The Ancestor Effect

As a Heathen the ancestors are exceptionally important to me, from blot to personal shrine they make up a large part of my spiritual practice, along side the Gods and Goddesses. This was true of them too, our ancestors most certainly held their ancestors in reverence. From ancient grove to imposing burial mounds, many of their “religious” constructions appear devoted to them. Ancestor worship being one of the most ancient forms of veneration, I believe it deserves looking at, from both a personal, historical and scientific perspective.

Personal

On a personal level to me our forebears are the foundation, or as many put it the “roots”. I being just an extension of them, their representative in this time, a simple branch reaching upward. Their memory keeps me connected, be it their deeds or their character, so I make time for them as much as I can. In fact before I even knew what Northern European paganism was, I first started my ancestor worship. Simply remembering them can bring all sorts of feelings forward, fondness, comfort, sadness, the full array of emotions. I have found these emotional responses to the memory of my forebears can be used practically, via a kind of invocation, both in the every day and exceptional circumstances.

For example, my Nana was an exceptionally tenacious character and had the fire to match, never shying from her duties. In fact when thinking back on her now she almost never stopped, never rested till every single thing was done. This is a powerful memory of perseverance, one which can affect me profoundly. In my everyday life sometimes I can find things get on top of me, bogged down with work, I can look upon the dishes or simply tidying up as a massive task (even though its not). Instead of going “ah well ill do it tomorrow” in these times, I think of my Nana, what would she do? Well I know her answer and can even hear her in my minds ear, so I roll up my sleeves and get it done. Almost asking her for her to partake her skills upon me; her nature to possess me.

The example above may seem rather mundane, but this can be used in any situation. I am sure we all have within living memory people dear to us that have past on, or living as we shall see. Each of them possessing a certain skill and attitude set, that in certain instances we could really use. Be it one of exceptional danger, or just a simple task that for you is hard, but for your Nana, father, mother ect, seemed simple. I would advise anyone to try it, and make it almost an instinct, whenever you get that defeatist attitude, to think of the first ancestor that could overcome the situation and ask for their strength.

Historical

This is obviously a massive subject, so I will keep this section to the basics. For anyone living in the UK, burial mounds dot our landscape no matter where you go. To many they go unnoticed, but once you become aware of them it is surprising just how many there are. They were integral part of our forebears existence, sometimes appearing on the edge of territories, almost placed as a “defence”. Other times they appear right in the centre of a settlement, the whole living world surrounding them, like the foundational stone of the population. In the UK we even have evidence that the bones of our ancestors were ceremonially taken out of their “tombs” at special times of the year, to once again “sit” with their posterity.

We could also look at words like “grove” that is highly likely to be descended from the word “grave”. Although many believe groves some type of “nature worship” the etymology tells us a different story. The two though may be entwined as our ancestors literally thought of themselves as descendendants of the divine. Take for example the Celtic God, “Cernunnos”, you could break his name down as such, “Cer(n)” = Horn and “nunnos” = Monk, father. This would give us “horned father” or “Horned spiritual ancestor”. The word Cernunnos can be broken down more and expanded upon further, but I will save that for another piece.

Even with just the couple of examples above, we can see that the ancestors of our ancestors were exceptionally important to them. Unlike today where Graves take on a very “spooky” nature because of modern media interpretations, to them they would have been places of great comfort and pride. The exact nature of how they envisioned their power manifesting into this world of course we can only speculate, but given the time and effort and the fact that the spiritual, will always align with the practical it was certainly seen as a potent force in the world of the living.

Scientific.

So does the scientific world think of me as simply a little mad and our ancient forbears overly emotional? Well, some maybe, but a study conducted by the Universities, of Graz, Berlin and Munich in 2010 called “The ancestor effect” is beginning to change that. The study focused on four tests that through controlled experiments put the memory of our ancestors to test.

The first test was simple enough, the “test subjects” were split into three groups and given a problem solving test. The first group was told to think upon their deep ancestry (1500s onward) for just five minutes, the second group to think upon their more recent ancestry (great Grandparents ect) for the same amount of time, with the third told nothing. Those told to think on their ancestry were directed in how. They were instructed to imagine their lives, routines and trials. The results showed clearly that the two groups that were told to think on their ancestors outperformed the third control group.

The second test, split into two groups, this time had one group draw out a family tree and the other not. No direct instructions were given upon what should be thought about, just simply that they try to remember as many of their ancestors as possible and construct a family tree, before doing an intelligence test. Again the “ancestral” group performed better. They also scored higher on a “perceived life control” test meaning they considered themselves more in direct control of their lives at that moment at least.

In the third test they tried to distinguish if this effect was reserved to just deceased ancestors, or living ones too and if it could be applied to just thinking on anyone you liked, such as friends. One group thought on living ancestors, another on deceased ancestors, and a third on friends. No major difference in scores was seen between those thinking about living or deceased ancestors, but both of these out performed the “friends” group.

The last test was to see if it mattered if you liked your ancestors or not. With one group to think of negative aspects of their ancestors, one positive, and again the third just a control group with no ancestral instructions. The results showed it didn’t seem to matter if you even liked your ancestors, as once again both those thinking about their ancestors, out performed the control, with little difference between them.

One of the most interesting aspects of this study comes in test three and four. In test three we see that both living and deceased ancestors can influence us, just by thought. With the control group being about friends, it also shows that this effect cannot be just put down to liking someone, it is a blood effect. Couple this with test four, where even ancestors we dislike had a positive effect on us, it shows that this blood effect is essentially none judgmental.

These short series of tests leave many questions, and I must admit I am not surprised they have not been followed up in any meaningful way. If we add this research to that of the study of “epigenetics” literally meaning “that outside of Genetics” which is beginning to show that our ancestors experiences could possibly affect us for many generations after them, the powerful presence of our ancestors is beginning to be realised by science. One that cannot be easily reasoned away by modern political and social thinking, making it rather dangerous in the current climate of “equality”.

Something we must also remember is this test was done on regular folk, not heathens. Like most people they probably never really give their ancestors to much thought, let alone take time to venerate them in ceremony. If this effect could be magnified through ceremony, it would once again show our ancient forebears to be light years ahead of us in truly understanding the world around us. Their ancestor worship, bringing both the spiritual and practical inline, as I believe they should always be.

So what does all this tell us? Well, while I am sure many more logical minds will think of ways to explain this away, the results are clear, if you take the time to think upon your ancestors, however briefly, it will produce positive results. Our ancestors themselves tell us this is a natural exercise, by the monuments they left behind. Nature itself even reasons it to be true, as I said, we are the living representation of our ancestors in this time, it would only make sense they would assist us. Just as in the living world a mother and father extend assistance to their children, so to it seems the dead can by almost invocation.

This powerful aspect of blood heritage has long been practised by Heathens the world over. Even though they could not explain it logically maybe, they knew it intuitively. We are our ancestors, when we understand them, we understand ourselves. Remember, honour the ancestors, and they will honour you.