Ancestral Trauma and Gifts

Could you be an Ancestral Healer?

• Is there a ‘trauma’ within your family? 
• Is there a fear narrative that affects risk tolerance?
• Do your family ever ‘joke’ about being cursed? or do things just ‘go wrong’ for family members?
• Has 1 gender stopped being born in your family? or perhaps no babies have been born for a while.
• Are you now aware that this ‘pattern’ is unhealthy and want to heal it?

Ancestral trauma will be passed through the generations till someone is born with the ability to heal it. If you answered Yes to some of these questions, then maybe the healer your family need – is you! Read on to find out more…

Ancestral Trauma or a gift?

Trauma or gift? I suppose it depends upon how you perceive it. After all healing a trauma is the most profound liberation. Your ancestors have gifted you far more attributes than they have wounded you. Remembering all they went through, the ways in which they survived, the challenges they overcame in which to give you life, will go much further in raising your consciousness than perpetuating victim mentality. That isn’t to suggest that being an ancestral healer isn’t a challenge, it definitely is! But, you are the one chosen (and a choice you made) for a reason.

Your ancestors have a vested interest in you and what you achieve, you are their progeny and for many that is all that remains of their time on earth. 

Your ancestors will have gifted you with traits and abilities to help you on your journey.

• Physical appearance
• Mental intelligence and agility
• Physical attributes like strength and speed
• Tenacity, courage and determination
• Aptitudes and skills 
• Precautions and risk awareness

You may have your great grandmothers affinity with animals, your grandfathers green thumb, and be a thrill seeker like your great uncle, of course we are aware of these traits when we are within our birth family and grown up with that story being told.

Their trials and victories all went into your DNA, as did their fears and warnings (Valelli 2021). If an ancestor got burnt, the wounds got infected and they suffered then it is likely that you will have safety concerns with fire. In the UK we don’t have lethal spiders, but many of us will have a fear reaction to Mr hairy legs running across the lounge floor, of course we can over ride it with logic and collect him safely up and put him outside, but the instinct is there. 

If a young man climbed too high, fell, and died as a result of his wounds, he may not have passed that on through his genealogy because he perished before he had his children. However, his sister, (who saw the fall, and tried to care for him while he slowly died, and as result lost the person she depended on for security) went on to have children, would have almost certainly passed down the trauma, even if through a different route (Ryder 2022).

Current research indicates that these reactions likely come from ancestral information sharing through our DNA (Youssef et al 2018). It is like passing a baton in a relay race, we each pass on the blueprint with our additions and modifications added.

How do you know when you have ancestral trauma that requires healing? Rather than just regular baton passing?

Indications of an Ancestral Trauma

• Is the trauma beneficial in some way? Is helpful and constructive? or is it the opposite?
• Is the fear or trauma limiting to how we now live? Is the fear somewhat outdated, and places limitations to modern day life?
• Is it being passed through the generations and causing problems?
• Have you noticed that only boys are being born in your whole family? or only girls? or no one is currently continuing the family?
• Fertility issues? This could be due to a particular ancestral trauma.
• Is there a fear narrative within the family surrounding this trauma, and does it affect the risks people in the family are willing to take (risk tolerance)?
• Do people in the family joke, or seriously suggest that there is a curse? do people in the family experience more than their fair share of bad luck? 

This list isn’t exhaustive but gives an idea of the limitations we can experience when our genealogy is limited because of an unhealed ancestral trauma.

Are you an Ancestral Healer?

This is relatively easy to answer,

• If you have worked on yourself through a self reflective healing journey.
• Have a high enough awareness to realise something requires work and healing in your family.
• Are aware of the above indications within your family and desire liberation for everyone.

Then Yes, you are an ancestral healer. It is you that is the one chosen to heal it, your ancestors are holding you in love and believe that you are capable of doing this work, otherwise you would not have been gifted with healing sight and awareness.

