Shamanism, Vedas and the Ancestors According to shamanic beliefs, when a person dies their spirit goes into the Underworld. There the spirit stays for a period of time and then it becomes an ancestral spirit with the ability to freely travel to other regions of the spirit world such as the Middle World, which is the spirit side of the world we are living in. Virtually all tribal and shamanic traditions had ceremonies and rituals of honouring the ancestors, of feeding them, seeking their advice or appeasing them. Shamans due to their ability to see spirits could usually commune directly with ancestral spirits when in a trance or having imbibed sacred plants. While the other members of the tribe might not have been able to communicate with ancestors directly, they might have had ancestral contact in dreams for instance. Dreams were given great importance by many tribal cultures, and contrary to our modern Western attitude, were seen as real. I too have had several dreams of my deceased grandmother, which I feel were real experiences on the astral planes. These were very powerful dreams that touched me deeply. Even in our disconnected and dis-spirited times many people speak of feeling their beloved ancestors near and protecting them, or report dreams of deep meaning about relatives who have passed on. In all ancient cultures it was common knowledge that ancestors could be of great help to the living but also create problems, if they were not honoured or when there was an ancestral curse etc. In the Vedic tradition, for example, the ancestors or pitris can hold negative karma that afflicts the living descendants. These karmas can be alleviated or altogether overcome if the living descendents organise sacrificial rituals to certain Vedic deities. This is believed to help both the forefathers and the living descendents and is a very popular and effective Vedic practice. By the way, if the word sacrifice scares you, all Vedic sacrifices are totally non-bloody and vegetarian! The Vedic Gods as very high spiritual beings do not demand blood or harm to innocent creatures as the lesser gods frequently do.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 12:49:45 +0000
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