Tapping into the strength, resilience, and wisdom of your ancestors can connect you with insights that guide you to thriving in today's world.
This is the second of a series on our month's theme of May of the Mentors.
Our month's theme is connecting with the wisdom of spirit mentors, and in the previous blog we met with Wise Merlin. Let's move on to our next mentor, Eleanore the Shaman, who reminds you to engage with the vitality of your ancestors. Tune in to Eleanore's advice for tools and techniques to connect with your ancestral strength and thrive in today's world.
Against the magnificent backdrop of the a transitional flow of May, now is the perfect time to reawaken to the wisdom and strength of your ancestors and draw on it to assess and improve your work-life and life-life.
Eleanore's Advice: Tap Into Your Ancestral Wisdom
As in the previous post, the idea of these mentors is to give shape and form to receiving different focal points of advice and guidance, or even just fun ideas to play with if you so choose. Eleanore the Shaman focuses on the flow of your connection with a past lineage that goes back to the beginnings of time. The resilience of those genes has come to you in this lifetime, for both business life and personal growth.
Eleanore speaks:
"My dear, you carry within you the strength and wisdom of countless generations. As the energy of May surrounds us, it is time to draw on the ancestral knowledge that has been passed down through the ages. Our ancestors were masters of resilience, resourcefulness, and connection to the earth. Embrace their teachings as you navigate your path.
In your journey, consider the generations of skilled hunting and foraging that fed so many of your ancestors—sustenance for them, and as metaphors for seeking opportunities and gathering insights for you. Approach each day with the awareness and adaptability that come from your lineage of being a skilled gatherer, finding nourishment in the experiences and lessons that come your way.
Just as your ancestors meticulously maintained their tools and shelters, take time to care for the instruments and environments that support your life. This includes not only your physical surroundings but also your mental and emotional safety, security, and strength. Regular maintenance and mindful attention will ensure that you are equipped to reach forward into life, to achieve, to create with strength and surety.
Remember the importance of connecting deeply with nature. The ancestors were of nature as much as they were in nature; there was no separation. Spend time in natural settings, attuning yourself to the rhythms of the earth. This connection will ground you, and quite often, also provide a source of strength and inspiration.
Lastly, honor daily the legacy of those who came before you. Their resilience is the very reason you are here today! Their strength and perseverance paved the way for your journey. Through rituals, storytelling, and mindful practices, keep their spirit alive within you. Let their resilience guide you as you forge your path, knowing that you are never alone—you are part of a continuum of strength and wisdom that spans generations."
Metaphors: Exploring Eleanore the Shaman's Wisdom in Life and Work
Metaphors are a fun and powerful way to play with these ideas and surface unexpected insights. They allow you to interact with your inmost thoughts in an insightful, yet indirect way. Here are a number of metaphors you can play with as you explore this important life area. Get out your favorite journaling method, and work with the following questions. Let any answers come up.
"If Your Ancestral Line Were A Series of Business Partners, What Skills Would They Bring To The Business?"
Just as your ancestors blazed trails through uncharted territories, they can help you forge your path with courage and determination. Across uncounted generations, what skills of life, growth, and business might your ancestors have embodied that gave them survival through the ages? If they were your life and business partners, what would some of them say to you?
"If Your Ancestors Each Gifted You With Tools You Were Well Suited To Use, What Would They Give You?"
Envision them handing you tools that they well know you can use, for they are part of the unique lineage you hold in your own DNA. These tools your ancestral line offers are not just imagined objects, but symbols of the skills and knowledge you need to navigate life's challenges. Each tool represents a different aspect of resilience and resourcefulness. Which tools do they give you? What do you think about each one?
"If Your Ancestors Spoke A Word To You About Where You Could Go In Life, What Would They Say?"
Consider that you and your ancestors are sitting around a fire, the fire that your ancestors gathered around for warmth, cooking, and storytelling, which symbolizes the enduring spirit that connects us all. By tending to this sacred fire, we keep their wisdom and strength alive within us. As you all gather around, sharing a favorite beverage (remember, wine's been around since 6,000 BCE, beer since 5,000 BCE!), what would they say about all your future potential directions, and the ones you'd most enjoy?
Future-Focused Questions
Future-focused questions are another way to explore thoughts, wisdom, and insights with a focus on setting your vision and course for the year to come. For this post, consider Eleanore's ideas on connecting with the ancestors:
How can you incorporate ancestral wisdom into your daily life to enhance your resilience and resourcefulness?
What modern practices can you adopt that mirror the hunting and foraging skills of our ancestors?
How can you maintain and care for the tools and environments that support your life, both physically and mentally?
How can you incorporate the principles of ancestral wisdom into your leadership and decision-making processes at work?
In what ways can you draw inspiration from nature to foster creativity and innovation in your business projects?
What practices can you implement in your workplace to maintain and care for the tools and environments that support productivity and well-being?
How can you create rituals or routines in your business that honor the values and strengths passed down from previous generations?
Understand that curating your life-energy and pouring it into the opportunities that grow you isn't just a fleeting choice, but a pivotal decision that defines the richness and fulfillment of your life's narrative.
Key Learning Points
Consider Eleanore the Shaman as a wise-woman archetype, connecting ancient wisdom with modern guidance for you.
Connect with ancestral wisdom to reclaim insight, strength and guidance for modern growth.
Recall that you come from a long legacy of natural survivors, well skilled in hunting and foraging practices, to remind you of your ancestral lineage of patience, awareness, and adaptability.
Maintain and improve the metaphoric tools and shelters of your life as crucial for a natural flow of preparedness and resilience.
We are in nature and of nature; our deep, historic connection with nature provides grounding and inspiration.
Honoring ancestral strength through rituals and mindful practices, even through simply remembering them each day, keeps their spirit alive within us.
Action Steps
Reflect on and document the ancestral practices and values that resonate with you, whether from your own lineage or as far back as the early hunter-gatherers who foraged under the light of sun and moon.
Spend time in nature looking from an ancestral perspective, observing and learning from its rhythms and cycles.
Develop a routine for maintaining and caring for your physical and mental tools.
Create rituals or practices that honor and connect you with your ancestral heritage.
Ask Eleanore as mentor for further insight; journal the results.
As the vibrant energy of May rises, realize just how many generations back, century upon century, your ancestors also saw the trees leaf out with green, felt the warmth of the breezes, laughed and foraged in the extended days' light
Draw strength from the wisdom of Eleanore the Shaman as mentor, and her guidance on reconnecting with the ancestors. Realizing that your ancestors' incredible resilience in their lifetime is the ENTIRE reason you are here right now, today, in THIS lifetime! Navigate your path with resilience, resourcefulness, and a deep connection to the enduring spirit that unites us all.
How will you explore your connection with ancestors as you #reclaimyourwildness and #healworklife?
See you in the next post, where we'll meet our third mentor for May.
Be well,
Katherine