Who Are Your People?

I want to talk about ancestor veneration. It’s a topic that seems to be popular right now for a multitude of reasons. I think one reason is due to the recent popularity of the movie Sinners. Hoodoo and other naturalized religions have become increasingly popular over the years. Yoruba started to make a larger appearance after Beyonce started braking fire hydrants in a golden yellow dress with water flowing down some steps, suggesting her affiliation with the deity Oshun. As someone who has been in these spiritual streets for many years now I love to see other forms of spirituality taking their place in the sun. I believe that it’s important for folks to see that there are other ways for you to connect with the divine. It doesn’t have to be rigid or have some formal construction to it. In fact the most potent spiritual energy comes from connecting with nature and the divine in a very natural and organic way.

I recently posted a video on TikTok talking about people becoming more and more interested in these spiritual practices and giving a cautionary tale about doing your ancestral research and finding a good teacher before you dive into these practices. I’ve been doing this work for a long time and I’ve explored many different spiritual practices along the way. Just like my mother I have no name for what it is I do. I learned early on that keep ing the lines of communication open with Spirit is the main and only goal of any spiritual work. I have a feeling that many of the women in my family followed this same path. Though they were attending church and some were even first ladies, I have a sense that their relationship with God was a personal one, one that had more potency outside of the walls of the church sanctuary.

My mother was the one to break the mold when it came to diving into something new and more expansive than the traditional church model that my grandmother had been raise with. As a PK, I’m sure my grandmother had continued exposure to church which I believe is the main reason why she did not attend church as an adult. My mother even told me about one of my great aunts saying that she believed that when we die, nothing happens. Our lives simply end. This was as she was approaching her mortality after her husband, my great uncle, who had been the love of her life for many years passed just a year earlier. And as my mother said “and she was a PK”. For her to not have any belief in an after life and say that it’s all darkness and no heaven was a bit of s shock to me.

I bring this up because as we all become more curious about other forms of spiritual work and feel puled to dive into practices that we think our ancestors were doing, it’s important to understand that each and every ancestor in our history had some complicated relationship with Spirit. There’s so much talk about breaking generational curses but we may not know or understand the curses to begin with. That’s not to say that we must leave out ancestors who could be trapped in some horrible loop of pain should remain there, especially if we can help them in any way. I know firsthand the power of interceding for those that have already passed over and how powerful it is to be able to release them from a pattern that was forced on them. And I also know how intense that work is.

I spent years connecting with my great, great grandmother before I broke who I believe to be was a bind placed on her. Even my mother could feel a shift in our maternal ancestors energy when she would meditate on her. If you are new to ancestor veneration and want to explore it I say take your time. Move with intention and at a slow pace. We do not know the hull stories of our ancestors and any time you begin work in a realm that you are unfamiliar with there is always the propensity of being exposed to energy that you do not know how to work with. Research as much as you can. Meditate, meditate, meditate. I cannot stress that enough. Deepen in your relationship with the divine before trying out some jar spells or conjuring up folks from your ancestral line.

Not all the ancestors were benevolent people.