Who Are the Ancestors?
Animist and shamanic perspectives on those who gave us life
Even if you’ve only dipped a toe into the wild world of spiritual practice, you’re probably hearing a lot about ancestors right now.
But who are “the ancestors” really?
The answer to this question is actually much more complex that tracing back your bloodlines (though of course that’s part of it). Let us dive into who the ancestors really are, and how we can begin to work with them.
In this article, we’ll explore:
The difference between a bloodline and milk line
Our individual ancestors — the known and unknown, well and unwell
Our collective ancestors — the spirits of the land, our transcendent wisdom keepers
Our more than human ancestors — who else are we born from?
Individual Ancestors
Let’s begin with the obvious — those ancestors who gave us our individual lives. Our bloodline relatives.
Even within this seemingly straightforward category, there are a few important distinctions to make…
Bloodlines & Milklines
Our bloodline ancestors are fairly straightforward. These are the ancestors without whom we would not exist, those who have given us the DNA that makes us who we are.
Our milkline ancestors are just as important, though rarely discussed. Milkline ancestors are those who have strongly influenced your family line, though not through blood.
Step-parents, adoptions, nannies and other primary caregivers — wherever these ancestors fall in your family history, their influence and energy becomes part of your lineage.
In my ancestral healing sessions, I treat our bloodline and milkline ancestry as equally important, because they are.
I also work with what I call lightlines. Lightlines refers to the spiritual lineages we carry — those from our other lifetimes. This is a bigger topic and one I’ll expand upon in the future. For now, it’s enough to recognize that your lightline ancestors may be influencing you just as much as your bloodline and milkline ones.
Known & Unknown Ancestors
Oftentimes, when someone first steps into the work of healing with ancestors, they focus on their known ancestors—grandparents, great-grandparents, and perhaps even further back relatives who can be traced through family histories.
Yet our unknown ancestors greatly influence us as well, and it's perfectly possible to meet them through deep journeywork.
Our unknown ancestors are those who lie beyond the reach of family history. While some of these ancestors may be from lineages you’re aware of, many will emerge in surprising places.
Humans have become intertwined through millennia of exploration, domination, and celebration — and we can probably all trace seeds of influence back to common ancestors. While these seeds might seem like small drops in an ocean of DNA, ancestors from unknown and surprising lines can be quite impactful when it comes to our present day experiences.
Well & Unwell Ancestors
Many of us have very complex relationships with our ancestry…
For some, recently deceased relatives were cruel or challenging during their lifetimes, and connecting with their energy doesn’t feel healthy.
All of us have ancestors who did horrible things. This is the way of humanity. Whether known or unknown, bloodline or milkline, every person alive has ancestors who were slave owners, rapists, conquerers, persecutors, murderers, and generally cruel idiots.
(And for what it’s worth, we’ve all had plenty of lifetimes we’d likely be ashamed of, so try to resist too much judgment here.)
We also all have ancestors who have endured horrors and tragedies of all types. And while some may have found strength and growth through their experiences, others may have been shaken to the core, carrying wounds and resentments to the grave.
If our ancestors get stuck in harmful or traumatic patterns, even after death, they remain unwell ancestors.
If they do the work to evolve their souls — whether through lifetimes as a living human or through soul work on the other side, they become well ancestors.
And, of course, so many of those who have crossed over fall somewhere in the middle.
This is probably the most important distinction to be aware of when it comes to working with and honoring our individual ancestors: If a deceased relative is coming through with advice, it’s essential that you can recognize whether this advice is still rooted in ego or is coming from a more expanded consciousness.
Our well ancestors, also known as compassionate ancestors, have become so completely aligned with their true spiritual nature that they are more like spirit guides than deceased relatives.
The well ancestors offer us gifts that live in our DNA and our karmic legacies. They have timeless wisdom and experience to share with us, supporting our own survival and good fortune from higher vantages and loving perspectives.
For millennia, the well ancestors were humanity’s primary spiritual allies—knowledge of who they were was known in ways that most of us (in the modern West at least) have lost touch with. Rekindling our relationship with our well ancestors can be life-changing.
If you’re feeling concerned about your unwell ancestors, know that ancestral healing is completely possible and transformational, with effects that ripple in all directions of time.
Much of the healing work I do in private practice revolves around tending our unwell ancestors. This might be in the form of restoring balance where harm has been done, untying tethers and cords to past trauma, releasing old agreements and vows, and helping our ancestral “ghosts” cross into the light (to name just a few!).
For anyone wishing to engage in ritual healing with the ancestors, I’ve created a very special, all-natural, Ancestors Ritual Oil — black spruce absolute, cedar heartwood, distilled amber resin are just a few of the precious allies in this synergy. A limited number are available at Alchemessence.
