Communing with the Ancestors: Your Spirit Guides, Bloodline Allies, and the Cycle of Reincarnation

by Raven Grimassi

Explore the realm of the ancestors with author and Pagan scholar Raven Grimassi.  In this fascinating and far-ranging guide, you will learn practices and rituals both ancient and new for communing with the ancestors,

  How to build shrines and altars and make offers.  Where to find and work with sacred sites, power places, and special portals to the ancients.  Guided imagery that will take you into the “Cavern of the Ancestors,” the spiritual corridor where the ancestors can be directly approached.  How to access the Spirit-Rider, an ancestor that can travel between the realms of mortals and ancients.  How to see and understand the restless dead who remain bound to the Earth realms.  The role of reincarnation in the soul’s relationship to ancestral lineage.  Plus some of the extraordinary folklore, legend, and superstition surrounding the topic.

Genres: Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Spirituality, Magick, Paganism, Religion

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2016

About the author

Raven Grimassi was an American author of over 20 books, and a scholar of paganism with over 40 years of research and study in the genre of Wicca, Stregheria, witchcraft and neo-paganism.

Reviews

[Dee Eisel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I slogged through this, every time I walked away thinking "Maybe I'm just in a bad mood" and every time I came back to it finding out "No, this really isn't the book for me." And maybe it is for someone, but it's not mine. I have to say I'm very disappointed.

The vast majority of this book is a mishmash of different beliefs from radically different cultures mixed together in a way that would make a contestant on "America's Worst Cooks" wince. I understand completely the value of syncretism - my chosen pantheon is a shining example of it - but this isn't like, say, taking Brighid and turning her into Saint Brighid, even. This is Akashic records and Judaism and Hellenic and Native American all mixed in. At one point he mentions Huna and uses "we." Grimassi's fame is as a Strega, an Italian traditional witch. Huna as it's currently, mostly taught to haoles like me is not even Hawaiian.

There are typos and grammatical errors as well, which really irritated me. Weiser needs to step up their game.

The last part finally gets into rituals, but by then it was too late. After multiple misspellings referring to Tolkein's elf "Faanor" (Yes, this is relevant to the Ancestors somehow, and also, FAANOR?!), I was checked out. So sad.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this, but I really didn’t. Generally I find Grimassi has a really approachable tone, and he does, if not overly poetic (which I personally don’t care for), but it felt like he only knew how he did ancestor work and then tried to get too theoretical about it with concepts he didn’t really know much about (which is fine, just don’t include them). This book was too broad, and too vague. As soon as you start referencing “the ancients” without specifying which ones, or answering how you would know what “the ancients” believed is when you loose all credibility. Having a gut feeling in your personal practice of what is correct in the moment is different from knowing something as a fact from the past, no matter how psychic or in touch you think you are.
It’s just not a very good book.

[Jason Slocombe · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so sparse in its referencing and so blunt in its phrasing that I found myself a little irritated. Comments such as “folklorists say” or “the ancients” are so vague and frustrating - yet entirely unsupported- that it makes it difficult to take much of what the author writes seriously.

The book is two thirds hodge-podge afterlife philosophy, pieced together and illustrated with heavy discussions (again, largely without references) of cultural other systems (such as the “Huna” system, though often the culture is not even mentioned and I was only able to distinguish the source material due to personal familiarity with it), and one part rituals based off the previously discussed personal philosophy of the author. I wanted to like this book but by the ritual section I was turned off.

The rituals seem superficial, grounded in a construct parsed together from systems which would offer more depth had they been explored as an entity on their own. Only one of them struck me as worth trying but it seems more like a personal therapy session than magic with any guts.

I wouldn’t call it a bad book but I wouldn’t recommend it either. I just see it as being the sort of text which leads people down the road of thinking they know anything about history without having to actually learn about history.

[Aitziber Madinabeitia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ni me gusta que me digan lo que tengo que creer y experimentar... Grimassi tiene su realidad y no es la mia

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great rituals included, but the writing itself was hard to follow. The organization of the book was strange, but the information was good.

[AJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF halfway through.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. The writing style flows well and it's paced decently (though constantly prefacing everything with "we'll get to that later" got really annoying very fast). The fact of the matter is, though, that he makes broad, sweeping claims with nothing to back them up. There are no sources cited in this book. Some things (like "ancestor worship is fairly universal") don't need specific sources if it's common enough knowledge, but most of this book really, really needed it. His forward, where he claims he was really just a conduit for The Ancestors™ to write this book on his behalf, feels so incredibly arrogant when he can't (or simply won't) back up any of it with actual sources. I find it difficult to trust a self-proclaimed voice of authority who just goes off and thinks that because he's the one who said it, his readers have to then believe it.

There were also too many subtle (but not as subtle as he seemed to think) inclusions of Christian thinking in a book clearly catered to non-Christian audiences. I would not have picked this up if I had thought for one moment that monotheistic thinking would be included. It's just not compatible with the ideas he was trying to discuss, and I don't know why he thought including it anyway was a good idea.

I also personally got annoyed that there was supposedly an entire chapter dedicated to past lives, but all he actually said was "Don't worry about it, it only matters if you're carrying trauma." So...what if you are? What if you just want to find out more? I don't personally believe that past-life memories come back to you for no reason in the way that Grimassi seems to believe. But to that end, why even include it in your book if you're going to just sweep it under the rug? The entire rest of the chapter was completely unrelated, and it annoyed me that he included it for apparently the sake of misleading the reader. Don't say you'll talk about something if you literally do not talk about it. I don't know how much more basic you can get in the "how to write a book" guide.

