WORKSHEET: ANCESTOR RECLAMATION

The Ancestor Altar: Reclaiming Our Power

Welcome to the practice and process of Reclaiming Our Ancestors!
The idea of this worksheet is to get you started exploring and transforming inner spaces. We’re not assuming there’s a single model of ancestral veneration that works equally well with everyone everywhere. Instead, we’ll focus on how you can connect with your ancestors on a most intimate and conscious level – a therapy-at-home level.

Each ancestor that you recognize, claim and eventually study will shift your understanding of where you came from, where you are and where you are going. “Although much of the past remains unknown, the truths of our lives are vastly enriched when we understand and appreciate a wider array of our stories and gain awareness of more aspects of the whole fabric of our past. If you follow this worksheet, it will open the way for these possibilities

By exploring the connections among past, present and future, Your practices at your altar will move you to a better understanding of the part your ancestors played in your present life, and toward occupying a more central stage in your imaginings of history. In our eyes our ancestors may be imagined as ordinary, but in reality, their ability to survive the difficulties of the world and produce descendants who live today changed the course of history.

Practicing at your altar gives you an opportunity to open channels between your past and the present that are important in developing the wisdom to listen to the guidance of your ancestors. They can help you to deeply understand the workings of spirit-soul-body-mind. They’ve had the benefit of thousands of years of observation.

Using the guide of this worksheet will prepare you to pull from the past what made us strong. Use this knowledge today, for a healthier and more just future as our lineages move forward.
Iya Sangolana (Ancestors Remembered)

Jo Ann