Ancestral Lineage Healing
Listen more often to things rather than beings.
Hear the voice of fire,
Hear the voice of water.
In the wind hear the sobbing of the trees,
It is our forefathers breathing.
The dead are not gone forever.
They are in the paling shadows,
And in the darkening shadows.
The dead are not beneath the ground,
They are in the rustling tree,
In the murmuring wood,
In the flowing water,
In the still water,
In the lonely place, in the crowd:
The dead are not dead.
– excerpt from poem “Breaths” by Birago Diop.
My Ancestors of bone, blood and land
My knowledge of being a descendant of Poles from central and south-eastern lands of, what is currently called Poland, is limited to records of just 5 generations back. There is no trace of my people earlier on. My ancestors’ experiences are woven into the history of partitioning of Poland in 1772 until it ceased to exist as a country in 1795, WWI, WWII and the totalitarian regime until 1989. I acknowledge all they survived during their conspiracy engagements, Warsaw Uprising battling and concentration camps atrocities. In this context, I feel I am Their living miracle. Carrying this heritage borne longing for a light-spirited feel of my people and hope that maybe it wasn’t always that bad. Perhaps my longing is an unconscious attempt to counterbalance and support healing of all that in me.
With an upbringing in West Africa, where my parents sought refuge for a peaceful and less oppressive life, I was privileged to start recuperating from transgenerational burdens as of an early age of 2yrs. The African lands that beheld me planted their blessings that I still hold as a sense of belonging over there as comparably strong as I feel I belong in current Poland. When starting Ancestral Lineage Healing I felt that my both belongings finally landed well and have found a comfortable space in me. From this place, I started connecting to Spirits of both Lands and I look forward to learning in these relationships.
Exploring about peoples living on current land known as Poland, 4000 years ago, I learnt that ancestral reverence was a fundament of their cultures.
When looking carefully at the present cultural heritage of Poland and the Baltic countries, one may see proofs of that in rural burial customs, traditional dances and music. With the spread of Christianity some of the old traditions got imported into the new religion because of being strongly anchored into peoples’ lives. But along with those, many got lost. Extensive burial ceremonies and grieving got simplified and shortened. While the custom of weaving in the dead as still living, but without a physical body, into family life totally diminished.
Over the centuries, the lands known today as Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania gave safe refuge not only to Jews and Rom people but also to others from various ethnicities. There was once more openness and tolerance towards cultural and religion diversity that created a space shared by many in relative harmony. However, centuries of occupation, war torment, forced migration, persecution, cultural clearance and genocide generated growing fear of diversity and the unknown, diminishing the former tolerance. The trauma’s cumulated on these geographies added to the detachment from whatever was left of ancestor reverence and brought disconnection from land. All of this lead to the context we are in today. We can’t feel blessings and gifts of our benevolent Ancestors. We don’t know how to safely relate with Them. Also, so many of our passed are still transiting as consequence of violent deaths, no ancestor reverence practices and no cultural rites of passage among the incarnate that support being received by the Wise Ancestors.
Who are our Ancestors
Our Ancestors are those thousands of women, men and others living before our time from whom we are. If we consider the last seven generations back – these are 254 beings whose experiences are woven into our DNA.
In order to have a clear view of our Ancestors in context of lineage healing work we assume a looking at them from perspective of four primary lines that encompass the:
– Father of your Father and all the Grandfathers behind them,
– Mother of your Father and all the Grandmothers behind them,
– Mother of your Mother and all the Grandmothers behind them,
– Father of your Mother and all the Grandfathers behind them.
Each lineage carries unique blessings, gifts, medicine and also burdens for its younger generations.
It is through connecting with a Guide of a given lineage, we commence repair work of that lineage.
After concluding healing of one line, we approach the next one among the four primary lineages. As the healing is complete we can then consider tending to the second tier lines and after the next tier in a fractal-like way.
Relating with the Ancestors may bring a transmission of empowerment. Hearing and embodying that is an initiation and does not, in principle, differ from one received in the seen realm from Elders in indigenous cultures. In contains effort, engagement, patience, wandering, learning, teachings and trials. With persistent showing up and practice with our elevated Ancestors They gradually unveil what we are able to accommodate to deepen our relationship. From my experience, the initiation process held by our benevolent Ancestors is one of dissolving the old burden patterns, healing the wounds from those patterns and integration of the healed energy. It is a process of becoming the face of healed lineages and one that enables bringing their gifts into this world in a way that is aligned with our life purpose.
You are much more than you think
and much more than you can ever imagine to become in this life
My practice
Ever since in meditations and dreams, I began encountering an ElderWiseWoman with her nurturing, unconditional, motherlike energy, I started realising how much wisdom and support flows from the Spirit realm. My experiences were gradually unveiling deeper layers of my Self that I had not accessed before. The ElderWise Woman, continued to regularly make Her presence known. “By coincidence” I came across Ancestral Lineage Healing, a method articulated by Daniel Foor, founder of Ancestral Medicine. As I learnt the framework and started healing my ancestral lineages I finally began understanding what I encountered in previous years. The ElderWise Woman revealed herself to be the Guide on my motherline which was assessed to be the first out of four primary lines, for the healing work I approached. When moving the work further to other three of my lineages it became clear to me that I would like to support folks in relating to their Ancestors and in experiencing Ancestor love, blessings and belonging. To hold space and witness the healing work of folks’ lineages done by their Guides is a privilege and blessing. I praise and acknowledge my benevolent Ancestors and Guides for supporting me on this path.
