Ancestors

Discussion about spirit guides, angels, guardian spirits, and the like.
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Yex
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Ancestors

Post by Yex »

Forgive me if there's already a thread for this, but I wanted to start one where we could talk about Ancestors of ours that we feel connected to. It could be a recent ancestor, one that you knew when they were on this earth; but what I find more fascinating are ancestors (especially those of blood relation) that you never knew, but have always felt a strong connection to.

I'll talk about one of my own examples.

The ancestor that I've always felt the deepest connection with is my great-grandfather, Ezra "Edward" J. Sperling. Here he is (the first photo is from 1911, the second probably from the 30s or 40s):

ImageImage

Ezra was a Jew born in the Russian Empire (in modern day Belarus). His family fled the pogroms when when he was young, and settled in Sioux City, Iowa, where he became a writer for the local newspapers. However, when the First World War broke out, he went up to Canada, enlisted in the Jewish Legion of the British Army, and fought on the Ottoman front as an officer. After the war, he settled in the British Mandate of Palestine, where he became director-general of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. At the same time, he became involved with prominent Zionists, and also wrote, under pseudonyms, for English language newspapers. One of his regular columns was called Barrage, which was just a long list of aphorisms/one-liners that make jokes about living in Palestine at that time. He ended up dying when the Zionist terrorist organization Irgun blew up the King David Hotel, where the government worked out of, in 1946.

I feel inexplicably drawn to his character. I'm no Zionist, but the idea of him simultaneously working for the British government and the Jewish independence movement fascinates me, as does his leading a public life in politics, but a private life as a writer and intellectual. He seems like he was a complex person. Another example of this is the fact that while publicly attending Jewish religious services, he was privately an atheist, and none of his children ever went to synagogue, the boys didn't have Bar Mitzvahs, and holy days weren't observed in the home. Yet at the same time, from what I've heard, he was a scholar of religion, and read the Torah, the New Testament, and the Koran with equal interest. He spoke many languages, and translated some works from Russian to English and Hebrew. Despite being a Zionist, he had Arab friends, and I know one story of him saving an Arab's life. In general, I am told, he was a friend to all, and possessed a generous and good natured spirit. Artists and intellectuals passed through his house and asked for his advice. He was remembered fondly by all of his children. In my mind he is almost larger than life, and I wish badly that I could have met him. I think we would have got along, as many of the qualities I heard said of him are true of me: soft-spoken, bookish, intellectual, warm. Since I cannot meet him in the realm of flesh, I honor him specifically by name when I do rituals to the ancestors.

I could list a few other Ancestors that I feel connected to, and I may do so if this thread takes off, but for now, I want to open up discussion to others who may have similar relationships. :flyingwitch:
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Becks
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Re: Ancestors

Post by Becks »

Thank you for introducing me to Ezra-what a special man.
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Seraphin
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Re: Ancestors

Post by Seraphin »

Yes. Thank you for introducing him to us. I don't have a specific ancestor that I feel I'm connected to. Honestly, I'm not aware of my family history. But I do honor and sometimes worship my ancestors specially during Samhain. Though, having come from the Judeo and Kabbalistic variant of neopaganism, the idea of ancestor worship was unfamiliar to me when I first got introduced to it through a group of friends practicing African traditional religions. Nevertheless, I've made it a part of my spiritual practice as well. I felt that there's something significant, beneficial and sacred to it other than the obvious purpose of giving respect to the elders, which is very much a part of my culture.
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Firebird
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Re: Ancestors

Post by Firebird »

Very cool Yex, thanks for posting such a great story.
I generally bunch all ancestors into one large lump. Being adopted leaves my tree a little hard to trace. I have finally found bio mom which did open up to a large reservoir of info on her end as her father was something of a genealogist. He has us traced all the way back to some not so nice Kings of England. However even with this great and exciting information I'm still feeling some disconnect. Like, I really wish one of them would resonate with me. I get curious about the Baylor in my family, apparently my 5th great grandfather founded Baylor university and I only have a wee small desire to travel to Texas to explore this further, but other than the uni...I have no burning desire to go to Texas even though much of my lineage is from there. Makes me wonder why.
The side I really find strength in and honor is my adopted mothers family. Her Grandparents immigrated from Norway in the end of the 1890's. They homesteaded a farm in North Dakota that is still in the family and still being worked. My mothers mom was born on that farm and the first in the America's in 1904. She would tell us so many stories of living on the farm, the one that stands out is when her and her brothers would hide behind the barn when the Calvary passed by with troupes of Natives peoples on their way to the reservation.
I wish I had picked my grandmother's brain for traces of Norse spirituality which must have had some remnants in there. She celebrated Jul... not Christmas. They didn't really talk religion or of spiritual beliefs. She did cook much of the foods from there, fattigmann and lefse being my favorite, and I will be ok if I never see or smell lutefisk ever again! :lol:
Both my grandparents were teachers, my grandmother teaching in a one room schoolhouse for much of her career. They were very big on higher education and my grandfather left a fund for future generations to go to college, that fund lasted about 20 years. Thank you grandpa.
Bb, Firebird
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blue_moon
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Re: Ancestors

Post by blue_moon »

Thank you for sharing yex.
I always find it incredible when people know so much about their ancestors.
Firebird what a beautiful family history! (And how interesting finding biological family having a researched family tree)

My ancestors all fled from their home, my mothers family around WWI came feom lithuania to germany and later in the 1950s from belgium to the united states. My fathers family had to leave their farm in northern bohemia in the end of WWII when the czech military knocked at their door and told them they had to leave.

My Omas hometown is Křenov. She only has very few pictures. They only got to pack one bag and this is one of the pictures she had on her camera

Image

I love this picture. My Oma was always so happy and excited when she told me about the woods and hills just outside her home town. This is a link with pictures of the křenov stone formations. (She's the lady standing in the bottom)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3 ... 141f081817

When they left for Germany my grandmothers was about 23/24 years old. My uncle was still an infant or just born shortly after. Oma never mentioned him. This memory was very painful for her. Together with the rest of her family they landed in east germany close to erfurt. A few years passed. My uncle was sick (he has a short leg), the wall in berlin was built und the russian army atarted putting up fences around their new territory.
Not wanting to be ruled by a communist country my grandparents fled with their little boy. Walking at night and across the fields so they wouldn't be seen they came all the way down here (i live close to Heidelberg) where they started a new life.

My grandfather was in captivity in russia and spain - first he faught for the czechoslovakian army, then for germany). I only know him as a weak old man. The last years of his life he spent in hospitals and/or attached to machines. He died when i was 10. I have all these nice pictures of an old man enjoying his garden and his grand daughter. Wish i knew him better. Oma died in 2002. We turned 20 together in 2000 (she was born February 29th). We were very close. I miss her a lot.
BB

Blue Moon
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