I haven’t “communed” with any ancestors, but we have started making an ancestor altar mid-October thru All Saints’ Day and I love getting the photos out with my kids each year and having them know these family members (and name sakes) a little better. We put out flowers and light candles and it’s just a really lovely way to lean into the spirit of the spooky season. I really appreciate Amanda Yates Garcia’s work (her Substack is mystery cult) because she is very sensitive & aware of generational trauma & systemic issues - same for Jessica lanyadoo.
I inherited ancestor veneration from my Japanese heritage. My grandmother had a shrine to my grandfather accompanied with photos, incense, and fruit offerings. There is very little dogma in Shinto. Most of the "worship" is ritual motions combined with a sense of filial piety. I don't practice ancestor veneration now, but I do appreciate its value in Japanese society. It brings the people (ancestors and descendants) together. Perhaps you don't need to have the crystals and candles, but simply just remember the grandmother that you loved. And maybe even say a little prayer... ;-)
urge me to commune with ancestors, I think to myself, “Really?! Mine?”
I am especially fascinated by my German grandmother, who harbored a lot of anger and took it out in violence towards her children. And at the same time, she was an on-point storyteller, and horribly maligned by the church throughout her life.
Family can be so complicated. On the one hand, we can acknowledge how hard their lives were but at the same point, feel repulsed by how they reacted to their circumstances. Maybe we need to adopt new ancestors?
I haven’t “communed” with any ancestors, but we have started making an ancestor altar mid-October thru All Saints’ Day and I love getting the photos out with my kids each year and having them know these family members (and name sakes) a little better. We put out flowers and light candles and it’s just a really lovely way to lean into the spirit of the spooky season. I really appreciate Amanda Yates Garcia’s work (her Substack is mystery cult) because she is very sensitive & aware of generational trauma & systemic issues - same for Jessica lanyadoo.
thanks for the recs! I love this family altar idea, I might have to give that a try.
I inherited ancestor veneration from my Japanese heritage. My grandmother had a shrine to my grandfather accompanied with photos, incense, and fruit offerings. There is very little dogma in Shinto. Most of the "worship" is ritual motions combined with a sense of filial piety. I don't practice ancestor veneration now, but I do appreciate its value in Japanese society. It brings the people (ancestors and descendants) together. Perhaps you don't need to have the crystals and candles, but simply just remember the grandmother that you loved. And maybe even say a little prayer... ;-)
thank you for this information. I never learned much about Shinto, but from what you've written it sounds like there is a lot of beauty there.
I so relate with this impulse. When people
urge me to commune with ancestors, I think to myself, “Really?! Mine?”
I am especially fascinated by my German grandmother, who harbored a lot of anger and took it out in violence towards her children. And at the same time, she was an on-point storyteller, and horribly maligned by the church throughout her life.
Family can be so complicated. On the one hand, we can acknowledge how hard their lives were but at the same point, feel repulsed by how they reacted to their circumstances. Maybe we need to adopt new ancestors?