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I'm planning to write a peice on ancestor worship this year, which will mostly deal with my own experiences of bringing this practice into my magical life, my theories about it, how I've found it valuable, and why I think it deserves greater attention by practising magicians. But I've ran into a few sticking points in this general area and I'm trying to get a better understanding of ancestor worship in a historical context.
It interests me how ancestor worship is a huge aspect, if not the foundation, of many magico-religious traditions throughout the world. It's central to many African and African Diaspora religions, from the Egungun societies of Yoruba through to Haitian Vodou, Santeria, Candomble and their sister religions. It's a big part of Shinto in Japan; there's evidence that the I Ching may have originally been used for ancestor consultation; and echos of it can be seen within certain branches of Indian Tantra. Worship of the ancestors is greatly emphasised within many indigenous "shamanic" cultures, and it's fair to say that our westernised construct of the traditional shaman – along with other notions such as "journeying" and "serving community" – generally includes a component of ancestor reverence.
However, it's conspicuously absent from contemporary western magical practice, and I wonder why that is? I'd initially thought that the reason for this had something to do with the Golden Dawn. To some extent, you could argue that the way we think about magic – what it includes, and what it does not include – is something we've inherited from the Victorian occult revival. Therefore, because ancestor worship was not present in the source material of the Golden Dawn, it didnt make its way into what came afterwards, be it Thelema, wicca, chaos magic or whatever.
However, if you look carefully, you can see shadows and traces of it in other things that were going on during that broad period, such as the popularity of the Spiritualist movement and even in Austin Osman Spare's theories of atavistic resurgence. But it somehow hasnt really made it into contemporary magical practice, it seems to have been diluted out of the mix at some point along the way. Spiritualism is often scorned as either the province of mad old ladies holding seances before afternoon tea, or else the domain of predatory TV psychics earning airtime and dollars by cold reading their audience's bereavement. Similarly, Spare's ideas around atavistic resurgence are probably the least discussed or experimented with, compared to other areas of his work such as sigils, automatic drawing or the death posture. So what's going on? Why has it been edged out of serious magical practice?
I've personally found ancestor work a hugely rewarding and transformative process on many levels, it creates a sense of strength and support that feeds into all other aspects of my magical life, provides a firm foundation and grounding for my other activities, is very useful in helping to resolve family relationship issues, has helped me come to terms with bereavement, and given me practical help and advice in inumerable difficult situations. So why has it been largely excluded from the culture of contemporary western magic?
It crossed my mind that the answer might be really simple: it was never there in the first place. Maybe it hasn't made it's way into western magical practice because there was never really a tradition of ancestor worship in Europe for it to inherit? Is there actually any evidence of widespread ancestor worship in pre-Christian Europe?
I find that a bit odd in itself, if that's really the case, as it seems so prevalent and integral to the magical worldview of so many diverse cultures around the world. Why would it not be present in Europe? I was wondering if the Christianisation of Europe had gradually eradicated a culture of ancestor worship that once existed; and maybe ancestor reverence only remains integral to African and Asian magico-religious practice because evangelical monotheism reached the people of those areas comparatively recently? Or if ancestor worship was just never really present in this part of the world at all? In short, did my ancestors worship my ancestors?
Certainly, the urge to pay reverence and respect to the departed is something that we retain in our culture in a really big way. If it's been excluded from overt magical and religious practice it certainly hasnt been eradicated from our behaviour. The same mechanisms of unconscious ritual are present in places as diverse as my Dad setting out a glass of whisky "for absent freinds" on the bar of his working men's club every Xmas, to hip hop stars pouring out a little liquor for their dead homies. I think the popularity of geneology and tracing your family tree is also quite closely connected to ancestor worship, as it emerges out of the desire to know where you came from in order to better understand what you are. And you can arguably see echoes of ancestor worship in the actions of anyone who visits a deceased relative's grave on a special day each year, or wears a lucky peice of jewelry that was handed down to them, or passes on an old family recipe. All of which, at some level, are affirmations of the continuity of existence that you're the current living breathing end product of, and could therefore be considered ancestor worship.
Ultimately, whether or not a magical practice works for you, and you derive tangible benefit from it, is what counts – regardless of whether there is a historical precedent for it within your culture/s of origin or not. I'd say even the most rabid critic would have a tough time trying to level accusations of cultural appropriation at someone for worshipping their own ancestors. But I do think it's a pertinant thing to consider, and I'd like to know whether any of my own ancestors were at any point likely to practice something recognisable as ancestor worship, or if it is – like many other areas of contemporary magic – a modern construct derived and adapted from another culture.
Thoughts? |
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