Are You Being Called To Heal Ancestral Trauma?

When we think of healing our ancestors, we may envision ceremonies being performed in far away lands that are too remote for us to even identify with.

The reality is…

there are many accessible ways to heal the trauma of our lineage.

How do you know if you’re being called to hear your ancestral pain?

  • You are strongly intuitive, a healer, or you just feel deep in your gut that you are being called to heal patterns that have negatively impacted your family over many years.
  • You notice that many people in your family (especially spanning over generations) are suffering in similar ways, such as through addiction, other destructive patterns, certain diseases, or disorders, and you want to do something about it (or bring healing to it in some way so it doesn’t continue with future generations.)

How does ancestral trauma occur?

When an ancestor has experienced deep psychological trauma, research shows (here and here) that epigenetic expressions of genes in the brain get passed down to future generations. This gets compounded when the trauma is ongoing, such as in war, colonization, and genocide.

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How do you heal ancestral trauma?

  1. Before setting out to do work for your family to empower them, you must first be empowered in yourself. It’s important to be connected with your own power first before taking on your ancestral line. Sometimes the personal and ancestral empowerment can go hand in hand. But, you must always be cultivated in the awareness and knowing of your personal power before embarking on ancestral trauma. The reason being, healing your ancestry can unearth all kinds of pain and suffering that can take on form, especially if it’s old. It takes strength and knowing of your capacity to shift and transform those energies. Ideally, you should be activated in your Power. If you’d like to learn more about how to get activated into your Power, email me here.
  2. Set the intention to heal your family trauma. Word of caution: healing your ancestral pain is not for the faint-hearted! Your resilience will be tested, and sometimes during healing, rifts within the fabric of what you know can shift. Also, before you set the intention to heal your family trauma, make sure you have done much healing work on yourself, first! Explore your shadow selves, in particular, which hold much wisdom for us. The reason doing work on yourself first is recommended, as well as examining where you are holding darkness within, is because when you bring up ancient stuff, you will also shed light on where that darkness is within you. If you don’t deal with your shit before venturing into your family’s, you may be overwhelmed with all that comes up to get healed!
  3. Get healing assistance. Receive guidance and healing from trusted (and researched) spiritual healers, shamans, curanderos/as, babaylans, and priestesses, and other healers in service, to point you in the right direction. Oftentimes, when dealing with family trauma, there may be energetic implants that have passed down to you, that may need to be removed by one of these skilled practitioners. ALWAYS START WITH HEALING YOURSELF, FIRST.
  4. Create space for healing. There are many ways to hold space for your ancestral healing:
    1. Create and maintain an altar of sacred objects, crystals, stones, amulets, herbs, offerings, and photos of those who’ve passed before us. Altars honor our ancestors, as well as create a sacred space to ask for guidance on next steps.
    2. Include a daily ritual that reinforces the intention to heal your ancestral line. This could include a quick prayer, affirmation, or intention every morning before you start your day.
    3. Explore your ancestral ways of expression. Whether it be dance, song, music, art, the written word, ritual, ceremony, or otherwise, explore how YOU creatively express yourself, as well as how your ancestral lineage may have creatively expressed themselves. See what mode of expression articulates itself best through you, to allow yourself to channel, and get in touch with, your ancestors.
    4. Ask for reinforcements from your Team of Light. Ask your Spirit Guides, Angels, Elementals, and even certain Ancestors, themselves, to help guide you on this work.
  5. Honor, and express gratitude to, your ancestors. Like us, our ancestors weren’t perfect. Love them anyways. Express gratitude for their existence, and how theirs created yours. If you’re being called to heal your ancestral trauma, it is because you have heard their call. And, you’ve heard their call because you are capable of putting the healing into motion. And, that is absolutely beautiful!

The above is meant to give you a good foundation on how to identify and begin the healing for your ancestral line. Let the healing begin!

 

What are some ways you’ve healed your family line?
I’d love to hear what’s worked for you in the comments, below!

