Samhain: Navigating Our Journey With The Ancestors

This year, Samhain feels different. And so, what is being asked of us at this moment in time?

A question I have pondered over the last number of months. Particularly at this time of year, as we approach Samhain, the continuity of our lineage, communities and traditions is to the forefront and we become more heightened in our awareness of the presence of the ancestors within and around us. Their imprint is visible in our personalities, our survival mechanisms, the way our society and community are structured, our values and our traditions.

Here in Ireland, we have a deep affinity to our ancestral lineages, like many cultures across the world, and our sense of kinship, and tribalism through our clans and villages dotted across the landscape. Our heritage is rich, filled with ancient wisdom, art and crafts. We have mythology, spirituality, tradition, song, dance, poetry, ancient laws and ancient ways to bless and relate to the land. 

And yet, since a child, stories of our past from older generations were told with a tone of hardship, sadness, grief and scarcity. We are told about the wars, the poverty, the oppression. The hardship and the emigration. The loss and the pain. So much so, that this aspect of our story has eclipsed the millennia of culture and success that came before.

It is easy to forget that the people who walked the land of Eiriú through the millennia have experienced thousands of years of prosperity and only a few hundred of oppression. 

Over the last few months, after processing the disempowerment and pain experienced by my ancestors in the north, expressed during a journey to Emhain Macha, I have sat with what is being asked of us, those of us who live to honour and preserve our ancient heritage and ways within the abode of Eiriú and her waters.

There are elements to be healed within us, the survival mechanisms planted by the struggles of our ancestors have left a biological and energetic imprint. But there is more to our ancestral links than that. There is the reawakening and honouring of the essence of our people that has lain dormant, hidden under the shroud of oppression. 

Today, there is no one to oppress us. But be aware, that it is at this same moment that we are at the greatest risk of oppressing ourselves. Through habit, perhaps? 

The message this year became clear. Celebrate. Behave as though the hardship is over, the scarcity has left us and embrace the opportunities that were gifted to us through the struggles of our ancestors. The healing they receive, those who have continued to walk this plane alongside us, convinced that there is more work for them to do, is immense we were embrace opportunity, enjoy new experiences and make use of our gifts and blessings. 

It became clearer with each day and journey with them. The time for focusing on the suffering, scarcity and pain is over. It is time to embrace the life they wished for us.

That is not without its challenges. As we face a winter that is testing the economic limits of many, it is a task easier said than done. However, try we must.

At Teampall Croí na Mara, this year our Samhain ceremonies are celebrations. We embrace the richness of the arts and beauty that those who walked this land before us created, preserved and gifted us. We mend the broken bridges of the past within our hearts, join together in deep presence, and remember who we are and where we came from. 

As we move into the energies of winter, the skies call us and the guidance and inspiration becomes clearer and more heightened. We are reminded of our cosmic origins and we remember that, before there were clans, tribes and divisions, there were people. Before people, there was a great journey of evolution in the waters and before that a cosmic evolution. Our ceremonial day in Co. Roscommon honours aims to bring connection and honouring to all of our ancestors, those who walked this land and those who guided from the skies. This is my humble response this year to the teachings and messages I have been receiving from my ancestors and the land. I invite you to join in any you may feel guided to be present at. Learn More Here.

Ancestral Healing This Samhain

I continue to be committed to ancestral ceremony and healing each Samhain, and throughout the month of November, I will create space to hold individual ancestral healing sessions on a one-to-one basis, or if requested for small groups of 2-5 people.

Ancestral healing, particularly here in the west of Ireland, tends to bring acknowledgement and release of patterns around scarcity, oppression, disempowerment, fertility and abundance within the land, conflict and fears around shelter and safety, along with ancestral curses and contracts. 

The journey tends to be intensive and profound. The aspects that arise for healing within our lineage are always linked to aspects or patterns within ourselves that are affecting our lives in some shape or form. 

For more information or to book a session, please contact me via DM or email [email protected]

Whichever way you are guided to honour the ancestors, through your own private ceremonies, at sacred sites, in community or through prayer, may you be blessed and guided by your higher self as you journey through the Samhain cycle. 

Beannacht agus grá,

Lisa