Everything Under the Moon

I am trying to refine some of my beliefs about reincarnation..In one way I think of my heritage as strictly biology..where my family happened to come from in this particular lifetime. I think that I could have been anything in former lives and the cumulation of those experiences make up my soul..who I really am. Hopefully that makes sense...I'm rotten at explaining my thoughts My experience in this life as a Norwegian/Welsh/ German American is only a small part of what I'm made of is another way of putting it) I believe I was a French woman in one lifetime and a British woman in another, but in another I could have been a male African warrior...or maybe for some reason I couldn't have been...I just wonder....
What are your thoughts on this and what role does your heritage play in your spirituality and your thoughts about reincarnation if it is part of your belief system? This is a question I am interested in for everyone, but Especially if you are an American mutt?

"what role does your heritage play in your spirituality"

it doesnt.theres also nothing wrong with being a mutt, i personally dont think where a person comes from matters but where they are now.

re-incarnation is a wierd subject.but i dont know i dont think everybody goes through several incarnations. i guess we'll find out eventually

Here's my thoughts on reincarnation, and as with all my beliefs they're always growing LOL!

Reincarnation of the body: Typically I don't really include this when I think about reincarnation, but you brought up biology and lineage so I thought I would, too.

Go back in time, all the way to the beginning of life on earth. There was one cell, or several types. One of these cells was the strongest, 'ate' the rest and began dividing. One cell became two, two became four, etc. Then it got more complicated, and these clusters divided and evolved to develop and specialize in the different lifeforms and processes we've come to know and understand. Ie - the circle of life. (I'll come back to that).

Now, the first humans. When two people (bears, tigers, fish) mate and conceive the first step comes from two cells: one from mom, one from dad. These start dividing the same way as that original cell, and poof! There's a new person who is really just an extension of the first. This person lives and dies, is buried in the earth and reenters the circle of life: decomposes, fertilizes the plants, plants energy is used to strengthen life so more can be made.

So, reincarnation of the body is just the use and reuse of cellular energy, though I might have some terms messed up. I'm an engineer not a biologist

Reincarnation of the soul: We are all connected, as I established before, biologically. But we are also connected spiritually. There is an energy that surrounds us all and flows through us, connecting us. This is what we use for magic and all those things that science and Christianity have a hard time explaining. But science has one thing right: Energy can neither be made nor destroyed. So, when we are born some of this energy is used to create our life. Not just the cellular processes, but our awareness, talents, personality. As we go through life we learn a bunch of stuff which strengthens (hopefully) that energy. When we die, where does that energy go? Back into the cycle. That energy that was your soul doesn't just dissipate, and it doesn't go to heaven or hell. That would imply that energy is constantly being taken from the earth and 'stored' somewhere, in a manner of speaking. No, it's needed to keep life going so it reenters the flow to be used again and again.

After death the soul doesn't automatically go back into a new body. It has time to go over what it has learned from the life it just ended and what it went through before. Some traditions call this the 'Summerlands', the place where your soul is at rest until needed again. When it is needed, it is used to 'power' the new body. The lessons learned are not entirely forgotten, but the ways to access them are. So we learn anew, but hopefully we can access things a little easier because we find them 'familiar' somehow. This makes it easier to learn even more, and more again until we've learned all the lessons there are to learn. I have no idea what happens then, because I personally don't think there is a way to learn everything But I'll give it a shot!

I hope that helped and wasn't just a pointless rant because I haven't had enough coffee yet...

But science has one thing right: Energy can neither be made nor destroyed. So, when we are born some of this energy is used to create our life. Not just the cellular processes, but our awareness, talents, personality. As we go through life we learn a bunch of stuff which strengthens (hopefully) that energy. When we die, where does that energy go? Back into the cycle. That energy that was your soul doesn't just dissipate, and it doesn't go to heaven or hell. That would imply that energy is constantly being taken from the earth and 'stored' somewhere, in a manner of speaking. No, it's needed to keep life going so it reenters the flow to be used again and again.

Isn't this a perfect description of the symbolism of the cauldron?
I think you did just fine, Sercee. [/quote]

Thank you Sercee...I agree with you totally. I really love how you pointed out that everything is reincarnated in a sense..even our bodies. That is one reason I feel so strongly that reincarnation is true- we see it in nature every day- it's just too bad that we human beings see ourselves so far apart from nature.
I know that some people believe that we are reincarnated in groups of people...some believe within a clan of people, so heritage would mean a lot to them.. I am very interested in my heritage..I just don't connect spiritually with the scandinavian Gods and Goddesses. Another thing I have been thinking about lately is that I have come across internet places where Europeans make fun of Americans for searching out their roots. They were laughing about people who say they are 1/4 Irish- for some reason that was really funny to them. Anyway, it just got me thinking about why is it so important to so many of us? I think there must be something about our ancesteral backgrounds that is important to us spiritually, not just biologically..when I say us I mean humankind, not just Americans. I am just trying to work out what it is.

