ancestor elevation: the care and keeping of your lineage
Ancestor Elevation is our earthly responsibility!
Ancestral Veneration is regaining popularity these days - and that’s a good thing IMHO.
Our ancestors are often our strongest line of spiritual defense. Our ancestors are often the most fervent fulfiller of our petitions and prayers.
What I see missing from the conversation on Ancestral Veneration is the very necessary spiritual rite of Ancestor Elevation.
Ancestral elevation is a spiritual practice in which our prayers assist the souls of the departed in moving forward from their earthly attachments and sufferings.
There are infinite reasons why the souls of our ancestors may remain tethered to their earthly existences. Whatever the reason may be, ancestral elevation offers them the assistance, healing, and grace they need and deserve to break into higher levels of consciousness, to rest joyfully in their ancestral paradise.
Elevation rituals are always unique, and most potent when personal to the practitioner and the spirit(s) being assisted.
Below is a simple guide for how to perform Ancestral Elevation Rites.
I encourage you to take some time to meditate on the spirits you desire to elevate. Even if you did not know them personally or well, ask your guides to assist you in getting a feel for who your ancestors were/are, what their beliefs were/are, what their likes and dislikes were/are. The more personal you and your guides make the ritual, the better. Speak from your heart, and perform for your spirits while you do it. While the guide below offers you a structure for the rites, trusting your intuition and speaking from the heart takes precedence over the words typed out in this guide.
More important notes:
Elevation rituals demand a lot of your energy and attention. Do what you can to care for yourself on these days. Drink plenty of water, rest, eat what makes you feel good.
Please also be certain to call in your psychic and spiritual protection, grounding, and cleanse yourself before and after (especially after).
I highly recommend that you to re-enchant or refresh your protection spells/wards/talismans/etc. before beginning the 9 day rites.
May this ritual be healing to your ancestors and offer healing to you in the ways your ancestor's sufferings may be echoing in your life.
If you would like to learn more about Ancestral Elevation, the types of ancestral spirits we encounter, and how to create an authentic and deeply personal Elevation Rite, check out Vaya Con Dios Workshop. Vaya Con Dios teaches the origin and importance of ancestral elevation rites, how to identify when these rites are needed, along with the preparation and process of completing them.
9 Day Ancestral Elevation
This work can take a toll on you - physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally. I suggest spending the day preparing spiritually, then perform the rituals at night. It will be personal to you as a practitioner and to the needs of the spirit, so consider this a guide not an instruction.
What You'll Need
Glass of cool tap water
8 books
A white altar cloth (you can use a cut up tshirt, a sheet, whatever you have available)
A white candle (separate from your usual altar candle)
Optional: Alumbre/Alum
What You'll Do
Begin by placing the white cloth on the floor. On top of the cloth, put the Glass of Water and the white candle. You can also include a picture of the deceased or a petition paper with their name or names, if you feel called.. If you are working with Alumbre, put it in the water glass.
Make sure that you prepare well with grounding, cleansing and protection work over yourself, your home, your altars. Ask your good, wise and well-intentioned ancestors, spirits and guides to create a protective barrier around you and yours, shielding you from the energy, spirit you are elevating over the totality of the 9 days, and often throughout each day.
Call in your protective spirits, guardian angels, ancestors, guides. Ask them to guide you in your actions and words, and to keep you out of reach of harm. Ask them to create and enforce a protective barrier around you, your home, your loved ones.
Ask your benevolent, wise and well-intentioned spirits and your ancestors in the light to assist you in the elevation of the soul of [Name of the Deceased - saying the name is important for their elevation - try to say it often].
Ask your benevolent spirits and your ascended ancestors to reach out to the spirits, guides, angels and ancestors of [The Name of the Deceased] and ask that they assist in the elevation of their soul to the light.
Here's a prayer you may use, or you may create your own or use any traditional, cultural or religious prayers that are appropriate for you and the ancestors you are elevating:
"[The Name of the Deceased], we call out to you now. We invite you now to drink of this water. May it quench your thirst, offer you peace and ease.
