Tag: Ancestors
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The Mórrígan as Mother and More: My Appearance on Personal Pans
I had the honor of appearing this week on the Personal Pans podcast with Vanessa Walilko. We had so much fun, I feel like I’ve gained a new friend. Here’s how she described the episode: What happens when your mother is not a mother? Where do you find a maternal figure? When you find yourself…
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Do Abusive Ancestors Grow On The Other Side?
More thoughts spurred by Tyler Henry’s new Netflix series, Life After Death. In one episode, Tyler gives a message where a departed mother apologizes for how she treated her child in life. “I see it now,” Tyler quotes her as saying to him. “I couldn’t before but I do now.” (May not be exact, I’m…
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Embracing The Darkness of Yule and Winter
The shortest day of the year is drawing to a close as I write this. Yule is a time of darkness as much as it is a celebration of returning light. A time to draw in, to germinate. And, I’m beginning to realize, a time when darkness is not to be defeated but embraced. Have…
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Can People With Family Trauma Do Ancestor Work?
So apparently there are some occult-types who think Ancestor veneration is required for all of us. But for those of us with trauma, family is often a tricky subject. If you don’t know what it’s like to be disowned or rejected by family, you really don’t have a clue how painful the idea of setting…
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When Ancestors Did Horrible Things
In 1622, the colonists at Jamestown in what is now Virginia were outgrowing the boundaries of the original settlement. Relations with the local Powhatan tribe had thus far been good, but the colonists weren’t being good neighbors. Feeling entitled, they routinely stole food stores and ruined crops planted by the Powhatans. Finally, a colonist murdered…
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Practical Polytheism: a Week’s Worth of Gods and Spirits
One of the things I found most confusing as I was first developing my pagan practice was how to incorporate multiple deities and spirits without offending any particular one. Especially since I was coming out of Fundamentalist Christianity, where the deity is notoriously jealous and demanding. I don’t seem to be alone in this as…
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Biddy Early: Healing Comes With a Price
In the southwest of Ireland, midway between Galway and Limerick, a mother and father are worriedly tending their sick daughter. Tenant farmers in the time of Famine, most of the family was starving. They’d likely be evicted when the rent next came due. But none of that was as urgent as what was happening to…