There's been a lot of interest in the topic of ancestral curses lately, so I thought I would speak to my own experience within this important conversation. This particular thought form seems to be incremental at the moment as so many individuals move into self-awareness and healing.
When we embark on a journey to heal ourselves from the pain of our past, there is a dimension of consideration that is greatly overlooked. Most individuals who have entered a therapeutic model can trace their behaviour patterns back to childhood experiences and personality traits of their parents. However, what has an even greater effect, is the consolidated generational patterns of how our ancestors dealt with loss, trauma, misfortune and adversity. As shamanic practitioners, we delve into patterns of misfortune as indicators that ancestral curses might be influencing tour clients and their family members. Those that have the courage and understanding of breaking curses, are the ones that will change patterns of behaviour which is very unsettling for other family members. This often involves going against belief systems that have kept a family in sabotaging patterns for decades.
For example; when an individual decides to parent their child in alternative ways to their own parents, there can be upheaval, rejection and discomfort within the family unit. Many individuals that are determined to break these patterns often do so at the expense of segregation and isolation. When a member of a family speaks out about domestic abuse, there can be denial, gaslighting and disbelief. When someone educates themselves about healthy living within a family unit of chronic disease, there can be rejection, ridicule and judgement from those that are meant to love them the most. Even distancing oneself from family members as the only sober person within generations of addiction, means prioritising one's own needs over the security of time with family. It takes an incredible amount of courage to address these issues at the risk of loosing connection with those that you love. We also know that changing such patterns might be necessary for a new kind of survival. Waking up to the fact that those closest to you are also your most toxic influences in your life, can create a discourse so great that discomfort, disease and instability follow.
The presence of ancestral curses from a shamanic perspective remind us that our misfortune might not be all our fault. I remind my students and clients that these curses invite more compassion for the forces that are against us at times, and the resistance that can be deeply felt. It's not your fault that your ancestors faced adversity and developed coping mechanisms that are now incredibly toxic for you. However, it is your responsibility to make your own conscious choices about what serves you. These curses tell a story about what your ancestors faced and how they dealt with situations of loss passed down through the inherited lines. What we encourage at The Ankara Academy is a belief system that speaks to everyone's ability to heal, transform and have autonomy to change their lives. Therefore, if your ancestors didn't take responsibility to heal their own trauma, or if they didn't have the capacity to, that doesn't mean that you are doomed to their fate. The realm of ancestral curses really invites us towards taking ownership of the reality you are creating, and working with the ancestry that your soul has chosen for this incarnation. In other words, work with what you have, not what you'd hope for.
When dramatic patterns of bad luck, misfortune and ill health fall upon a family line, the traditional perspective says that someone in the past may have done some pretty awful deeds to "anger the spirits". The karmic ripple effect of such deeds can burden future generations if the spiritual ramifications are not tended to. What most likely presents in modern society is curses that manifest as strong fear-based belief systems within a family with the intention to prevent more pain. But yet, what we know about fear is that it contracts life and lays detrimental programs that still attract chaos from the universe. If an ancestor murdered or abused others with malicious intent, it's not only their victims that suffer, but also the ongoing generations through the karmic lines. There's not much we can really do about what our ancestors did, however, we can work with universal lore and shamanic practices to change the ancestral patterns of disharmony. According to these principles, freeing ourselves from these binding contracts and curses, means doing the relevant shadow work and healing it takes to change your timelines in your favour.
Some signs to look out for when searching for ancestral curses:
People in your family dying at the same age
Trauma happening at the same age for multiple generations (especially when gender specific)
Babies born with (or young children contracting) diseases
Reoccurring money issues like multiple bankruptcy's, gambling and/or seemingly random misfortune
Abusive relationships that span multiple generations
Addiction, alcoholism, compulsive behaviour that begins without loss or trauma
An inability to find a intimate partner or loving connection to others
Dreams, visions and/or nightmares of crimes that the individual didn't commit
One thing I want you to know, is that one person in the line does have the power to change the patterning of the past. The courage and dedication of one person can interrupt these patterns strongly enough to provide more conscious and empowering choices to the next generations. We also see that the ones that break these curses and cycles, have a powerful effect on everyone around them when they share their story too. So whether you have children or not, these changes are more important now than ever before. When an individual stands up against these curses, they have access to huge transformations and awakenings. The karmic ripple effect reaches into future timelines much further than we might realised in our lifetime. If you see these curses in effect through your own lines, gather your support network before you embark on such big transformations. Find help from a shamanic practitioner as well as other therapies like counselling, health coaches, trauma specialists or loving friends and family. When you start to change your own timelines, please do share your experience in safe places so others can learn from your strength. Be a living example of how one person can change their life to benefit themselves and their community. Learn the ways that you can stay in touch with improving the energetics of your whole lineage by making offerings, clearing contracts and re-wiring your brain towards healthy habits and behaviours. If you're interested in learning and experiencing ancestral curse work, book yourself into our November Gathering, where we will be learning these techniques in a group environment. If you can't make it, reach out to myself for a 1:1 session to discover more.
This blog post was created with love on Wangerriburra soil by Heather without the use of AI :)
Comments