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wolverinesorcery · 2 years

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Paleoancestor veneration

Paleoancestors (also called deep time ancestors) are a collection of Ancestors I’ve not often seen talked about. There is a lot of overlap between paleoancestor veneration and paleoanimism/deep time spirit work – it is important to establish a firm connection with the paleoancestors you’re interested in venerating so they have a link to you as well. It’s also something I’ve found to be far more research-heavy than ancestor work involving humans and both more enjoyable and more challenging (palaeontology talks are enlightening but can also be an information overwhelm).

There are two main branches of paleoancestor work that I’ve found, that being paleoancestor archetypes and paleoancestor individuals (there are many mammoths, but only one Mammoth). I have a preference for the archetypes over individuals currently so the majority of this post will be from that perspective. Paleoancestor veneration is a practice I’ve found to be incredibly meaningful and a way to connect to the world around me.

There are a few methods I’ve used to contact paleoancestors, the main one being ‘walking back’ (a meditative exercise posted below). My second favourite option is connecting via the land and taking into consideration what megafauna + other extinct beings would have inhabited it before me - it’s easy to find what fossils have been discovered in your area and what more recently extinct animals called it home.

‘Walking back’

A technique I’ve found fantastic for initially contacting paleo-ancestors is ‘walking back through time.’ It’s a meditative exercise that roughly follows this structure:

Find yourself at the mouth of a cave through whichever sense you find best – smell the damp cave walls, touch the rough rock, or look down into the depths.

Enter the tunnel, feel the ridges of rock layers on the wall and the fossils embedded within, feel the history of the rock and look at the striations of time.

Walk deeper into the tunnel, find yourself travelling back through the ages, past the industrialisation of the world, past the spreading of agriculture. With each major mark of an extinction event, find a branching passage.

When you find a passage that feels ‘right’, explore it – walk down it, feel and look at the fossils extruding from the walls. At the end, there is a light and fresh air – perhaps it has a peculiar taste to it if you are in the Cambrian era, or maybe it is heavy with moisture from a Cretaceous polar forest.

Emerge from the tunnel into a new, exciting, unexplored place. Venture into the environment and see what approaches you. If at any point you are afraid, or in danger, there is an easy out – look down at your feet for a hole, crevice or chasm into the ground below and slip into it, back into the tunnel, and walk home.

Communication

Ancestors communicate in different ways, depending on the era they are from. Pikaia has a much more basal version of communicating with me, a human, than Cave Lion does. Pikaia only communicates with the most basic essence of a sentence or message: it resembles talking with ‘feeling words’ only but has no bearing on the depth or complexity of the messages

An example of this is, when seeking advice on a situation regarding anxiety for the summer, Pikaia’s advice was “warmth, joy, blue (colour)” and I roughly interpreted as the summer will be joyful and warm if I make it that way, but not to forget my needs (the blue colour’s meaning in my personal practice).

Cave Lion’s communication style is much more familiar to me and uses full sentences (though, he is reserved with how much he speaks).

Something that has been invaluable with paleoancestor work is keeping a constant record of communication, advice, and lessons. This is especially important if engaging with them on a personal level outside of asking for general advice and favours at an ancestor altar. This has been most helpful with learning Pikaia’s communication style!

Not all deep time ancestors are receptive to human contact (at least initially), especially if they are a relatively recently extinct animal whorse distruction humans may have played a part in. I’ve found that giving them gifts and allowing them to dictate the terms of communication (within reason) is deeply helpful and even gives them space to grieve their loss. The most recent experience of mine that has made this necessary is Aurochs, who expressed grief and rage over her own species fate as well as the fate of her descendants (domesticated cows).

Outside of direct communication through meditation, it is entirely dependent on the ancestor what they’d prefer as an intermediary. Cave Lion talks through my animal tarot, Aurochs prefers only direct astral communication, and Pikaia works in mysterious ways and will only occasionally talk through specific decks, tools, or will sometimes appear through my intuition.

Altars and gifts

This is entirely dependent on the ancestor – Pikaia has not asked for anything beyond that I swim in the ocean regularly, while Cave Lion asked for a hand-drawn charcoal art piece reminiscent of cave art and an object so I can carry him with me regularly. Aurochs has asked of me that I don’t consume beef at all and dairy as rarely as possible (which is something I am okay with doing for her), because of her grief over the loss of her species. Altar-wise, I’ve given all of them the option of space on my main working place side by side with the deities I connect with. This is where Cave Lion’s art lives, along with a dish for any food gifts they may request or receive as a surprise.

As a semi-gift for my paleo-ancestors I follow rewilding projects closely and involve myself with the land & sea – it’s something that has been fairly continuous throughout time after all. Keeping the environment free of litter, well cared for and 'understood' has also helped strengthen my connections to them. This has extended into the political too – trespass and rewilding are political issues that I’ve thrown my weight behind (along with various others).

Paleoancestor veneration is a practice I’ve found to be incredibly meaningful and a way to connect to the world around me and something I am always excited to talk about and share with other folks that might not realise it's an option! My askbox is open for any questions about any of the above post.

Links

Dinosaurs in your locale (website, global)

DIY Animism (animism & spirit work text that has been foundational in how I interact with animal spirits, book, global)

The Missing Lynx (book about UK extinctions from oldest to most recent, book, UK)

Royal Tyrrel Museum (posts paleontology talks for free, YouTube, Global)

Paleoancestors mentioned

Cave Lion, Panthera Spelaea (wikipedia) / Pikaia (wikipedia) / Aurochs, Bos Primigenius (wikipedia)

(Some tags of mine that include paleoancestors - paleoancestors + deep time ancestors)

#paleoancestors #paleo ancestor #ancestor veneration #ancestor worship #ancestor work #ancestor #ancestors #deep time ancestors #witchcraft #witches of tumblr #heddwyn post #witchblr #animism #paleoanimism #lupa greenwolf #DIY animism #rewilding #spirit work #animal spirits

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wolverinesorcery · 2 years

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i'm sorry if this is a stupid/rude question, but is ancestor the right word to use when talking about a spiritual connection with an animal that didn't evolve into humans? i'm very confused.

It’s not a rude or stupid question at all!I refer to extinct animals that did not evolve into humans as ancestors for a few reasons.

Everything currently or previously living on this earth stems from the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA), which makes us all related in one way or another as one big family. So while an animal like Cave Lion didn’t evolve into hominins, they are still related to us through a last common ancestor. Indeed, some ancestors like Pikaia are (contentiously) amongst the first chordates - the first animals to develop a backbone. Without them, there might be no us.

They are ancestors in the same way ancestors outside my direct human family are - like affinity ancestors, or the LGBTQ ancestors I venerate. We have no direct or neat connection but I find it important and meaningful to include them.

Just like there are human ancestors of place or location, there are animal ones, and all of them are worthy of veneration and care.

There is also a cultural base in some traditions for venerating animals as ancestors (both extinct and extant). I don't want to share other's paths without permission or consent but I'm part of discords where folks talk about various traditions & group traditions and some of them inculude animal ancestor veneration in different forms! I’m sure there are others that do the same but I’m blanking on them at the minute, but I hope this helped explain why! :-)

#ask heddwyn #paleoancestors #ancestral veneration #i know there are really insightful writings out there on it but I have no clue where I saved them >:(#its 1030am and my brain is wee bit soupy #i do hope this helped though! if you want further clarification my inbox is there :o)

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