Well there might be a few reasons for that, Sofia.

First of all, there's family pride. Even though our souls may or may not be reincarnated from within our ancestry (I don't think we are at all... that defeats the idea of learning all the lessons) we still have significant imprinting both biologically and mentally from our ancestors. Look at hair color, ear shape, heart disease, muscle structure. Our souls come into this family to learn and are given gifts from the lineage of the family. Some of these gifts are absolutely beautiful and heroic, others are not so much. So when we say we are proud to be (for example) 1/4 irish, it's because we're proud that we received the gifts associated with that heritage and ancestry.

The Europeans might not see it because they are still there, but in north america we're all new countries so our roots are still important in defining us and our society.

I'm Northern European, part Scot part Balt, all mutt.lol. No one should be laughing at you for seeking out your ancestry, least of all us. It's not so clear cut here either. I'm Scots by nationality[ father] and birth, but my mother's family are the true Scots [ i.e. from Argyllshire, of Irish descent]as the Scots were Irish settlers originally. My grandfather was Lithuanian, so my mother isn't pure bred either. What am I,the sum of fractions?It shouldn't matter, we are all that went before and more, it's interesting to discover why you are drawn to certain beliefs and ideals - often those of previous bloodline descent, but as Sobek says - it's who you are now that matters most. I don't like it when purity of bloodline or Race is presented as superiority, it's dangerous ground. Explore your ancestry by all means, I loved researching mine, if someone laughs, tell them none of us are as 'pure' in bloodline as we'd perhaps like to think. I think it's healthy to be interested,as long as it's not obsessive. [Well done on the interpretation of reincarnation Sercee, very eloquent, as usual.] Have you checked out your Celtic heritage? maybe your ancestry there will draw you, Welsh history and culture is amazing. Be proud of all your ancestry, the blending makes you unique.

How much does my heritage effect my practice?
Not much. The Gods I work with seem to come from all over the map, from ancient Greek to a Loa or two. In fact, the gods of my blood borne heritage seem to contact me the *least*.Though I try to be culturaly specific when working with Gods.

I worship my Gods in a more ADF way, and magic I tend to use witchcraft and folk magic. I do qualify as Indo-European, and wierd.

Thanks, Eretik

I worship my Gods in a more ADF way, and magic I tend to use witchcraft and folk magic. I do qualify as Indo-European, and wierd.

Jcrowfoot, pretty much all folk magic and witchcraft stem from some kind of worship (which deity/pantheon depends on the region the practice is drawn from). If you go way back, before we could read and write, when we just started to notice the awesome forces and events of nature around us then you'll see that we practiced 'sympathetic magic'; making a sculpture of a bison and 'killing' it before a hunt, for example, to bring about good luck in the hunt by honoring the forces who were in charge of it. Basically, every magic we do goes back to an observation about something in nature.

I just notice every now and then that we've separated the divine from our traditions and magic even though our worship and use of both evolved together. I don't think that one needs to worship a god/ess every time they cast a minor spell or use an herb in their kitchen, but it's good to keep in mind the 'why'.

And judging from some of the people I've been meeting lately, I'd say you're pretty normal LOL

Indeed, in the biological sense I too come to believe in "reincarnation" but spiritually wise, I completely reject the idea. In fact this biological idea should on its own have its unique term of "reincarnation" as this term should not, in my view, be applied in the biological sense.

That's fair. Personally I believe fully in reincarnation in both senses (obviously) and I believe that both are equally important for nourishing life and energy on earth. So I'll keep them together

I have no doubt to reincarnation but I think it is random and all over and even spands beyond this world.

Of what i know there are 2 theories about "life after the death". The first one is that of the reincarnation - you soul si transmited to another being (not necesarlly of this realm beacause there are many realm- am am sure you know that). The other principle is that is you become an entity...A soul wondering on this realm...Practicly your astral body remains intact. That is what i know

Hi. I am new here. I hope no one minds if I put my two cents in on this topic. I am a firm beliver in reincarnation. I feel that there is a lot of proof of it, both in my life, and in the reading that I have done on the subject. I personaly have had a few expariances that had forced me to believe Tthat I have lived before, and therefore, I also feel that I could leve on the plane of existance again.

I believe in reincarnation. I don't necessarily believe that all souls are reincarnated into another body, but I do believe that many have. I think that possibly what we are attracted to in this life has to do with what we were or wanted to be in another life.