The Blood Echo | Ancestral Veneration

The Gnosis of the Lineage

Listen close, sugar: You are never walkin' alone. Behind you stands a line of spirits stretchin' back to the very first spark of life. Some were saints, some were scoundrels, but all of 'em are your kin. Working with the ancestors is about wakin' up that **DNA memory** and askin' for the strength that’s already inside your bones.

The Ancestral Altar (The Cooling Spot)

An ancestor altar don't need to be fancy. It needs to be **clean** and it needs to be **quiet**. Traditionally, we keep it separate from our "working" altars because the dead don't always need to be in the middle of your spells.

The Glass of Water: A clean glass of cool water, changed daily. It’s a portal and a refreshment. It keeps their spirits "cool" so they don't get restless or heated.
The White Candle: To give them light to find you.
The Photos: If you have 'em, put 'em up. If you don't, a bowl of dirt from your home soil will represent the collective line just fine.

Feeding the Roots

When you eat, they eat. Every now and then, set aside a small plate of what you’re havin' (before you take a bite, darling—give 'em the best part). No salt is the old way, but if Grandpa loved his salt, you give it to him. Talk to 'em like they’re sittin' right there, because in the spirit, they are.

“My great-granny used to say the dead are only as far away as your own shadow. If you want 'em to speak, you gotta be quiet enough to hear the wind move through the leaves. They ain't gone; they just changed their clothes from flesh to light.”
— The Rootmother’s Journal

The Unknown Dead

For those of us whose lineages were broken by the Middle Passage or the storms of history, we honor the **Unknown Ancestors**. Those whose names were stolen but whose blood still flows. We call to them by their traits: *The Great Weaver, The Strong Farmer, The Healer of the Woods.* They know who they are, and they know you're theirs.