Traditions can be powerful connections to our ancestors.
As I contemplate the Soul to Ancestor connection, I seek to capture the concepts I am experiencing in my own life. I think a vital key is to review our family heritage, our ancestral line, through the eyes of the soul, our own soul.
By viewing through the eye of the soul, I am referring to a “global goggles” or “spirit goggles” if you will.
The immediate family we know can have muddy connections for our human selves since humans are so less than perfect. By taking a big step back from the intimate picture of your current life incarnation’s experiences with family which involves all levels of lessons (call it family karma perhaps) and remember, not just your lessons, but the interweaving of many other folks lessons….you are seeking a greater picture, an ancestral story, ancestral patterns.
What are the common threads in woven within your lineage?
Reflect on the women in your heritage; is there a story of strength, creativity, divination, healing?
How about the men? Maybe endurance and resourcefulness.
Is there is a Storyteller or Keeper of the Family Wisdom that passes knowledge to the next generation? My mother was this role in our family.
We can work to harvest the treasure of greater strengths of our ancestral line if we can learn to see past the immediate flaws of certain individuals. This is not to excuse bad behavior or wrongful actions, but that is a different aspect of healing work.
My own mother is a Keeper of Family Wisdom and she has handed this role on to me, whether I wanted it or not. She is of Irish decent and mind you, she did not ask my permission…she has just spent a lifetime passing on to me key information that is the treasure of my family’s stories. She has said she believes that as her only daughter she feels it is my inherited role. And from her I have learned of some very cool traditions that I have not read of in any book.
I have also learned that many “rules” that she ran our home with are classic Irish/Celtic Clan “rules” tied closely to hospitality and family honor. Sometimes these rules frustrated me as a child but in hind sight, I deeply value the character qualities that ended up being steeped into my being.
I remember now growing up in the 70’s the excitement of birthday parties. At all my friends parties, the birthday girl or boy was served their piece of cake first. To my childish and selfish horror, at my own birthday party, I was served last. When I would whine to my mother, she was completely horrified at the idea that the hostess would take a serving first and it being my party, I was the hostess. In this argument, my mother won. She would often say, that her home would not be known for poor hospitality. The Celtic traditions of hospitality were very strict in ancient times and the seeds of this have carried forward to modern times in my family.
(this post was originally 9/29/2011)