Ancestral Trauma & Ancestral Gifts

This morning, I pulled the Othala Rune. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Runes are a type of divination tool, or for some, a way of connecting with their higher selves (Rune history is fascinating, read more here)

The Othala Rune The traditional interpretation of this Rune is "Estate". In the times of Runes initial use, land was passed down through ancestral lines. Therefore, the interpretation of this Rune implores us to ask "What have we inherited" and "What are we passing on?" This led me to ask the questions:

• "What Trauma/negative patterns in my ancestral history STOP with me?"

• "What gifts, or positive morals/perspectives, did I inherit, that I want to pass on to the world?"

I implore you to pause, and ask yourself these questions now. Seriously, take a pad of paper out and write these down. If you feel comfortable doing so, share your answers in the comments below. Although there is a long list, these are some answers I came up with:

What Ancestral trauma/negative patterns STOP with me?

1. Alcohol and Substance abuse

2. Use of hateful language and behavior (realizing this comes from lack of emotional maturity and use of coping mechanisms)

3. Expecting others to fulfill your needs, and harboring resentment when they do not

What Ancestral gifts will continue through me?

1. Love ('nuff said)

2. Supporting morality and justice in the world at large

3. A connection with, and appreciation for nature.

I encourage you to do this exercise for yourself!!

No matter what our backgrounds, most of us will be able to glean one or two examples from our ancestors that we want to perpetuate - even if its not from our parents, it may be a story from our grandparents or beyond. As more and more of us are diving into shadow work and inner child work, we are likely recalling traumatic or troublesome past events. Although this is important to process in order to heal, it remains important to connect with positive events in our lineage and childhood, knowing that negative memories are remembered more often and with stronger recall than the positive ones.

Now I ask one last question, "How would our society change if we were to focus just on this one core concept?" Healing our ancestral negative patterns, and perpetuating the positive ones? Isn't that the very concept of progress in action?

This adds another important layer to the question "How best can I help improve the state of the world?" Often times the answer is, heal yourself. Be the best version of you. Share your gifts with the world. This remains 100% true, but now you can see how it becomes even more relevant. You aren't just healing yourself, you are healing entire generations that led up to you.

In many cases, I have seen healing circle back through entire families, causing a ripple effect. As you live your life working towards these core concepts, you also may inspire others NOT in your lineage to do the same work. Never underestimate how much impact you can have just my being the best version of you.

If this topic interests you, check out Mark Wolynn's work on Ancestral trauma, and his book "It didn't start with you"

Thanks for reading! Excited to hear your insights and comments.