On Ancestors

Hello, internet! It has been a LONG time since I have written here. I think this is because I was making so much progress and doing so much learning and it was all clicking that I didn’t feel the need to pause. To stop. To digest by writing it out.

Now I am thinking about ancestry work. This is not unfamiliar to me. Growing up Mormon (blech), there was a strong focus on genealogical work. We were taught to trace our heritage and honor our ancestors and to do “work” for them on this earth – performing baptisms and marriage rituals through the church on their behalf, so they had an to opportunity to join the religion posthumously. Absurd. It always seemed wrong to me. Intrusive. Arrogant. Disrespectful. I stayed away from it and tried not to participate.

Now, on the coming days before Samhain, a lot of focus in the community is on ancestry work. It has a different meaning here: honor them by learning their lessons, breaking generational cycles, asking them for guidance and support, or sending messages beyond the veil. This makes sense. This is done with love, not out fear or judgement, like how it was in Mormonism.

Today, I will be going to get some dirt for my first Ancestor Bottle.

View this post on Instagram

Ancestor Bottles! 🍂 A fun activity you can do to honour your ancestors & celebrate Samhain. You can add as little or as many ingredients as you like to your bottle, and you can decorate it as fancy as you wish! 🔥 SWIPE to the end to see the one I crafted. 🖤 (PS: If you don’t have graveyard dirt / don’t feel comfortable using it just replace it with regular dirt or sand.)

A post shared by Tips for Witches Everywhere! ✨ (@witchytips) on Oct 27, 2020 at 12:10pm PDT

We take all of these things, with reverence, to utilize their magical properties; like for like.

Graveyard Dirt // Earth (…it’s dirt.)
Sea Salt // Air (evaporation)
Rice // Water (grows within it)
Glass Jar // Fire (created by heat)

Rosemary // Ruled by the Sun (solary)
Rose Petals // Ruled by Venus – Air and Water – love
~~Tobacco // protection – divination – omitting because it is not culturally appropriate~~
Lavender // Ruled by Jupiter – Air – calm
Bay Leaf // catalyst for other magical objects
Corn or Corn Husk // Ruled by Jupiter – Air
Sweetgrass // cleansing – omitting because it is not culturally appropriate
Chili pepper // protection – regeneration – omitting because it is not culturally appropriate
Moss // Ruled by the Sun (solary) – life after death – co-existence
Chrysanthemums // devotion – thriving in difficult times
Personal trinkets (photos, msgs, jewelry)