Halloween, or Samhain, is a time of year when the veil between our world and the spirit world is very thin. It is the perfect time to reach out to our loved ones in spirit and honor our ancestors. After all, but for them, we would not be here – at least in our present form! Our life on Earth is built on the love and struggles of all who came before us. To honor the turning of the wheel today, as the dead walk among us and nature retreats into the recesses of our first ancestor – Mother Earth, I wanted to re-post an article I wrote in 2016 about healing ancestral lines.
This meditation was given to me during the May 2016 New Moon. My spirit allies shared with me an easy but powerful way to start the important work of healing from ancestral wounds – also called ancestral karma and lineage issues. Our energetic field retains the traumas, fears, disappointment, and limiting beliefs inherited from our ancestors. But it also retains their successes, love, joy and passion. These memories are stored in our DNA and in the energy of the different family lines that converge in us as a co-creation of a mother and father.
When we are born into a family line, we become part of the spiritual journey of all who came before us – and they become part of our spiritual journey as well. Being aware that our ancestors’ fear, trauma and unhealed places are a part of our own story, and affect our own life in subtle or profound ways, provides us with an opportunity to heal our family lines in positive ways.
What an beautiful gift to our ancestors, ourselves, our children, and our children’s children, to be a force in healing our family of long held wounds and fears. Small and large steps taken to heal ancestral wound ripples back into the past and forward to the future, healing all within a family line. You and your descendants will be the immediate heirs of this healing work, stepping into a new era of greater wellness, joy, harmony and opportunity.
Lineage issues are sometimes hard to identify, especially when healing is most often seen as individual. But unhealed ancestral wounds may be affecting your life if despite your best efforts to heal from past wounds and fears, you are still unable to grow past old patterns. It can be very frustrating when you know you have done your part to aware and to take steps to heal from much of your personal pain and fear, only to still be unable to manifest our soul’s vision for a good life. Ancestral wounds may be a contributing factor, and it is worth exploring this aspect of healing work. You may find that unsupportive ancestral energies are contributing to an unable to manifest lasting creations in your life, be financially stable, find passion or a healthy relationship, or heal from unhealthy patterns, poor health, and addictive behaviors.
On the May 2016 New Moon, I was honored to have Spirit give me a sacred oak tree meditation for healing ancestral wounds. I knew I had ancestral healing work that needed to be explored, but I had no clue where to begin. I searched online and found many practitioners who were willing do this work for a fee, but I could not find any videos or websites that would teach me how to do this work for myself. But in the amazing way of Spirit, they soon gave me the keys to my healing and I am now excited to share with you what Spirit freely gave to me.
The oak tree mediation below can be done at any time. But during the October month of the dead and the Samhain holiday, you will feel, see, and experience your ancestors’ presence more strongly with the thin veil.
You may be wondering why the oak tree? Why not a different tree? This is because the oak tree is an ancient symbol of ancestry. The oak tree is a symbol of fertility – of the life and death cycle, birth and disintegration.
The oak was sacred to the ancient Celtic peoples. The ancient Celtic word for oak was “duir,” meaning door. This is because oak trees have always been seen as portals and doorways into the mysteries of the spirit worlds. During this meditation, the oak tree will open its door to us so that we can enter and learn about our own mysteries and understanding better who we are through where we come from.
When Spirit gave me this meditation, they showed my hands cupped with a single acorn embedded in dark rich soil. The seed began to grow into a tiny sapling, then a larger one, until I had to place the growing tree on the ground. It continued to grow into a majestic ancient oak tree with is roots going deep into the earth and its branches high into the sky.
An old ornate door appeared on the oak tree. I knew I was meant to open the door and step into it. In doing so, I was stepping into my family line. It was similar to being in the energetic tunnels that lead to different places in the spirit world, so for me, I did not see much scenery. For you, it may open to a vast and rich landscape. Be open to the uniqueness of your oak tree journey.
Then a path appeared and I knew I was supposed to literally step back into my family line. With each step I took, I was traveling backwards in time and witnessing older and older generations of ancestors. It was amazing to see their clothes changed to reflect each time period as I stepped forward. Some ancestors simple watched me but others handed me gifts. These gifts represented the healing of specific wounds and issues in my family line.
The first gift I received was from my great grandmother Matilda, a stoic hard-working woman from Slovakia who had connected with me many times in spirit. She handed me a beautiful cake. She said it was to remember that “life is sweet” and “to return the sweet life” to me and my family. I had always received messages in intuitive circles not to work so hard and to have more fun. I was even told, I had the potential to work myself to death. I never connected that pushing myself too hard was a lineage issue.
