In current times many people bear deep wounds that are associated with family. Some of them are born of resentment, perceived wrongs, positions of injustice, and rejection. Many people from the gay, lesbian and transgendered community have shared their stories of family rejection, of being disowned by parents and siblings. This can make the idea of communing with the Ancestors feel undesirable. Unfortunately this cuts us off from the very source through which we can find liberation.
When we are mired in the brambles and quicksand of dysfunctional family dynamics and politics, the Ancestral flow almost comes to a standstill. This is not unlike a logjam in a river. Too many things have come together, and the will to resolve the situation becomes daunting. Some people choose to walk away, and some people choose to push away. It seems somehow safer to disengage, but the blood still links us to the same source.
If you place your fingers against a pulse point on your body, you can feel the Ancestors drumming to you across time. They drum to those in your family who hold ill will as well as to those who support you and stand with you. The drumbeat is equal. In this we can see that from a distance the vision is true and uncorrupted. We must bring this vision into our lives and make it real in the here and now. Part of this requires the dissolving away of fault.
In the Huna tradition we find the principle of “making things right.” It is connected to the prayer and practice of what the Hawaiian Kahuna call Ho ‘Oponopono. This practice is about dissolving blocks and filling in the resulting voids or vacuum with light. It is important to understand that making things right is sometimes an entirely solitary experience. It may not change other people in your life (or separated from your life) but it can make things right internally, deep within your own being.
When we make things right, the River of Blood spills over the banks and the current continues around the logjam. We become a tributary for its continuation. If you act from an inner place of knowing, a knowing that your life is what is right for you, then you have made things right. To be part of the logjam only feeds all that is contributing to each log's presence and contribution. In the chapter on “connective rites” you will find a ritual to help mend souls. This is an important tool for liberation.
In a previous section of this book we found the principle of “fault” and this functions as an energy connection known as the “aka cord.” We noted that as long as one party holds fault, holds on to one end of the cord, both parties remain connected. This connection can continue after life has ended. It is this principle of fault that can draw us back into specific bloodlines as well as connect us in a next life with souls we knew in a previous one.
In a previous chapter we touched on the teachings of the astrological Star Gates and how advanced souls reincarnate. They return not for themselves but for others who can benefit from a soul incapable of holding an aka cord of fault. They offer liberation. As in all things, humans have a choice. They can choose teachings that are offered them as a means of lifting their perceptions, or they can dismiss them in favor of feeling their own way through the spiritual maze. Seeking a balance through both is always an alternative.
One way of initiating balance is to call upon the Ancestral Spirit. If you have a difficult relationship with a family member, try the following technique. Use the fingers of one hand to find the pulse in your carotid artery next to your windpipe. For our purposes this represents the area of the voice and therefore communication itself. Once you feel your pulse, match the beat with the other hand. Remember the rhythm of your heartbeat.
Think of someone who causes you disharmony or pain in any way. Place a picture of them on a table in front of you. If you do not have a picture, then you can simply write the person's name on a piece of paper. The next step is to tap your finger on the photo or the paper, then say the following words:
“Ancestors come to beating of our heart, to the flow of our blood, to the movement of our breath.” Pause for a few moments, and then continue: “I am sorry for this situation of disharmony, of ill feeling.” Pause again for a few moments. Continue with these words:
“I choose to forgive and to be forgiven for this discord inside me. It is how I see others from my place of assigning fault. Ancestors, I ask that you enter in and cleanse the blood that has become a sea of storm. I love and ask for love.”
This is part of the process that I call closing the gate of day and opening the gate of night. It is a deliberate act to quell, and a deliberate act to invite reunion. One action moves another into play; it is like tipping one domino at the head of a row of them. One by one they all give way to the action of the preceding one.
Many gates open into the inner and outer mysteries. In ancient lore we find the Star Gates of the Pleiades. This constellation marks the time of May and of October (November Eve). Attached to these times we find the mythos of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades. In one mystical tradition they guide souls into the material world and then escort them into the next world. In the inner tradition this is the initiating of a process that begins in May and culminates at the end of October (literally November Eve).
