ANCESTRAL GRIEF – Following in my Great Grandfathers footsteps
For the last 3 months I’ve been in my ancestral homeland – Moldova. My people haven’t been here in 100 years, not since my GG Grandfather & GG Grandmother sent their 4 sons, 1-by-1, to America. The boys never saw their mother or father alive again.
What was it like for my G Grandfather Yosif, a 21 year old boy shipped off to America in 1912?
Headed to a new country, leaving behind every childhood friend and place he’d ever known. To say goodbye and end up in a place where he did not speak the language.
To travel by train and ship for 1 month. To pass by the Statue of Liberty in New York & then by train to Chicago. To live with distant relatives and a “chance at a better life.”
He was the youngest. His 3 brothers had gone before him and were scattered across America.
Did it break his heart?
I sit here in Moldova, the time running out on my visa. I have to leave.
In this country I feel a sense of home that I haven’t felt for decades. I’ve made friends who I see every day. Whether beer, wine, wings or laughter.
I desperately want to stay, but there are no options and I must leave.
And it hurts my heart.
Am I re-living Yosif’s footsteps, feeling his pain – Honoring him?
Do I love my lineage and my Great Grandfather this much.
Maybe.
It seems that maybe I’m walking his path. But it seems trite to compare my pain with his. What it must have been like for this young boy, shipped off to never see his homeland or family again. All because many here hated the Jews.
In 2 days I’ll be on a bus to Romania, fortunately I can return in 90 days, and I will. My Great Grandfather Yosif did not have this choice.
For now I am feeling a pain of leaving and honoring the grief.
Jack
If this touches anything for you, please leave your thoughts below. Let’s start a conversation on Ancestral Immigration Trauma & Healing
Jack,
Here are some questions I came up with.
How many constellations have you done to see where your ancestors are with being relocated to the United States? How can I best be a support to all my ancestors? Do my spirit guides have a plan for me as world traveler with Family Constellation Therapy? How has everything I experienced in this life made me a more evolved human being, and how do I achieve the highest transformation? Where is the perfect place for me to reside, or do I remain a perpetual world traveler?
Daniel
Thank you for sharing. I write this comment from my hometown, where I was born and lived for 23 years—feeling a sense of connection which wasn’t felt for a long time. The stories and history bring up different feelings in me, however, the sense of belongingness underneath all these feelings can be felt and is helping me to make a big decision .It makes me think like ,theres something here for me,which may come up…..
Grief is in the field for me too. I wouldn’t have named it as “ancestral” – but it certainly could be. Dishonoring of the feminine. Abuse of women and children. #Patriarchy.
I think it can be BOTH. What I feel is if a client comes to me and they’ve had grief their entire life, or the grief feels TOO BIG, then I think it is probably ancestral or something else. But not necessarily childhood/trauma related.
And yes, the crimes the corrupted masculine has perpetrated against everything are horrific.
Thanks for sharing
Hey Jack, thanks for sharing your story so honestly… I got in touch with the energy of being pushed into the UNKNOWN… The energy I experienced while leaving my parents home after I got married aged 23. I felt nervous but also eager for some new experiences, expecting to reach my full potential. I grew no doubt, I also got deeply scarred and hurt and wounded. At age 50, life brought me back to my parents place and my home city. I now have the pleasure of knowing… known people, known streets, known friends – the beer, the laughter, the pleasure of being myself. And the stability it brings to me, is priceless. I now meet my UNKNOWN with more joy and power.
Wow, that’s really beautiful Meenal. I get what you are saying. I just had a similar experience myself which I’ll share in 2 weeks.
Meeting the unknown with joy and power. That is a good one!!