October 2012 – StormJewel's Gifts Spirit Blog

How to Connect with Your Ancestor Spirits

How to talk to your ancestors — This reminds me of the funeral masks made by the Ancient Greeks and Romans to honour their ancestors

If you’ve been curious about working with your ancestor spirits, now is an excellent time of year to start, because the dark of the year is a great time to listen to otherworldly voices and connect with the shadow lands.

We’re nearing Samhain, which is the ancient Celtic holiday that Halloween is based on.

All the Halloween zombies and ghosts are half-remembered reminders of an ancient truth: around the end of October, the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead grows thin.

We now have a heightened opportunity to reach across the divide and communicate with all the spirits of those who have passed.

Here are some tips for developing relationships with your ancestors:

First, keep in mind that your ancestors are as diverse as your living family. They might not all want to talk with you, especially in the context of a Pagan ritual. While most ancestors interact with their descendants in a loving and encouraging manner, some are difficult or quarrelsome.

If you have an especially trying time interacting with your deceased family, keep in mind that there are multiple types of ancestors you can work with.

Who are my Ancestors?

Ancestors of spirit are all those who inspire you, whose work you carry on in the world, who built the tools and traditions you use in your life.

Your ancestors of spirit might include the Witches and Pagans of the past. Your ancestors of spirit might include the writers and musicians and artists whose work has touched your heart, lifted your spirits, or inspired you to create yourself. They might include activists who have fought for the rights and opportunities that you enjoy. They might include the people who founded the field you work in, the people who started the hobbies that fill your life with joy.

Ancestors of place include all the beings who once lived in the area you live.

They extend beyond other human beings to include the animals who lived and died, the plants who flourished and decayed. The ground you walk on is literally made out of the bodies of those plants and animals, those ancestors of place. If you live in a city, your ancestors of place include all the human hands who planned and built and cared for the houses and streets that make up your world.

Ancestors of blood are the people you’re physically descended from.

Their bones are your bones; their blood flows through your veins. You can imagine yourself as the bud on a branch of a great tree, with roots extending far into the past. You are the child and the grandchild and the great-grandchild of people who survived, at least long enough to reproduce. Whatever else your family might have done or failed to do, they brought you into this world.

How to build relationships with these Ancestor Spirits

All three types of ancestors have given us many gifts.

An excellent way to begin developing relationships with them is by expressing your gratitude for the many gifts they’ve given you. Your ancestors of blood gave you your body and your life. All the other experiences you enjoy are based on this first gift.

Your ancestors of place give you solid ground to walk on, a home to shelter you, perhaps a lovely garden to enjoy. Your ancestors of spirit give you inspiration, magical tools and ways to understand the world.

Building an Ancestor Altar

When we are trying to build a relationship with a living person, we might invite them to dinner. In order to do something similar with ancestors, we can build an ancestor altar. This creates a space for them in our homes.

An ancestor altar can be as simple as a table with a candle and a few photos of loved ones who have passed, or as complex as a full spread of magical tools with a pentagram at the centre.

Try sitting with your ancestor altar once a day or once a week, as your schedule allows. Thank you ancestors for what they’ve given you. Tell them about your life. Ask for their advice. And simply allow yourself to listen. Your ancestors may make specific requests from you. They might want you to light a candle for them, or burn a certain kind of incense. They might want to be served a small plate of the food you eat for dinner, or a glass of water.

Be patient and generous and your connection with your ancestors will flower.

By Allison Grey

StormJewel: Thanks for another fantastic article Allison! There’s lots to learn and do from this.

I’d love to hear your ancestor experiences, or even just whether you think you will be trying this or not. Let us know below! Blessings!

Preparing for the Dark of the Year

: I Am Not I

As we’ve passed the Autumnal Equinox, the nights are getting longer and longer. We can feel the chill of winter begin to creep into the air. We are nearing the dark time of the year.

In the natural world, the squirrels are gathering nuts for the winter. The hedgehogs are gorging themselves, building up fat reserves to nourish them through the long dreaming days of hibernation.