As I stepped back even further, another woman appeared and handed me an arm full of mushrooms. Mushrooms are my personal symbol for grounding. This made perfect sense because I was born into this world ungrounded and overly open to the spirit world. It was why I grew up with so many uncomfortable spirit encounters. This issue ran down my father’s family line. My ancestor was giving me and my family line back our ability to ground and be fully present in life.
I was deeply touched by the energetic and spiritual “presents” I received and have since felt true shifts in my ability to live in the moment, have fun and enjoy every aspect of life, and be grounded. But as is the law of sacred reciprocity, I did not only receive but gave to my ancestors during the meditation. Part of the magic of the oak tree healing meditation was that I also had gifts for my ancestors!
For each ancestor who stepped forward, I hugged them, sent loving energy to them, and thanked them for their life, sacrifices and lessons. For certain ancestors, a small tree sapling appeared in my hand and I offered it to them. To my surprise, these spirits almost instantaneously crossed over into the Light and disappeared. These spirits had been earthbound and embedded in the family line, affecting descendants in unhelpful ways through their unhealed parts. Sometimes our lineage issues are the result of an unsupportive energy that has gained momentum over the generations, but other times it is in fact earthbound ancestors who exacerbate multi-generational issues.
My earthbound ancestors took with them the new sampling, which my spirit allies told me was the gift of a new family tree. These spirits were onto their next life, and would take with them, all they had contributed and learned from my family line to become a part of another beautiful lineage in the amazing web of all things. This was a healing for these ancestors who had done their part but now needed to continue on their own journey for their own spiritual growth – and that of the family line.
Once I felt I had traveled far enough, I turned around, stepped back out of the door, exited my ancestral oak tree and shut the door. But before doing so, I asked my ancestors what they needed to continue healing and supporting the family line. My ancestors provided me with clear instructions of what they wanted on my ancestral alter and other steps to take to help heal remaining wounds.
After all, we cannot heal our entire family line in one meditation! Our family lines are ancient and we are only called to do our part. You can always revisit your family tree through doing another oak tree meditation, or simply take time to connect and communicate with your ancestors. You can also create a place of ancestral honoring in your home with pictures and items from your spirited relatives. Light a candle or leave a cup of your relative’s favorite coffee or food on your ancestral alter.
On this special night of Samhain, you can also simply light a candle, open your front door, and invite in your highest intentioned ancestors to commune and help to protect your family and its wellness over the winter months. Or leave out a ghost plate by setting an extra place at your dinner table tonight, placing food at it, but leave the chair empty to be filled by your ancestors. This is the ancient practice of “feeding the spirits.”
Lastly, do not try to have your oak tree mediation unfold exactly as mine did but instead give yourself the freedom to have it unfold as it should for you. I am simply providing a basic framework for you to have your own unique oak tree journey.
Steps to Your Own Guided Oak Tree Meditation for Family Line Healing:
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Find a quite place and create sacred space in your preferred way.
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Center, ground, and invite in your spirit allies.
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Imagine your hands are cupped with fertile soil with an acorn inside of it.
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Watch the acorn grow into a sampling and then a tree that you place on the ground before you.
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Witness the young tree grow into a majestic, ancient oak tree, representing your family line.
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See a door appear, opening it, and step inside your family tree.
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Step forward while imaging that with each footstep you are stepping back further in time in your family line;
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Be open and see which ancestors appear and pay attention to their cloths for a time period. Make note of the feelings, images, sounds, and knowings and arise in your awareness.
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Accepting any spiritual healing in the form of gifts, words or wisdom, symbols, love, or energy offered by your ancestors;
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Thank each ancestor for their gifts, love, sacrifices and service to the family line and for their life that lead to your;
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Offer an embrace, love, or healing to the ancestors who step forward, and give any gifts that you have for them.
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When you feel the journey is coming to an end, ask your ancestors if there is anything they would like from you going forward to continue to develop a strong relationship with them or to heal your family line and lineage. Turn around and step back out through the door and out of your ancestral oak tree. Close the door and return to your mundane life;
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Thank the Divine, spirit allies and ancestors for for the experience and messages, insights and gifts received;
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Close sacred space.
Feel free to comment on how this lineage healing worked for you and your unique experiences with this powerful family line healing!
Copyright 2021 Spirit, Spindle & Root, All Rights Reserved.
Spirit Spindle & Root 
[…] Do a journey into your ancestral lines to help any ancestors who did not cross over. (Sometimes such ancestors become entrenched in the energy of the family line leading to lineage issues mirroring the struggles or perseverations of the earthbound ancestor.) If you are interested in one way of doing this work, please check out this prior blog post with a Samhain oak tree meditation for ancestral healing: https://vanessahanks.com/2020/10/31/healing-ancestral-karma-a-simple-powerful-oak-tree-meditation/ […]
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