Working with ancestors

HearthCricket

For the past several months I have been getting lots of hints about working with my ancestors. I created an ancestor altar. I found myself working with ancient civilization tarot decks. I became entranced with talismans and amulets and all things old or tribal. I found one of my best friends, whom I have known for almost a decade, is a distant cousin. Yet, I keep on getting messages from various oracle decks and feelings inside of me, to work with ancestors. I feel like I am still not doing what they want me to do. A lot is about listening and learning from them. Anyone have any guidance for me on this? I feel in the dark about what path to take. Should I try journeying? I am not even sure what ancestors I am supposed to be tapping into. My old English roots? My closer family history? My Mohawk background? I just feel like I keep missing the connection. Maybe I should start working with the Greenwood and the Vision Quest or something. This is driving me crazy!
 

celticnoodle

maybe trying genealogy. why not begin tracing your family history this way. and, in doing so, visit the towns they lived in and find out the history of those towns. if you can, locate the house(s) they lived in and visit the cemeteries where they are buried. see the churches and the schools where they attended, and possibly the places where they worked. this helps to get an understanding of what their lives were like. include any pictures of them you may be able to get ahold of in the history-and share this history with others.

as for your ancestors who were Mohawks--purchase books on the Mohawks and read and study about them. it will help you to discover what that family line was like too. and, for any of your ancestors who immigrated, if you are fortunate enough to visit their homeland, do so! enjoy it! eat some of the foods that are from that area and learn whatever you can about that culture.

I know first hand this really helps to connect you to your ancestors. since doing the genealogy of both our families, I have also had many of our ancestors visit me psychically--and I do continue to make contact with them. I speak to them when I look at their pictures and their history. I share it with the family members and have met many other family members we never knew about into our midst, who I now correspond with often.

I recall you mentioning finding out your friend was a cousin. that is so cool! she surely would be able to help by sharing her genealogy records with you and the two of you can perhaps go together to find more. it's always more fun when you have a partner to go with when exploring the cemteries, towns and records.

as for what tarot deck to use for this? I don't think any deck really matters. I believe any of them can help you to make a contact with an ancestor. there are many spreads for this purpose too. and, i'm sure you know meditating also helps.

but getting to really know them--through the towns they lived in, the jobs they had, the places they worshipped and the foods they ate really helps to find a connection to them. good luck! and , please share your findings with us. I always enjoy your posts, HC.
 

HearthCricket

I have kind of done all this stuff! My father's cousin did the family geneology several years ago and I have all sorts of stuff printed out, going back to the 15th century. Then things get sketchy as records of births and places were often wrong and illiteracy didn't help. My friend has been doing genealogy for 30 years and she had tons of stuff on cd's and printed out material, and it was through this sharing that we were able to prove through documentation that we are distant cousins. As for my Mohawk side, I know a large amount of that, though it is harder to trace since records are not kept in the same way. Most is oral tradition, but I went through a lot of that with Six Nations Indian Reservation in Ontario, CA, back in the mid 80's. I have prints ups from both sides of the family, old family Bible that my sister has, births/deaths/marriages along with places and their occupations, coat of arms, clan tartans, etc. There really isn't too much more to do on this subject. I even spent part of Friday night at my sister's house, going through my grandmmother's one and only diary my grandfather forgot to throw out after her death, but at that point she was suffering from alzhiemers and the days are sketchy.

The messages I keep getting are to listen and learn from my ancestors. I've been waiting. I don't feel like I am actually learning anything specific at this time. So it has become like a stalemate. Sort of a "what next" situation! As you can see I am not very good at waiting and being patient! I want something to connect or happen! I just have no idea what it is supposed to be!!
 

lark

Also another good way to work with them is to keep their traditions alive by practicing them...making food that was traditional...or practicing a ceremony that ment something special, learning a craft such as basket making... weaving...pottery...ect. that is related to them.
You could also incorporate the symbols of your ancestor in the art you create...
I think to work with your ancestors is to bring them to life by rememberance...through recreating the things they practiced, believed, and held dear.
 

HearthCricket

lark said:
Also another good way to work with them is to keep their traditions alive by practicing them...making food that was traditional...or practicing a ceremony that ment something special, learning a craft such as basket making... weaving...pottery...ect. that is related to them.
You could also incorporate the symbols of your ancestor in the art you create...
I think to work with your ancestors is to bring them to life by rememberance...through recreating the things they practiced, believed, and held dear.
Click to expand...

Ah! Nice idea! Especially since I am getting into scrapbooking and such projects. Maybe I can make something for the ancestor altar! :D Thank you!
 

Milfoil

Perhaps look at how different cultures around the world celebrate their ancestors, why they do what they do, what the different celebrations or rituals mean etc.

There are quite a few people who teach ways of working with ancestral memories, clearing ancestral issues (ie a problem that an ancestor died with leaving it as 'unfinished business' which can then surface as a related issue in our own life).

I'm not familiar enough with this to be able to tell you how it is done though. Sorry.
 

celticnoodle

well, then, HC, you have so many things that tell you about your ancestors, which is so cool! don't you just love looking through those things and imagining what they were like--and their daily lives?

I would do as lark has mentioned and try your best to keep their traditions alive by practicing them yourself. especially through food. it's wonderful to make traditional foods of our ancestors and taking part in making and eating them - which is like sharing with them. food has a way of really bringing people close together, you know? the crafts too are important and with you having Mohawk ancestry, I'm sure there is something there that you can take up. Lark is correct! practicing the things our ancestors practiced and remembering them helps to bring them to life in us again! :)
 

lark

That would be an excellent idea...put together a book for your ancestor alter with the information you have about them.
Some of the ways I honor and work with my ancestors is through cooking some of the traditional dishes taught to me by my grandmothers.
Growing traditional vegetables in my garden.
I have carved rune symbols on the rocks in my stone circle rock garden where I have some of the native plants of my ancestors growing.
Also am incorporating carvings/symbols from my Greenwood deck into the rocks this summer.
Each year we plant a tree and it is carefully picked to have a meaning to our native land.
Each summer I create an alter around my oak tree related to the four seasons and festivals of the year.
We visit relatives graves and leave offerings and flowers...also have pictures on an alter where we place flowers and little offerings that nature alows us each year.
To work with them is an interaction that we initiate through rememberance.
Sometimes they send us a gift like you finding your cousin...:)
 

lark

forgot to add about working with the cards...I find the Greenwood an excellent deck for that....I myself don't so much do readings to contact them in a conversational way, (although you could do this and I do do this for my clients), but I do call upon their wisdom when doing a reading...to help make clear the meaning of the cards for me and my need at the moment.
 
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