ancestors
Let Us Make Strong Strides Into The Future
Here in Canada, the days are now getting much longer, the weather is turning warmer, and the trees are in full bloom. Gorgeous flowers are starting to take hold for the summer and the little birds start their incessant chirping at 4 am as the skies start to lighten.
What a beautiful time of celebration this time of the year is, with Pride Month, Father’s Day, and the Summer Solstice all being recognized, among so many other events around the world. It’s also my aunt’s 96th birthday, so that is of itself a reason for our family to rejoice.
Now is a time of nourishment, growth and abundance. Nature gives us so much to see and hear. We are enjoying maximum daylight, as the solstice grows near, surrounding us with warmth and energy. Let’s revel in the beauty that surrounds us, regardless of where we find ourselves or the circumstances we are currently navigating.
We should also take some time to honor those brave leaders of the past and present who have forged paths for others to follow, in spite of insurmountable odds. We can salute them for effecting lasting change and support them in ongoing pursuits for liberty and justice around the world.
The recent celebration of Father’s Day alsoreminded me that we must salute our fathers and forefathers, and those who have become father figures to us. When we think of fathers, we sometimes think of their traditional roles from back in the day as leaders of the family, sole breadwinners, arbiters of sibling arguments, and ultimate disciplinarians. It wasn’t cool for fathers to show emotion or tenderness, far less cry, and, of course, they were always right, even when they were not.
Healing The Karmic Patterns Of Ancestral Trauma
Sometimes during meditation, I recall past events and childhood memories that had been long forgotten. A recent vision, for example, took me back to the home I was raised in. But the scene was one I do not remember.
I saw myself as a little girl, around three years old, and members of my mother’s family were visiting us. Everyone was singing and playing instruments together. I saw myself watching them and enjoying the music, but then felt guided to look diagonally upward to another scene happening simultaneously.
In the other scene I saw my ancestors; at least that is what I concurred because they were going back in a line. Behind my great grandmother, who was playing the piano, there were people who I sensed to be her parents, and then her grandparents behind them, and so on.
In that glimpse into the distant past, I observed how the behavioral patterns and family dynamics of our ancestors, some of it dysfunctional and unhealthy, had become the patterns of my family. I also saw how these patterns were passed on to me and how it has shaped the patterns in my life and my own family to this day.
I then invoked the Heavenly Light to wash over all of us: myself and my family, my living relatives, all my ancestors who came before us, as well as all of our future descendants. I prayed that all of the disharmony in my family lineage be healed, and also that any other families and individuals we had disharmonious interactions and relationships with be healed too.
In Hawaiian culture this kind of healing prayer is known as Ho’oponopono. It is an ancient spiritual practice of reconciliation and forgiveness, which in English literally translates to ‘to make right,’ or ‘to make good.’ Ho’oponopono is essentially a personal responsibility and forgiveness prayer or ritual to heal, among other things, feuding families and ancestral trauma. When practiced repeatedly, it is said to balance out karma. I do believe in praying for those who wronged or harmed us, because within their healing we find our own as well.
Discovering My Supernatural Heritage At Grandma’s
Sometime around the year 1967 my parents told me one day that I was going over to grandmother’s house so that she could watch me while they were going somewhere for the day. I begged them not to take me there, because the place was haunted. I felt like something was always watching me at that house… and it was not my grandmother! But my parents told me my cousin Alan was going to be there too, and I would have someone to play with. So I reluctantly agreed.
When we pulled up my aunt and uncle were just driving off, so at least I knew my cousin was there and we could play with our trucks. When I walked in there was a little girl beside my cousin. My grandmother introduced her as Sally. She also watched Sally while her mom and dad went to work.
While my cousin and I where playing, Sally was happily playing all by herself. She was talking to an imaginary friend and they were playing with her dolls. At lunchtime I remember feeling like someone was tickling me at the table. Sally told me that I was sitting in her friend’s chair and asked me to move.
There was an empty chair across from me and I asked Sally why her friend could not just go and sit over there? Then I felt something pulling on my ear really hard, and I jumped! I quickly moved over to the other chair. I looked at my cousin, but he didn’t say a word. He just looked at me with his eyes really wide open.
When my grandmother returned to the kitchen, I told her that I wanted to go home. I wanted to call my mom and dad to pick me up. But she had just finished talking to my mom, who asked for me to spend the night at my grandmother’s. They would pick me up the next day. I was not impressed.
It’s Always Darkest Before The Dawn
Concepts of the Divine, with an ever-changing definition, have been part of the human experience since the beginning of time. Most of the world’s people throughout history continue to recognize a place for divinity in life.
Our spiritual journey, throughout the ages, has been steeped in mystery and often, superstition and dogma. Organized religions have historically attempted to answer deep questions, and have sometimes provided comfort and solace to people during times of upheaval.
However, the most important questions have been left unanswered. For example, we know precious little about ancient, prehistoric cultures that worshiped the Sacred Feminine. Earliest recorded myths and legends have been lost or destroyed, and most stories that remain portray not only a divine battle of the sexes, but a difficult, contentious relationship between the divine and human beings.
The Greek gods, for example, were capricious and mean-spirited. They plotted all sorts of obstacles that humans either did, or did not overcome in order to survive. Guile and trickery also set the stage for many myths from various indigenous cultures, in early human-god myth making.
