We have moved into the season of the spirits, including the Ancestors. True to form the past few days have been dark and chill. We’ve had enough rain to raise the rivers but perhaps not enough to replenish our greatly stressed aquifer.
The news of the past many weeks has been grim and that has impacted clients, friends, and family deeply. There seems no bottom to the depths politicians and their supporters are willing to fall, nor of the damage they are content to heap on others. It is as if everyone has forgotten that the harm we do to others inevitably comes back on us.
Awakening this morning from a fitful sleep I wondered how much of our current collective distress arises from our culture’s complete disregard for the spirits of place and our Ancestors. I remembered that ignored and forgotten spirits, especially Ancestors, have long been associated with difficult times. One of my teachers said that we put out offerings, sing, dance, and remember so the spirits don’t get hungry and begin to eat us, especially our children, do they don’t roam the world filled with malice and hardened by an all-consuming desire for food and acknowledgement.
I believe it is less the suffering of individual spirits that makes their hunger so dangerous, although individual spirits can no doubt do much harm. Rather, it is the collective desperation and malice of the forgotten that brings suffering and ruin.
How do those hungry spirits consume us? They encourage us to place short-term gain over the long-term good of all beings. They whisper in our ears, suggesting we let children and elders go hungry and without healthcare. They offer us beguiling visions of wealth and war, cajoling us to dream of power divorced from responsibility for others. They encourage us to ignore the consequences of our actions and spread misery far and wide. Surely they must influence us in innumerable ways.
I struggle to understand our collective refusal to acknowledge the spirits, including Ancestors. Certainly here in the West much damage was done by our inability to find balance following the Reformation. There is simply no place for the spirits in a world driven by fervent capitalistic materialism, just as there was no room for them in so-called Communist ideology. As a culture we are addicted to the belief that only that which we can see and measure is real, a position that leaves us vulnerable to that which we do not know.
Still, I suspect that the majority of us have had interactions with departed loved ones, although we may hold those events close for safe keeping. I wonder why it is so difficult for us to generalize those experiences and imagine a world filled with spirits, most of whom crave remembrance and acknowledgement, who ache for us to recognize that we literally owe our lives to them. In contrast, I am reminded of the many temples in Hong Kong where Ancestors, the spirits of the land, and the gods are remembered and embraced. These temples and shrines are filled with incense, prayers, and offerings, made more in remembrance than supplication.
As we approach the Days of the Dead and winter holidays beyond, let’s remember that the spirits and Ancestors are nearby, that the fabric that for much of the year may keep us and the spirits further apart is thinner and more permeable now. This is a good time to express gratitude to them, and to offer what we may to sooth those spirits who are in great distress. Perhaps our caring for the spirits, and each other, can make a difference in a world that seems increasingly divided and mad.
Dreaming the World 
I appreciate you and this post more than you know. I cannot stop thinking and I know I should be praying.
Lara, you are hardly alone! Seems like all the creativity and joy are being eroded at an alarming rate! I am trying to keep some semblance of balance in the midst of the fear. Anyway, I am glad the post was useful. I think we underestimate the power of praying and remembering.
I totally agree. If this time is one of upheaval, where everything seems upside down and regressing, then we have something to look forward to, once it’s over.
Lara, Yes, something to look forward to, indeed. I spend a good amount of my time these days reminding others, and myself, that this will pass.
Beautifully stated, Michael. Hiy hiy for your thoughts.
Thank you! I am wondering this morning whether there are simply too few of us to turn the tide. Still, we can be present to the world, spirits and ancestors. There is solace for me in that.
There seems to be much truth in this post Michael, without a knowledge of and respect for history and those who have gone before we can’t possibly do better in future.
Andrea, yes, there is much to be gained by contemplating history. For me, the ancestors are real in themselves, as well as a metaphor.
Beautiful and so true, Michael. Without our past, there is no bright future. For several months I have been reminded of loved ones by finding feathers in different colors and mix, not matter where I walk, even in my garden and it was not from my cats, as they are not able to catch the birds any longer. Understandable, they are now more than 15 years old and just enjoy their pensioner life. Wish you all the best.
Irene, finding feathers so often does seem like a gift. Here the leaves are falling, making it hard to find those feathers in all the bright color. I am seriously considering joining the cats as a pensioner.
I think, that I do understand you Michael. While I lived in Denmark, it was impossible to find anything at the soil, when the leaves were falling too. Here is it still green, but flowers and trees are stopped growing for this season. The leaves are just started to fall, which may take a while yet. We have had about 23 degrees C. in the midday today with sun, which is wonderful.
I have been wondering this year, as I also have had many visits in my garden by grasshoppers, mostly of them very big and they just stay here, unless one of my cats find them, then the hunt goes. I don’t grow more than few vegetables and flowers here, so no logic reason for them to visit.
Take care of yourself.
Irene, here is to the cats and their grasshopper friends! Hours of entertainment!
Do take care.
😀
Today, in France, Christian country, it’s Dead’ Day and tomorrow is Saints Day.
In a Christian country, no one speaks of honoring spirits, of nourishing them. A long time ago, in France lived the Celts; these peoples honored the spirits, but the priestes have erased everything! Many people were burned because of their communication with the spirits. Now no one is talking about spirits anymore. I think it’s the same in many countries. Live is to own, to have, to have money …
This notion of spirits is Buddhist and Native American.
I’m not Native American and yet I appreciate the way of thinking of this people. We would have so much to learn from them.
I like the words you wrote, even if they make me sad. They are full of meaning, of truth, but also of a strong melancholy.
But I’m going to pray …
Colette,
Thank you for this wonderful note. Yes, many have forgotten, although, in their hearts more remember that will admit it. The spirits of those we love, and more, are with us as we make our way through our lives. There are also many hungry ones. One does not have to be Native to know this. I think we have this knowing deep in our bones and just have to recognize it as you have. Yes, I do feel some melancholia as I watch and live what is happening in our small world. I also try to keep hope alive as I believe you do. May we be here to witness a return to sanity and to acknowledging the spirits.
We remember our ancestors during a certain period every year. We perform certain rituals remembering our ancestors. This is very important. Thank you for this post. Regards.
Mahalaya Amavasya ,Pitru Paksha Amavasya 2018 ,2018 Mahalaya …
https://www.astroved.com/astropedia/en/festivals/mahalaya-amavasya
Mahalaya Amavasya is the New Moon day, which is the last day of the 15-day period called Mahalaya Paksha.on day to offer Tarpanam (ancestral rituals) to your departed ancestors to receive the blessings.