This past month we have been focusing on the connection we have to our mothers, grandmothers, and feminine ancestors that have walked this Earth prior to us. Not only are we biologically connected to the women that gave birth to us, but we are also spiritually connected to them. We are connected to their powers, their sorrows, their life experiences and a lot more.
Why is it important to know this and connect with them?
Well, the more we learn about our history and ancestry, the more we know ourselves. How much of your mom do you see in you? And don’t take it as something negative, this is a gift, power, and ability we have to learn, heal and grow.
We get a lot of things from our mommas. Our attitude, our preferences, our observations and even some of our opinions can come from our mothers.
Of course, that’s a whole lot of nature and nurture involved in the making of your uniqueness. But outside of personality traits and attitudes that we may adopt from our mothers, we get a lot of it genetically. It’s in the DNA.
We get almost all of our mitochondrial DNA solely from our mothers. What is mitochondrial DNA? Well, if you remember from biology class, mitochondria are organelles in the cell that perform a super important job. They are the energy-producing factories of the cell, without them a cell would not be able to generate energy from food. Whether you are male or female, the Mitochondrial DNA is only inherited from your mother and the structure of it, is not like the double helix DNA shape we are familiar with that we get from both parents, it is actually separate from it.
Although males also get the mtDNA from their mothers, they cannot pass it down to their children. The male sperm has its own mitochondria DNA that powers the journey from the vagina to the egg in the ovaries but once they reach the ovum, the male mitochondria DNA exhausts and dies. Maybe that’s why men get tired once they cum….?
What is even more fascinating is that it traced back to more than 200,000 years ago to a woman in Africa who scientist call “Mitochondrial Eve.” So this DNA has been passed down from mother to child...and so on until this present day.
But if you think about it, it would make sense that we are more our mother. We lived inside of her. Her DNA literally provides us with the building blocks to have a functioning body. That mtDNA is transmitted through the female egg and is “nonrecombinant” this means it does not combine with any other DNA.
So when it's passed down it is virtually unchanged and untouched through the direct maternal line over generations. As women, we are literally walking around with raw ancestral mtDNA; The Eve Gene.
Some biologists claim that ages ago the mitochondrion was a free-living organism with its own DNA and had it’s own way of generating energy. The mtDNA also mutates a very slow pace which means it is almost identical to the mtDNA of “Mitochondrial Eve.” That, my loves, sounds like the scientific way of explaining the divine feminine energy.
We are all connected, girl! And aside from the obvious biological connection we women have to each other…and our mamas...we truly are connected in a whole another level; a maternal ancestral level. Mandy and I got really excited talking about this because it made it more important to honor and remember the women before us.
They were the healers, the witches, the shamananas, the priestesses, and leaders that reside in our bodies and spirits. Not only do we have to honor them and thank them, but we also have to live the lives they didn’t have the chance to. We have accomplished hella over the past few decades but we still have work to do; inner work and social/cultural healing. We have a boost of energy as women, and we can tune into this energy at any time.
For the deepest spiritual healing, we must work with our ancestors, they know what's up. They have been here before us... and babygirl, they want to guide you and help you. We need them as much as they need us. And we're not only talking about their spirits and ghosts but also referring to the spirit of Mama Nature. Our ancestors reside in everything that is living.
There is a reason why every indigenous culture on earth practices ancestor worship. Why they practice harmony and balance with the ecosystems they shared and consumed.
So once you finish reading this blog post.. Get to know your history and ancestry. Not all of us have the resources or funds to do a genealogy test and ancestry.com is not reliable when it comes to people of color. But there are tons of other resources and ways you can explore your lineage.
Here are some ways to connect ;
Talk to the women in your life and ask them to tell you stories. Ask your Mom, your grandmother, your aunt, or anyone connected to your direct family.
Look up your last name, visit ancestry websites, and do research on your family history.
Look into deep ancestry (this is a pricey way of finding what you have in your DNA)
Simply ask your ancestors to send you signs, to show up in dreams or in meditation.
Honor them, create ceremonies and rituals for them, and make some space for an altar.
Honoring and creating an altar is what I have recently done. I have been saying my late grandmother’s name out loud and have thanked her for everything. I have asked her to send me signs in my dreams and meditations and trust me, she has answered.
I have been asking my mama to tell me stories about her and my grandmother, so if I ever have a daughter I can pass them down. I have asked my mama about her struggles as a teenager, her heart breaks as an adult, her passions and failures. Coming to an understanding of my mother’s history has helped me connect more to myself and how I want to live the life she never could due to cultural restraints and poverty.
So we invite you to tune into this Eve Gene we all have and make connections with realest ones; our maternal ancestors.
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