another year to find freedom.
This time last year, I was surrounded by the mountains of Peru.
Entering into 7 days of ritual, ceremony, prayers and divination with the little people of West African, the Apus (Spirits of the mountains), my Ancestors (and a whole bunch of other folks’ people) , and some sisters and some brothers.
Looking back, that time bringing in the new year of 2018 was my initiation (literally and figuratively) into Ancestor Medicine and Healing — reclaiming the gifts that have traveled with me since I came into this body.
As a young girl, these gifts came to life in many ways — premonitions while awake, messages shared while dreaming, entities and dark forces disturbing me to the point of dangerous sleep walking / running, and even a knowing of when someone were to pass away because sometimes they themselves visited me to let me know.
Some may label it mediumship. Others sorcery.
But for me, it’s ways just been a gift that later evolved to offering ancestral divinations and energy healings / clearings when I became a Reiki Master. And in those sessions, not only would “the dead” speak to me to relay information to the person I was working with, but there’d also be other visits — sometimes by babies wishing to be born, or passing a message after their termination or miscarriage, or instructions of what to do to free themselves from whatever was holding them down in life.
What Peru gave me was the (painful) push to step fully into remembering Ancient Wisdom passed onto me through my great Ancestors…the powerful women and men of my lineage. But I can’t lie, I wanted to ignore it and keep playing it safe with my micro-branding agency and consulting hustle.
What I look forward to most this year, is the sharing of these gifts — through written word, storytelling, events and immersion retreats for those also wishing to:
reconnect to their birthright of spiritual connection and gifts
heal personal trauma
create personal freedom from pain, dogma and systemic control
clear intergenerational curses
integrate mindfulness, body work and spiritual development
reconnect with their most loving and supportive Ancestors
help the collective evolve in a way that begins to heal all the -isms we’re still suffering from and be separated by as a culture
Anyone who knows me well, knows I’m hardly described as shy, but for many reasons I’ve been sheepish about my full capacity as a healer. 2018 gave me a healthy dose of whoop ass to my rear end, showing me all the ways I was self-sabotaging and forever needing external validation, all the while receiving words of gratitude for the work I do.
But now, with my loving Ancestors and Guides beside me, I stand with a straightened back, courage in hand and compassion on deck.
And I’m forever grateful for the lands I’ve been able to travel to and walk on.
For the Ancestors and Great Ones who held my tears and comforted my fears all while pushing me forward. For the many lessons, sisters, brothers, teachers, leaders, friends, peers and colleagues who played and continue to play a role in my becoming — sometimes one person carried all those titles at once. And to the people I’ve worked with thus far, especially those in Acculturated Space (now known as Ancestral Healing Space ) for the amazing amount of trust, work and vulnerability shared in community together this year to explore and uncovered some deeper truths that were most liberating.
2018 was about revealing what has always been and needed tending to.
2019 is about doing the real work out in the world. Because there’s a ton of it for us all to do if we want to Find Freedom.
Happy New Year. Many Blessings.
And Gratitude for the Journey.
with Love x
Ash