﻿Ancestors and Ancestor Worship are significant to many practitioners, religious people, and scholars
of religion. They highlight how and if a line is drawn between the world of the living and that of
the dead and how living beings can relate to those who are not within our mundane reach any more.
I hope you’re interested and that you’ll follow me to learn more about it.
[Music]
Hello everyone, I’m Dr Angela Puca and welcome to my Symposium. I’m a PhD and Religious Studies
scholar and this is your online resource for the academic study of Magick, Esotericism,
Paganism, Shamanism and all things occult. This video is a special one because it’s
a “spirit collab” with the channels Esoterica, Let’s Talk Religion and The Modern Hermeticist.
I’ll tell you more about it at the end of the video. So, make sure to stick around for that!
As Nicola Harrington highlights,
there is a difference between Ancestor Worship or Cult and Cult of the Dead.
Ancestors are believed to be people within one or two generations of their living successors.
Meaning parents, grandparents and, at most great grandparents. They are usually addressed
by name and called upon by their descendants for assistance on domestic matters. Differently, the
Cult of the Dead is directed towards the collective deceased or non-linear
ancestors. Often, yet not in all cases, there may be kinship involved. For instance,
a familial relationship acquired through marriage or being part of the same community or land.
This type of ancestor is often considered responsible for inexplicable harmful events,
such as sudden deaths and droughts. Propitiatory offerings are made to
gain their favour,or execration rites are performed against them.
Differently, the reason why a revered dead causes distress to the descendant
is not capriciousness but a moral transgression that prompts them to
withdraw the ancestral protection, without which the descendant is left vulnerable. The
ancestral dead can be placated and can become benevolent again. So, basically,
non-linear ancestral spirits play an active role in harming the living, bringing death,
accidents, and misfortune. In contrast, the familial Ancestors may cause harm through
inertia and protection withdrawal instigated by perceived neglect or moral misconduct.
Now that we have clarified the distinction between Ancestor Worship and the Cult of the
Dead, we can dive deeper into the concept and practice of Ancestor Worship. Interestingly,
the two concepts of ‘ancestor’ and ‘worship’ could be seen and more rooted in a Western
understanding of both. On the matter, the scholar Igor Kopytofff highlighted that
some African cultures don’t distinguish between living and dead elders and that ‘worship’ sounds
too reverential, as the deceased are treated with contentiousness rather than respect.
On the other hand, another scholar, John McCall reminds us that the types and dynamics of power
attributed to the dead are very different from those attributed to living elders. In any case,
it is interesting how the distinction between living and dead predecessors creates,
in the Western perception of ancestors, a dichotomy where in other cultures, there
might be a continuum as well as an appreciation of all our predecessors, those - living or dead - who
entered this physical realm of existence before us. Regardless of whether a given culture would
include within their concept of Ancestors, living elders or solely those who have passed away,
it’s still the case that the ways of interaction, reverence, contention or indeed worship will vary
significantly depending on whether the predecessor is still alive or not. Communication with someone
alive can be as direct as a conversation, whereas, with a predecessor who’s passed, it will
require bridging that gap of incommunicability created by their absence in the physical world.
All that said, if we understand “worship” as “respect” and “acknowledgement” rather than,
more narrowly, as “adulation,” then “ancestor worship” and “ancestor cult”
may be suitable terms for a range of cultures, and ancestor worship may very well be universal.
In contemporary discourse among magic practitioners,
especially those who identify as Pagans or have been influenced by Pagan religions,
there are five types of ancestors that are worshipped, honoured or even acknowledged
for their relevance to the person’s life or the sheer fact that they exist on the earth
in a given form. In all cases, the term Ancestors is used to refer to spirits or entities that are
not currently inhabiting the physical realm and that have come into existence before us
and whose existence has shaped or is somewhat contributing to our current being into existence.
The first type is ANCESTORS OF BLOOD OR FAMILY These are ancestors within our bloodline or
linked through a familial connection, as in the case of people who have been adopted.
Second ANCESTORS OF HEART These refer to people who have had a significant
emotional impact on us and have passed away, yet still, feel present and influence our life.
The third is ANCESTORS OF SPIRIT These usually refer to people who
have had a spiritual connection with us and have passed away. Examples are a teacher or
a member of our same tradition or a fellow Witch we have practised with.
The fourth type is CULTURAL ANCESTORS The predecessors who have been part of
and have shaped our cultural heritage and help, by remembering them and acknowledging
their contribution, to ensure the cohesiveness of a given culture.
The fifth type is ANCESTORS OF PLACE These are spirits linked to the place
we were born in, we were raised in, we live in, or we move to. They can be entities
inhabiting the place or spirits of the dead who remain linked to a specific location.
The Genius Loci or Genii Locorum, in the plural, is a Latin term and an example of this type
of spirit and was believed by the Romans to be the guardian spirit of a specific place.
