What are generational and ancestral cycles?
All of us were born into a physical lineage here on this planet. Part of our work during our lifetime is to really integrate what that means and what lessons are held for us within our ancestry. Often, when we think about what we have inherited from the generations before us, the first things that come to mind are physical traits. “You have your father’s eyes,” or “Your grandma had the same hair color as you.” But there are so many other, less tangible gifts that we inherit from our ancestors, going all the way back to the dawn of civilization.
By exploring our ancestry, we open the books of our personal history and figure out where we came from. This research allows us to see patterns that have been repeated throughout the generations before us – patterns that we may even be reliving today in our own lives. These are our generational and ancestral cycles. Some of them may strengthen us and propel us forward in our spiritual evolution. Others may hold deeply rooted trauma that we need to release to experience true freedom and set a different, healthier path for our children and the future generations yet to come.
Even if you don’t know your birth family, or if you know nothing about your lineage and have no one to talk to about it, there’s still wisdom here for you to access. It’s always worth asking your guides for whatever answers they may have for you. Knowledge is power.
6 Steps to Breaking Generational and Ancestral Cycles
1. Connect with your genealogy and culture
If you can, research your genealogy. Look at your family tree and pay attention to their names – surnames can hold a lot of information that can be easily researched, and even birth names can give insight into family traditions. Listen to the stories people pass down about those who have come before in your family line, especially those shared repeatedly, as words hold their own magic.
Sometimes, you might not know about the people in your ancestry, but you may know generally where your lineage stems from – whether your background is Scottish, Italian, or Indigenous American, and so on. Connect with your culture through the traditions, customs, and practices of the past by researching the histories of those people. Speak with historians or other subject experts, such as cultural Elders, to continue to learn about your past. You may find support and resources from people you did not expect.
2. Authentic self-reflection
Engaging in honest self-reflection is an important step in recognizing and releasing negative ancestral cycles. In this way, ancestral work can also be shadow work. Shadow work is the process of examining the parts of yourself, and your ancestry, that are challenging, hard to love, and hard to integrate. You can’t just bury what you don’t like and move on. Sometimes you have to go back and take a look at the darker parts of the generations that have come before because hidden in those bones are the cycles that only we can break. At some point, we all have to make peace with these aspects of our lineage, or the cycle will only continue to repeat through our children and grandchildren. By breaking these cycles ourselves, our descendants will never have to deal with that trauma. It is our responsibility to them.
3. Clear your chakras
Ancestral wounds can appear as blockages in your Root, Sacral, and Solar Plexus Chakras. You can activate and clear these chakras by engaging in guided meditation, working with crystals for healing, or giving your guides and guardians permission to remove them for you in alignment with your highest good. I believe that by addressing any blockages you have within your chakras, you make way for the free flow of Prana: the energy from which life itself arises. This free flow of Life Force energy will empower you to feel healthier, happier, and more balanced and aligned. From here, the connection you share with all of life will deepen, and your energy will resonate with the very energy of the Universe.
4. Choose to make a different choice
Until you actively make the choice to take a different path in life, these ancestral patterns will continue to show up. This might look like staying in toxic relationships, just like your mother and grandmother did, or continuing to uproot and shift to different cities across the country because you came from a culture that was diasporic or nomadic in nature. Only you can make the decision to change – by first acknowledging that you want to experience something different from these repeating cycles and then consciously working towards that transformation.
5. Blue Room Meditation
The Blue Room is a healing, calm, safe space that exists outside of space and time. It’s a level of the upper chakras and Upper Realms where you can go at any time to have the conversations that you may not feel comfortable having face-to-face with family and friends. It’s also a space where you can communicate with ancestors and other loved ones who have passed on. In this Blue Room Meditation, you will create the container and set the stage and intention for your spirit guides to resolve the conflict inter-dimensionally on your behalf. All that is required from you is your intention and willingness to surrender. In the Blue Room, the answers you seek will be handled in accordance with the highest good of all involved.
6. Be gentle with yourself
If any generational or ancestral cycle you’re addressing becomes too painful to continue looking at, it’s okay to take a break. It can be particularly challenging when we begin to recognize how we have been continuing these patterns in our own lives. Don’t push yourself too far past what you’re comfortable with, but do try to go a little deeper each time than you have before. There is always some discomfort with growth, but that doesn’t mean you have to explore further than you’re ready to. What’s important is your emotional and spiritual health. Treat yourself with kindness when shifting the deeper generational cycles, and remember to practice self-care. If you need to take a break, lift the vibrations by playing some soothing music, taking a relaxing bath, grounding yourself, or smudging with white sage.
In closing
At first, it can be challenging to not only recognize generational and ancestral cycles but also make the necessary adjustments to break them. But eventually, when you see the freedom and deepened spiritual connection that come for you and your descendants, you will realize that the hard work is MORE than worth it. May you find the clarity and bravery to do this deeply spiritual work and see your entire life and legacy transform for the better. And so it is.
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