Book Review | Healing Ancestral Karma

I most definitely took me about a year to read this book. I am no slow reader, I simply put this book down in the middle of reading it and I happened to pick it back up a couple of weeks ago. I guess it was a way for my ancestors to remind me to reconnect with them. I originally started reading this book with a friend. We basically had a book club between the both of us. I guess as the friendship dwindled, so did the completion of the book.

All of that is neither here nor there. This book is phenomenal.

I had wanted to get into ancestral veneration for a while and this book was the perfect introduction to it. Dr. Steven D. Farmer does an excellent job at providing the information and laying the foundation to heal your ancestral karma. There are two parts to this book- Part 1: Getting Acquainted with the Ancestors and Part 2: Making Contact with the Ancestors.

In the first part, he explains what ancestors are and who would be considered your ancestor(s). The second part dives deeper into how to communicate and contact the ancestors. He really breaks this down and what I really like about this book is that it is loaded with exercises to do through out.

With these exercises, some written, some physical, it really caused me to see certain patterns in my family, become less afraid of contacting my ancestors, and allowed me to incorporate practices that others from all over the world. That is another thing that I liked about this book, no matter what your ethnic background is, you can find an exercise that resonates with you. There are a plethora of exercises to choose from. I didn't do all of them (either because I didn't resonate with it, it was non applicable, or I have already done something similar) but it does provide multiple options to contact your ancestors.

Oh, and you don't have to just get in touch with your personal & familial ancestors. You can use the exercises to contact "ancestors of the land", spirit guides, and "Old Ones".

I would take this book as something to help you along your quest to make amends with the ancestors, correct and heal familial patterns, &/or understand yourself though those who came before you. I have and will continue to implement things that I have practiced and learned in this book in my contact with the spirits.

Although this book provided an abundance of information, I noticed that I tended to meditate on what I read quite often. Reading Farmer's personal stories or stories that he shared from his clients, it caused me to reflect on my own stories or the stories of members of my living family members.

Even while I was finishing up the book, I could feel my ancestors, my spirit guides, and my "Old One(s)" tugging at my spirit, wanting to connect with me. I could tell that they encouraged me to finish reading the book in order for me to receive the messages that I needed from them. I have yet to dive fully back in it, but the intention is there and the need to hear from my ancestors has not faded.

All in all, I would say that if you are taking steps or wish to take steps towards "freeing yourself from unhealthy family patterns", definitely give this book a read and take your time while reading it. Meditate on the words, participate in the recommended outlined exercises, and write everything down!