Ancestor altar season comes to an end

During the harvest season I love displaying my ancestor altar. This time of year we are expressing what we are grateful for, and I am grateful for my ancestors. I usually keep my ancestor altar up through Thanksgiving (I prefer to call it Grateful Day). It often stays up through an entire moon cycle. This year 2024, the new moon is on Saturday, November 30th. I will likely take the altar down sometime this coming weekend.

Making offerings is one of my favorite ways to interact with my ancestor altar. Maybe its just an excuse to make pumpkin cookies or homemade bread but I love this part of my practice. I also love making them tea or strong coffee with an obscene amount of sugar. Sometimes I offer whiskey to my paternal grandmother as that was her favorite drink at the holidays. I imagine my maternal grandmother would love a beer, even though she wouldn’t want me to tell you that because she thought it wasn’t very sophisticated to like beer.

One year I made meat hand-pies, I like to think about their favorite meals or even just meals of their era. I had never made these before and no one in family had ever made them to my knowledge but I kept thinking of a food that some of my older, unknown ancestors might have eaten. Even though I may not have pictures of some of these relatives they are included in my care and affection for the ancestors. It was fun to find a recipe for hand-pies and serve it to the rest of my family with an offering plate for the ancestors.                

I light the candles most days. I offer incense rarely. Often, I turn the light on above that table that their pictures rest upon. Frequently, my partner buys flowers that adorn the ancestor altar. Sometimes life is too busy to engage with them. I imagine that they are happy to just be noticed as I walk past their table in the center of our house. This task is not another thing on the to do list, I engage in ways that feel nourishing to me not a burden. Which is exactly what I imagine they would desire of this practice for me.

Working with my ancestor altar provides loads of nourishment for me. Not everyone on my altar was a favorite person but I like to have them present as they can be a source of support now, from the other side. Some of them were assholes, some of them were amazing people.  And I would also say that many of my ancestors have contributed to many of the challenges that we are facing today. Some of my ancestors worked towards justice but more benefited from the injustices of the world. So I believe calling on them to be helpful from the spirit world gives them the chance to help from the other side.

I am doing my part to change the world for the better. If you are seeking a way to connect with others and learn more about how to move our future towards more justice and mutual care, join me at @medusas_daughters to work towards a more just world.