You may also be a Chain breaker (for more on chain breakers please see ‘the chain breaker’). The difference between an Ancestral Healer and a Chain Breaker is that an ancestral healer is often only healing 1 trauma within their family. Generally the family unit is functional and not enmeshed with many dysfunctional behaviours, and ultimately, the Ancestral Healer feels like a wanted and valued member of the family, rather than an outsider. You don’t have to be a chain breaker to heal an ancestral trauma, although you need to have done some self reflective healing and integration beforehand to gain the most out of the session. 

We can sometimes feel alone when first starting a self reflective healing journey, but you’re not alone, especially if you’ve incarnated as an ancestral healer, they are with you, and watching to see what you will do.

Ancestral trauma healing sessions are different to Congruent Life Trauma (CLT) and The Chain breaker, CLT is your stuff, wherever it comes from (for more on CLT please see ‘Congruent Life Trauma’). Ancestral trauma is often not (unless you’ve reincarnated into the same gene pool) your own, but from an ancestor, it has been passed down, and continues to do so until someone heals it. 

Illuminating Exercise for Ancestral Trauma

If you would like to start working on your ancestral trauma, here is a simple exercise that could illuminate the traumas origin.

This exercise requires you to trust your intuition.

If you have not called in your ancestors before, you might find it easier to gather some utensils. Perhaps you have your grandmothers shawl that you could wrap around your shoulders. Or your great uncles gaudy lamp that you adore. Photos of your family (that have departed) are very useful.

• Gather these items and set up a little altar, candles are great for any exercise.
• Appropriately prepare yourself (auric cleansing, breath work, grounding and open up psychic channels) and have some idea of the questions you want to ask. 
• I would always choose verbalising out loud as this activates your throat chakra
• Ask your guides / angels/ team (whatever you choose) assistance in calling in your ancestors who want to help with your healing journey.
• Call in your ancestors, don’t get hung up on the right way to do this, it really doesn’t matter, just ask your ancestors to please join you in your own words.
• If you haven’t done this kind of work before, look for subtle signs that the energy has changed, nothing grand will happen, the last thing they want is to scare you. You might smell something (my grandmother always announces her arrival with her favourite perfume) or the candles might flicker. I always ‘feel’ wonderful, like I just sunk into a warm bath of the love of everyone who ever loved me. As always, EXPECT emotions to rise, and have the grace to allow whatever you feel to be expressed.
• Once you feel ready, explain what you are hoping to achieve. That you have noticed X in your family and want to heal it, will they please help?
• Ask your questions and pay attention to any means of communication coming through, perhaps close your eyes and then record if you ‘see’ anything. or you may ‘hear’ a date, a word, a name. It could be a good idea to record anything that you may feel is important.
• This could also be a great time to try ‘free writing’, just ask your question, and allow yourself to loosely write whatever comes up.
• When you feel you have finished, show courtesy and respect, thank your guides and ancestors. Ask them to please come back again or you can ask them to continue trying to provide you with the answers you seek as you go about your day.
• Sometimes answers come easily when we are not actively trying, essentially, the act of wanting it, of trying to force it, can impede the process.
• Take care of yourself, especially if you received an answer that was emotionally triggering.
• You can repeat this process as often as you want, like a detective, slowly collecting clues, till you have the answers you seek.

This journey is your responsibility, so go into it prepared and expect to ‘feel’ things. Your ancestors have nothing but love and admiration for you, they want to help you, they want you to succeed, they want you to heal your and their family by doing this work. They will show up, they will give you whatever information they can, in whatever way you can receive it. When you are ready to do the work, so are they.

Often, families are unaware that there is a trauma being passed on until someone engages with self reflective healing and recognises that there is a familial issue, not just a self issue. This ancestral healer has an important job to do, sometimes they need some support and guidance.

If you would like to work with me to access and release an ancestral trauma please get in touch. Like the other ‘Advanced Shadow work packages’ this work is more suited to someone who has already started their self reflective healing journey. It is important that you have acquired some confidence in the process and have gathered a few tools along the path, I will be with you and support you, but you need to be prepared.