Collective Ancestors
While much of popular conversation about ancestry revolves around our individual bloodlines (and milklines), we also have collective ancestors. These are the benevolent spirits of the land and the grandmothers, grandfathers, and wisdom keepers who watch over humanity.
Our collective ancestors are no longer tied to specific bloodlines. Though they once lived as humans, these ancestral spirits have transcended human systems of relation to become wise elders for all of us.
The Land Ancestors
When we work with the spirits of nature, many of the beings we connect with are land ancestors. These beings have deep ties to a particular place, usually formed during their lifetimes on earth. Now, from the other side of the veil, they continue to tend and protect the land energetically.
If you’ve ever been to a place in the wild world that just feels good, it’s likely that ancestral tending is happening beyond our physical perceptions.
For those drawn to earth healing, forming relationships with our collective land ancestors is a powerful practice.
(Quick tip: If you’re going to travel somewhere new, see if you can meet the land ancestors of that location first — here’s how.)
The Wisdom Keepers
You might have heard some spiritual practitioners refer to “the grandmothers”, “the elders”, or other groups of ancient and wise spirits. These are the wisdom keepers, ancestors who hold teachings, lessons, and knowledge for humanities evolution and ascension.
Universal grandparents, these spirits were often shamans, temple tenders, medicine people, and wise elders on earth—though, they may or may not have been recognized as such during their lifetimes. After crossing over, they choose to anchor uniquely human knowledge and guidance in service of all humanity.
In addition to the elders, Bodhisattvas and ascended masters are also collective ancestors who continue to anchor the divine compassion on earth beyond their human lifetimes.
Non-Human Ancestors
Magical Mating & Overlighting: Individual Non-Human Ancestors
A warning: Ok. If you’re generally spiritual and interested in ancestral healing you’ve probably been on board so far…this section is where ancestors get trippy. It may or may not resonate with you, and that’s fine. But I’m including it because there will be a few people who really need to hear this. You’ve been warned. And feel free to skip to the last section—it’s actually the most important one, and I think you’ll be back on board ;)
If we trace just about any cultural mythology back far enough, we’re led to a time when humans co-existed with other realms. Gods and goddesses mated with mere mortals throughout Greek or Norse tales, and the fae ruled the land alongside the humans in Celtic lands.
Perhaps, you’re descended from a more magical mating than you realize…imagine the ancestral connections this might open!
Many who descend from the British Isles feel as though there must be some Sidh or fae blood running through their veins. And perhaps there is.
Or, perhaps their connection with the fae comes through overlighting. Though the term overlighting comes to us from Celtic traditions, it’s a universal phenomenon.
Overlighting refers to a spirit merging with, or “lighting up”, a physical being.
This term is often used for nature spirits — devas who enliven an oak or rose, for example.
When it comes to ancestral explorations, however, overlighting refers to a specific magical act: a non-human spirit overlights (merges with) a human. The intention here is to share unique gifts with that human — or that human’s bloodline.
While overlighting can take place at any time, conception and birth are two especially influential moments. This act might be done without the human parent’s awareness, or the parents may consciously engage in overlighting rituals in order to imbue their child with spiritual gifts.
In either case, the bloodline becomes infused with non-human ancestry.
Explorations of individual non-human ancestors must be done from a place of wholeness, clarity, and groundedness.
It can be incredibly tempting to bypass the traumas of your human ancestors — and to bypass the human journey you’ve agreed to take in this life — in favor of more magical, and thus further removed, tales.
Do the work of being fully human first. Then, when you know you can engage from a place of non-attachment, delve into your magical lineages.
And as a note, just as there are universal ancestral elders in the human realm, we can all connect with universal magical ancestors. So don’t worry if you feel fully human ;) The magic is still there for you.
All is Kin: Collective Non-Human Ancestors
Our bodies are made of the same elements as all of life on earth. We share the same divine spark that enlivens all beings.
All of earth is our kin.
And so, all of earth contains our ancestors.
The trees (living or deceased), the ancient stone people, the spirits of nature, the tiny microbes in our soil and water, the Earth herself…these are our ancestors just as much as any relative by blood.
Even the stars share their cosmic DNA with us humans — a phenomenon many people feel deeply aligned with. What ancestral wisdom can we connect with through the light beings in the sky?
The late Lakota elder Joseph M. Marshall III, taught that he began each day with silence, smudging, and a prayer — mitakuye oyasin, a Lakota phrase that loosely translates to “all my relations”.
Here, relations are all beings. The sun, earth, and moon. Your family. The birds and trees in your neighborhood. All of us.
And if we’re all related, all of life gives us our ancestors.