<p> Ancestor reverence, in this study, is considered to consist of reflecting on and honoring the women and men who came before us in our bloodlines, including those friends and chosen family who were part of our intellectual or spiritual lineages. Many traditions include beliefs that our consciousness continues after death, and some traditions hold that ancestors may influence the events of the living or intercede with the gods on the living's behalf. In many traditions ancestors are honored through altar building, rituals, and trance journeys. Rituals performed for the ancestors create strong familial and community bonds. This thesis work is important because it expanded the opportunities for me to understand my family dynamics and to develop relationships with my deceased foremothers and forefathers. I learned about myself in understanding my families' past and felt stronger connections to my lineage and progeny. The literature revealed that genealogy research is a form of ancestor reverence; especially in Western cultures that no longer have formalized ancestor reverence rituals and practices. Through genealogy research, I learned the names and stories of my ancestors and ancestresses and, in combination with that research, on a pilgrimage to my ancestral homeland, I explored my matriline using an archaeomythological and feminist lens that combined archaeology, anthropology, mythology, folklore, genetics, ecology, and history to search for the evidence of what women did throughout herstory. I gathered the stories focused on how women worked, lived and contributed to society throughout history, because the stories of my ancestresses, like the accomplishments of most women from 1500-1900, were often omitted from written history. A sacred journey can catapult the participant into greater and faster spiritual growth; this was true for me in that I may not have gained this wisdom otherwise. In this paper I explored the idea that ancestors were revered through multiple methods, including pilgrimage and creative writing. While altar building, rituals, trance journeys, and genealogy were most often recorded in written form in regards to ancestor reverence, they are not the only methods that can provide experience and impact to the descendant who honors their ancestors. I have tried to prove this assertion through academic research: I used a heuristic approach to carefully examine my personal experiences with each of these forms of ancestor reverence and an arts-based approach through creative writing to pen short works about my ancestors.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1599165 |
| Date | 20 October 2015 |
| Creators | Starks, Erica Holmes |
| Publisher | Institute of Transpersonal Psychology |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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