Now, in my continued search to further validate my point about the importance of ancestor veneration amongst various cultures, I came across another article online written by David Furlong called “Healing Your Ancestral Patterns” where he talks about the need to grab every opportunity to heal the family lines (ancestor lineage) because we are all linked to the universe through our ancestry. In this article, Mr. Furlong enlightens us with an excerpt from a book called “Karma and Reincarnation” by Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama, Head Priest of the Shinto Tamamitsu sect of Japan which states:
“The parent/child connection manifests as one link in a long chain of ancestral karma that stretches back through time. Your link to your family allows you to be born into that specific line – it is a link that needs to be understood and respected. In this modern scientific age it is very difficult for people to accept the fact that they are responsible to their ancestors, that they are actually liable for the actions of their ancestors if the resulting karma has not yet been dissolved. Many find it absurd to think that the actions of an unknown ancestor could possibly have anything to do with what is happening to them today. But time and time again when investigating someone’s karma, I find problems that stretch back generations. Their spirit is not just an individual entity, it is also part of the family spirit that births and nurtures it.”
Even in the bible, Numbers 14:18, there is reference to us as children suffering for the sins of our forefathers even unto the third and fourth generations clearly suggesting how integral the ancestors are to our lives and how we must learn and teach prayer and sacrifice including the giving of ourselves to keep us in harmony with our lineage. This article further makes it clear that many cultures, both sophisticated and primitive, pay a great deal of attention to the ancestral family line proving that this form of veneration is one of the most widespread of all religious belief systems.
Many people venerate all of their ancestors without any emotional problems or hang ups but there are some who find it uncomfortable or they feel bitter about giving veneration to ancestors that have been abusive in some way or another whether emotionally, physically, sexually, and/or verbally. Know that you have the right to NOT honor these ancestors. While in many cases, it is understandable why someone may not want to venerate an ancestor that has caused harm to him/her or to another loved one, it is my plea to keep in mind that you must TRY TO forgive. The forgiving is to bring healing to yourself but not in a way that makes you feel the blame. Of course, it is up to you and what makes you comfortable. I know this is easier said than done but when we forgive, we heal ourselves. Many times, ancestors who have done wrong in life will seek light and prayer from you, wanting forgiveness, wanting repentance, and wanting to give, help, and do for you on the other side what they did not get to do in life, all because they have transitioned through “the light of understanding” and have come to realize their mistakes now that they reside on the other side. If you can find it in your heart to pray for your ancestors who have done wrong, then great, it not, then you must do what makes you comfortable.
When praying to your ancestors, first you want to call upon their names (if known). Call upon seven names from your paternal side and seven names from your maternal side. If you do not know their names, then just say, “I call upon all my ancestors from the blood lines of the mother and father whose egg and sperm united to conceive me”. This is a great statement to say for those who are adopted and don’t know their biological ancestors. Ask your ancestors with true power to come forth. Ask your ancestors with true knowledge and wisdom to step forth. Ask your ancestors of great wealth to come forward. Ask your ancestors of courage and strength to be with you.
[If you choose to pray for an ancestor that has caused harm to you or a loved one, you can say a brief prayer that you forgive them and that you pray for the soul of {name of person} to elevate and find the light, peace, and love in God that he or she needs that will bring peace to you, your family, and your home. Also you will want to pray that the negative energies of abuse never cause anyone else any harm. Ask the good spirits and your soul guardians to further you and your loved from future mental, physical and/or emotional damage.]
Either way, we need to pray for healing, for both the deceased, for ourselves and for generations to come so that we can alleviate as many dysfunctional and abusive patterns as possible so that they will cease and will no longer plague any member of the family line, directly or indirectly. On another note, we also need to pray for ancestral healing from karmic energy. Many of us have heard of karmic energy that affects an individual singly but multiple family members as a whole can also carry the same karmic energy, whether negative or positive. From a negative aspect, I am sure that you can think of at least one family that just cannot get it together – they struggle and suffer for many reasons. These families can carry a karmic energy of sickness, poverty, death, or even mental illness. While in other families; drugs and judicial problems are prevalent. Some would even view this type of energy as a generational curse.
Through ancestor veneration and healing, whether through prayers, rituals, or ceremonies we can work on healing the family and our ancestors in the spirit realm so that they can help us to heal in the living for a better way of living. For this reason, I have written an “Ancestral Healing Prayer” that can be said at your altar or at any time that you get the feeling to help not just the deceased but yourself in the healing process.
ANCESTRAL HEALING PRAYER
by Aladokun
I offer light and pour libation with respect and honor for all my ancestors whose names I know (say all the names that you know) and all the ones I don’t know to uplift and liberate their soul(s) in the name and light of the Almighty God. For it is through the love, the will, and the power of God that all souls are saved.
I offer prayer and protection by way of the Divine Creator for those ancestral souls and spirits that are in darkness, forgotten, or lost. Let the light I offer fade out the shadows of fear and guide them toward the arms of God and to a higher cause.
I offer guidance to my ancestors and spirits by way of the Guardian Angels and Protective Spirits who by the power and order of God will assist them in their greater act of evolution. Let the light I offer be a “beacon of hope” and serve as an escape and protective shield from the shadows of despair.
I offer love, compassion, and comfort to those ancestral souls and spirits that are suffering and depressed. Let the light I offer lead them from discord and the miseries of their souls to the sanctuary of God and the joys of heavenly bliss.
I offer healing by way of the Supreme Being on all spiritual levels for those ancestors and spirits who were abused, afflicted, deceived, enslaved, hated, lonely, misguided, neglected, oppressed, pained, saddened, traumatized, and died tragically. Let the light I offer to their souls inspire clemency, liberation, faith, love and harmony from today onward.
I offer forgiveness to the ancestral souls and spirits that want to repent, sincerely, for the error of their ways in both realms of life and death. Let this light guide them to the truth, enlightenment and righteousness of God.
In addition, I forgive those ancestors and spirits that committed wrongs that have set their generational line “us that are living” in barrenness. And I forgive those ancestors whose past sins I’ve had to suffer as a result of their own naivety, ignorance and inferior habits and traits. Let the light I offer serve as a reminder for us in the living to acknowledge and learn not to make the same mistakes as the ones who lived before us.
In every way, I forgive those ancestors and spirits who need it most so that their souls will embrace in positive gratification a new and improved way of living in the spirit realm and that those souls will elevate in peace and awaken to eternal life as God promised.
In the name of God and through his mercy and blessings, let today be the beginning of a continual healing process for all my ancestral guides and release of all blocked and negative genetic energy patterns within the generational line steadily healing each family member including myself day-by-day. As you, the Ancestors heal on the other side, we ask that you forgive us as you have been forgiven and help us to heal with free flowing positive and progressive energy for the better well-being of all concerned.
In God’s name we pray and may the Light, Power, and Peace of God be with us always. And so it was spoken and so it will be!
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