Listening to the Ancestors; Visions in Plain Clothing

I believe the ancestors are limitless. Beyond the material and conscious world of the living, the power of the ancestors are not restricted by the boundaries and limits of the mundane. The infinite power of those who have crossed-over the veil still contain the ability to guide, teach and transform the living, if only we allow ourselves to tap into the wisdom that is there.

My mother use to tell me that if I dreamed of things in the night, I had to tell someone before 12:00pm or else it would come to fruition. Sounds like one of those crazy southern wives tales, but I had an experience with my great grandmother that made me a believer. I had a dream that she died one night. I don’t remember the details of the dream itself, I was in the 5th or 6th grade, but I do remember the intensity of the dream. I remember the feeling of waking up from a slumber that was below the layers of REM sleep and disconnected from the reality of the material world. I felt the feelings of genuine sorrow beneath the cloud of my sleep-induced haze. It was a short time later that she passed away.

I never felt that I caused her passing, but I knew that feeling of connectivity that arose when I heard of her moving on. I knew that my dream was not just an ordinary dream of play yards and ice cream cones — it was a vision gifted to me by a power I had yet to understand. And while it scared me into a complacency about the power of magical gifts and messages from the other-side, I never was able to shake the feeling of knowing. It was years later that I would begin to make sense of the difference between dreams and visions, messages and the mysteries.

This type of occurrence has happened several times after that particular moment in time. Sometimes it comes as a vision, and other times I believe it to be a message from the Gods or the ancestors. Regardless, I have been able to feel, deep within my spirit, the differences between images of the subconscious mind in the form of a dream, and those that are inpouring information to be acknowledged.

Around this time of year I notice that I am often given knowledge that are visions, messages or some form of wisdom that is connected directly to a form of spiritual action. When the veil is thinnest, I feel more of a connection to the messages that are coming forth; I am more apt to remember the visions that play in my mind in the night. And while I am not sure if it is that I am less open to these messages other times of the year, I tend to keep an imprint in my memory of what transpires between me and the wise ones during these times. The impression lingers long enough for me to pull the information from it the following day, or able to connect more to the download of information provided in the moment. The key to productivity then becomes reflection and integration of information gained instead of ignoring them as foolishness. There are a lot of things that we everyday people ignore as silly, or dismiss thoughts that come to the mind. Often times I feel we are dismissing wisdom, veiled by the messages of the mundane world. If only we could listen fully, without questioning our capacity to hear, we might be a wiser, and more fulfilled population of spiritual people.

My mother lived a life of southern folklore in her west coast life in California. She embodied the spirit of the mysteries of the south and the voice of the ancestors before her. And when I listen, I can hear the messages she gave to me for safekeeping, collective knowledge below the subconscious. It can be hard to listen when the world is so loud, but we can open ourselves to the idea that ancestors, spirits, universe, and the Gods are always whispering in our ears, minds and hearts. Sometimes the whisper comes when we are sleeping, and sometimes it comes when we are daydreaming in the park.

Self doubt can be a cancer to the message of vision, and makes us second guess the information that comes through channels that are not visible, or tangible to the touch. Society can make us feel guilty, or crazy, for believing or acknowledging the information that comes from these channels.

I have come to understand that the key to sustained spirituality often comes from the refined ability to identify the magical that is intertwined within the mundane happenings of our lives.

● The voice of reason enmeshed with transgenerational, and cultural, knowledge.

● Foresight into possible outcomes, combined with strands of vision that outline the most likely result.

● Dreams of the sleeping mind, mixed with foretelling of coming events.

● Memories of the past that are interwoven with the voice of your ancestor narrating the words in present mind.

● The sudden knowing of something that is seemingly unknown; an unexplained push for action, thinking or believing that previously was not present.

All of these examples have pieces of the everyday world laced with magical threads. Vision and movement that I associate with the divine interaction with the powers of the etheric world, and with the ability to identify incoming knowledge that is hidden behind the mundane. Visions dressed in plain clothing.

So as we embrace the darkness of this next turn of the wheel, remember that any given thought, dream, idea or visual might just be a vision coming through to aid in the next development of life.