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Getting in touch with ancestors
What is an ancestral line?
You may have heard of ancestral lines. Here is a brief explanation. You have two parents. They are your first generation ancestors. Your parents had parents. They are your second generation ancestors. These are your grandparents, whether you knew them or not, it doesn't matter. These four people also had parents. So the third generation of ancestors consists of eight people. With each generation you go back, the number of ancestors doubles. If you go back ten generations, we are talking about 2 + 4 + 8 +16 +32 +64 +128 +256 +512 +1024 = 2048 ancestors.
An ancestral line runs from one ancestor to the next. So if you have a human being, they already have four ancestral lines from their grandparents. These four ancestral lines are: mother and mother's mother, mother and mother's father, father and father's mother, and father and father's father. Every time an older generation is added, you have twice as many ancestral lines. This means you have as many ancestral lines as there are ancestors in that generation. Each ancestral line has a unique composition compared to other ancestral lines, even if it is only a difference of one ancestor. In the tenth generation, you have a total of 1024 ancestral lines. That is not workable.
Of course, we do not set up 1024 ancestral lines. But we do invite ten generations of ancestors. How are we going to do that?
I work with four ancestral lines. The generation consisting of four people is the second generation of ancestors, your two grandmothers and grandfathers. From each of them, we create one ancestral line going further and further back, whereby we no longer present the new parents as a new ancestral line, but as belonging to one ancestral line. We do not concern ourselves with all those large numbers of ancestors; we are simply talking about four ancestral lines. This means that as the generations get older, the ancestral lines per generation represent more and more ancestors. We establish the ancestral lines by placing one or more stones per generation.
In the photo below, one stone has been placed per generation for four ancestral lines, in ten generations.
Stones in the constellation represent ancestors
If a stone can represent multiple ancestors, the ancestors themselves choose who they want to be present in the ancestor ritual. A stone can represent one ancestor. It is also possible for someone to determine in advance which ancestor a stone represents.
How is contact with an ancestor established?
The first contact with an ancestor is made when, as part of the ritual we are about to perform, you pick up a small stone and connect with it. You do this by holding the stone in your hands for a moment. You can welcome the ancestor it represents. You can do this for yourself, without saying anything. You could see if you notice anything. To do this, clear your mind and see if you feel anything, if a thought comes to mind, or if you have a physical experience. These are subtle energies, so the sensation will probably be very subtle. You can say what you experience, then you will have it recorded. That may be interesting for you afterwards. You hold the stone briefly. There will be no questions about this from the facilitator or me. Incidentally, it is quite normal not to notice anything. Holding the stone and connecting your inner self with the ancestor for a moment is the first contact with an ancestor.
After you have made contact with the ancestor in this way, you hand the stone over to me. This is the second contact that is established with an ancestor. I will represent the ancestor. This means that as soon as I have taken the stone from you, it is no longer me who appears, but the ancestor. Here too, it is all about subtle energies. The ancestor can slowly come forward in my consciousness and reveal something about themselves. In this phase, questions from you or the facilitator are welcome, as this helps the ancestor to become more aware in our here and now moment.
You can read more about this under the heading ‘Tuning into and representing stones’.
It may be important to realise in good time that this always concerns your biological ancestors. They may differ from those who are referred to as your ancestors according to genealogy.
Casa: A fearful ancestor
In that respect, it was immediately apparent in the first thematic ancestor constellation. An ancestor, a woman, was very fearful. She was shivering all over. The question was asked why she was so afraid. It took the ancestor a moment to process this. Then she said that she was in a place where other people absolutely did not want her. She was afraid of being killed, here and now. What was the case? As a poor woman, she had given birth to a child for a rich woman who could not have children herself. But of course, no one was allowed to know! She wanted to catch a glimpse of her child every now and then. She had to do this very secretly because her life was at stake. She thought she was surrounded by ancestors of the wealthy family in the constellation. Until she realised that the ancestral line consisted of her own ancestors. She then exclaimed to the person for whom the ritual was intended: “Do you realise that you are dealing with my ancestors?” She thought it must have been quite a revelation for this person to suddenly be dealing with a line of poor wretches instead of a rich family.
This will not be the last time something like this happens.