In almost every traditional culture, the ancestors of the individual, family, and community are held as an intimate source of blessing and guidance. The wisdom, strength, and love of the ancestors is cultivated through genuine and ongoing relationship with their spirits. They are referred to by such titles as “the Living Ones,” “the Shining Ones,” and “the Elder Wise Powers.”

For many people though, especially in the West, when they think of ancestors, they might imagine black and white photos of sour-faced, overdressed people that probably had a pretty miserable life.

And that’s usually at the more positive end of the spectrum, considering all of the wars and colonizing and supporting the patriarchy that so many of our ancestors are known for.

While I totally understand wanting to leave those folks to the pages of history or forgotten in the sands of time, I have found that our ancestors are always, and I mean *always*, influencing our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls.

In the ancestral lineage healing work that I do, it’s clear that we have ancestors that are very well in spirit, wise, loving, and powerfully supportive. They are often referred to as “the guides,” and are indeed some of the most powerful spirits guiding us in this life.

It’s also clear that we have ancestors that are decidedly not well, toxic, damaged and damaging. As much as the ancestral guides bless us in this life, our unwell ancestors burden us and our communities. Fortunately, this is where the lineage healing process comes in, connecting with ancestral guides to heal the whole lineage and every ancestor within it.

But whether or not you’re your ancestors are well in spirit doesn’t change the fundamental truth that they are the physical and energetic matrix from which your soul purpose arises and takes form.

Okay, I know that’s a big statement, so let’s break it down.

Generally speaking, most people have four main ancestral lineages: the mother’s mother’s lineage, the father’s father’s lineage, the mother’s father’s lineage, and the father’s mother’s lineage. Visually it looks like this:

We all have many other lineages of ancestors as well, eventually creating an enormous web of ancestral relationships, but we start with these main four.

As you can see, they all intersect in the middle, which represents you and your life. On each of these lineages, you have wise and powerful ancestors that played a direct role in shaping the conditions of this life so that you could be the next embodiment of all the blessings, and all the burdens, each line has to offer.

The good news is that you don’t personally get everything from every lineage, but rather the blessings you will need to live your soul purpose and the burdens that you can uniquely bring healing to, which also serve your soul purpose.

As much as our ancestors are the matrix from which our soul purpose arises, they are also our roots that reach deep into the Earth and through time, connecting us to the Beginning, to all of life, to the wholeness of the Cosmos. They are the threads that weave us into creation.

Because of this, connecting with, and relating to, our ancestral guides exponentially helps to heal the spirit-dampening illusion of separation, which most spiritual practice aims to do.

The message here is that you belong: in this life, at this time, in this body, on this planet, with all your gifts and challenges. You were chosen for this life by your ancestors because your soul wanted more than anything to live this life as you, with the legacy you have inherited.

And as for those wise and loving ancestors that chose you to be a living face of your ancestral legacy?

They are your original, most loyal, most intimate spirit guides that are totally invested in you thriving.