3 Practices for Honoring the Ancestors

Honoring the Ancestors is a primary principle of Shamanism.
When we honor our Ancestors, they help us.
If we blame them, they haunt us.

What do you think of when you think of your ancestors?
Maybe you think of your grandparents and beyond.  Often when I mention ancestors, people will explain to me that they didn’t know their grandparents.  
My response: “Oh, but they know you.”

Consider that your ancestors are all that have walked before you.  You could even include the trees and plants, the birds and animals, even dinosaurs, as your ancestors.  Your  Higher Self is an Ancestor, having lived many lives before this current one. 

As a Shamanic Practitioner, I can support individuals in ancestral healing, but practicing honoring the Ancestors is part of the individual work that heals generations forwards and backwards.  No one else can do that part for you. 

Saying you honor the Ancestors is a start, but words can fall short without a practice of action.  This is not a time to seek perfection.  It is creating and implementing a practice that energetically supports you and the collective.
I will help you get started.

3 Ways to Honor the Ancestors

1. Create an Ancestral Altar
Choose a place in your home - on a shelf, a wall, a table - to display pictures or items of your familial ancestors, even if you didn’t personally know them.  If you don’t have access to actual photographs, with a little research you may be able to find some pictures on the internet. If you know your great-great grandmother was a nurse, you could include an item to represent the nursing field in place of a photograph. Adding a battery-operated candle with a timer to be lit during the day is a nice touch to remind you to give thanks to those that contributed to your existence, simply be their own existence.

2. Practice Forgiveness
Forgiveness is releasing another from the expectations placed on them.  
Not forgiving is like drinking poison, hoping another will get sick.  It creates illness and dis-ease in the physical and emotional, and it can leave one feeling blocked spiritually.  This is especially true for justified resentments.
Practicing forgiveness is just that, a practice.  It is not a one-time event. 
Maybe you have a family history of addiction or abuse, abandonment.  Staying angry only keeps the cycle alive and strong, like gasoline to a fire.  It can affect every aspect of your life.
Actively practicing forgiveness is something covered in my mentoring programs, where I share a process to deal with resentments cyclically, rather than waiting until they have accumulated so much energy they are running your life.

3. Give Offerings
Many indiginous cultures had practices of giving offerings to the Ancestors.  There is a Hindu custom of feeding the crows as an act of sharing with the Ancestors.  On an altar you could create a mandala or a crystal grid, or keep fresh flowers. Outside, bird feeders, birdbaths, planting flowers or a tree can all be intended as offerings for the Ancestors.  Get creative. It really is all about intention.


Start with these three simple approaches, and observe what shifts you experience.  You may feel more supported, guided, empowered.  You may find that you intuitively know the answer to something, as if someone else suggested it to you. 

If this approach resonates with you and you would like to learn more, let’s get you enrolled in my signature program, A Shamanic Approach to Modern Living!  Click here to schedule a Complimentary Clarity Call, your chance to ask questions and be certain I am the one to guide you. 

I look forward to connecting with you!

You are Safe.
You are Supported.
You are so Loved.

I love you!
Angela Faith

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