Weaving Ancestral Connection

Frequently Asked Questions

• My ancestors were oppressors, but I still feel called to work with them?
  Ancestor work is about honoring anyone you desire to honor who has contributed to who you are today. This includes your lineage ancestors, sure, your parents, and grandparents and so on. But it also includes those you’ve learned from, those who inspire you, those who inform your worldview and your values, those whose words and wisdom guide your actions. It is prayers to your well ancestors and prayers for your unwell ancestors. If you don’t want to work with “unwell” or harmful ancestors.
  But our ancestors are not always the same people they were in life. You may find that they are excited to help you work to right the wrong they committed in life.
  Further more, ancestor work can be healing solidarity work. Whether your ancestors survived by acts of community support, care, and organizing or whether your ancestors actively undermined those networks, actions of magical care and healing can be found. For example, acting in solidarity with those who are fighting oppression honors the legacy of the ancestors who survived by solidarity. But, it also contributes to the healing and amelioration of the legacy of those ancestors who undermined solidarity in.
  More over, you almost certainly have ancestors who worked to created a better world. Consider this quote from Peter Kropotkin: “…our ancestors worked from the earliest times to develop institutions that allowed them to fight against the establishment of such an authority. Their tribes, their clans, later the village commune and the guilds of the Middle Ages…and finally the free city of the twelfth to the sixteenth century are institutions that spring up from the people – not the leaders – for resistance against the authority the saw being acquired either by foreign conquerors or by individuals within the clan, tribe, or city”

• Is this reading just for getting in touch with blood lineage ancestors?
  There are many kinds of ancestors: blood lineage ancestors known to you, ancestors of your blood lineages whose stories have been lost, ancestors of affinity (be that affinity disability, queerness, neurodivergence, political beleifs, spiritual tradition, or a thought or profession ancestor), ancestors of place, even plant and mineral ancestors. I am happy to connect you to any of these ancestors. If you would like to connect to a specific type of ancestor, or even a specific individual ancestor, let me know in your intake form!
  
• Why is this reading recorded?
  These readings often move beyond the interpretation of tarot cards and into the realm of channeling. When working with ancestors, I find that many of these spirits can be quiet or garbled. Many ancestors are particularly annoyed to be spoken to in English. Recording these readings allows me to free up my attention to focus more on what is coming through in the cards and in the energy!
  
• I don’t get along with my family.
  Ancestor work does not require you to be on good terms with your living relations or your dead relations. Radical ancestor work is not about veneration, passive honoring, or heaping praises on your problematic ancestors. This work is about finding embodied connection to the world and what it means to be human in it. Ancestors work practices are found the world over, and many of them focus on healing the dead, not honoring them. If you’re not ready to start healing your ancestors-by-blood, that’s totally cool! You can start with plant ancestors, a particular ancestor you did like, your distant ancestors, your queer ancestors. Wherever you feel called to start, this session can support you in creating a meaningful practice!
  
• I don’t know where my family is from.
  That’s totally cool! Our modern ideas of our ancestors and where they were from (especially for US folks) if often warped by imperialism and not all that helpful. You do not need to know the nation-state or even the region your ancestors were from when it is approached in this way. The knowledge you need is in your bones – not on some census or immigration document! Your ancestors are ready to help you connect to that knowledge!
  And this session is here to help you connect to that inner wisdom so you can hear those ancestors who are ready to help!
  
• I’m adopted.
  Adoption is a complicated issue that comes with many tender feelings and trauma. Ancestor work can be a way of access a feeling of connection and healing. I am not a therapist and I am not equipped to handle the many genuine traumas that can come from adoption. However, I have helped adopted folks connect with their ancestors and I can confidently say that adoption does not preclude you from connecting to your ancestors. Your ancestors are within you ready to help you find the connection and healing you might be seeking.
  
• Who are ancestors? What is ancestor work? Why do Ancestor work? What does it have to do with creating a better world?
  Imagine yourself as a tree. You’re all the parts above the ground, but the roots? Those are your ancestors. The ancestors support, ground, and hold you . They are the roots of the tree of you life. Your ancestors are those deceased folks you have relationship with. This, of course, includes blood relations. But, isn’t really about BLOOD – it’s about the lineage, the connection. Who are you connected to? Queer ancestors, radical ancestors, plant ancestors. Any or all of these ancestors can help us achieve the goal of ancestor work: grounding, connecting, tending to the to the root so we can grow better futures.