Purify and ward yourself not because evil spirits or negative energy is out to get you but because the evil eye on social media is WILD. #WitchSky

Sharing this again. I apologize if this is annoying. I’m trying my best to keep me and my disabled mom safe and fed as we navigate homelessness. I have no irl support. I’m trying to afford my and mom’s medicines. Any help or shares are greatly appreciated.

Stonemanwitch@stonemanwitch.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I don’t mean to spam anyone but I’d like to share this again. My disabled mom and I are both homeless, living in a cheap hotel. I’m trying to keep us here so she can heal. She has severe mobility issues and we have nowhere to go. If you’d like to help anything is appreciated beyond words.

Ancestor work is the action we take to have healthy relationships with our ancestors. That action can be venerating our beloved dead; it can be healing, elevating, and crossing over ancestors who did not die well and are trapped in the residual energy of their lives. #WitchSky #PaganSky

Ancestor work is a broad and gentle focus that holds real opportunity for us to find healing and closure. But, most of this work has nothing to do with us in the same way that being part of a community isn’t about us. #WitchSky #PaganSky

A Witch's Guide to Ancestor Work provides a complete structure for ancestor work, grounded in animist witchcraft. You'll learn the basics while also learning the ways this work differs from an animist perpsective. Registration closes TODAY. www.ladyalthaea.com/witchs-guide...

Ancestor Work

The connection you have to your ancestors is the most powerful spiritual connection there is. It provides you access to generations of wisdom and allows you to enlist the help of your ancestors to...

ladyalthaea.com

❤️‍🔥ancestral trauma ❤️‍🔥unwell ancestors becoming parasitic ❤️‍🔥abusive family you want to avoid but who stand between you and your well ancestors Ready for trustworthy guidance to help you build a solid foundation for your ancestor work practice & support you as you tackle the challenges of this work?

Ancestor work can be incredibly simple: ❤️‍🔥a glass of water before your busha’s photo ❤️‍🔥a whispered prayer as you make your mom’s most treasured recipe But sometimes the work can be intense: #WitchSky #PaganSky

Underpinning the worldview of animism is the decentering of humans & the living. This creates an approach to ancestor work predicated on awareness of the personhood of the dead—acknowledgment of the dead as people & that acknowledgment evident in our actions & interactions with the dead. #WitchSky

Ancestor work can be incredibly simple: ❤️‍🔥a glass of water before your busha’s photo ❤️‍🔥a whispered prayer as you make your mom’s most treasured recipe But sometimes the work can be intense: #WitchSky #PaganSky

It's really telling that the *only* people linking animism & AI (eg: is AI alive? does AI have a spirit? etc) are people NOT from animist cultures. Those of us *from* animist cultures? We're linking AI to the actual harm to our neighbors, to the environment, to communities across the world.

Being a woman on the internet is having a man disagree with you and make a whole ass video or podcast, wherein he never names you, but talks about you the entire time. I'm tired of this, grandpa.

Where whiteness is a closed door, ancestor work is a key to culture and belonging—a key that is literally handed to you by those to whom you irrevocably belong, to those who claim you and hold you across time. #WitchSky #PaganSky

Last night I found out my grandpa died. I hadn't seen him in over a decade, I don't have contact with any family anymore. But reading how poorly he was spoken of in his obituary has me incensed. And it's reminding me of everything I write & teach re: ancestor work & *why* it's so fucking important.

As witches, our craft is founded upon the relationships we have with the land & spirits, with the strength of those relationships impacting the spiritual experiences we’re capable of having & the potency of our magick. But just as there's no separation between magick & our #WitchSky #PaganSky

Just 3 DAYS left to register for this round of A Witch’s Guide to Ancestor Work! Here’s what past students are saying:

Just 3 DAYS left to register for this round of A Witch’s Guide to Ancestor Work! Here’s what past students are saying:

The connection you have to your ancestors is one of the most powerful spiritual connection there is. It provides access to generations of wisdom & allows you to enlist the help of your ancestors to face & overcome various challenges in life. But getting started can seem a daunting task. #WitchSky

As an animist and spiritworker, the way ancestors and the dead are often often spoken of in an overly generalized way, reducing them to a shapeless monolithic energy—rather than being terms that refer to specific people who have names—is concerning. #WitchSky #PaganSky

A Pagan elder told me I was wise tonight. No one can tell me shit.

Ariana Grande Posing in Black Dress

Alt: Ariana Grande Posing in Black Dress, she flips her hair back behind her dramatically.

static.klipy.com

New intro since it's been a while. My name is Althaea (al-thay-ah). I've served the community as priest & spiritworker (a religious specialist who mediates between humans & the gods & spirits) for ~12yrs. I’ve taught full time for ~10yrs—my first course was on animism, the 2nd was ancestor work. 😏

Ancestor work is not a way to change the past. It is not a way to dismiss the past. Ancestor work is a way for us to take responsibility for the actions of our ancestors so that the energetic effects of their actions no longer continue to play out through our actions. #WitchSky #PaganSky

There is no witchcraft without these relationships with spirits. It’s a defining trait of our craft. Yet it’s also one of the aspects most frequently approached with trepidation. Taboo from our over culture presses heavily against it, making many a witch unsure how to begin here.

A foundational aspect of witchcraft is the relationships we forge with other people. “People” is a broad term in witchcraft; these relationships naturally include living humans as much as they do deceased humans & animals, & the spirits of plants, natural features, & objects. #WitchSky #PagnSky

Never trust your brain when it says, "you don't need to write that down, you'll remember it".

While so much of ancestor work looks like giving offerings & conversations with our dead during quiet moments, eventually that relationship tending gains momentum. With the support of our well ancestors, the pain of our ancestors comes forward, asking for the help only family can provide #WitchSky

The nature of witchcraft creates a unique context for the work we do, shaping our approach as much as it influences the materials we use. We see this hold true in the work we do to strengthen our connections with ancestors & to untangle them—& ourselves—from the bonds of ancestral trauma. #WitchSky

As witches, an important thing to remember with ancestor work is that reverence is only *part* of the work. Yes, it's important and yes, it's a big part of the work. But it's not the entire show. As witches—mediators between the spirit world and physical world—the work goes deeper. #WitchSky

Trauma is a wound so great the effects must be dealt with even after the initial cause of the wound has passed. When we speak of *ancestral trauma,* we’re talking about wounds to the spirit body that are caused and maintained by the presence of energy that wasn’t resolved before death. #WitchSky

Many of us are feeling crushed by life & society right now. Between the astro weather (how about that Venus retrograde?) and living through the endlessly unfurling horrors, there is too much going on too frequently for us to manage to catch our breath & find a moment of peace. #WitchSky #PaganSky

A big thing missed in discussions of ancestor work is that ancestor work isn’t about us in the same way that community isn’t about us. This isn’t surprising because the witch scene is predominantly yt Americans & yt American culture doesn’t encourage—nor teach—how to process one’s baggage #WitchSky