We invite you to gather near this fire. May the flame warm your heart, warm your soul and guide your spirit to the light.
We gather tonight, [Today's Date] in [Name of City and State you are in] to assist you in progressing your soul to the light.
[The Name of the Deceased] you are remembered. We remember you. We remember you. We remember you. You are not forgotten. You are loved.
[The Name of the Deceased], we acknowledge your grief and your pain. [if there are any specific grievances you know of or that spirits alert you to, mention these] Your grief is seen, is recognized and is validated. As your soul has been set free from the flesh, we ask that your soul be set free of this grief. Let it go. Be free. Feel peace. Progress to The Light. Let it go. Be free. Feel peace. Progress to The Light.
[The Name of the Deceased], the repentance that you seek is given to you by the Divine. The repentance that you seek is given by the Divine within you! All that you seek repentance for is forgiven. All is forgiven. All is forgiven. All is forgiven. You are loved and we remember you. Feel peace and progress to The Light.
[The Name of the Deceased], as you have been freed from the bonds of your earthly body, move toward The Light. You have left here the envelope, subject to vicissitude and death, and you now possess only the eternal. From now on, you will be free to contemplate new marvels while we remain confined to our bodies on this Mother Earth. We will follow you with our prayers and actions until the moment in which it will be permitted to us to reunite with you, the same way you have reunited with those ancestors who have preceded you.
You are not forgotten,[The Name of the Deceased], You are loved. We remember you. You are not forgotten, [The Name of the Deceased]. Feel peace and progress now to the Light.
Your labor on this earth is not lost, and your affections to those whom you love and love you remain unbroken. Light and progress to your soul [The Name of the Deceased]."
You may want to follow this with Psalm 23, another Psalm that speaks to you, the Salve Regina, or another prayer that speaks to you or that the deceased liked, maybe a song, a poem, a hymnal tune, that you feel fits the moment.
You may then call out, “If there are any other souls that are ready and able to be moved on, I ask the benevolent spirits accompanying me in this rite to take them there now.” Thank these helping spirits for their protection and help in elevating the souls you are assisting. Snuff out your candle.
Thank your personal spirits, your ancestors and guardians and guides, and ask that they close the circle and continue their protection over you.
The next day, lay a book down on the floor and put the altar cloth, candle and water glass on top. Perform the ritual rites again. Do this for a total of nine nights, each night stacking another book on top of the last.
Your voice is the tool that carries out the magic in this ritual. The more passion, compassion, sincerity that you put into this, the more effective it is.
When you finish, you may want to do divination to confirm whether your ritual was successful or further working needs to be done. Make sure that you are asking for protection and guidance and nourishment from your spirits throughout the days that you are performing this.
If you used a photo or paper with their name, put it away somewhere safe - like in the pages of a well loved book, in the drawer of your altar, etc. Keep it away from your nightstand, purse, wallet, and undergarments drawer if possible.
Do not put them on your altar until you receive affirmation that their spirit has transitioned on.
Even with a successful ritual, tradition teaches us that it takes one year and one day from the completion of the ritual for a spirit to return ready for the altar. Give them time and space to ascend, and give yourself some room to grieve.
🌹 If you would like to learn more about Ancestral Elevation, the types of ancestral spirits we encounter, and how to create an authentic and deeply personal Elevation Rite, check out the Vaya Con Dios Workshop. Vaya Con Dios teaches the origin and importance of ancestral elevation rites, how to identify when these rites are needed, along with the preparation and process of completing them.
🕯️ A note from Kaitlyn:
Ancestral Elevation is not something that I invented - you can find many different (and similar) versions from other spiritists and practitioners. Trust your spirits and intuition to guide you through the process.
Here are some links to versions by other practitioners/teachers/blogs:
Chiron Armand | Apetebi Iyamile | Trans-Ancestor Elevation | Allec Macguire |
Much of the language in the ritual below was adapted from a few different prayers in Allan Kardec's A Collection of Selected Prayers.
With Love,
Mother 🌹
