We all have ancestors. No matter who we are, those who came before us have brought us here, to this moment, to this life, and we interact with them on a daily basis, whether we realize it or not. In indigenous cultures all over the world, there are various ways to honor our ancestors, whether it’s through spirit plates to honor them with food, an alter in our home that constantly reminds us of their presence, or simple daily interactions with prayers and lit candles.
I believe healing can happen after those we have loved and known have passed on, and I dearly hope that when I pass on, healing is still possible for me through those who come after me. We believe in the Seven Generations in our Potawatomi culture, which means we believe that the things we do today will affect those seven generations after us. And in the same way, seven generations before us, our ancestors believed the same thing when they were journeying this earth. . . .
The Ancestral Realm is an ethereal but also a very real place where we interact with our ancestors, where we acknowledge them in our very bodies even as we acknowledge that they have passed on. The Ancestral Realm is a perfect place to practice decolonization, to name the ways in which our ancestors did what they could but didn’t do enough; the ways our ancestors still had so much to accomplish but didn’t have the space, resources, or time to do it all; the ways our ancestors rely on us to change the things they couldn’t or didn’t change. . . .
The Ancestral Realm is where we meet with our ancestors and name what hurts. It is where we pay attention to what kinds of ancestors we want to be one day. It is where we grow and find healing, acknowledging that healing goes on within us and beyond us all at the same time. The Ancestral Realm is where the magic happens.
