

Does everything start with the ancestors with you? I know. Lots of questions. Sorry.

 
Ancestor work is a really big deal for me, I do a lot of it and plan to do more deeper stuff in the future. It's a central part of my religious journey

It's not really connected to the work I do with my gods though. All my blood ancestors for a very long time will have been from christian or Jewish cultures, not followers of the Celtic or Norse pantheon (which is where the gods I work with come from.) It's more than possible that originally some of them had Norse or Celtic spirituality but I don't really work with my ancestors because of their religion.

I have no relationship with any of my living blood family, they are all either missing, estranged or dead, and I have no relationship with  my legal family (I'm adopted) so blood ancestor work makes me feel anchored in time and history in a way I didn't have before I incorporated it into my life.

 I know very little about my blood ancestors, I have illegible scratchings and rags, but someone said to me that it doesn't matter if you don't know anything about your blood ancestors they are still there with you, and that changed the whole way I think about myself in the world.

For my blood ancestors I cook food, i write poetry, I look after my body, I commemorate certain days in the year, I wear devotional jewelry, I have a playlist of songs, I meditate to/with them. Eventually I will do work to heal their blood lines and trauma but I am not at a place where I know enough to do that yet

I also do a lot of work with ancestors of place and ancestors of kind but I didn't know if you wanted to know about that?
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IceAngie

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2016, 03:45:32 pm »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
I dont really have a religious foundation like pantheons. Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)? If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?

(...)

Does everything start with the ancestors with you?

 
I have a problem with the ancestors. I wrote about it here and I did a follow up here.

I still have some problems, it's really hard for me to believe that they are here. Sometimes, I think when we die, energy transforms and we stop being. We stop existing as conscious selves.

Other times, I believe we reincarnate, so we also stop existing. We are born again inside another body, so if someone prays to us, we are not there to listen.

Although I have a shelf with some objects (my grandfather's harmonica and my dad's keys) in my altar (it's not exactly an altar, but it's where I keep religious stuff), I don't work with them nor do I pray to them. I don't know how either.
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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2016, 03:47:38 pm »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058

Does everything start with the ancestors with you? I know. Lots of questions. Sorry.

 
Taking this slightly out of order for better flow of answer....

No, my practice doesn't start with the ancestors. My practice is, if anything, about it being a big complex cosmos, with many different things going on, many of which matter. Ancestors are a part of that, and a part of my practice, but they're only part - not the main central event.

My particular religious witchcraft tradition (the one I am trained in, to be clear here, not one that originated with me) invites the ancestors to every ritual, as well as deities, and that's something I do in my personal practice as well.

As is true in many religious witchcraft traditions, there are also rituals where the ancestors play a much bigger role for that ritual - Samhain is the big one here, a time for remembering our beloved dead.

We look at ancestors in multiple different modes.

1) Ancestors of blood - the people we're directly related to.

In personal ritual, I almost always invite and say hi to my father (who died when I was 15) and my maternal grandmother (my other three grandparents died before I was born.) I also often particularly invite one great-grandfather who read Tarot, and one relative who was a great-great-grandmother, and by family tradition a healer and practitioner of folk magic.

I sometimes invite or talk to other ancestors, but it's usually a lot more general.

The reaction I get back varies - my father has been known to pop into the back of my head and make bad puns involving ancient Greek (his area of speciality professionally). I sometimes get strong desires to cook certain kinds of things that are related to my mother's side of the family. I often feel a degree of general warm and good wishes.

2. Ancestors of kind:

This is what we often refer to as 'witches of old' or 'priestesses of old' or whatever - people who did the thing we're doing or thinking about doing, and that are relevant to the ritual. For agricultural harvest rituals, it might be 'farmers of old'. I often call on 'librarians of old' because that's my profession.

