Gemma Benton – Reweaving Your Ancestral Story

Ancient peoples believed that the land imprints itself on everything it touches… that you can tell where a person comes from and who has taught them by the very way they breathe. They believed that the land never forgets those who belong to it.

In this first module, you’ll discover practices for navigating the Land of the Forgottens, the spiritual realm imbued with our ancestors’ stories and collective experiences, a place with its own special language, rhythms, and customs.

You’ll discover:

• The importance of preserving Indigenous ways and language
• How to use song, story, ritual, and art as enjoyable, experiential practices for connecting deeply with the healing wisdom of the ancestors
• How the circle and spiral can be used as symbols for building community and a sense of belonging
• How celebrating with traditional food and song, as Indigenous peoples did, helps us connect with the language of the land

When we talk to those who have been through difficulties, oftentimes they speak of a feeling of melancholy about the “good times” that have passed — the times they once shared with loved ones. What’s most precious to them, that they’ve fought to keep, are their memories of togetherness and belonging.

These memories can be tied to little things… such as the intricate and brightly colored stitchery their grandmother created when they were a child. This memory and its physical remnants may be cherished, yet when explored with new friends, these precious pieces may be viewed as illuminating “differences” — between themselves and others who don’t share such a memory, and, perhaps, even between them and their own ancestors, who lived differently than they did.

In the Land of the Differently Forgottens, you’ll explore the idea of otherness and revisit places where you feel disconnected from your ancestors. You’ll also discover how to shift feelings of “otherness” into feelings of tender belonging, as a way of healing and embracing all that is “differently forgotten” in yourself and with your ancestors.

You’ll:

• Reconnect with your ancestors, who are excited to share their stories of belonging with you
• Reimagine the places in your life where you have felt alone, awkward, or different
• Remember your connection with the “good times,” where living memories of wholeness and connection with the land of your ancestors still exist
• Reclaim — through ritual and song — those places where you have felt separate, alone, abandoned, or betrayed

Breathing in, we are connected; breathing out, we know ourselves — not as separate and distinct, but as pieces of the whole, connected, and unique. We know ourselves as connected with the Tree of Life, with Life and Creation, with the Generations.

From this place of connection, we stand with our ancestors in an act of sovereignty to dissolve the notions of dis-ease, lack, and separation. We remember ourselves as holy and sacred, and connected with the cycles of creation and renewal.

In this module, you’ll explore song as a bridge for connecting to and relating with your ancestors, the Earth, and all of Creation. You’ll be invited to move beyond linear divisions of time and identity to rethink the concepts of WE and US, and move into deeper places of healing and self-empowerment.

You’ll:

• Reconnect with the power of your voice as a means of connecting and healing with your ancestors
• Reimagine those places within your own story where you feel unheard, discounted, or were told it wasn’t okay to be who you truly are
• Remember the sound of your authentic voice and how its unique expression can connect you to your ancestors
• Reclaim, through ritual and song, those places within where you have felt silenced or discounted

Whether through death or separation, the loss of a loved one can be devastating, in part because we fear that it is final, and our dreams for our life with this person were cut short. We find ourselves wondering if we’ll ever see them again, and if so, will everything be the same as when they lived.

As we start to move into relationship with our ancestors, we can come to better understand that death is as normal and natural as life. Just as we watched our children grow in the womb, and stumble through the cycles of life, we understand that death is a similar crawling back into the womb of the “Great Mystery,” as she shapes and reshapes our spirits.

In this module, you’ll gain support and guidance to walk into those unbearable places where you’ve lost people you deeply cared for, and start to heal feelings of grief and loss.

You’ll:

• Reconnect with the spirits of those you’ve loved and lost
• Reimagine your stories of loss as places of powerful transformation and healing for you and your loved ones
• Remember the “good times,” and dive deeper into those places where you felt there was more to say or share
• Reclaim, through ritual and song, your relationship with a loved one in the Spirit World, making them a trusted ally who provides support and guidance for your life

We start our journey as human beings as an unseen seed in a dark womb… first the womb of Creation and then the womb of a woman. Even in this formative state, we hold an invisible longing to express our memories from the Unseen world from which we came… in the Seen world we will be born into.

Yet, upon our birth, we start to forget these longings, and who we truly are. Our lives then become a process of remembering what we’ve always known, who we’ve always been.

Having already traveled with our ancestors to the first three of the Lands of the Forgottens, you’ll have the opportunity to look deeply into your ancestors’ souls, to see them as they truly are and have always been.

You’ll:

• Reconnect with the raw and vulnerable places inside your ancestors’ stories to discover their true essence
• Reimagine the vulnerability and power within your ancestors’ stories as an invitation to witnessing the beauty of your own vulnerability and authenticity
• Reclaim your authentic voice through art and song
• Remember the places where you feel inadequate and transform them through healing ritual

Enjoying a leisurely meal, stitching something by hand, and taking the time for long, deep conversation draw us around the table of our ancestors and offer us a beautiful way to connect with their stories.

In Indigenous communities, life moves between ceremonies, the in-between time filled with long conversations about what has happened and what may happen next. Hands are busy creating what will be used in the next ceremony, weaving one story in with the next.

In this module, you’ll have the time to contemplate and integrate the conversations you’ve had with your ancestors and fellow participants… giving your mind a chance to catch up with your spirit and keeping your hands busy writing and creating art.

You’ll:

• Explore places of meaning and connection with others who have been traveling to Forgotten places
• Learn the importance of having places to contemplate, integrate, and reimagine your journey toward growing wiser and more vibrant in your elder years
• Learn different types of art meditation, which incorporate asemic writing (a wordless form of writing) and watercolor
• Explore the symbols and patterns in your ancestors’ stories and how you can use them in art

Traveling through the Land of the Forgottens is a way of honoring the ancient tradition of a rite of passage or the Heroine’s Journey,” an inner and outer quest that transforms the journeyer, who returns home to a feast and to share the gifts or teachings of the journey.

You have traveled to distant places with your ancestors, and have returned with your views expanded, your life transformed, and, in some ways, healed. In this session, you will realize that not only have you changed, but the world around you may feel different as well. Your expanded “reality” can better include all of life, including death, by honoring its cycles of hope and healing.

You’ll:

• Explore how you can continue to share the stories of your ancestors in increasingly meaningful ways
• Deepen your understanding of the importance of rituals that honor life transitions and others in community
• Explore new possibilities of creating rituals that are authentic to you, and honor your cultural heritage and who you are today
• Express gratitude for your ancestors and the gifts they have shared with us
• Celebrate your connection with your now-remembered ancestors