Ancient peoples had very strong ties to their Ancestry, to the Animate World, and to the Spirits of the Animate World. Their survival required it.
For those of us who have become disconnected, survival in these times of climate chaos, war, and extreme uncertainty might require a return to connecting deeply with our ancestors, the spirits, and the aliveness of all beings.
Halloween, Samhain, Day of the Dead- these celebrations mark mid-autumn and the coming of Winter Solstice, the life-death-rebirth point on the wheel of the year. These days between October 31 and December 21 are for honoring our ancestors.
I first began reconnecting with my ancestors when I learned to Shamanic journey in 2016. Shamanic journeying is a skill that anyone can learn. It is the most ancient and direct way to connect to our ancestors, to the spirit world, and to the aliveness of this physical world that we inhabit.
In a Shamanic journey you actively allow a piece of your spirit to travel into the spirit world to communicate with your spirit guides. You do this for the purposes of receiving guidance, healing, transformational experiences, and unconditional love.
In 2017, in a Shamanic journey, I encountered a very ancient Australian Aboriginal ancestor for the first time. This ancestor works with the green energy of Malachite at the Heart Chakra, and he asked me to call him Grandfather Malachite.
Grandfather Malachite showed me that he is of the River Fish Clan. In his life he deeply honored his Ancestors, the River Fish, the River Goddess, and the Banyan Tree Goddess who presided over and protected the entire forest ecosystem. His people would bring offerings to the tallest Banyan tree to honor and thank the Banyan Goddess.
In my first interaction with Grandfather Malachite in his home territory, he was squatting by a fire cooking a fish. He then gave it to me to eat. I started to eat, but he stopped me.
He said I must give thanks before I eat- I must give gratitude to the food, to the spirits, and to the earth, the air, the water, the fire. (I was raised Catholic but had rejected it early, which means I’d also left behind the saying of grace before each meal a long time ago.)
So, Grandfather Malachite gave me these words of gratitude to say at each meal:
“Thank you, Goddess for this food, this gift of nourishment, this gift of life. Thank you, ancestors for this gift which is my life and our lives.”
The Goddess in these words of gratitude is Mother Earth. She is the source of our nourishment, the source of our lives. And we are here, right now, in these specific bodies, because of all the countless bodies that housed our ancestors on this genetic journey to this body- my body, your body- in this Life.
Squatting by the warm fire, next to Grandfather Malachite, I did give thanks, and then I ate.
I felt the food entering and nourishing my body in a way I had not felt before, and I received the knowing that with giving proper thanks I would be able to eat the right amount of food rather than overeating to try to fill the vast alone-ness I’d felt within me most of my life.
Grandfather Malachite told me it is okay to be gentle with myself when I do not remember to give thanks before I eat. I’m so glad he gave me that permission! Seven years later, I still sometimes only remember to say these words after I’ve already begun to eat, or even at the end of the meal!
I taught these words of gratitude to my two sons, but I don’t require them to say it. I just say it aloud, and hope that I am modeling something that might be important or useful to them someday.
I asked Grandfather Malachite how to cook with love. At that time, I often found myself cooking in a rush, without much joy in the process, or even with negative feelings. He advised that I take just a tiny moment to give thanks to Mother Earth and to my ancestors before I cook, and that I ground and center myself also.
I’d become very familiar with grounding, centering, and shielding since embarking on my Shamanic path to healing, so that felt very doable (you can get an audio recording that includes my 20 minute Grounding, Centering, and Shielding practice by going to https://sacraltransformations.com/shamanic-journey/. Once you become familiar with the process it can be done in a minute or two!).
I feel blessed to gift you Grandfather Malachite’s Words of Gratitude. My hope is that they offer you a small but powerful way to connect daily with your ancestors in this chaotic but beautiful world.
Betti Rooted Lionheart offers powerfully transformative one-to-one Shamanic healing sessions. She also teaches Shamanic journeying so that you are empowered to heal and transform yourself, to remember your power and purpose, and to take aligned action in service of the Earth and all life.
She is passionate about working with people who feel despair for the Earth and humanity, and about reclaiming the divine feminine through teaching Earth and Goddess-centered Shamanic spiritual practices.
Betti is a Shamanic healer, a spiritual empowerment activist, a fire weaver, a writer, a minister of the Church of Earth Healing, a facilitator of the work that reconnects, the mother of two, and the founder of Braided Root Waters Healing Sanctuary in Trumansburg, NY. https://sacraltransformations.com,