Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

[Thorbjorn]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

Exactly.

[Briton]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

What of those who don't follow a specifically Heathen tradition?

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

I think in part three generations roughly equals 75 year. Genealogy wise a generation is roughly 25 years though for many it's sort of 20 - 25 on average is how the break out is set. Figure average life expectancy today versus what it was say 30 - 50 years ago and 3 generations is actually a large segment. It makes is reasonable that they would still be close enough to have an interest in you and be aware of who you actually are.

On a personal note I believe its also how many generations of memories are passed down. It's like I have memories of events and such that I can identify as being my mother's and grandmothers for certain. The only disrupting point being my grandmother's pertain to points before my mother's birth and my mother's prior to my birth. I have some fragmented ones that might have equated to my great grandmother but those are unprovable and potentially could be memories from my grandmother. Where it breaks down, for me anyway, is I have none that could even be traced to my father or grandfather. Which sort of suggests its mother to child.

[Briton]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

What do you believe happens to ancestors after four generations? Do they go somewhere or just not care? The thing about a small island is that any invading king's family was likely to displace or penetrate a large quantity of the general population as his dominating family filter down. It's likely that a large proportion are related to the likes of Alfred, Cnut or similar.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

Personally I think they have no interest in the person. While there is a blood connection there is no concern for the individual as they are unknown to you. It's like my great grandparents are names to me but nothing more. I can not imagine them for who they were I can only imagine them for how they are described in family lore to me. So there is never a full connection to them nor them to me. Go another generation back and it becomes even dimmer as to who they were, how they lived their lives and my ability to relate to that life. In some ways even the very language and symbology used is foreign and unrelatable.

[Thorbjorn]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

I look at this way... if they did not or could not help you in life (yours or theirs because they died before you were born) why would they help you after death? I did know my maternal grandmother until I was 17 when she passed away (40 years ago). She was known for slipping us (her grandchildren) a few $$ on the sly, so when a few extra $$ come my way maybe it is her doing. My father was the King of Makeshift (i.e., he was tighter than a frog's ass w/ money and improvised things) so when I get an idea to jury-rig or Rube Goldberg something, maybe that's him inspiring me. At those times I do find myself saying "well, I am my father's son" or "I must be channeling my father".

[DragonsFriend]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

The universal Law of Connection states that once a connection is made it remains until it is removed. I was connected to my parents and at least three of my grandparents. They were connected to their brothers, sisters, and their parents (along with all their friends). The connections that each generation makes are carried on to the next generation. We are connected to people that were dead hundreds of years before we were born through the connections that we have with our parents. These connections would not be limited to just our family but it would extend to all the people they had connections to as well. Every time you shake a hand or share an embrace you are connected to a whole new group of ancestors that had no knowledge of you in the past or present until that connection was made.
I was forced to sever connections made to some "unsavory" people through a third party. The only way that I know of to sever such connections is with the "Ritual of Pink Fire". The rite is for the advanced practitioner to sever any links by which he/she might be traced and attacked psychically or otherwise.
The Law of Connection would seem to allow for connections not only across generations but also beyond blood lines. Since the connections exist it should not be limited by language but perhaps made more difficult due to the web of individuals one must go through to get to a spirit that might be willing to strengthen a connection with you directly. While I have never attempted a connection with my prehistoric ancestors I don't see why it could not be done. Having a family tree would be of great help in such an endeavor.

[Briton]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

Hmm. I sense this is going to be a dead end for me then since I don't have any deceased ancestors who I got to know

[DragonsFriend]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

Briton,
Do you know anyone who has ancestors where you are? To make a connection to another's ancestors you only need to connect with that person. A handshake or a hug and all their ancestors connect to you and you to them, through the one contact. Shaking the hand of a native or an old timer is all you need.

[Briton]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

I don't know many people round here. The Palmers (landed gentry, descendents of the Palmer and Huntley biscuit company don't know if you know of them) are from this county, I've worked on his land, (my parents' house (where I am currently living) borders his woodland where I often walk) and most years we are invited to his Christmas party in his house up the hill from here so I guess so. I don't know who else.

[Thorbjorn]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

Hmm. I sense this is going to be a dead end for me then since I don't have any deceased ancestors who I got to know

All may not be lost. Can you find information about an ancestor from a family member, get a photograph of the ancestor, something about his or her life story, and basically introduce yourself? You may come to find the person was waiting for you to take the first step, even though you didn't know them in life. You could make a connection that way.

[Briton]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

All may not be lost. Can you find information about an ancestor from a family member, get a photograph of the ancestor, something about his or her life story, and basically introduce yourself? You may come to find the person was waiting for you to take the first step, even though you didn't know them in life. You could make a connection that way.

My uncle does a lot of genealogy, but none of my family are from this region, certainly. I'm the 'southerner'. It's worth learning more, always.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

I think your back to defining what an ancestor is Briton.

DragonsFriend has mentioned the Silver Thread concept of each time you touch a person you create a silver thread that connects you to them. Under that premise all of mankind potentially becomes an ancestor. Not sure of the specifics of his Pink Fire ceremony but it sounds like a typical thread cutting ritual / ceremony to remove unwanted threads which can be a good thing but also a bad thing I think.

In some areas the theory exists that people hold a connection to the grave and tombstone. Theoretically you could form connections by tapping into the ancestral memory and connections of those who've mourned at the grave. Not entirely different than some shamanic type practices that believe the land has a spirit itself and by contacting the land spirit you become one with the ancestry of the area.

[magusphredde]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

If you can knap ornate shapes than you are a better man than I Gunga Din ...

[Dez]

Re: Safeguarding when contacting ancestors

I think your back to defining what an ancestor is Briton.

DragonsFriend has mentioned the Silver Thread concept of each time you touch a person you create a silver thread that connects you to them. Under that premise all of mankind potentially becomes an ancestor. Not sure of the specifics of his Pink Fire ceremony but it sounds like a typical thread cutting ritual / ceremony to remove unwanted threads which can be a good thing but also a bad thing I think.

In some areas the theory exists that people hold a connection to the grave and tombstone. Theoretically you could form connections by tapping into the ancestral memory and connections of those who've mourned at the grave. Not entirely different than some shamanic type practices that believe the land has a spirit itself and by contacting the land spirit you become one with the ancestry of the area.

I really love this. My last few generations are very religious, and would be heartbroken that I no longer am of the same faith. There have also been some very abusive people.

I honor one grandmother, as well as her mother who met me as a baby. Past that, I stick to archetypes and honoring the dead where I live.