Healing with Jai-Chapter 7

Buenas! This episode was inspired by a question I received on my instagram. Someone wanted to know how ancestral work was connected to our healing journey. The specific question was: How does honoring ancestors help with generational growth?

This being Scoprio season, with the Sun, Venus and soon Mercury hanging out in Scorpio…it’s the best time to work on ancestor work and ancestral healing. My Venus and Mercury are also in Scorpio so it’s definitely lighting up my chart in that area.

It also makes sense because I love to talk about and ancestral work and ancestral healing. But we are going to talk about using Astrology as part of your healing practice in a future episode.

This episode I really want to start with ancestral healing. I’ve talked about this before, when it comes to money trauma. Just like generational wealth can run in families, so can generational poverty. Of course some of that poverty is based on the systems that were set up so that people of color could fail and continue to fail. But all of the things we have been discussing in previous episodes: decolonizing, parenting, mother wounds, marianismo, breaking down stigmas around seeking therapy…just some of the things that impact Latine communities.

And really as we talk about all these topics, ancestor work and ancestor healing is truly at the foundation of that practice.

We’ve talked about carrying our maternal lineage’s trauma in our womb space. Let’s take the topic of generational wealth for a second, and how it runs in families.

As someone from the outside looking in, this is how I see generational wealth flowing from old money in the United States. Inherited money from exploiting wage labor continues to expand in the family. Heirlooms and inheritance (ok side note, Scorpio season is about inherited money as well) and things continue to multiply and increase in value. So on the materialistic side, money continues to grow along with the silver spoons, the family properties, and the antique furniture that adorns it.

Now these people are only found in social circles with similar people. Private schools with old money energy in them. Education that also brings them sorority and fraternity with those that are similar to them. So that if and when they need a favor or a recommendation or a job…they have this circle of friends to come back to. This rich energy of friendship. The private schools turn into the country clubs. Children eventually get older, date and marry within these social circles. With marriage, it’s like the merger of two corporations and the money multiplies again in between the families. And on and on it continues within generations. They are able to hold on to property as they increase in value and continue to buy property, like monopoly. Stocks and bonds that are inherited through ancestry. Wills and estates. 

This is also how trauma and poverty can continue within generations. And sometimes, it’s about healing the ancestral trauma so that you can start to build that generational wealth. So that you don’t feel so behind from the starting point.

For this reason, doing ancestral healing work strengthens your ancestors, and your lineage. It’s so important to take some time and do ancestral work. When I first began my ancestral practice, aside from sitting with them every Sunday with their white candle and glass of water, I also burned ancestor money as an offering. I recommend this for folks dealing with money issues especially and folks that are not ready to give offerings of food or drink.

But this is why it’s important to know your history and the people that you come from. Genealogy as a spiritual practice. Geneology is the study of family, history and the tracing of lineages. And yes we can use things like DNA testing to work on that piece, but also working on the history of your country and how it could have affected your family directly and indirectly. We talk about ancestor work in great detail in different episodes of the Modern Bruja podcast.

As part of my spiritual practice, I have and continue to research the history of my country and have a whole timeline of what was going on since colonization, and even specific to the area of Dominican Republic that my family is from. I have a notebook that details my notes, and in hopes of giving that to my children as they get older and express an interest. The things that I have been able to find out about my family are incredibly interesting, for example, my family has been indigenous to the land of Kiskeya since before colonization. And even with the African slave trade, I can trace my ancestry back to that point. For hundreds of years, my ancestors have lived in Kiskeya, and that comes with a very specific decolonizing and spiritual practice to work through. It’s an integral part of my healing journey.

As your lineage gets stronger, you also get stronger. It strengthens your spiritual practice, your protection, your parenting, everything. 

And as you start your ancestral healing practice, why not start by working with the moon? Using the moon and the ancestral energy of Mondays to light their candles and work with them. Using the phases of the full and new moon to assist in healing with releasing and planning.

I absolutely love the Mexican tradition of tending to the ancestors. The way they celebrate Dias de los muertos is amazing. And as we come up into this holiday, we can work on celebrating our ancestors on All Saints Day and All Soul’s Day. I like to use All Saints Day as a feast day for the Saint versions of my spirit guides that walk with me. As an extra day to show appreciation for their presence in my life. I then work All Soul’s Day to venerate the ancestors and family that has passed. I light a tapered candle for each ancestor. You can dedicate it like this: 1 candle for your mother’s side of the family, 1 candle for your father’s side of the family, another candle for each specific ancestor you may have known in your lifetime including grandparents, parents, cousins, aunts uncles siblings. Prayer is powerful and just either reciting a prayer or doing one from your heart would help to elevate your ancestors. Remember that spiritual development doesn’t stop beyond the veil. They continue to elevate and develop and they need our prayers to continue that work. Work for them so that they can work for you. 

Alright let’s get into this week’s reading:

This week’s journal prompt is: What have you inherited from your ancestors? Think about both positive and negative things, also material as well as emotional things as well. Paint a full picture of what you have inherited.

This week’s book recommendation is: Ancestor Paths: Honoring our Ancestors and Guardian Spirits through Prayers, RItuals and Offerings. I will leave it as usual on the show notes for you to check out. 

As always I’d love to hear what you thought of this episode, feel free to reach out to me via instagram DM or email and let me know of any comments or questions.

You could always book a reading on my website, I have an session called “Connect with the Ancestors” that would be perfect to start your ancestral journey.

Hasta la proxima! Make the best of this scoprio season of transformation, letting things die so new things can take their place!