Ancestral Lineage Healing work brings
awareness of family roots, cultural background and the heritage you carry in this life.
unveiling of each line's burdens and familiarising with the impact of the burdens on the living, enabling the possibility of releasing relevant blockages.
relief on realising that those Passed are being received by benevolent Ancestors while you can fulfil your life with blessings of your lineages and your birth potential.
a sense of deep belonging and establishing a personal Council of the Wise Ones that may support you everyday.
Steps of the Ancestral Lineage Healing process:
1.
Assessment
from a place of neutrality we approach assessing the wellbeing of four of your primary lineages and discerning the order of working with them. Usually, we start with the lineage which is in the best state of wellness so that They can support the healing work further on.
2.
Next 4 steps
a) connecting with the Guide from the lineage source of wellness and beginning the healing process,
b) healing with the Elder Dead on the lineage, understanding the burdens and the blessings of this lineage,
c) healing with the Recent Dead and witnessing as they are received by the elevated Ancestors
d) integration and blessing of the living and extended family
3.
Embodiment
happens when all those that passed are well in spirit and are received by the elevated Ancestors. The burdens stop being felt as impactful or in need of attention. You can now receive the blessing of the lineage, ask for the healed energy of the lineage to be reflected in your bones and you may agree to become the face of this lineage in this life.
4.
Conclusion
when four of your primary lineages are healed you have their strong support in doing possible further work. You may sit in counsel with them to seek advice, teaching and enquire any additional themes. You may bring the healing work to the second tier lineages.
F.A.Q
How does Ancestral Lineage Healing look like?
Ancestral Lineage Healing (ALH) is based on a solid framework ensuring ritual safety and acknowledging the sovereingty and agency of every Being. ALH work can be started with a practitioner (link to practitioner database) or individually with support of guidelines stipulated in the book “Ancestral Medicine – rituals for personal and family healing” by Daniel Foor (link to book). When beginning the work it is important to learn self-care with regard to safety when navigating the spirit realm. The work, information and messages from the spirit realm can be accessed directly by any person. The role of ALH practitioner when choosing to work 1:1 is to hold the ritual space, maintain outlook on safety and giving support in ensuring the work is flowing in the intended direction.
Where is this method from?
Ancestral Lineage Healing framework was articulated by Daniel Foor based on his experience gathered on his path of shamanism practices, pagan ways, clinical therapy training, history and religion studies, Earth teachings in many cultures and ongoing practice of ancestor reverence in his personal life for over 20 years. Practical knowledge of ritual arts has been influenced by traditions like West African Ifá/Òrìṣà of West Africa, Buryat Mongol shamanism shared by Sarangerel Odigan, Native North American ways esp Lakota, Islamic Sufism, Mahayana Buddhism and European Pagan traditions of his blood Ancestors. One of the numerous realisations was noticing that it was more difficult to relate with his ancestors at the beginning of his journeying as compared to peoples of indigenous traditions, who practice ancestor reverence continuously throughout generations. He observed that cultures that hadn’t continued practicing their own traditions of relating with ancestors for decades have effected several generations of souls in transit – the passed that have not been received by the benevolent Ancestors of blood that are well in spirit. It also became clear that the living can turn towards the well in spirit Ancestors who take on the role of Guides who initiate healing of those in need on the given lineage. (more on: www.ancestralmedicine.org)
What can we learn through connecting with our Ancestors?
When we investigate our family trees we often see migrations of our distant relatives and there may come a point where we can no longer trace the family tree earlier on. Ancestral Lineage Healing enables connecting to our distant benevolent ancestors and learning their history, origin and culture.
Who does the healing work of the lineage?
It is the Guide who is an Ancestor of blood and body from the given lineage that does the healing work. The Guide is the one who steps out from the source of wellness in the lineage and agrees to take on the role of initiating and overseeing the healing work. You as thee living is necessary to witness the process, enable its completion and receive the blessings of the healed lineage. You as the living may agree to become the face of the lineage and to carry its gifts into the world.
How long does it take to heal a lineage?
Time, as understood by us, exists only in our world. It is up to the Guide who decides when the healing process is complete. You, as the living witness of the healing process, also have access to the progress of the undergoing healing process the lineage is at. Usually, it takes one session for completing the assessment of the four lineages and 3-4 sessions to complete the remaining steps for each lineage. The second, third and fourth session is scheduled according to the healing progress confirmed by the Guide.
How can I be sure, I am contacting my Ancestors?
“Communication with the Ancestors is based on intuitive perception. When we look at the world and see that it is made of not only physically separated Beings but also fields of consciousness that overlap with each other we can get the idea of intuitive perception. If I am a consciousness field within a greater consciousness field of other Beings I may communicate with them through the connection of those fields. Intuitive perception works through our senses and is a natural resource every human is born with.” (Excerpt from and more on: www.livingvoicemedicine)