Connecting With Our Ancestors As Allies

On our spiritual path, no matter which path we follow, we have access to a powerful wealth of wisdom held by our ancestors.  In the Druid and core shamanism traditions that I am a part of, we honor and directly engage with our many ancestors. There are all kinds of ancestors, but the most commonly thought of are those ancestors that are of our blood or adopted family lineage. These can be ones we actually knew like grandparents or parents that have crossed over, or ones we have never met from many generations back. They may frequently check in on us and can even act like guardian angels as needed.

These ancestors are a tremendous source of wisdom and support because we can ask for help from those who have experienced something similar to what we are going through in our lives now, and have had a successful outcome. We can’t forget that last part - that’s where the helpful wisdom is! When covid first came on scene and we were locked down, uncertain of what the full impact was going to be, many of us called on ancestors who had lived through times of plague, flu and other contagions. They could help our mental and emotional processing of the circumstances, as well as boost our physical immunity and strength. 

We can meet and engage our ancestors in a shamanic journey, meditation or in dreamtime. We always want to state the intention beforehand to meet only those ancestors who are whole and healed and who are the very best ancestor to be our ally at this time. Sometimes when we meet them we will get a name or an area of the world they were in, and often I will get a power animal for them which is offered for me to call on as well. Sometimes we get a lot of information and sometimes it can be rather sparse. 

Keep in mind that each of us gets information in different ways, but everyone receives the information that they need.

Another thing to keep in mind is that we may meet an ancestor in an area that we do not associate with our lineage. My family lineage is primarily Celtic; from Ireland, Scotland, Britain and Germany. But in a journey to my father’s lineage I met an ancestor ally who was from Mongolia. It could be that he is from my ancient family lineage, or he may be a soul ancestor.

A soul ancestor may be thought of as people or beings who do not fit the family lineage ancestor description. They could be an ancestor from a past life, or a star being ancestor from a different planet or galaxy, or from our “soul pod” (I think of this as a collective of souls who are connected at the soul level).  I was recently introduced to the concept of “plant-cestor”, as some of us have soul lineage where we were plants, trees or fungi.

These sound pretty heady and maybe hard to imagine, but since we are infinite multi-dimensional beings, our souls have had a myriad of relationships and experiences. This gives us an opportunity to even be our own ally across time and space.

Once we meet our ancestors, the next step is to honor them and to thank them, as we would not be here without them. And then as in any relationship, we ask what we can do for them. I’ll write more about that next month. 

In the meantime, let’s send a prayer of gratitude across all our family and soul lineages in gratitude for all those who were, so we could be who we are.

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"Prehistoric Rock Paintings" by D-Stanley is licensed under CC BY 2.0.