May your ancestors heal their trauma within,
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Copyright © 2016 by Alcantara Acupuncture & Healing Arts. All rights reserved. You may quote, copy, translate and link to this article, in its entirety, on free, non-donation based websites only, as long as you include the author name and a working link back to this website. All other uses are strictly prohibited.

All information on this website is my own opinion, and not to be taken as medical advice. Reliance on any information provided on this website is solely at your own risk. Please refer to your medical practitioner before making any medical decisions.

10 Comments

  1. Michal
    November 1, 2016

    I was sent here. I need help. I can’t take anymore. Years of sexual abuse, worked healed, left family behind. Run over by a car healed and worked. A dr punctured my artery during a stent procedure. He blew me off. I war septic and almost died. Lost half my calf and can. It walk any more. My dad was Indian and my mom told him to hide it. He died before I could find out who our family was.

    Reply
    • Margarita Alcantara, M.S.Ac., L.Ac., Reiki Master/Teacher
      November 8, 2016

      Hi Michal,

      It sounds like you’ve experienced a lot of pain in your life. I’m not sure what assistance you’re asking for, but finding a local therapist or qualified energy healer in your area to help you heal from past physical and emotional traumas may be a great first step.

      Much luck to you,
      Margarita

      Reply
  2. Rupinder
    September 23, 2017

    Few days back I hv got some link to perform ancestors rituals during sixteen days in India,I hv done that and make a point to do that every day,now I am getting a strong feeling to do ancestors healing of mother and father side.And I want to do whatever is coming into my mind,as a healer what are your suggestions about the healing.Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Gloria Ortiz
    October 27, 2017

    How do heal your ancestors if youdon’t know exactly who they are say if you feel adopted?

    Reply
  4. Celtic Yogini
    August 10, 2018

    Margarita,

    I am on an adventure of sorts to heal myself this year, and have been called to heal my ancestral wounds. I will sit in a Cairn in the middle of Ireland on Samhain, with gifts to my ancestors and questions of healing. Im going straight to the source because life has just guided me there. If you could give me any advice or books to prepare for my journey, I would so appreciate it. I am terrified. The way I see it though, is It wouldn’t have be made so accessible to me, if I wasn’t supposed to do it.

    thanks, Celtic yogini

    Reply
    • Herself
      November 19, 2019

      Please let us know how you fared. I am also of Irish descent and feel my ancestors calling to ease their pain.

      Reply
  5. MABELYN
    June 24, 2019

    I need to heal my ancestral trauma of fear and scarcity but idk how!!?

    Reply
  6. Christine
    July 26, 2019

    I have bad addictions, In a toxic relationship with a narcissist, My whole family has a pattern of anxious/avoidant relationship patterns, self worth issues. Before I heal family karma I need to heal myself but how do I do it!

    Reply
    • Cori
      May 18, 2020

      Wow. I too got the “call” and have been healing alot of ancestral karma. I’m drawn to Shamanism and Akashic records helps. Please feel free to reach out. Mich love and healing

      Reply
  7. Jaclyn W
    July 27, 2020

    On 5/20/20, I bore witness to all those in my family who killed, rape, molested, cheated and beat one another or loved ones in my family. I was born from a Grandfather whose bio dad raped his mother and went back to his wife and children, my grandfather and great grandmother were alone, except for her family…He became an abuser, adulter, and my molester. But I was born from a virgin who also married a man JUST like her father. My father was one of 12 siblings but 6 different fathers in his life. His father and mother both cheated on their spouses and had my father. I in turn ended up like both men to my husband. My visions aren’t as clear as they were on 05/20/20 about my purpose here but I KNOW everything, down to my birth, my mothers and my aunts.. I know the things my Grandmother (Abuela) wanted for our future generations. I’m the only child with children going into the future and OUR family past will END with me. I will educate my son’s about our families past, so they aren’t doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Thank you for this page, I thought I was alone and going insane. God is GREAT, my guide has been his Son, my Lord and Savior. He’s been with me since I first journeyed to find him in Luke, starting in March 2020 when COVID dropped. Jesus changed my life and my families lives from here on out.. We are blessed by God the Father! Peace to you!

    Reply

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