This often feels to me a lot like putting a post out on a forum on the internet, and not being sure *which* specific people are going to respond, but it being reasonably likely that some likeminded people, or some people with expertise in that area may show up and have some advice or ideas or good wishes. You're not compelling them to, you're doing a thing where you say "Hey, if you want to contribute to my thoughts on this thing, here's a place for it."

Like doing that with other strangers, you want to weight the information you get from this kind of source the way you would any information from random unknown strangers. (It might be great information, it might be lousy information.)

3. Specific other individuals.

Occasionally, my ancestor work also involves historic individuals who are relevant to a particular ritual or goal - the main one for me is Hypatia of Alexandria, who was a philosopher, teacher, and scholar associated with the Great Library of Alexandria. (The actual history about her is a lot more complex than the myths about her.)

I've also sometimes invited unusual groups of people - there was a ritual I did when my marriage ended, which focuses on reclaiming personal identity, where I invited the alumnae of the women's college I attended. (again in the "those of you with interest in helping with this specific thing..." mode, rather than compelling attendance.)

Outside of Samhain, I don't usually invite or focus on other beloved dead I wasn't related to, but this category is also where they'd fit. I'm certainly old enough now to have had people die who were an influence on my life in various ways, and sometimes they may have good advice, or be a relevant guest for a particular working or goal.

Quote
I dont really have a religious foundation like pantheons. Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)? If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?


My religious witchcraft tradition is not focused on a single pantheon: different deities are invited to a particular ritual depending on the focus of the ritual, the people running the ritual, and some other factors like the time of year.

And at most rituals, we're not focusing on people's individual ancestors. (Samhain, again, being the ritual where this is a common exception). For one thing, it can get crowded! If each person has a couple of beloved dead they want to invite, and you have 10 people in a ritual, that's a lot of different conversations going on!

There's a core ritual structure, but the interactions with deities and other entities invited (ancestors, elemental guardians, etc.) is more about the personal relationships of the people participating in the ritual than demanding the beings being invited share those practices.

It's like inviting people to a party at my house: I am going to do things differently in my home or hosting a party than my friends would, but there's a really big span of 'this is a party I'm glad to go to, but I wouldn't arrange it this way' that's comfortable for most people.

I tend to think that most ancestors work like that. They won't support something that's against their goals, values, or desires, but they're often pretty willing to show up in a ritual that isn't their religion of choice as long as their own choices and values are respected. In some cases, it might also be a bad idea to invite ancestors who you know didn't get along in the same ritual, just like you might have friends you don't invite to the same parties.

My actual practices include:
- Inviting to ritual

- Specific practices at Samhain. Usually focusing on remembering a couple of specific people, where there are some I focus on basically every year, and some that are new (often people who've died in the past year)

I didn't, for example, have a strong personal relationship with my mother's best friend from college, who just died last month, but I'll be remembering her in my Samhain ritual next year anyway.

- At some points in my life (though I don't really have one up currently) an ancestor altar with items from my beloved dead.

- I normally do some specific things on the anniversary of my father's death. (This is not usually structured ritual, because of the timing - it's right after Samhain - but I do some combination of a handful of things every year.)

- A certain amount of general reading about times and places that affected my ancestors. This is a very fluid thing - some months and years, it's a lot, sometimes it's not.

- Some amount (again, very fluid) of things like learning to make foods that were common foods or particular favourites for my ancestors.
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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2016, 08:48:12 am »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
In general, thats really how I feel. I started working with my ancestors more personally when my grandmother passed away two years ago. Id do something simple morning and evening. I pray and light a candle for her and a family. I try to keep in touch with living family and will do a DNA to know more about me. Im learnint my geneology at the same time.  

I dont really have a religious foundation like pantheons. Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)? If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?

I read up in an academic book about the history of sigils. Another book: Myth, Magic, and Mythology Encyclopedia about the different magic practices people have world over.

Does everything start with the ancestors with you? I know. Lots of questions. Sorry.

