They're all among "The Dead"...
Those whose blood-lines lead down to you are "one's Ancestors".
Among your ancestors are those considered "one's Honorable Ancestors". As well but separately there are those who would be deemed your "Dishonorable Ancestors".
Whom is it then that decides the "honorable" or not? Is it a distinction only made or makeable by your own soul's inherent ethical code? That's a tough one and serious food for thought.
It remains my earnest contention that one commits a direct offence to "Your Ancestors" in using the term "ancestor" in the myriad of EUPHEMISTIC forms so commonly found in use by my dear friends in ADF and elsewhere. I feel that it is important for us to reexamine our usage of terms like "Ancestors of Heart" and "Ancestors of Spirit".
You can't choose your relatives, and you can't choose "Your Ancestors".
You can chose among The Dead though. And among those is the host of the Honorable and Honored Dead, and therein are those, not of our blood, but whom we all revere and hope to emulate due to the superlative nature of their works and words.
Words like these are important...
The solution here for us in ADF is to do the boolean thing and make it all so much simpler by saying "The DEAD" when that's what we mean - which, IMO, means for us to start doing it about ten times more than we've been doing up until now. And yes, once you go back far enough in the generations, we do all share the same, albeit remote, ancestry.
earrach 3/2017
The Traditional respect for the "not dead yet" may go back before Monty Python and the Holy Grail, much of the emphasis is upon Human Dignity/ frailty.
ReplyDeleteempathy for life struggles that some how relate to our own.
Just as ADF opened the door to the veneration of
ReplyDelete" not gods",
the continued spiritual bonds and relationships of mortal humans exist outside of family or Fame. "not heroes", "overlooked forgotten dead"
People respond to respectful appreciation in one way and misrepresentation and insult in another.
ADF practice with a group of worshipers of various backgrounds and beliefs has broadened My sensitivity about what interconnects us.living and Dead.
I have had no trouble from " Ancient Ones", "Those who have gone before"," "recently passed".
We are not worshiping in the same place, in the same way that generations of our family have.
The not gods, at least in Irish culture are still gods, just not ours, aka the fomor, fir bolg, or if you see them as the husbandment of the tuatha and aos sidhe. The not-heroes are a different thing. So gods is as to ungods as heroes aren't as to unheroes. To give a true equivocation, not-heroes would be heroes, just not our heroes.
DeleteWho is on first?
ReplyDeleteGotcha bud! Happy Easter / Equinox!
ReplyDeleteWell, what I do, to not forget anyone. I call on my ancestors from my maternal, my paternal side and metion the ones who have adopted me. That way, my in MHO, all human spirits may be included. I also call on the Gods and Godesses who wish to work with me. Witch leaves me with the others, who I refer to as them who are neither human nor divine. I think this pretty much includes all Spirits.
ReplyDelete