Mixed bag

Ancestors, at least mine were a real mixed up bag. How do you venerate those that were not blood related but either married in to, that is to say, ya got bounced around all your life and don’t have any strong ties with any family members outside the step family and the natural ones were arses to you? (not all of them) Death and divorce create a lot of havoc in a person’s life, well mine did. I need to figure out what is right to do with this regard. I’m not talking about good bad people, just that there are no guide posts in my life, non were given from ancestors so I have to create all from scratch… kinda hard to explain here. There was no family pride given no clout nothing… not easy to be me with no spiritual ties to aid my path finding. Maybe I’m in the wrong groove here? But if not here then where am I… What say you all?!

Same way you do the blood relatives just include them. Ancestral Veneration is very much about self veneration as well, recognizing all the threads woven into the tapestry of your story. These people had a great impact on your life.

Just include them in whatever your current AV practice is.

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Then MAKE some. Your family name is on loan to you from your children and it is up to you to hand it to them in good condition.

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Well my practice is somewhat MIA, as I am not adept in any sense except perhaps calling and banishing, pretty good with certain skills, although I have no religion per se.
Thanks for your input… @JezebelleMoon

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You’ll get it together. Just follow your intuition.

Good luck with everything

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Ah well, my family name meaning my spouses, is not Norse, northern European yes, but I am not able to mention it here. If it is a loan then I cannot give it to them anymore than my parents did for me. (they messed it up) Guess the pride dept will have to take a back burner position for now. Can’t fix it, I messed up too, long story, not sharing it here.

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Thanks. :horse:

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You misunderstood what I meant by that.

My family is full of abusive alcoholic meth heads and crap, but I can give pride to my family name by my own actions. The one’s I make from today onwards.

This is what I was conveying.

And it doesn’t matter that you don’t have Norse lineage.

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No I meant my spouse is not Norse, I actually am from a long line of Norse and the name I was born and given by my father is Norse, it goes back to the domesday book of 1066. So my lineage is actually very old.
I’m doing my best now to keep my life clean and wholesome and all that. Today is all I can focus on so i get that. Thanks again.

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One of the purposes of honoring ancestors is to mend ancestral ties made by early deaths, seperations and other things. By making offerings etc you are beginning healing those wounds and restrengthening thoes ties. The spirits see that someone bothers to care about them.

Especially if the parents only had one child. And that child has no children of their own they are the only link between the two families. For example.

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@Sophia444
I’m an only child but I have children, grown up now. My mother died youngish and I was 12 then. Just when I needed her most she was gone, I felt scared and helpless to say the least. We didn’t get along famously either, even though young I had many trials and troubles. I am hoping to mend ties as you state. I’m just not sure how to do it. Some ties, however, I don’t wish to mend other than to give or receive forgiveness. Some ties also are not good to mend or bad things could happen. So that is a wall there. I can only try to honor them somehow, nothing too deep. I am who I am due to my parents faults and errors.

Thanks for the comment.

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From what I understand, how you define the words “family” and “ancestor” is completely up to you. For example, I’m not really close to my extended family. I straight up don’t claim a good number of them. But there are people who I’m not related to by blood (and in many cases, even race) that I consider family. When my close friend passed away a few months ago, I took her picture and put it on my ancestral altar and my ancestors are fine with it and even welcomed it. Some people will tell you that only those related to you by blood can go on your altar, but to me, ancestor means “honored dead” and people that are ancient, recent, blood, or otherwise are all honored at my altar, as long as they have or had an impact on my life.

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Yes, thanks for saying, I too feel that honor is equally important as blood, but wasn’t totally sure this is acceptable. Now I feel more confident this is a good thing.

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It’s all about what feels right for you. Hell, some people even light candles for people like Elvis or their favorite dead celebrities. That’s kind of where I draw the line but who am I to say what’s right or wrong for them?

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Cultural Heros man. What’s the difference between that and pouring out some mead for a character from the Sagas or a Historical Figure right? :person_shrugging:

But I have a line there to. Venerating a dead pop star is…eh. I’m with you on that.

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‘instinct magick’

Alright I think I have enough replies and anything more would be redundant or nonsensical, no offense, I really hoped it would branch out in a different way but just as well not happening. I also, had a possible answer for another questions I posed today… gotta go read that and post my new experience on that matter.

This Matter Is Closed. Thanks to all.