 
I do not work with or invite ancestors in ritual , but I do honor them, especially around Samhain. I believe their energy, their life helped make me who I am. I thank them, in whatever form they may be currently, for their lives and wish them well in the afterlife/their current incarnation.
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Jainarayan

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2016, 09:54:41 am »
Quote from: IceAngie;187070
I have a problem with the ancestors. I wrote about it here and I did a follow up here.

I still have some problems, it's really hard for me to believe that they are here. Sometimes, I think when we die, energy transforms and we stop being. We stop existing as conscious selves.

Other times, I believe we reincarnate, so we also stop existing. We are born again inside another body, so if someone prays to us, we are not there to listen.

Although I have a shelf with some objects (my grandfather's harmonica and my dad's keys) in my altar (it's not exactly an altar, but it's where I keep religious stuff), I don't work with them nor do I pray to them. I don't know how either.

 
Wow, it's almost as if I wrote that. ;)

I too do not feel my ancestors, since I hardly know them. I don't understand the "6 generations" thingie either... 3 generations back (to great-grandparents), 3 generations forward to our great-grandchildren as our line of ancestors. I will never have children therefore no grandchildren or great-grandchildren. I will have no one to regard me as an ancestor.

  • I did not know my paternal grandparents at all, except their names and a bit of their history (my father's family was as weird as any);
  • I hardly knew my maternal grandparents;
  • I know my maternal great-grandparents (parents of my mother's mother) only by name and a picture I have;
  • I know my paternal great-grandparents by name, but even that is questionable (ancestry.com searches).
  • I did not have the closest relationship with my parents; it was a bit rocky because they were always too busy fighting.

However, I do have a small shrine for them, to the side of my Æsir and Vanir (Heathen) shrine and altar, with some pictures and my father's hair comb, and a small objet d'art he made. I honor them because they made me. But I also believe in the recycling of matter and energy - call it reincarnation if you will, which Heathenry does not deny. So what is there to talk to or expect help from? I am more about honoring my heritage: Italian-American/Sicilian-American. If the DNA test results are correct, Near Eastern (paternal Y-DNA) and some northwest European, possibly Norman, British Isles, Celtic.

RecycledBenedict

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2016, 08:11:05 pm »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
Does everything start with the ancestors with you?


Start? No.

Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
In general, thats really how I feel. I started working with my ancestors more personally when my grandmother passed away two years ago. Id do something simple morning and evening. I pray and light a candle for her and a family.


That sounds meaningful and valuable.

Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)?


I keep honouring ancestors and Religio Romana quite apart. The celebration of ancestors without fires in late February and the spitting of black beans in mid-May are more of a polite formality.

In my practice, the honouring of ancestors is more inspired by non-mainstream Christianity and non-sectarian Buddhism, and my ancestors seem to prefer that, which is hardly surprising considering their own religious adherences: Mainly Lutherans, one or two odd Congregationalists, and a handful of Agnostics. At least in the last 330 years.

Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?


No. It doesn't work like that. My ancestors did not practice Religio Romana, nor did they practice Druidry (but the ancestors of my Belgian ancestors may have practiced some form of ancient Celtic Paganism mixed with Religio Romana 1700 years ago, which isn't a reason for my choices today). Hypothetically, if I was able to go further back, I would probably find a major percentage of practitioners of Old Norse Religion (Fornsi∂r), but that was 1000 years ago. Since written records begin in the 1680s, it is impossible to go back that far. Between the Iron Age and the beginning of national registration there must have been lots and lots of mediaeval Catholics and a handful of Belgian Huguenots, but I have no documents about it. They practiced other things than I practice. I do not practice Fornsi∂r, Roman Catholicism, Calvinism, Lutheranism or Congregationalism, although I practiced Lutheranism in the past after my Agnostic phase.

Religio Romana is one of the most well-attested old Pagan religions. I find information about it in works (or fragments) by Plautus, Cato, Varro, Cicero, Ovid, Iamblichus, Porphyry, Macrobius, Martianus Capella, Proclus and Damascius.

