Our journey circle falls on All Souls’ Day or Day of the Dead this week.
You need not have been raised Catholic to remember your departed family members and ancestors in some special way on All Souls’ Day. Our shared elders, the trees, also remind us that now is the time to remember the dead as they shed their leaves.
For my observance of All Souls’ Day this year, I will be unpacking boxes and creating an ancestral altar in our family room downstairs. My hope is to remember the birthdates and death dates of my son’s ancestors throughout the year by lighting a candle and placing the favorite foods and drinks of the ancestor on the altar.
Tending our relationships with our dead is a hallmark of traditional shamanic practice. Our ancestors guide us, lend their healing power, and otherwise assist us in meeting life’s challenges.
The ancestors live in us, still. To have a spiritual practice of honoring and remembering our ancestors helps us to situate ourselves within our family’s larger struggle for survival and fruitfulness over the millennia.
To practice remembering our ancestors is to practice relating to our families, and ultimately ourselves, with greater understanding and compassion.
Perhaps this form of ancestral relational tending sounds sacrilegious, distasteful, or otherwise not for you. Or perhaps it sounds attractive and like something you want to weave into your spiritual practice.
Whatever the case, I invite you to journey with us this All Souls’ Day to explore what arises when you consider tending and mending your family and ancestral relationships as a spiritual practice. This is as good a way of honoring our ancestors as any.
RSVP
Our free online journey circle this week will be held on Wednesday, November 2, from 4-6 pm PDT/7-9 pm EDT
Feel free to email me at anna “at” gaiashamanism “dot” com for this week’s zoom invitation. All skill levels are welcome.