With the rise of monotheistic religions, mankind was taught to blindly accept whatever lot the almighty doled out, fairly or unfairly. Emphasis was placed on omnipotent power, absolute authority and greatness, beyond any human capacity to comprehend, much less participate in.
These attitudes toward humans’ relationship with God have been echoed in authoritarian family and community practices, and even the military forces of nations. God became the ‘Almighty Father in the Sky’ issuing strict orders. There was no room for questioning in an authoritarian family or society. “Because I said so,” was reason enough to blindly obey. Punishment for infractions or disobedience was swift and sure.
The Mysteries Of Ancestral Roots And Past Lifetimes
In readings spirit will often show me the regions and nationalities of a client’s ancestry. For instance, if I see symbols of Scotland or Ireland, I will mention it to them, and they may already know that they have those regions in their bloodline, or they have always felt a strong resonance with that particular area.
I find this interesting, because it is often the case that a person’s ancestry and family origins in this lifetime often also has a metaphysical connection to their past lives. I have had flashes during psychic readings of certain events and scenes from a client’s past life in certain place, with the client then informing me that their ancestors in fact come from that area.
This made me ponder my own Celtic past lives and how this also happens to be where some of my ancestors originate from. This also brought me to think about our spirit guides and how they also tend to link to these ancestral regions. Ireland, for example, is a place that has always held a magical energy. Egypt is another place that generates very strong past life memory and associations for me.
I have also noticed that spirit often sends me people for past life readings who are also connected to these places and cultures. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if I knew some of my current clients in those past lifetimes. And did we also engage in joint spiritual practices back then?
I have always found it intriguing why psychics tend to find some people incredibly easy to read for, and others not. Sometimes, I feel as is if I have known a new client for years, as if I recognize them from a former life, with no logical explanation.
Do You Believe In Magic?
Do you believe in magic? I certainly do! I have not only experienced it, I have also been told by several different psychic readers over the years that I am descended from a very long line of witches. This does not really surprise me, as it is a well-known fact that people like me were called witches in our time.
People that were labeled witches were often those that others confided in. They were the sages that others went to for advice from spirit, the ancestors, or the cards, runes, bones, and many other divination traditions.
They were also the healers who cured with herbs and tinctures. Most witches had a sense of what plants and food would aid in healing the body and strengthening the mind.
And they were the mystics who blessed the tribe with rituals and ceremonies, and the prophets who guided the community’s warriors and leaders.
When people don’t understand something, it creates fear. The ‘evil witches’ often also knew too many of the local secrets. So, the witches were branded as malicious and wicked, instead of being appreciated and admired.
They were shunned, ridiculed, and even executed. Common methods were hanging, drowning, and burning at the stake. Burning alive was often favored because it was seen to be a more painful way to die.
But the esoteric wisdom and knowledge was passed down to select members of families and communities for generations by word-of-mouth. Not everyone was trusted with their secrets and not much was written down at that time either, for fear of persecution. But some would rather practice alone to avoid harassment, and much wisdom was lost in the process. Continue reading
Throwing The Bones
Before studying various Western disciplines of healing and divination, I trained to become a sangoma some 30 years ago, on the borders of Mozambique and Kwazulu-Natal in Southern Africa, where I learned among other things the divination method known as ‘throwing the bones.’
A ‘sangoma’ casting the bones is the African equivalent of the Native American shaman, the Old Norse rune reader, or the European Tarot reader. To uninformed Westerners, indigenous African methods of divination are often thought of as ‘witchcraft,’ but just like there is good and bad in all cultures and professions, the true calling of the African diviner or shaman is a spiritual one of seeking advice through the wise ancestors. In the same way modern Western diviners rely on spirit guides, angels or the ascended masters for divine guidance, so the African diviner relies upon the ancestors.
My training came about after I consulted another sangoma and was told it was my calling to become sangoma myself. She also cautioned me that until I took up this calling, I would repetitively become ill – and how right she was!
Eventually I heeded the ‘calling’, as unusual as it was at the time for a young English woman to enter the mysterious realm of African mysticism in the country in those days. Training was harsh and intense with my mentor and included coaching in various disciplines, such as divination, dream interpretation, ritual, indigenous medicines, and herbalism over a two and a half year period.
One of the divination methods I was taught is known as ‘throwing the bones’. Since the beginning of recorded history the notion of throwing tokens, casting the dice or drawing lots to interpret the divine will of spirit and the ancestors has been viewed as symbolically linking the diviner to his or her mission. Casting or throwing the bones is an ancient practice native to many regions of the world, including Africa, Asia, and North America. In Southern Africa it is a long-standing ritual among the sangomas of the Zulu, Swazi, Xhosa and Ndebele tribes.
Each bone or token used for casting is part of a kit the sangoma carefully selects with the guidance of spirit, initially with the help of a mentor. Spirit and the ancestors instruct the seeker as to the symbolism and meaning of each sacred item in the collection, and precisely shows the student where to find it and which one to use in a divination. In Southern Africa, a mentor assists the thwasa (trainee sangoma) in the process of learning to receive information from the bones, and in reading the patterns in which the bones are likely to fall.