HOW ANCESTORS COMMUNICATE: ANCESTOR ALTAR BEST PRACTICES
How do ancestors communicate? Oftentimes, altars can be a site where spirit communication takes place.
In the realm of witchcraft, ancestor worship is not just a spiritual practice but also a deeply rooted cultural tradition observed in many parts of the world. While maintaining an altar can be a reverent gesture, allowing space for gratitude and mourning, engaging in ancestor work doesn't necessarily entail worshiping or having personal knowledge of one's ancestors. What makes ancestor work magical is the immutable connection that links ancestors with descendants, spanning both blood ties and adopted lineages.
Ancestors are widely acknowledged as highly responsive and communicative spirits. Transitioning from 3D life to spirit form is a means for ancestors to continue offering nourishment, safety, and comfort in a way that spans wider and more impactfully than during their earthly form. A simple yet potent way to cultivate a connection with departed ancestors is by creating an ancestor altar. These altars, whether dedicated to specific individuals (a grandmother, for instance) or a group of ancestors (grandparents and great grandparents), serve as sacred spaces—be it a shelf, table, or another surface—reserved for a way for ancestors to communicate, offering sites, or energetic communion.
Choosing A Space for Ancestor Altars
Since ancestors are believed to be able to intervene in the lives of the living, protecting descendants, providing wise counsel, or improving finances, when building these altars, the intention is for the living to be reciprocating, creating an environment that makes it easeful and more likely for the intended ancestor to respond.
To facilitate spirits in making their presence known and to create a welcoming space for them, it's crucial to select a location that takes into account the preferences of the recently deceased, if known. Their spirit naturally gravitates towards these areas, which also aligns with being gentle on their energy. Even if an ancestor is unfamiliar with the individual's surroundings, considering elements they would resonate with can be beneficial. For example, placing the altar by a window facing a tree, near a cozy fireplace, or on a bookshelf for avid readers can evoke a sense of connection. When building an ancestor altar to honor remote ancestors or individuals further up the family line who may not be known by name, choose a location that reflects cultural considerations or other ways to convey respect.
When constructing an ancestor altar to honor distant ancestors or individuals higher up the family lineage who may not be identified by name, opt for a location that reflects cultural sensitivities or other methods of showing respect.
Familial altars, honoring multiple individuals, can be placed in communal areas like the living room or kitchen, depending on family dynamics. Creating an ancestor altar should evoke feelings of joy and togetherness, when possible, as these revered elders continue to serve as sources of wisdom, guidance, and support, allowing their presence to be felt in gatherings and cherished memories.
Building An Ancestral Altar
Ancestor altars, in many traditions, contain the beloved’s photograph or an otherwise artistic rendering of their likeness, such as a painting or drawing. With the image taking the central focus, other chosen objects may (or may not) be placed on these altars, holding either sentimental value or energetic significance, intended to serve as sympathetic magic.
The frame that holds the photograph and the corresponding objects allow the altar itself to work better as a communication device, as it helps attune the frequency for both the living and the dead. For the recently departed ancestors, and those whose absence is perennially felt at specific times of the year, building the altar is a three-dimensional magic collage embodying the essence of their remembered life. These personal items they once treasured, such as a rock from a stream they enjoyed visiting, can lend to the altar’s conductivity, much like an antenna.
Attending Ancestor Altars
Once the altar is in place, daily visits are encouraged. The bare bones include offering a cup of water every morning and three bows of reverence. On some days, it may be further layered with other beverages, snacks, candles, and incense, and longer moments for the living to spend at the altar. Offerings aligned with the ancestor's culture or lineage tend to be more effective in reaching them than those lacking resonance. For example, in East Asian cultures, communicating with ancestor spirits can be enhanced by offering tea at the altar.
Seasonal elements from nature, such as flowers or plant clippings, can infuse elemental energy into space, functioning as a way to feed the spirits’ energies and remind them of their lives on Earth. During cultural holidays, such as the Lunar New Year or Qing Ming Jie from a Chinese cultural perspective, as well as the birthdays of the departed, consider offering dishes or sweets they would have enjoyed during these celebrations. For those concerned about tempting animal housemates with food offerings, focusing on nature-based offerings is recommended.
Ancestral Altars Should Be Dynamic
Ancestor altars, like any altar, are meant to be alive and reflect the dynamic of the relationship between the living and the more-than-living, the Seen and Unseen. A static altar, untouched by the passage of time and changing seasons, while serving as a three-dimensional record honoring the past, can also inadvertently confine or lock individuals to grief, locking the energy in, ensnaring both themselves and those they revere from being in flow.
Altars ask individuals to continually evolve, and from an animist’s view, they are living energy centers that act as portals mutually for the departed and the living. For those who actively engage in ancestor rituals and magic, the function of the ancestor altar becomes not only symbolic but quite literally, communication devices.
Ancestral Altars When Travelling
A common question regarding how to tend ancestor altars is what to do when traveling and cannot physically attend to the ancestor altar (or altar of any sort). General suggestions include informing the spirits that one will be away for a period of time and will be thinking of them. Placing a dried floral offering on the altar, and a more substantial water offering on the altar can sustain their energies for an extended period.
Another approach is to take a smaller photo(s) of the beloved departed with you on your travels and keep a portable ancestor altar in your wallet - dedicating a pocket in your wallet for their photo, along with a pressed flower, and even a coin offering. A variation of a travel altar is to create a mini altar in the space where one will be staying and offer water daily.
Upon returning home, attend to the home ancestor altar again by cleaning the dust off, removing old offerings, and refreshing the altar space with perhaps offerings of tokens collected from travels, along with customary food and nature offerings.
If you’ve found this article supportive for you, and are looking to extend your relationship with the departed or the Unseen in general, UGLY WORDS SERIES is now a recorded, self-paced offering, and may be just the transformative writing container for you, as you navigate through endings, liminal spaces, and the Unseen. We’ll also be building different types of altars in the upcoming MAKING TIME RETREAT, one of the most anticipated witch retreats of 2024.
Following the spirits,
Mimi
Animist spirit medium and founder of Ceremonie