Modern Druidry is not the same thing as Celtic Reconstructionism. Although mediaeval Welsh and/or Irish literature serve as an inspiration (to a certain degree) the Druid movement, as it is now alive, is rather an Enlightenment Era nature spirituality, which, during its more than 270 year long history, has been influenced by many inflows, among which Welsh nationalism, Unitarianism, American Transcendentalism, Victorian Occultism, Universalism, the Celtic twilight, eclectic Paganism, the 1960s counterculture, the environmentalist movement and the New Age movement each has left its mark on the movement. It is a very interesting hybrid, but doesn't attract everyone.

unveiledartist

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2016, 11:58:17 pm »
Quote from: Jake_;187064
Ancestor work is a really big deal for me, I do a lot of it and plan to do more deeper stuff in the future. It's a central part of my religious journey

It's not really connected to the work I do with my gods though. All my blood ancestors for a very long time will have been from christian or Jewish cultures, not followers of the Celtic or Norse pantheon (which is where the gods I work with come from.) It's more than possible that originally some of them had Norse or Celtic spirituality but I don't really work with my ancestors because of their religion.

I have no relationship with any of my living blood family, they are all either missing, estranged or dead, and I have no relationship with  my legal family (I'm adopted) so blood ancestor work makes me feel anchored in time and history in a way I didn't have before I incorporated it into my life.

 I know very little about my blood ancestors, I have illegible scratchings and rags, but someone said to me that it doesn't matter if you don't know anything about your blood ancestors they are still there with you, and that changed the whole way I think about myself in the world.

For my blood ancestors I cook food, i write poetry, I look after my body, I commemorate certain days in the year, I wear devotional jewelry, I have a playlist of songs, I meditate to/with them. Eventually I will do work to heal their blood lines and trauma but I am not at a place where I know enough to do that yet

I also do a lot of work with ancestors of place and ancestors of kind but I didn't know if you wanted to know about that?

 

Thats pretty extensive there. I dont know much off paper of my relatives but enough to say "I have memories." Ive been going to a botanica shop and buying candles and things specifically for ancestors and spirits. I am sure the more you work with them the more you pick up daily.  Sounds wonderful.

unveiledartist

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2016, 12:06:49 am »
Quote from: IceAngie;187070
I have a problem with the ancestors. I wrote about it here and I did a follow up here.

I still have some problems, it's really hard for me to believe that they are here. Sometimes, I think when we die, energy transforms and we stop being. We stop existing as conscious selves.

Other times, I believe we reincarnate, so we also stop existing. We are born again inside another body, so if someone prays to us, we are not there to listen.

Although I have a shelf with some objects (my grandfather's harmonica and my dad's keys) in my altar (it's not exactly an altar, but it's where I keep religious stuff), I don't work with them nor do I pray to them. I don't know how either.

 
I dont know what to say. My grandmother passed 2014; so, I kinda understand. I was told that (if thata your calling) that the spirits, I call them, will contact you when you are ready. Simple things like lighting a candle morning and evening and short prayer. I do bigger things on moon phrases new, quarter, full.

Whatever we are after our passing we are still here to support the living.

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #9 on: February 24, 2016, 01:10:30 am »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
I dont really have a religious foundation like pantheons. Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)? If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?

 
For as long as I've been looking for my own spiritual path (several years, maybe 5-ish?), I've focused a lot on my ancestors- mostly the ancient ones, since I knew that the last 1000-1500 years (depending on location) of most of my ancestors were Christians, and I already tried that.

I'm fortunate enough to have a surname that can be tracked to a single ancestor in America, and extensive documentation of him and his family (at least as far as you could with colonists in the 17th century). My parents are also very interested in genealogy, so I have confirmed ancestors in England from around 1200, and know that my surname is Norse in etymology, though it originated in England.