As humans, how can we prepare ourselves for the dark time of the year? How can we live more deeply in harmony with the seasons and grow and shift along with the Earth?

If we take nature as our guide, we can see that the dark of the year is a time for rest. Like the trees releasing their leaves and the animals hibernating, we can simplify our lives, let go our distractions and focus our attention inward.

The stillness that fills the world in winter provides us with a chance to explore our own interior worlds so that we can learn about ourselves, our spiritual gifts and our purpose in the world.

Many people in the modern world keep very busy. In our fast-paced, technological world, we are often taught to keep moving, keep doing, to fill our minds with new information every second. But the rhythm of the natural world is motion and stillness, action and rest, day and night.

The Darkness as a Nurturing Force

We are sometimes taught to fear darkness, to fear stillness, to fear the quiet, still, resting night inside of us. The gathering dark of the year is an invitation for us to challenge these fears and enter more deeply into our own souls.

In order to move through our fears, we may need to let go of our old stories about darkness being evil or harmful.

Try instead to think of darkness as something natural, as necessary as the rhythm of day and night. Imagine darkness as the wide open sky, full of mystery and possibility. Imagine darkness as the safe, enclosed space of the womb, nurturing that which is small and growing and not yet ready to emerge into the light. Think of the darkness beneath the soil, nurturing tiny seeds.

Get in Touch With Yourself in Winter

Held by the sheltering darkness of winter, what do you hear? Can you listen to the soft, wise voice of your own intuition? This is an excellent time of year to strengthen your connection to that voice. Consider beginning to work with a new divinatory tool, such as runes or the Tarot.

You may also want to start a daily practise of listening. This could be as simple as setting aside ten minutes every morning to sit in quiet meditation. If you’re interested in doing so, all you need to do is find a comfortable place to sit. Focus your attention on your breathing. If troubling thoughts or emotions emerge, allow them to pass through your mind like clouds blowing across the sky. This practise can create a deep calm within you, mirroring the calm, reflective nature of the world in winter.

The dark half of the year, with its long nights, is also an excellent time to explore dreamwork. Your dreams can reveal the depths of your own heart to you, and may also contain the seeds of spiritual wisdom and glimmers of the future. The nights also provide ample space to explore spiritual realms.

In the quiet of the winter, it can be easier to hear the voices of spirit guides, guardian angels and spirit animals. You can tap into conversations with these beings through practises such as shamanic journeying, guided visualisations and prayer.

Friends, Warmth and Light

While you’re venturing into the hidden spaces within yourself and into the spirit world, it’s important to keep one foot in physical reality. You don’t want to get lost in the vast, wide darkness. As the Equinox reminds us, there is a need for balance between dark and light.

You need to cultivate some warmth and light along with the solitary introspective dark.

One excellent way to do so is to create a winter circle of friends. You could meet once a week or once a month to share food, laughter, and stories. Such a group could be a place to share your experiences of wandering in the dark, and a place to recount the beautiful treasures you find there.

By Allison Grey

[StormJewel] Thanks Allison for that great article, it’s really inspiring to me as someone who feels the cold and loves the light of summer! This serves as a reminder to me that as Pagans it’s important to embrace natures rhythms and it’s clear that if we learn to love the changing of the seasons we will find it very rewarding!

Do you prefer winter or summer? What things do you like to do in winter? Let us know below!

StormJewel’s Competition Winners

Hi All!

Ok so the winners of my favourite animal competition have been drawn and are ready to be announced….

*fanfares playing*

In First Place winning the £30 gift voucher is Lauren R whose favourite animal is Tigers!

Runner up prizes of £5 each go to Rebecca W who loves Giraffes and Clair D whose fave animal is cats!

Thanks so much to all for entering and sharing your favourite animals with me, and please do keep an eye on my facebook page for more competitions and giveaways!

Want to be sure you never miss out? Why not sign up to my occasional newsletter to find out about new competitions, new items and my latest blog posts.