Ancestral Grief:
Trauma and Karma
Last updated: Nov. 20, 2020
Ancestral Grief: Trauma and Karma
Ancestral trauma is carried in our DNA along with all other memories through the generations. It must be recognized, accepted, forgiven and released by all who carry it or by a person in the line in which it has occured. It is carried by the perpetrators as well as the victims, by all involved.
Now is the time to let it go. As our energy levels increase with those of Mother Earth, it must be let go for we cannot take it with us. Either let it go or stay with it.
Healing our Ancestral Trauma, heals all generations, our ancestors, as well as our grandchildren to all generations.
Karma is the emotional attachments, what we have held onto, from what we have experienced, usually resulting from self judgement, in this life, or in the lives of our other aspects, our other lives. We carry this across lifetimes until it is released.
“Normal” grief is associated with losing friends, partners, relatives, health, income, etc. This loss of persons is called Transitioning by some for it is humans trading places, Earth for Nirvana, and the loss is to the ones left behind. Loss of health, home, income, etc. is becoming more commonly recognized as occasions of mourning.
Many are familiar with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's five stages of mourning. Although they are true in many mourning situations, they are frequently not useful for working with Ancestral grief and Karma because the mourner does not usually recognize they are mourning and/or what is being mourned.
Healing Ancestral Grief/Releasing Karma.Ancestral Grief can be recognized by examining family relationships and history. Is there a history of abuse (any kind) in the family? Is a family member considered a "black sheep"? Is depression or other dis-ease a pattern in more than one generation?Karma can be recognized by observing what triggers us emotionally without apparent or conscious cause.
Grieving is saying goodbye. Once a person recognizes they are in mourning, many of the methods for handling grief can be tried. However, both ancestral grief and karmic grief remain consciously fairly well hidden until the person has processed the karma and is tired of the grief. They are usually ready to quickly resolve this grief when becoming aware. The following is a suggested way to do so.
In this exercise, participants pair off and set their intention to remember, recall a memory, that will be helpful to their partner. The facilitator then leads the circle through a relaxation, an expresssion of thanksgiving, and a period of silent remembering. The partners then share their memories, giving each other feedback. The facilitator next leads the group through a virtual/real ceremony releasing the emotions which have surfaced. This includes affirming love of self and others, forgiving self and any others* involved in the trauma, followed by placing the emotion(s) in an imaginary/real external object, such as tobacco or writing them on a piece of paper. The tobacco or paper is then placed in a virtual fire to be burnt up.Each participant then recalls feeling the love of a beloved person, such as a baby, grandparent, or a pet, feels this love, then sends this love around the circle, raising the energy levels of all. Note: the objects used as tools in this exercise can be real or imagined. Both work equally well. The release of grief lets it go for all generations, past and future, all ancestors and all descendents, and for all aspects of self, horizontally and vertically. One session may be enough for some. Most individuals seem to do better with several as they become more familiar with the process.This ceremony may be beneficial if repeated on an annual, semi-annual, or more frequent basis as we incur more karma, grief and/or more ancestral grief surfaces.
We humans are well taken care of by our Soul Selves. They take care to not overload us with more than we can handle at any given point in time. I myself decided at one point that it might possibly take several lifetimes to process everything. So I did the forgiveness exercise throughout the day, for several days, until I felt the release. It took 3 days. I now repeat it as needed and beneficial.
* See Forgiveness Exercise go to
Karma is the emotional attachments, what we have held onto, from what we have experienced, usually resulting from self judgement, in this life, or in the lives of our other aspects, our other lives. We carry this across lifetimes until it is released.
“Normal” grief is associated with losing friends, partners, relatives, health, income, etc. This loss of persons is called Transitioning by some for it is humans trading places, Earth for Nirvana, and the loss is to the ones left behind. Loss of health, home, income, etc. is becoming more commonly recognized as occasions of mourning.
Many are familiar with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's five stages of mourning. Although they are true in many mourning situations, they are frequently not useful for working with Ancestral grief and Karma because the mourner does not usually recognize they are mourning and/or what is being mourned.
Healing Ancestral Grief/Releasing Karma.Ancestral Grief can be recognized by examining family relationships and history. Is there a history of abuse (any kind) in the family? Is a family member considered a "black sheep"? Is depression or other dis-ease a pattern in more than one generation?Karma can be recognized by observing what triggers us emotionally without apparent or conscious cause.
Grieving is saying goodbye. Once a person recognizes they are in mourning, many of the methods for handling grief can be tried. However, both ancestral grief and karmic grief remain consciously fairly well hidden until the person has processed the karma and is tired of the grief. They are usually ready to quickly resolve this grief when becoming aware. The following is a suggested way to do so.
In this exercise, participants pair off and set their intention to remember, recall a memory, that will be helpful to their partner. The facilitator then leads the circle through a relaxation, an expresssion of thanksgiving, and a period of silent remembering. The partners then share their memories, giving each other feedback. The facilitator next leads the group through a virtual/real ceremony releasing the emotions which have surfaced. This includes affirming love of self and others, forgiving self and any others* involved in the trauma, followed by placing the emotion(s) in an imaginary/real external object, such as tobacco or writing them on a piece of paper. The tobacco or paper is then placed in a virtual fire to be burnt up.Each participant then recalls feeling the love of a beloved person, such as a baby, grandparent, or a pet, feels this love, then sends this love around the circle, raising the energy levels of all. Note: the objects used as tools in this exercise can be real or imagined. Both work equally well. The release of grief lets it go for all generations, past and future, all ancestors and all descendents, and for all aspects of self, horizontally and vertically. One session may be enough for some. Most individuals seem to do better with several as they become more familiar with the process.This ceremony may be beneficial if repeated on an annual, semi-annual, or more frequent basis as we incur more karma, grief and/or more ancestral grief surfaces.
We humans are well taken care of by our Soul Selves. They take care to not overload us with more than we can handle at any given point in time. I myself decided at one point that it might possibly take several lifetimes to process everything. So I did the forgiveness exercise throughout the day, for several days, until I felt the release. It took 3 days. I now repeat it as needed and beneficial.
* See Forgiveness Exercise go to