If those who you called father or grandfather in this life, have departed from the earthly plane, please remember to simply speak their name(s).
Acknowledgment is an essential act of honoring our ancestors.
Whether it's re-membering those struck from the records, history books, or our deepest cellular memories, this is what I do.
To acknowledge is to integrate, to allow room for that which has been left outside the door of our spiritual, and in some cases, physical beings. This seemingly invisible blueprint runs through our ancestral lines.
We do not always comprehend the impression that our ancestors have left upon us, or if they have been silently cast aside, their imprint lost somewhere in-between, often manifested as unexplained trauma or woundedness.
Of course, not every soul is troubled or a victim. However, within our family and cultural lineages, there are those, reaching back centuries, waiting to be acknowledged, if only briefly, better than being lost in time.
We can learn valuable lessons if we embrace the unknowing that is part of our very essence. My work is not limited to large groups of our society that have been marginalized or recipients of horrific societal crimes. I also focus on individual ancestral healing.
In the Knowing Field, I walk with the ancestors. They accompany us. They are also in all things surrounding us: plants, rocks, and living creatures. It is our choice to hear or not. It remains unseen until viewed through the soul's eyes.
Topics that I have covered in my published work:
19th Century New England County Poor Farms
Poverty and Social Welfare Development
Farming
Indigenous Oppression
Mixed Racial Marriage
Women in the Workplace
Organized Religion and Social Norms
The Irish Famine and Exile
Immigration, Millwork, Corporate Capitalism
Civil War, Post Civil War
Textile Mills (Post Civil War)
Tenements
The Placed Out - Known as Orphan Trains
Music History, Civil War, Post Civil War
More...
Mj Pettengill, Author Etched in Granite Historical Fiction Series Book One The Angels' Lament Book Two Down from the Tree Book Three (Coming Soon)
I only knew one of my grandparents, my mother's mother and she meant a lot to me. They say you never miss what you have never known but this is not true for to know all four grandparents must be highly beneficial in gaining a broader vision of the past , especially as it was experienced first hand by them. The next best thing is, as you suggest, to honour their memory by saying their names .