Modern practitioners will usually honour Ancestors through rituals. Some may have
shrines or altars or a specific place on their altar to honour or remember or
acknowledge their ancestors. In other cases, they will perform rituals in sacred places,
hills or megalithic monuments. Some practitioners might not have a dedicated space for ancestors all
year round but dedicated offerings and rituals at specific times of the year. Typical times to
remember and/or honour ancestors are on their birthdays, on the anniversary of their death or
indeed, during Samhain or Halloween or All Hallows Eve. During this time of the year,
various cultures worldwide have a dedicated festivity for the Dead.
Contemporary Pagans, following the Wheel of the Year established by Wicca,
call this time of the year – between the 31st of October and the 1st of November – Samhain.
I have a dedicated video on that if you want to know more about it, as here we will focus more
on what is related to ancestors. Since Pagans believe that the veil between the worlds is at
its thinnest during this time of the year, contacting the Dead is believed to be more
accessible, and offerings made to ancestors are deemed to be more readily available to them.
On this occasion, there are Pagans who hold a ‘Dumb Supper’ or a silent evening meal,
where they create a sacred space and have a silent meal with the ancestors they want to
connect with. The meal meant for the ancestor is often left as an offering when the living
participants attending have finished eating, and the ritual is completed. Offerings and
rituals to ancestors vary across different cultures and traditions, but offerings of
food and drinks are very common, especially food and drink the deceased used to enjoy
when they were alive. Ancestor worship is thus about acknowledging, remembering, and honouring
those who have made, in any way, possible our existence or have shaped our identity.
On this note, many practitioners who have had a problematic relationship with their predecessors
or are not in line with their value system, resolve this conflict by acknowledging the
ancestor’s role in their life – even the sheer biological contribution - leaving the honouring
part aside or reserving it to other ancestors or indeed other types of ancestors. In my
understanding, Pagans and magic practitioners believe in a web of connections and relations
in which we are all immersed. And, if you see your ancestors as contributing factors
to your existence in this web of life, then it makes sense to have an afflatus of respect
towards them as they allowed you to be here, to live and breathe and make your own choices.
In a way, if you don’t look at it from a non-anthropocentric point of view,
ancestors are the closest net around you that allows you to be grounded and indeed
exist in this web of life. And there are those who have contributed in different
ways and to different extents to make you the person you are now.
Harrington offers us an interesting analysis of the social dimension of ancestor worship,
highlighting the process of re-socialisation that occurs through these practices. In our
understanding of a lack of continuum between the world of the living and that of the dead,
the former is re-introducing the latter in the
social fabric through honouring and remembering the deceased.
Instances that make this element particularly clear are reintroducing the recently deceased
into the home, through the provision of household shrines, visiting graves to commune with them,
and activating rituals – such as bell ringing - to ensure that the dead are present when
offerings are made or reciting invocations to call upon spirits to partake of the offerings
provided for them. The sentiment that Ancestor Worship perhaps underlies is that death does not
extinguish the relationship with those who were close to us but rather transforms it.
Death creates the need for a new form of participation, with a corresponding alteration
in the means of communication, primarily through objects imbued or used by the spirit.
In the belief system of many different cultures, ancestors have the potential to inform the past,
influence the present, and affect the future. They are a dynamic guiding
force through whom the fears, hopes, and customs of a society may be expressed.
This is it for today’s video. Don’t forget to check out Justin’s video on Esoterica. He’ll
talk about The Origins of the Dybbuk - How the Kabbalah Transformed Possession & Exorcism of
the Evil Dead. Also check out Filip’s video over on Let’s Talk Religion will be making a video
on Demons in Ancient Mesopotamia and last, but not least Dan on The Modern Hermeticism,
who has released an audiobook on the Latin grimoire Arbatel de magia veterum,
which in English would be Arbatel of the Magic of the Ancients.
I would also like to remind you that this project can only really exist thanks to your support. So
if you have the means and want to allow this project to keep going – please support my
work with a one-off PayPal donation, by joining memberships, or my Inner Symposium on Patreon
where you will get access to a book club, a Discord server, monthly lectures,
and lots of other perks depending on your chosen tier. You can also get a one-to-one
conversation with me if you pledge as an Archmage. And otherwise there are other ways of supporting
this channel, for instance, if you liked this video you really shouldn’t forget to SMASH the
like button, subscribe to the channel, activate the notification bell so that you will be notified
when I upload a new video and share the video with your friends because you may indeed have
friends who are interested in the academic study of Magick and they are missing out. So,
it would be great if you could share my videos with them. And leave me a comment down below,
I really want to know what you think about it. And what is your way of engaging,
if any, with your ancestors? And what is your idea of ancestors? Do let me know.
Thank you all for being here and stay tuned for all the Academic Fun.
Bye for now.
[Music]