When you look at the oldest and most intact spiritualities around the world, you will find that, at the center of their practice, is ancestral veneration. For many of us who were raised in less intact spiritualities and in cultures with a tendency to mold prevailing religions to the will of Empire, venerating our ancestors can feel complicated, to say the least. The same cultures that tend to mold religions to the will of Empire, also have a habit of tainting our ancestral line. It doesn't take long tracing back the family trees of many of us to run into the stains and wounds of colonialism, racism, and patriarchy. I think for many of us in this situation, not interested in inviting these influences into our spiritual lives, it's easy to feel like ancestor veneration just "isn't for us."

Aidan Wachter is one of my favorite thinkers on the subject of sitting with the trouble of working with ancestors, and the actionable techniques they've developed to productively navigate these practices are unrivaled, in my opinion. On top of offering unique methods to heal and remediate more negative aspects of our ancestral lines, Aidan also has another very interesting solution for those of us who might face this spiritual conundrum in our own practice.

Aidan has a name for the ancestors that come to us from the deep and distant past, and whose insights and motivations seem to bypass much of the taint of Empire. Aidan calls them the "Old Lines," and they are regularly explored on their invaluable Patreon platform as well as the focus of their upcoming book: Spirit & Stone: Animism and the Old Lines. In our chat today, Aidan and I go deep into the Old Lines, considering how this kind of ancestor work is unique from what we typically encounter when exploring the subject, and also how we might begin working with spirits from the Old Line that come to us with no ancestral ties.

Speaking of "invaluable Patreon platforms," I probably don't plug mine enough, but to hear my extended conversation with Aidan, you can find it and many other additional bonus interviews on our Raidcal Elphame Patreon page. In my bonus chat with Aidan, we dive into a fascinating new area of focus for them that they're still exploring and unraveling. I can't recommend it enough.

SHOW NOTES:

Aidan's Website: aidanwachter.com

Aidan's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aidanwachter

Aidan's upcoming conference appearances: Between-the-Worlds