Reclaiming Ancestral Wisdom
What is ‘ancestral wisdom’
It encompasses the collective knowledge, practices, and spiritual insights passed down through generations, rooted in a deep connection to nature, community, and the cycles of life. It often reflects universal truths that resonate across cultures and time.
My life and experiences have been firmly rooted in the masculine world where we follow rules, live in a house, pay the rent and go to a job that perpetuates the patriarchal way of life that is the ‘norm’.
Yet below the surface has always been a deep connection to knowing we are more than this. We know it in our bones; yet the fear to speak its’ name is also deeply held there too.
1. Connection to Nature
Honouring natural cycles: the moon phases, seasons, and life transitions (birth, motherhood, menopause, death).
Herbal medicine, plant knowledge, and remedies rooted in earth-based healing.
Rituals and ceremonies tied to solstices, equinoxes, and the elements (earth, air, fire, water).
2. Feminine Wisdom
Knowledge of the body, especially around fertility, birth, and nurturing life.
Midwifery and birthkeeping traditions that honour both physiological and spiritual aspects of birth.
Practices of storytelling and crafting that hold symbolic and practical meanings.
3. Sacred Practices
Rituals of initiation, blessing, and protection that mark life’s significant milestones.
Practices like journaling, meditation, drumming, chanting, or dance as forms of healing and expression.
Divination tools (tarot, runes, astrology) and intuitive practices to seek guidance.
4. Community and Interdependence
Building strong, intergenerational communities where knowledge and support flow freely.
Ceremonies of gratitude, forgiveness, and connection to ancestors and future generations.
5. Sacred Stories and Mythology
Legends, myths, and teachings that carry moral lessons and spiritual truths.
Archetypes of the feminine (the maiden, mother, wise woman/crone) that guide personal growth.
6. Cyclical and Rhythmic Living
Aligning life with rhythms of the earth and cosmos, such as lunar cycles for planting, birthing, and resting.
The concept of “enoughness” and sustainable living in harmony with nature.
These traditions are often intuitive, holistic, and deeply spiritual, offering a counterbalance to modern, linear, and disconnected ways of living. They call us back to a sense of belonging - to ourselves, our communities, and the earth.
Rereading this stirs emotions inside me as I realise how I have intuitively woven each one of these throughout my life and work and yet, along with so many other women and maybe you yourself reading this, have felt not worthy enough to claim this practice of womancraft.
Being called to birth, journaling, working with your cycle not against it, using tarot or oracle cards are all ancient practices that we are reclaiming.
If you have landed here, you are enough. Let us listen to that voice inside, follow our intuition and be part of reclaiming our ancestral wisdom and practices towards a wiser and compassionate future on our earth.
