Now let’s dive a little deeper into the reasons why reconnecting with our ancestors is such an essential part of the Rebirth Journey. Whether you are aware of it or not, the remembrance of your ancestral lineage lives on in your body. Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist who introduced us to the concept of archetypes, dubs this phenomenon the collective unconscious.
Jung theorized that we come into this world with memories of our ancestors’ experiences engrained in our DNA. While you might not consciously remember what came before, your body has stored those memories in the unconscious memory where it can influence your behavior.
Scientists have verified this phenomenon with controlled studies published in academic journals such as Nature Neuroscience. What’s more, this process is not unique to humans as even animal studies have illustrated the presence of shared memories passed down through the generations.
For example, when rats are put in a maze that their parents once learned to navigate, they perform better than a control group with no exposure to the maze. If rats can have an unconscious memory of their parents’ experiences, imagine how powerful that influence is in our human experience.
Sometimes that influence can be negative. Anxiety, for example, is believed to have a genetic component that is stored in our DNA. But the collective unconscious can also have an enormously positive influence if we consciously tap into the wisdom, spiritual gifts and insights that our ancestors acquired during their lifetimes.
Tori Feldman of Sacred Ancestry posits that the remembrance of thousands of midwives, healers, and priestesses in our ancestral lineage lives on in our bodies. That’s because our lineage reaches back long before the feminine arts were repressed by patriarchal structures. And whereas our ancestors once faced persecution for practicing their spiritual gifts, we are free to engage in what in times past might have been labeled witchcraft.
But first we have to overcome the fear that no doubt also lives on in our DNA. Feldman says:
“Many women are afraid of being seen because of the witch wound that lives on in their bodies. It dates back to the time when it wasn’t safe to be seen or share our voices or spiritual gifts because it could literally mean death. They feared her mystery, her dance, her wildness. They feared how she owned her pleasure and creative power. They feared how she knew the ways of the woods and how to heal. They feared her intuitive knowledge, and how in tune she was with her body and the cycles of the earth.“
In fact, in ancient European languages, the word witch actually meant knower, seer, wand bearer, sorceress, healer and wise woman. No matter what the language, “the oldest words for witch emphasized the power of prophecy, divination and incantation, of healing, herbal knowledge, shapeshifting and shamanic flight,” says Max Dashu, author Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700-1100. “Others described them in language relating to wisdom, fate and the mysteries.”
Our decision to return to that ancient path can literally help heal a planet that has become overpowered by the masculine. While it has brought immeasurable progress, it has come at a great cost that needs no explanation. Just as importantly, our collective unconscious has the power to heal our personal and collective wounds and those of our ancestors who came before. When we heal, it brings healing to our lineage backwards and forwards.
You have the power to speak for those who once had to stay silent. You can tap into the magic of your innate intuition, paving the way for a better future for those who come after you. And that long line of women who came before stands ready to cheer you on. Let’s tap into that ancestral support together, shall we?
Sacred Circle Retreats 