In the mythos the Seven Sisters open the Gates of the Pleaides. The year of your birth is one such opening in its time, as is the year of your death. Just as birth may come early or late in the scheme of things, so too is it with death. The latter can come at pivotal moments and can bypass those moments as well.
One belief is that the Seven Sisters guide souls (those reincarnating) into new lives and then accompany them on their journey. This involves directing them to places of enlightenment and pivotal moments in each lifetime. We can think of this as one's “lucky stars” or guiding stars.
On another level, the Seven Sisters lead one to the Center of Life, to the personal axis mundi. Reportedly the Mayan and Egyptian pyramids were aligned with the Pleiades, and in this we can see these structures as a type of axis mundi. In the myths of some ancient cultures we find the Pleiades depicted as swans or a boat/ark in the night sky. In this we can see them as connecting heaven and earth.
The Mayans, like several American Indian tribes such as the Cherokee, believe their Ancestors came from the Pleiades. The Mayans point to the star we now know as Alcyone as their home star. The Mayan calendar (the Tzolk'in) was based upon the movement or cycles of the Pleiades. This intimate connection and focus on this constellation seems to suggest a basis for the concept of the “First Ancestors” or “Star-People” who were encountered in a previous chapter.
The Mayans performed human sacrifice during rites associated with the planet Venus, which has long been referred to as a “star” in several ancient cultures. It has been called both the evening and morning star. In an earlier chapter we noted that the Greek god Hersperus was associated with Venus and fathered the first Guardians of Immortality (the Hesperides). In Roman mythology Venus (called Lucifer by the Romans, and Phosphorus by the Greeks) was known as the Herald of the Sun. The name “Lucifer” means “Light Bearer” but has become distorted by Christian notions into the figure of Satan (the Devil) who appears in Christian biblical myths.
In the Cabalistic teachings of the Tree of Life, Venus is related to Tipareth (the world of the human soul). The sphere of Venus is also known as the Causal World, which is the realm of willpower). It is here that we find the monad, which is a trio of Spirit, Divine Soul, and Human Soul. In this we can see a similarity to the Three Selves that are the basis for the teachings in this book.
The “lower” part of the Human Soul, in Cabalistic thought, is bound up in fleshly desires, and is therefore contaminated by base vibrations. Where some religions regard this as the negative influence of Lucifer, most esoteric systems see Lucifer as the liberator. Lucifer, as the light-bearer, offers the rungs of a ladder upon which Human Consciousness can climb up from the things that deflect its vision of the Divine emanations. We must climb and reach the axis mundi, we must reach the summit from which communication between Above and Below burns as a sacred flame before us.
The idea of the flame brings us to such figures as the tarot's hermit who holds the star lantern. This is connected to the idea of the flames emanated by the First Ancestors, the star gods. The classic image of the hermit depicts him standing on a mountaintop. He holds a star enclosed in a lantern. His light shines from on high, a beacon that calls to true seekers. The star flame shines; it is the soul recognized by Human Consciousness as the guiding force.
In the Hidden Path divination deck we find the elder staff card. It depicts a person holding a staff and moving away down an old road. The Elder has left behind the previous world and has passed through the gate. He or she moves along a rustic path walking towards a new horizon. Rising up on the horizon is a starry sky with a full moon shining down. In this imagery we can see the walk of one who has attained enlightenment. The Elder passes in the Gates of Evening, leaving behind that which no longer serves. The staff represents the World Tree, the ladder upon which the Elder will climb up into stars. In this the soul returns to the stars, Human Consciousness rises to the Lunar Realm of the Dead, and the body returns to elements beneath.
The Gates of Evening are the constellations above us. Many mythical beings and heroes have been placed in the night sky. The Ancestral myths and legends are written in the stars. In each life we connect with our astrological sign. The myth and attributes of our sun sign (the sun being a star) resonate in the blended Three Selves. What we find in the earthly understanding of our stellar story leads us to the inner realization of our star-self. We need but enter through the Gates of Evening.