The Importance of Ancestral Connection

Returning to the Roots: Why Ancestral Connection Matters

In a world shaped by disconnection, diaspora, and colonization, we are living on lands where our ancestors never walked. For those whose families have been in colonized countries for generations, the question of ancestral connection can feel confusing, shameful, or even irrelevant. But knowing where you come from—and reconnecting with ancestral ways of knowing—can be a powerful act of healing, reclamation, and relational responsibility.

Disconnection Is Not Natural

Our present-day disconnection from the land, natural cycles, and our own ancestral cultures is not the way things have always been—it is a rupture from a much older way of being. In pre-colonial and Neolithic societies— those rooted in what stretches over Europe and centered around the Divine Feminine, the sacred was woven into all aspects of life. Animals, caves, rivers, stones, and the moon were not merely resources or objects, but living embodiments of spirit. People understood themselves as part of nature’s ongoing cycle of birth, death, and renewal. These symbols carry energy that offered teachings carried across generations, guiding humanity’s relationship with the mystery of life itself.

Why Heritage Matters—Even Generations Later

Even if your family has been in a colonized country for generations, reclaiming your ancestral heritage offers more than a nostalgic look back. It is a reconnection to an unbroken chain of wisdom that colonialism sought to erase. As the Maiden, Mother, Crone archtypes represent, feminine power and sacredness are not limited to worship in a temple or church, but are accessible in relationship with land, life, and one another. The triple goddess archetype—maiden, mother, and crone—mirrors not only the cycle of human life but also the seasons, menstrual cycle, lunar phases, and the agricultural phases.

To know your heritage is to remember that your ancestors once lived in rhythm with the earth, honoured life in all its forms, and saw the divine in everyday acts like planting, birthing, harvesting, and dying. This is true no matter where your lineage traces to, take a moment to reflect on this.

Reconnection Is Responsibility

Knowing your own roots allows you to come into right relationship with the land you're on today. It helps prevent the cultural appropriation of Indigenous traditions and instead invites you to carry your own ancestral knowledge in a way that brings sovereignty to self, while respecting the traditional owners of the land where reflections are taking place.

When we don’t know where we come from, we often reach for what feels sacred without fully understanding its context. But by grounding ourselves in the stories, symbols, and teachings of our own people, we can begin to walk in solidarity with others—rather than unconsciously repeating the patterns of colonial extraction.

The Womb of Memory

Many ancient societies viewed the earth as a womb—a container of both death and life, transformation and renewal. Stones, tombs, rivers, and the moon were seen as living embodiments of this divine cycle. The meander of a river, the spiral of a labyrinth, the shedding skin of a snake—all pointed to a worldview where everything is interconnected.

Reconnecting with our ancestry is not about claiming superiority or romanticizing the past. It is about locating ourselves in the sacred meander of time—understanding that we are one thread in a vast tapestry of life that includes not only human ancestors, but animals, plants, and elemental forces too.

Reclaiming the Sacred Within

When we know where we come from, we begin to see the sacred everywhere—so within, so without. We stop consuming culture, and begin participating in it. We remember that we, too, are a continuation of something ancient and beautiful.

It’s never too late to trace your thread back. To remember. To root. To return.