The Enchanted Hearth: Ancestors in our Home and Heart

Greetings beloveds,

When I think of ancestors and family I also think of home. While the entire home is a space occupied by family as a space for community and fellowship, there are certain spaces that are more oriented towards the energy of family than others. Always get in touch with your own feelings and space in whatever way works best for you before  taking instruction from others. Remember this is your journey, this is your life.

According to feng shui, the lo shu magic square that I have referenced before here in The Enchanted Hearth: Masculinity and Space post and here in the 28 Days of Love: Finding the Love Section of Your Home post, places the energy of family in the center of the home. This seems logical as the home is cornerstone of where families congregate. It is the space that holds the energy of family expanding outwards from a physical structure to that of the land around it. This aligns with the energy of earth. Of being grounded, firm, growing, changing, shielding, exposing. It is the bedrock of all experiences. We come from the Earth and are continuously renewed by it’s resources. They say that our cells completely turn over every seven years. The energy, nutrients, and ability to be able to form new parts of ourselves comes from the Earth. From the food and water we ingest. From the tiniest beings that exist in the air, on every surface, within our bodies. We are of this Earth and will return to it. We then have ourselves as individuals who then are linked to our spaces and each other.

When speaking of homes and space let us note the variety that exists in how we define the term home. This could be a large, small, enclosed, built or natural environment spaces. Home includes apartments, houses, RV’s, mobile homes, a room within a living space, parks, schools, religious institutions, modes of transportation such as trains, bikes or cars. Home is a space that is personally defined and although ideally we would like it to correlate with the feelings of love, acceptance, and social support that is not always the case. Thus, your home, may not be what is traditionally thought of as home. That space may look radically different then what the standard stereotype of what makes up a home. These same standards apply to what constitutes a family.

Ancestral work can be a very difficult topic to broach. One person may be very close to their immediate family that is made up of a father, mother, and siblings. It’s more likely that one’s family looks very different. There are single/step-parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, adopted siblings, close friends, mentors, and animals that make up what we think of as family. There are families that we choose and those that choose us. What lies at the core is love. Love first for yourself. Always take care of yourself as you are the foundation of your home and heart. Then love for each other.

So find the center of your home. Is it a hallway or room? What occupies that space? Sit there and connect with it. We’ll talk soon on ways to honor your ancestors that you can take an d put into this space.

With love,

-Rose