Writing the Ancestors
language as a doorway, a ceremony, a returning + a gift
Dear One,
Each November, I’ve gathered a circle — a constellation of souls — to write with the ancestors. At first, it was a workshop called Writing the Ancestors. Later, it became Call & Response.
It began after a series of talks I gave about my poetry collection, Resurrecting the Bones. Each time, something happened. A stillness, a shimmer in the room. Listeners leaned forward. People whispered names, remembered stories. It was as if the air itself thickened with memory.
From those gatherings, the course was born. Part as instruction, but mostly as invitation. An invitation to listen. To write not about the ancestors but with them. To let language become a doorway, a ceremony, a returning.
As always with my offerings, this was never about perfection or polish. It was and is about presence. Presence of the self, the soul, the unknown.
How do we empty ourselves enough to hear from Spirit — from the bones, from the land, from what still hums beneath the surface of our days? How do we trust that the stories waiting to be told already live inside us, just beyond the noise? How do we choose to respond to the call?
Some will say this isn’t writing. That it doesn’t speak to skill. But I say, what could be more skillful than surrender? What could be more precise than listening so deeply that the page begins to breathe?
This November, I’m not offering the live series. I’m letting the silence do its work within me over the next couple of months. But if you feel called, the course still lives in its recorded form. You can download the videos and workbook and move through them at your own pace, in your own ritual of remembering, of seeking, of writing.
Because the ancestors are never far.
They are in the light between words. They are in the breath that steadies you before you begin. They are in the tremor of recognition when something you’ve written feels like it came from somewhere older than you. (Ever have that feeling?!)
They are waiting, still —
for your response.
Writing in Spirit,
Jacinta
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P. S. A November Offering
For this month only, I’m offering Call & Response: Writing to Connect with Self, Ancestors, and Spirit — my self-paced course with videos and a full workbook — at a special November price. Normally $298, it’s available now for $88 through November 30.
→ [Access the course here]
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For those of you who are paid subscribers, I’ve included a writing prompt and a simple ritual below to help you begin or continue your own call and response.