Some of the general ideas were alright, and I could accept his notion that reincarnation continues until one feels "complete," in a sense, before moving on to be among the Ancestors, and that one chooses when and if to return to this plane of existence. Obviously claims like that can't have sources. But those were basic and generally sequestered to the beginning of the book. I almost gave this book 3 stars because those basics have given me more to research, but I was so vastly disappointed by the clear lack of effort that I can't bring myself to bump this book up any higher.

[Elena Rego · Rating 2 out of 5]

It pained me to give this book such a low rating. I had been looking forward to reading his take on this for a while.

But this book suffers from a over abundance of details pulled from however many different cultures with no referencing whatsoever.

It reads as if he didn't quite have a clear through line on what he wanted to say, so he layered in as much information as he could from various cultures and traditions that he doesn't name, save for Hawaiian and Scandinavian in the beginning, along with his own vision and information he intuited or was guided to by his own ancestors.

Often I found myself stopping and wondering exactly where we were going.

There are other books that address working with and connecting to ancestors in a much clearer manner. I'd recommend looking elsewhere.

[Natasha 4E · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Grimassi has a beautiful writing style, and very interesting ideas, he is sometimes hard to follow. I loved all the mythological parts and especially the part about snakes as it ties in quite nicely with other books I've recently read. I liked the exercises in the last chapter, but more practical applications would have been appreciated. I feel that if they had been woven into the theoretical part, his ideas would have been easier to understand. Still, a very useful book that I will definitely revisit.

[Ophelia MJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

While i really enjoyed this book and feel like I learned a lot, I do feel as if some of this went over my head. I liked how this was more learning and stories. So many books about ancestors and deities are about ritual and spells. This had a chapter dedicated to that at the end, but was more so about ancestors then anything. I really enjoyed that. Most books list the rituals just the how. Not why we honor them.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted something a little different from this book I think. I found that it jumped around in theories and traditions a bit too much and did not ring true for me - although did make me think about my own theories and thoughts on these issues. I also liked the distinction between "ancestor" and "the dead". I definitely got something for the process of reading this book.

[Megan Dessanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Philosophical in Nature

If you're looking for a how to on how to commune with your ancestors through a specific religion or spirituality, look elsewhere. This book is designed for people who want an all rounded knowledge about what certain cultures believe and act on for their ancestors. Helpful in some aspects, a little far reaching in philosophy in others

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

It was a bit too advanced for me. I do think it will be worth another shot.

[Sylveey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raven Grimassi has written many great books, and out of all I've read, Communing with the Ancestors grabbed my attention the moment I took it out of the envelope. As I read the cover, the words "Bloodline Allies" jumped out at me, and I couldn't wait to open this book and begin a new adventure! As someone who is already communing with my ancestors, I came to understand some things from his perspective that I hadn't understood before. I came to understand that my ancestors need my help as much as I need theirs, and now I understand how to be the one who can calm the storms of the past, and make sure the future is one of liberation and balance. I have learned to be the steward of my lineage.

Those who know me have heard me speak of my Native American blood, and of the tragic things suffered by those from whom I am descended. All of my life, my spirit guide has appeared to me, and is known to me as my grandmother once removed. I've never understood why she would transform from her youthful form into a black panther which emanates a cobalt blue aura. Now, thanks to the writings in this book, I understand.

If you need a deeper understanding of the intricate appropriation that makes you who you were; who you are, and who you may be, this is the book for you. If you can't seem to put your finger on why you feel a certain way at certain times, this is your book. If you feel unsettled, as if something needs to be made right, buy this book! You will find yourself referring back to pages you've already read because the deeper you go, the more you find yourself doing a double take as you grasp the truths presented in these pages. Raven Grimassi doesn't focus on any single lineage. The information in Communing with the Ancestors is universal, and helpful to anyone of any lineage.

Many thanks to T. Thorne Coyle for her part in convincing Raven Grimassi to complete this book. So many questions have been answered for me, and I have no doubt that the same will be true of anyone who reads Communing with the Ancestors. Thank you Raven Grimassi for making the decision to complete this important work. I thank you, and my ancestors thank you!

Dawn Sevier
Senior Publisher - Green Egg Magazine

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was a lot of reading! The forward said it was necessary to read every page. Well, no it wasn't. The meat of the book is in the rituals at the end. So much of the book was spent in an effort to convince that the ancestral current is real, but it's unlikely anyone would pick up this book if they weren't already thinking that. Arguments went from interesting (Huna philosophy) to exceptionally tangential (a chapter on snakes). If another edition is produced, the majority of the book that argues for reincarnation and relationship to ancestors could go into one chapter. The rest of the book could deal with how we may have difficulty relating to those ancestors.
For instance, I would expect that most if not all of the previous 7 generations I've found of my own family would have me turned into the inquisition for my beliefs, so why do I want to have a relationship with such dangerous people/spirits. There needs to be a way to link with ancestors that think the same way as the author and myself, which is entirely missing from the book.
Some of the ceremonies seem like they were plucked from a grimoire with not adaptation of context. At least one uses the words , "I am the lineage holder". Well noone appointed me, and I have some issues with some of my ancestors who were not e best ever. They wouldn't want me holding their lineage and really I'm not sure I want to.
I'm interested in my deep ancestors who liv d with the spirit of the land, not the spirit of Empire and fear. This book left me disappointed.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for understanding some of your deeper urges and motivations to certain projects or passions as a link to your past, especially deep ancestors from long ago, but also those recently passed away. Nice to know they are still around and care about you so much.

[Baroness · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was a lack of connection. Not the page turner I would have liked it to be.

[KarnagesMistress]

I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.