As an Adopted person, I have two families.
Ironically it is my Blood family who accepts me and my adoptive one which regected me as soon as i reached adulthood.
Who do i Honor?
Ironically it is my Blood family who accepts me and my adoptive one which regected me as soon as i reached adulthood.
Who do i Honor?
posted by:
|
-
Re: Adoption and ancestor worship
Fri, December 8, 2006 - 12:00 PMI think which ever you identify with is the one you should honor. i'm western european so most people assume i identify with Catholicism but i actually am drawn more to native american spirituality, buddhism.
but at the time same time i study hoodoo, sateria. etc. It's what moves you and what you believe you are. -
-
Re: Adoption and ancestor worship
Fri, December 8, 2006 - 12:31 PMThanks for your reply Chris.
There is contention and rejection of me from both sides of the family.
In genology, i favor the matrilineage in both families.
I belive that my adoptive parents have commited grave sins. My Blood kin are good people, but my Bio-Dad's family have also done great harm in the world.
I wish to atone for thos things.
Is this wrong of me? -
-
Re: Adoption and ancestor worship
Wed, February 13, 2008 - 10:47 PMwhile i admire your intention of 'atoning' for whatever it is that was committed by your adoptive family, my personal belief is that you cannot make up for the mistakes, sins, offenses, whatever you want to call them, of other people.
we can only be responsible for ourselves.
on some level, we can inherit the mistakes or faults of our people just as we carry their power within us, but what was done, is already done.
the best thing you can do is to be a good human being, a good person with a good heart and follow your path and be true to whatever ways you were taught.
that's what i was taught and how i was raised.
as for your ancestors, they know who you are even if you don't know who they were.
many of us may not know exactly who we come from if we go back far enough.
i am of mixed lineage and it is virtually impossible for me to be 100% certain of just exactly who and where all my ancestors come from, so i relate to some more than others, but remember to honour them all in my life as well as in my memories.
i am still part of them and they live in me.
that is how i see it.
thank you for listening.
-
-
-
Re: Adoption and ancestor worship
Fri, December 8, 2006 - 12:24 PMInteresting question.
From what I understand of many ancestor practices, if you are adopted than you are adopted into that ancestory, even though it is not in your blood - but you also retain your blood ancestors. Same idea when you are married - you marry into your spouse's ancestory.
More to the point of your specific question, you still honor the spirits of ancestral people with whom you feuded or otherwise did not get along with during life. I am dreaded when my aunt passes away as she is the most evil person I have ever met in life and I have done my best to absolutely divorce myself from her, and had to do so magickally as well as physically as she pursued me magickally a decade after I seperated myself physically from her grasp. I don't look forward to having to honor her spirit when she passes. But if I really want to respect the ancestral work, I will have to make peace with it somehow.
This being said, there is a "waiting period" in some traditions, between when a person dies and when you start working with them in your practices. I've heard 3 years many times.
So, depending on what ancestral veneration practice you are basing yours on, you may have differing opinions as to the best way to proceed.
Hope this ramble made sense.
-
Re: Adoption and ancestor worship
Sat, April 19, 2008 - 11:57 PMDear Ghoti, the answer is obvious.
