Ancestors

I've been thinking a lot about ancestors recently. I don't do a lot of ancestor work in my spiritual practice but that's changing.

At camp, I was introduced to the idea of an ancestor collage. I love collages. They're fun to make, and when made with intent they can be powerful for both spell-work and self-work. I've considered making Sabbat collages before (like I need more things to do!), so I don't know why I never considered doing an ancestor collage to remember my ancestors before. The possibities are endless. I could make a collage just of one person; of one side of my family line; of all the blood ancestors I've known; of a specific number of family generations; of people who have made important contributions to my life, blood relatives or not; of spiritual ancestors; ... the list goes on....

My wheels are also turning after some interesting conversations about ancestors. We talked about ancestors being anyone who helped make us who we are, whether they were related to us or not. This is in contrast to the idea that ancestors are our blood lineage, our parents and grandparents. We also talked about spiritual ancestors, as in those who share a spiritual heritage like or Craft foremothers and forefathers; as well as racial ancestors, ethnic ancestors and ancestral memory. All in all, lots of food for thought and meditation during this Samhain season.