So I've done a lot of research on the areas that my family comes from, as far back as I can get and then some based on speculation. I've got mostly a mix of Celtic and Norse blood, with a dash of Native American, though I can hardly find documentation for them since they were some of the first tribes that were obliterated.

For a long time my focus was on finding the religion of my ancestors' and sticking to it. I strongly believe in shared energies and memories through blood- not just from parents to their children, but extended family and community as well. But I realized that since my ancestors had multiple religions, I couldn't just choose one.

That kind of fueled my decision to try Wicca, since it's so flexible and has many different iterations. The core beliefs jive with me, and I can honor the gods of my ancestors and add bits of their practices as I feel compelled to.

So long story short... I guess it all did kind of begin with my ancestors for me, at least partly. Since I've been trying to get the hang of Wicca in general, I haven't done much in their honor or found myself creating or finding rituals that connect with them, but doing so is one of my goals as I develop my practice.

Louisvillian

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2016, 07:18:02 am »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
In general, thats really how I feel.

I do as well. I have a complicated history with it. Like others in this thread, I do admit that my ancestors in the past several centuries have been Christians, rather than fellow polytheists. Many of them probably did rather reprehensible things, dishonourable things.
But, at the same time, my interest in my heritage and ancestry is one of the things that led me towards polytheism. My grandfather was particularly interested in our Scottish ancestry, and did a lot of research--along with my uncles and my mom--into our family lines. As I was coming to age, this engendered in me early on an investment in our past; and as a student of history, I firmly believe that where and what we come from is a big part of who we are now, and where we are going. So I took a big interest in Celtic culture and history, especially of Scotland and Ireland. As I became more aware of and interested in polytheistic and pagan revivalism, this synchronised into an interest in the myths and gods of the Celts, and a desire to honour my Celtic ancestors--specifically those who had held to a polytheistic faith.

And to this day, I have held a special place in my heart for those ancestors specifically, and for their gods. Even though I've transitioned around from eclectic Paganism, to Wicca, to Hellenism, and now to Roman revival, I've continued to have a private worship of Celtic deities and a veneration of my maternal ancestors. I celebrate the four main Celtic festival days to honour that commitment, and especially on Samhain I venerate the spirits of the dead and the gods that guide and rule them.

On a more regular basis, every night I make an offering to the ancestral spirits as a collective whole, the Manes.

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2016, 11:45:30 am »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
In general, thats really how I feel. I started working with my ancestors more personally when my grandmother passed away two years ago. Id do something simple morning and evening. I pray and light a candle for her and a family. I try to keep in touch with living family and will do a DNA to know more about me. Im learnint my geneology at the same time.  

I dont really have a religious foundation like pantheons. Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)? If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?

I read up in an academic book about the history of sigils. Another book: Myth, Magic, and Mythology Encyclopedia about the different magic practices people have world over.

Does everything start with the ancestors with you? I know. Lots of questions. Sorry.


How far back do you go? It seems like my early ancestors were from the Middle East and the Iberian peninsula according to DNA tests. If I got further back, they would probably be from Africa.

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2016, 11:14:18 pm »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
In general, thats really how I feel. I started working with my ancestors more personally when my grandmother passed away two years ago. Id do something simple morning and evening. I pray and light a candle for her and a family. I try to keep in touch with living family and will do a DNA to know more about me. Im learnint my geneology at the same time.  

I dont really have a religious foundation like pantheons. Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)? If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?

I read up in an academic book about the history of sigils. Another book: Myth, Magic, and Mythology Encyclopedia about the different magic practices people have world over.

Does everything start with the ancestors with you? I know. Lots of questions. Sorry.

 
My path doesn't really start with my ancestors but I would like to tie in my ancestors that are blood and those that are spiritual connected. My pantheon right now is an open one that brings gods and goddesses from different locations. I would actually love to learn how to incorporate my ancestors because I feel like they were gift some way. Plus two of my grandparents died before I was born and some of my family I never knew.

