Surrendering to Ancestor Work

July 21, 2020

Surrendering to Ancestor Work

I’ve discussed with some friends that I think this astrological cycle we are in right now has a theme of healing family issues. Cancer New Moon – Capricorn Full Moon – Cancer New Moon again. That’s the mother of the zodiac, the father, and the mother again. The Cancer-Capricorn axis is about security and the tension between home and career, at least in part. I should give you the disclaimer that I am not a professional astrologer.

Yesterday was the second Cancer New Moon and I was sitting on the porch with my roommate, an old friend from school I’ve known for nearly two decades, and a fellow metaphysically inclined person (she’s not much for labels but has been having experiences with Odin over the last year lol). I don’t remember what the conversation was originally that brought this on, but I was suddenly flooded with a memory that I had blocked out, or at least not remembered. The great grandparent who I have been resisting working with, I never met him in real life, but his was the first funeral I had ever been to. I was seven. I remembered attending the viewing and feeling like I had to approach the coffin. My parents told me I didn’t have to, but I felt like I did. The older ladies in front of me in the line touched his forehead, and because I was curious and wanted to be grown up, I did the same thing too. I can’t explain what happened, except that I think I screamed in front of everyone, and I ran and locked myself in the bathroom. My mother had to take me to my grandmother’s (we were visiting from out of state for the funeral). I think that was the first spirit that contacted me. I had no memory of this until yesterday, at least I don’t think so.

I think what’s shaken this loose is that in January I went to the funeral for my boyfriend’s father, and that was the first funeral I went to since doing serious spiritwork. His father refused to speak to me, but I FELT him, powerfully, and he was …. Let’s just say I can tell he was not a pleasant man.

I asked my brother this morning if he knew our great grandfather’s full name and birthday but didn’t tell him why I wanted to know. Turns out he was a Gemini. This is personally significant because my mother and my boyfriend are both Geminis, and my Chiron is in Gemini, my primal wounding. I don’t know what it all means yet but I feel way too connected to a guy I never met. My brother apparently went down a research rabbit hole, and sent me a link to the grave of our great grandfather’s father (An Aries – My North Node is Aries. So I think he’s the one I’m supposed to start my ancestor work from.). Again, he had no idea that I had been feeling this urge towards ancestor work. He also didn’t know that I already had a little genealogy work another family member had done. At that point I surrendered, taking it as a sign that I am supposed to begin true ancestor working.

Now this is my parental line. My father is still alive. But I don’t talk to him, and if there were justice in the world, he’d be in jail. (I did try – I had no legal recourse). My father is an evil man, and my grandmother chose his side when certain truths came to light. That is why I have been resisting this pull. But maybe I have to go back into the bloodline to heal this family trauma so it is not passed on in our wyrd. I will never have children, I know that, but my brother is undecided. If I heal this family wyrd perhaps my hypothetical nieces and nephews won’t be burdened with the things my brother and I were.

My grandfather lost his father, the Aries, at seven years old in a sawmill accident, in 1917 (I have a letter he wrote in the 60s about all the obstacles he had overcome in his life, as he was applying for a business loan). I was the same age, seven, when I attended this man’s funeral. I don’t where this is all going right now

This probably sounds quite rambly. But…. I surrender. My great great grandfather ‘s grave is in Wisconsin, I won’t be able to go there for a while, but my great grandfather’s grave is only 20 minutes or so away. I will most likely make my first offering before Samhain. I have to do some reading and research. I don’t know why, but I’m nervous. This feels heavy. But also, it feels needed. I am honored.

templeofathena

Theological Musings

ancestors, astrology, family

4 responses to “Surrendering to Ancestor Work”

ganglerisgrove

July 21, 2020

Ancestor work stabilizes spiritual practice like nothing else. It really does but sometimes it is so very hard. This is especially the case if one’s relationship with living family has been hurtful, abusive, or is in some way broken. It bears repeating, and believe me, I sometimes have to repeat this to myself too, that all your ancestors are not like your problematic living family. You’re doing the right thing by going back a few generations — sometimes one might have to go back even farther. When I look at abuse or damage in ancestral threads, in a person’s wyrd, it looks like a tangled knot that has been covered with tar. But one can move back before that damage and doing so, doing this type of work, can be very, very healing to the entire line. It took me over a decade to get my ancestor practice sorted and solid and that had far more to do with problems with my living relatives than my dead ones. So, be patient with yourself. It’s new territory and parts of it might be very painful but I really do think that ancestor work is crucial and fundamentally important. I was really taken in reading this, how you are using astrology as a doorway into the ancestor work. I’ve often looked at some of my ancestors’ information and thought, “cool an aries. I’m an aries.” and wondered if there was any significance there. I love how it’s become a doorway to this for you. Blessings as you delve into this work. It’s a good thing.

Reply
1. templeofathena
  
  July 21, 2020
  
  Well I definitely don’t consider myself a professional astrologer, but I’m somewhere more than a dabbler lol. I have made almost two dozen charts at this point, for friends and acquaintances, and I learn as I go and it’s been quite interesting to see, especially when I can make couples or siblings or other family charts.
  And part of the reason I think it’s so important is because my friend and I noticed that my first big relationship was with a Capricorn, and my father was a Capricorn. My 2nd important and current relationship is a Gemini, and my mother is a Gemini, and his father who was estranged from, was a Leo, my sign. We started picking apart signs of families and relationships after than because it did seem like we were re-creating and trying to heal parental issues there!
  
  And thank you for your encouragement, I think when someone has been practicing for a long time it can be easy to forget that getting started is often that hardest part. I’m used to Gods now, been at this 20 years now (Fuck!!). I did just order your book on ancestor work, thank you for all your hard work for the community!
  
  Reply
  1. ganglerisgrove
    
    July 21, 2020
    
    Gods, i always found, are easier to hear sometimes…to sense. I will admit though that I had a deep aversion to ancestor work for a long time not only because of how messed up my living family was, but also because of how much easier it was to engage with the Gods. (Some people find it much much easier to engage with the dead though. I tell people to start where they start and eventually it all works out). All beginnings are difficult…exciting too though. 🙂
  2. templeofathena
    
    July 21, 2020
    
    They are bigger, so that has a certain logic to it. But it also makes sense that different people would be wired for different kinds of Work, as well. I have been working on my own personal healing for a long time, on becoming a more balanced and capable person. I think that’s why this came up now, I think the ancestor work is a part of it. My immediate family damaged me, obviously, but maybe now I may be healthy enough to deal with the wyrd when if I tried 10 years ago, I can’t imagine it going well at all.

Temple of Athena the Savior