Following Our Roots Home

As a diviner in the Dagara tradition, the lens from which I view life is framed by this West African tribal cosmology. The indigenous wisdom translated and shared by Elder Malidoma Some, has been in invaluable gift to the world and it is via this gift that I offer my own reflections. Let us turn towards the element of Earth (years 2020, 2025, 2030). At its essence, Earth years call us to find our way home.

We are invited on a pilgrimage to return to ourselves. When we accept the invitation of homecoming it is more than “an instance of returning home,” as defined by Oxford. We are guaranteed an unforgettable journey, one that is not always accompanied by rainbows and unicorns.

my homecoming required an excavatio into my ancient roots, but where was I to begin? With the earth, of course.

Earth connection

Considering my connection to the (literal) Earth as a starting point, I formulated some questions to ask myself:

Am I in right relationship with the land we live on?

Do I know who inhabited the geographical area I call home long before colonization took place?

Do I maintain connections to the spirits of the land and nature?

Do I source vitality from my connection to the great mother and if so, how do I reciprocate?

When we consciously tend our connection to the land with Earth honoring actions, we establish a sense of place. With a sense of place intact, we can go deeper and wind our way through the story of the Earth to the people who inhabited these beautiful lands: our ancestors.

Our Ancestors

I used to have no clue as to what this word meant. I was not brought up in an environment of ancestor reverence, but thankfully I learned through my experience with a Dagara Elder. There are various types of ancestors according to Steven Farmer, but I am speaking here to our blood ancestors; the people we are genetically related to over millennia. If ever there were roots to a tree, then these be them. Unearthing the story of our people is the ultimate homecoming. If you cut off the roots to a tree, it will die. As humans, we often cut off our own roots because we either don’t like what we see and/or it is too emotionally difficult to manage the pain of the last few generations. I totally get this, BUT it is important to remember that our roots go wayyyy further than just our remembered people. Our lineages are ancient. And those folks have some pretty amazing wisdom to share with us.

Our Identity

By this I am not referring to the social constructs that we often equate with our identity. What I am getting at here is the cultural heritage of our genetic make up. Our DNA holds vast stories upon which we are built. Checking into the epic tales of those amazing little double helix spirals can fill in the blanks of who we are and where we came from. With this knowledge and understanding we empower ourselves, not from an egoic or nationalist place, but from a place of activating a collective consciousness within ourselves.

We all long to belong.

When we unravel the mystery of who we came from, our sense of belonging matures and our identities expand into the macrocosm of human evolution. This understanding provides us a deep well to tap into when life requires courage and resilience.

Our roots give us resilience.

Without roots to anchor us, it makes it more difficult for us to grow strong and withstand storms.

Here I offer a possible framework should you feel called home.

Everyone’s process looks different, this is just one way to get started.

Ancestral Work

By using guided meditation, the drum journey, or whatever means you prefer to drop down into an altered state of consciousness (try substance free!) you can access some pretty powerful ancient beings along your lineages. Using your intuition to connect to a healthy ancestral guides is very empowering. The beauty of this process is not getting trapped in the misgivings of generations that are most recently deceased. By calling on the older, wiser, and healthier ancient ones to help heal your lines you’re:

1. Not going it alone and,

2. Helping to elevate your lines in general so you and future generations can have a solid, healthier root system.

DNA Test

Ahhh, the ongoing saga of DNA tests. I cannot recommend one over another, because honestly, I just picked one and submitted it. I didn’t want to expend energy toiling over comparing products. I went with Ancestry (it’s half price every November) and got my results broken down into percentages of ethnicity with regional mapping. I personally appreciated that the results came with a brief historical overview of each particular region. These snippets of historical information and ethnography are what you can use to dive deeply into the identities of your people.

Curiosity and Tenacity

These are two of my most favorite companion words (like how peanut butter and fluff go together if you’re from New England). I highly recommend mustering up lots of curiosity and tapping into a great well of tenacity to do this next task: getting super detailed oriented with the snippets of generic history provided by the DNA test.

Write down every word you do not understand.

This more than likely will apply to regions, time periods, and groups of ethnic peoples. By the time I had picked through one snippet of my heritage there were words, lines, arrows, and circles scribbled all over a pad of paper that made some sort of crazy sense. You too will be able to see aspects of your hobbies, interests, and vocation as reflections of your lineage. Further confirmation of your ancestral identity may arise from your body wisdom; chills, waves of heat, and sobbing are all indicators that your DNA is jumping for joy at your homecoming.

Paradoxically, as we unravel the tangled roots of our ancestry we concurrently weave together a stronger foundation to hold us up.

We spend so much of our lives looking forward wondering who we are, where we are going, and what we should do with our lives. In constantly looking forward, we often overlook the gifts from our ancient past. As interesting and amazing though they be, the revelations we receive along the way are not always fun. Our ancient past also includes travesties; our people have been both the oppressors and the oppressed. Acknowledging this part of our root system is difficult, but it is a part of us and is healthier to integrate than suppress.

The road to home takes us to a place where we stand in reciprocity with the land which holds us and our indigenous roots. Our homecoming is a journey to our elevated ancestors who are willing to offer guidance and inter-generational healing. It also takes us down a path to connect with the identity of our heritage and the story of our peoples. Our homecoming is not an instance. Rather, it is a lifelong process that, if undertaken, will strengthen the core of who we are so we can weather any storm.

Jennifer Hudziec is a Certified Ancestral Repair Practitioner with the Ancestral Medicine Organization. She is a Ritualist, Animist, and Fire Walk Instructor. Jen can be reached at jenhudziec.com

Credits

Ancestral Medicine: Daniel Foor PhD
Photography: Nick Fewings