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2016, 07:34:20 pm »
Quote from: FreeSpirit;187058
In general, thats really how I feel. I started working with my ancestors more personally when my grandmother passed away two years ago. Id do something simple morning and evening. I pray and light a candle for her and a family. I try to keep in touch with living family and will do a DNA to know more about me. Im learnint my geneology at the same time.  

I dont really have a religious foundation like pantheons. Do you guys have pantheons that give you a foundation to work with your ancestors (if that is your interest)? If so, how do you learn about how they practiced and what they practices?

I read up in an academic book about the history of sigils. Another book: Myth, Magic, and Mythology Encyclopedia about the different magic practices people have world over.

Does everything start with the ancestors with you? I know. Lots of questions. Sorry.

This upcoming alfablót, I plan to get a heathen symbol, a christian cross, a candle and some flowers. Maybe some incense or some nice, suitable herbs. The Heathen and the Christian ancestry are the ones I know about, so that's the symbols I will choose to use when doing an ancestrally based "ritual". I likely have ancestors from completely different pantheons and peoples that I am unaware about, but that's fine. They're very welcome too, if they wish to show up. Honoring your ancestors is not about your religion, or their religion, it's just about honoring your ancestors because they are the reason you are here - they shaped your life, they fought so that their children could survive all those difficult times which meant that you could eventually be born, you are a sum of the actions they took and the ones they did not take. You don't need religion or gods to honor that, because it's a great thing to honor all in itself. It is a lot like simply visiting their graves, only you're doing it spiritually rather than physically, but it is not weirder than that, nor is it more complicated, at least at its core. (You can, of course, choose to make it as complicated or elaborated as you wish if that is your tradition.)

Honoring ancestors, in my work, is about 2 things. Most obviously is about, well, honoring your ancestors. You give a thought at the people who left your life, make your vows to your living and dead family if you have any of those you feel like making. You give some thought to the past.
But you can't grieve all of them. They are too innumerable to count, most lived years and years and years - decades, centuries, millenia and so forth - before you were born. But they still had an impact on your life. You have gifts from them - biologically, energetically, and through their actions when they were alive - that still affect you in this lifetime. Some are very good and others are very bad, but they're there. And you will pass that down, if you are/will become a parent or choose to be someone's guardian.

In this sense, honoring your ancestors is a lot about honoring yourself, because you carry them with you now. Recognizing that is the key, not a pantheon or a particular faith (although that might of course be part of it as well if you choose it to be, and an important one). Mufasa had a point, they live in you now ;)

Happy Samhain/Alfablot/All Hallows/Whatever, everybody. :)
« Last Edit: October 12, 2016, 07:38:24 pm by Elding »
Out in the woods, and I\'m not alone, but the sun\'s quickly going down!
There! In the trees! Something stalking me! Stop walking around!
\'K, just be cool, don\'t be such a fool! There is nothing at all to fear...
... other than the trees and the night and a beam of light, and the breathing in my ear...
[/I]

Nerys53

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Re: It all starts with our ancestors
« Reply #14 on: April 20, 2017, 03:51:09 am »
Quote from: unveiledartist;187058


I read up in an academic book about the history of sigils. Another book: Myth, Magic, and Mythology Encyclopedia about the different magic practices people have world over.

Does everything start with the ancestors with you? I know. Lots of questions. Sorry.

 
I was searching about a post on ancestry and this came up. I read the posts of this thread and I recognize part of the things mentioned.
These last years I have been looking up my ancestry and certain things came up that shed light on certain things and sort of explain it. So I think we carry over more from our blood ancestors/tribes than we think. So about last year thinking I have a reasonably complete picture something totally different came up.:)
I am thinking maybe do a DNA ancestry test to see if what I found is there.
Has anyone done a DNA ancestry test? And does what came out in ancestry groups relate to the things that interest you in pagan life?

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