In the last post, we reflected on destructive intergenerational patterns and the healing that can occur through family constellations. Now we move away from the release technique for this month and focus instead on our manifestation practice for Month One of the Rebirth Journey: Ancestral Support.
Let’s think for a moment of how many ancestors came before you. Two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, 16 great-grandparents. It doesn’t take long to see how the numbers multiply exponentially as you keep going back through the generations.
Cultures all over the world honor their ancestors. The Day of the Dead, or El Dia de Los Muertos in Spanish, is among the best known of these traditions. In Mexico and other Latin cultures, people visit the graves of family members who have passed, bringing candy, food, flowers and other gifts to honor them. Known as All Souls Day, it is celebrated to a lesser extent in the United States.
Asian cultures have festive ancestral traditions as well. A Hindu tradition known as Pitru Paksha, or Fortnight of the Ancestors, also involves celebrating those who have passed with food offerings. Rituals and ceremonies span 15 days and are designed to help ancestors find peace.
In China, the Hungry Ghost Festival is believed to be a time when spirits return and wander the earth. During this month-long celebration, Chinese families set an extra spot at the table for their ancestors. When the commemoration reaches its end, they light lanterns shaped like flowers and place them in lakes, rivers or other waterways to lead the spirits back from whence they came.
While some of these commemorations are clearly aimed at helping our dearly departed reach their divine destinations, other traditions are more focused on celebrating the lives of those who came before and invoking their assistance in the here and now.
During the Chinese festival known as Quingming, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, families go to the graveyard and clean the tombs of their ancestors. They also bring along food and joss paper, which is burned as a symbol of honor. Koreans have a similar festival known as Chuseok. In addition to cleaning the graves, they use this time to thank ancestors for a good harvest.
In Japan, the Bon Festival is a Buddhist-Confucian tradition that spans three days. It is celebratory and includes feasts, games, dancing and fireworks. The Bon Odori is a special dance performed to welcome the spirits of the ancestors.
As part of the Rebirth Journey, we are also taking the time to honor our ancestors. Why? For starters because without them, we would not be here. But there’s also a belief that they live on and literally have our backs if we are willing to invite them into our lives and ask for help.
Being mindful of our ancestors also helps us realize how fortunate we are as women to live at this point in time. No doubt some of your female ancestors were labeled as witches for doing any one of the practices outlined in this blog – dancing, moon rituals, sex practices and the list goes on.
Those of us born before the 1980s most likely had mothers who did not enjoy the same freedom we have, not to mention our grandmothers, great-grandmothers and beyond. We are literally the first generation of women who can tap into the goddess traditions of the past and live in the feminine flow without risking persecution.
It’s also important to remember that this is not true for all women today. There are many countries in the world where women are denied access to education, jobs and basic human rights. What’s more, they are tightly controlled and told how to dress and behave. Those who dare transgress can be sent to “school,” as often happens at the hands of the so-called Morality Police in Iran. In worst case scenarios, women may be killed to preserve the family honor.
As those of us who are free to step fully into this feminine path of the Rebirth Journey, we do so on behalf of all those who cannot. And we also pay tribute to those who gave us life and are still here to support us. In the next blog post, I will be showing you how to create an ancestral altar where you can honor those who passed and also ask for their help manifesting the life of your desires.
In the meantime, share in the comments below if you have any rituals or practices for honoring those who have passed.
Sacred Circle Retreats 