We live in a world where movement between countries is pretty common. While born in England, as a young child we live in Scotland, I started school in Germany and we migrated to Australia when I was eight years old.
While in normal society it is common to speak of one’s roots or ancestry, your spiritual roots and ancestry is just as important, if not more so, to anyone who is on a spiritual path of development.
If one of the ideas common in the New Age movement is correct, that we chose our parents and place and circumstances of birth to serve the next stage of our development, then we have to say that they have some significance for you. There is a lot of rubbish in the New Age movement, but this concept is one that feels right to me. I believe the case for reincarnation is a well-founded one and, given that, it makes sense that the circumstances of your next birth would make sense in terms of what you want or need to work on.
Unlike many people, I was born into a family with an existing tradition of spiritual practice. My mother practiced what I would call low-level witchcraft, my Grandmother knew a bit and my Great Grandmother was a well known village healer and witch, and my Great Grandfather was a practicing Druid. My own explorations of the spiritual naturally started with what my mother knew, but then I diverged widely. Diverse studies of Buddhism and Hinduism were balanced with psychic research, channelling, high magic, Kabbalah, Voodoo and much more.
But like the wheel of life in its constant cycle, I am finding myself drawn back to both the land of my birth and the practices of my family. That doesn’t mean that all the other work has been left behind, because any spiritual work changes you and sinks somewhere into your soul. But I am finding myself draw back to the practices of the British Isles, to the Celts and the closely related beliefs and practices of the Germans and Norse. All this fits because, ancestrally, I have a mix of Anglo-Saxon, Irish, Scottish and a little Romany Gypsy. There’s probably some Viking as well from the part of England my Father’s family comes from.
I am finding it very profound, at the present, to focus on these traditions. What I am finding is that the wide explorations in other traditions is helping me to find a stronger connection with my root traditions. They are also allowing me to dig deeper into these root traditions and understand them far more fully than before. I’m seeing the Shamanic nature of Celtic practice, for example.
It is also helping me to better understand the power of place. I understand better the Aboriginal connection to land than I ever did and am looking forward to my next trip back to the UK.
While sometimes one of the big lessons from family is one of overcoming and stepping beyond their limited perspective, this does not mean that there is nothing in them that has value to you. Finding a balance and finding exactly what is right for you is the secret.
So true Wayne, especially your last sentence. I’m not blessed with knowing my proper ancestry although mum did mention that we have Mapuche Indian and Cusco Indian in our lineage. But for some reason I’ve always been drawn to the Celts……I later found out that my Great Grandfather was actually an English sailor that got my great grandmother pregnant and then off he went again. Since I felt ‘lost’ about what insights my past could offer I decided to become my own version of a Shaman. That felt right for me and I allow it to evolve according to what I need to learn and what i need to work on within myself.
I look forward to reading more of your work. BB