sunheart

Theres something I have allways had problems with when it comes to the idea of ansestor worship/honoring.

I do alot of reaserch into various religions and philosphies. Its a kind of personal quest I guess.

But that common desire to honor ansestors has allways sat funny with me.

Untill recently. See im an American in that I have no real ansestral ties. I know little to nothing about my heritage and any culture I may have had was taken away from me at a young age.

I know I am German, Welsh, Scottish, and something eastern european. That last bit I think is Polish since my great grandfather spoke it even though he was from Austria. Im only a 4th/3rd generation American. Which is funny since people expect me to be much higher generation since im white. People forget about WWII and all the people who fled that part of the world then.

So keeping that in mind I allways tried delving into the cultures in queastion to kind of feel out my roots and kind of Honor my ansestors that way. But no matter how much Celt, Norse or Magyar info I absorbed it allways felt impersonal. Right in many ways but out of touch with where I am now. When my celtic tree lore is about trees that dont even grow here. While the mighty Redwood isnt even mentioned. I tried to root it too the land im in with some pepering of native american belifes but that just makes you feel like an unwanted visitor.

So I have over time kind of developed "What if" as in what if these people were still pagans when they got here. With a living religion what would they have said about what they found here? How would the Redwood or the Maple fit into the Ohgam? ect ect.

Back to the point ansestors are obviously part of all this. Having none I could connect with made it seem a pointless persuit. But I found a way of fixing it. In a book on Voodoo of all things. I respect Voodoo its a thriving living religion. They suggested something very simple. If you cant think of any blood ansestors you take people you respect that have passed before. Dead friends or even people you dont know whom you idolize in some fasion. I have friends who were my heros when they were alive so now they will be honored... Other figures from history will be as well. Quen Hatsheput and Empress Wu are on the list. This feels good strangely because it allways felt like something was missing.

I may be a taoist but I have a mystics soul.