Ancestral Healing for Your Spiritual and Genetic Families

Excerpt From the chapter “Our genetic ancestors”
By Jeanne Ruland and Shantidevi

We often know about two to four generations of our bloodline but in reality tens of thousands of souls stand behind us across the spreading branches of our family tree. There was once a time when the true power of our blood was consciously passed on to us by our ancestors, and in some primitive peoples, it is still the case to this day that certain powers and qualities are passed on from fathers and mothers to their children and their children’s children; the current of potential can thereby continue to flow ever further.
It is now time for you to regain your true potential and allow it to awaken within your cells. To do this, you will need to widen your perspective, and to help achieve this, we would like to offer you an opportunity to make contact with the potential of your six direct forebears.
Exercise: Aligning with your six direct forebears
As a first step, arrange a place in the room, perhaps on a round rug or a circle with a chair placed within it. Your mother and her parents are standing behind you to the left, and your father and his parents are to the right. Light a candle on the left side for your mother and on the right for your father, then a candle for your maternal grandfather and grandmother (even if you never knew them). Repeat the whole procedure for your father’s parents (again, it doesn’t matter if you knew them or not).
Sit down in your place and feel the six ancestors (your parents and grandparents) standing behind you. First be aware of your own position; we are often not in our correct places or are drawn into positions on the family tree that are unoccupied or not properly filled. It could be that we are standing in the places of our parents or other relatives, perhaps of children who have died. It is useful if you first draw your family tree and ask yourself where exactly your position within it might lie. Where is your exclusive place in your ancestors’ family tree?
Take time over this preparation; it may bring you some insights. We often take on responsibility for people in our families (siblings, parents, grandparents, and so on) that we are really not obliged to bear. Perhaps other relatives have taken on responsibility for us (siblings, aunts, uncles, and so on) because there was no other option.
If you have a godfather, be aware of this connection too, as it is special from an energy perspective.
Once you are fully aware of your place within the family tree, stand firmly on your own two feet in the place set out for you. Allow yourself to feel only this position. Breathe your energy back in from those places where you have taken on something or carried something for others until you feel that you have arrived at your place, calmly and peacefully. Thank those who have taken responsibility for you at a given time and release them. Take what is rightfully yours; you can now be there for yourself.
Feel your own very special connection to the Earth. Try imagining this link to the planet as a root anchored via seams of gold or silver, via minerals or the elements. Let a positive image form within you, through which you feel the nurturing, supporting strength of Mother Earth for yourself, your life, and your unique path, wherever you are. It is always the same Earth beneath your feet, the Earth with which you are connected, that supports and nurtures you for as long as you walk upon it. Only you can follow your unique path here, step by step. Your starting place is the place where your roots lie.
You are responsible only for this place and for all that has come forth from you (for example, children). Nothing else. In this exercise, try to create order and peace for yourself, to see your children in their own unique places, and to bless them. If you sense empty places, ask angels to bring their healing to them.
When you have fully taken your place, turn to your ancestors.
Picture the currents flowing behind you. Turn around to face your ancestors and regard them.
Which of your ancestral lines do you feel most connected with? Which are of least use to you? Explore each line with your feelings. Take your time with it.
Way back in your ancestral lineage, masters of light and ancestors developed their fullest potential and lived here on earth as a child, wife, lover, mother, spiritual teacher, priestess, healer, or as a man, lover, father, spiritual teacher, leader, priest, healer, or similar.
This potential has been handed down like a baton from generation to generation. In our lineage there are sleepers, ancestors who were unable to live out this potential but yet passed it on, and wakers, ancestors who accessed this potential to the full.
The baton now lies in your hand and it is up to you whether you can awaken your potential. If you can, then not one life of your ancestors has been in vain, and much healing and liberation can take place among the ranks of your forebears.