Ancestral Ties & Past Lives
The 7th Generation Principle comes from the Iroquois Nation. Essentially, its premise is that when making a decision think 7 generations ahead to consider how that generation will be affected by the decision. 7 generations, conservatively thinking that 20 years is a generation would mean 140 years from now. However, generations are not strictly 20 years apart. How far back can you trace your family? How far back is 7 generations and what is the legacy that you have been left with from their decisions?
“Chief Oren Lyons is credited with stating the 7 Generation Principle in a film called “Oren Lyons - We are Part of the Earth”
If you can trace the stories you know and the stories you tell yourself about your lineage and past lives you can understand among other things,
Attitudes about money, abundance and scarcity
Relationships and the ways you think about them and form them
Pleasure and Work
And much more
Here’s a narrative of what my own past life experience did for me!
I was pregnant and due on December 21. A solstice baby, I was thinking. One of my really good friends had become an RN, and a doula. I hired her. My husband, Dave, was a little skeptical. He asked, “Do we really need a doula?”
But, I wanted a midwife and a water birth. I was very specific. I was quite certain that this would be my one and only baby. I said to him “How many births have you been to?”
He got my point.
At that time, my husband worked nights. The baby was late. I took maternity leave starting December 17. I was teaching yoga and in private practice as a psychotherapist so I wanted to wait until the last minute, but still have time to let my clients and students know when I would be out. It must have been on the 26th that Dave and I thought about going up to Sears because some appliance in our house needed replacing. It was early afternoon and I started to get ready to go. Then there was a contraction. I sat down and it went away. I put on my shoes. Another contraction. They were 20 or 30 minutes apart and I began to realize that maybe this wasn’t the right moment to replace the appliance.
I called AnnaBeth. She assessed the situation over the phone and said she’d catch a ride back with Dave when he got off work that night. Hours later as she showed up with my husband, all she did was walk through the door, and the contractions stopped. She checked my cervix and said I wasn’t ready. She caught a ride back when my husband went back to work.
December 28 it started again. I called AnnaBeth and the contractions were closer together. She caught the bus and came over.
By this time, I had been baking for every possible winter holiday! I had cookies and cakes in all the cabinets. Even the fruit and vegetable bins were overflowing with cupcakes and sweets. She commented, “This must have been useful behavior at some point in history.”
Of course, the moment she got through the door, the contractions stopped. We all had dinner and Dave drove AnnaBeth back home.
The evening of Dec. 30th I called her again. This time more apologetically than excited. “I don’t want to make you come out here for nothing again.”
“She said, “If I’m coming out again, it won;t be for nothing. You’ll be having the baby tonight!”
I responded, “Well, that has been what I’ve been waiting for.”
When she got to our house, she told Dave to call in sick. But of course, once again, the labor stopped. She had me try a bunch or tips and tricks that doulas know to get the birthing going again. Nothing was happening. Then she helped me into the bathtub and asked me to tell her anything I was thinking.
“I feel as though years ago,” and I had a picture in my mind of a small hovel of a house in a medieval village, “that I was your midwife and I was called to help you at your birth. I came with one of my adult daughters who i was training to be the next village midwife. You had many children and the birth was difficult and very draining for you. When the baby was born, your husband said to me and my daughter, ‘Please take the baby, my wife can’t nurse her and she’s unwell and we have nothing. . We can’t support another child.’”
“My daughter and I took the baby and raised it as our own.”
AnnaBeth held space for the narrative.
It was right at that moment of relating that past life narrative that the labor resumed dramatically. It felt like the baby was ready to birth having heard its past life story and that my body was integrating some sort of knowledge and was ready to go. The birth was successful. We got to the hospital at around 6 am and labor was only about 3 hours and we got to have a water birth! Of course I was thrilled.
It’s a privilege to be able to know one’s generational heritage. Genealogists trace back family lineage. Now we have DNA testing that can put people in touch with relatives they didn’t know they had. Previously, genealogists like my mother and my great grandfather wrote letters to churches and town halls trying to find documents confirming family lineage. Sometimes they hired people like the ones you might have seen on some of the TV ancestry shows like
The more we know of our own ancestors and our past lineage the better we know ourselves. We understand what’s been passed down to us. It can be DNA that gives us knowledge about our health. If we examine the stories, knowledge that is passed down can tell us about our own attitudes which influence our behavior.
As a licensed clinical social worker, I have a great deal of respect for family systems theory. One theory postulates that it is our grandparents who play a large role in determining how far we will go in our education. This professional experience has also taught me that it’s the family secrets that play a huge influence. So not only is it what we know but also what gets passd down but is never articulated and that we’re not even supposed to know that holds influence over us.
The way we interpret the knowledge we have, the narrative we tell ourselves is also a source of information about how we think about and see ourselves and our place in the world. THis can come from ancestral ties and it also follows from the Past Lives we consider.
Past lives are speculative. I found a slim book at a wonderful bookstore in NYC that no longer exists, Weisers about past lives. I was a teen and not only did it give me a lot to think about it sparked my imagination. Around that same time a book came out about Bridey Murphy. I was fascinated.
In the 1990’s I studied with Brian Weiss learning to use hypnosis techniques for past life regression therapy. The techniques uses hypnosis to bring back memories of past lives. That small slim book I found in that magnificent bookstore gave me clues to consider that could account for the affinities I have for different time periods in history. These are narratives, and there is no way to confirm them as truths that influence us in the lives we live today.
My masterclass, Ancestral Ties & Past Lives is a free 75 minute group class that introduces techniques for exploring our narratives and our genealogies.
Here’s what people said about my last masterclass:
I enjoyed the interaction within the group members and listening to their stories. What impacted me the most was the peaceful feeling that came over me during the writing aspect. Martha is a gift. Her masterclass is inspirational and allows for safe exploration of your inner self. I would love more time to interact with the group with exploration into birth charts and their impact on the present.
Jean
It was pure joy to be there with you and see you present your zoom Masterclass! You have inspired me.
Julie
The group was beautiful! Thank you for the group.
Johanna
I’m planning to do it again!
It will be Dec 14, 2024 at 4 pm
Sign up at this link https://forms.gle/h58omok6QDgRgukd9
And I’ll send out the zoom link to attend.
Ancestral Ties and Past lives utilizes my skills and background in intuitive arts: tarot, astrology, palmistry and past life readings; as well as my psychotherapy background in creative arts therapies and family systems; as my creative work as an artist and writer.
I look forward to connecting with you!
Best,
Mera
