Simple thoughts on world religions - part 3 (psychic aspects of ancestor worship)

When living your life you cannot help but wonder about people and the way they live their lives. The way I work in my practice will always be a reflection of everything I have learnt throughout the years. For more information: www.foetoejepi.nl
Through technological developments we now have internet. We can hardly imagine a world without that anymore. Meeting people from other cultures has become very simple and as it is, trying to understand them usually involves a bit of study into their background.
Because religion is such an important part of every community I made an effort trying to understand a number of what we call "world religions". I did so by working through a course offered by the SNU (Spiritualist National Union).

ASPECTS OF ANCESTOR WORSHIP.

DEFINITION OF "ANCESTOR WORSHIP"(with thanks to Google).
Ancestor worship is based on the belief that the spirits of the dead continue to dwell in the natural world and have the power to influence the fortune and fate of the living. Basically, ancestor worship seems to stem from two principle ideas: 
1: "those who have gone before" have a continual and beneficent interest in the affairs of the living
2: (more widespread) uneasiness, fear of the dead, with practices to placate them. The later ideas more often serve as a form of dispensing emotions than of worship.

ANCESTOR WORSHIP THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
Ancestor worship was a minor cult among the Romans. The practice reached its highest elaboration in W. Africa and in the ancient Chinese veneration of ancestors. It is also well developed in the Japanese cult and among the peoples of Melanesia. From all different locations it was taken to the New World (what is known now as the North American continent) and South America where it intertwined with the existing forms of worship.

THE FOUNDATION OF ANCESTOR WORSHIP.
Ancestor worship is founded on the belief that the dead live on and are able to influence the lives of later generations. These ancestors can assert their powers by blessing or cursing, and their worship is inspired by both respect and fear. The ancestor cult consists of praying, presenting gifts, and making offerings. In some cultures, people try to get their ancestors' advice through oracles before making important decisions. 

THE INFLUENCE OF ANCESTORS.



In ancient China and Egypt, the influence of ancestors was very great. They were buried in expensive graves and in Egypt a permanent death cult was instituted. It was generally believed that lack of veneration would cause the deceased to die a second death, which was an almost unbearable thought for many people. Even today on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia the death cult is very alive. The dead people are honoured and given a place to rest after the family has saved enough money to make the ceremony a big festival for the whole community. This can take months, even years, the bodies being conserved by embalming them.
In nearly every primitive tribal religion of Africa ancestor worship is common practice. The ancestors of the tribe are honoured as spirits who preserve the moral standards of tribal life. They are also regarded as the intermediaries between the living and the divine powers. And the ancestor spirits play an important role in the initiation rites. Among some west-African peoples the belief is current that the ancestors reincarnate in their descendants. In Japan, ancestors were worshipped until 1945. At that time, the Japanese Emperor disclaimed any form of divine ancestry and polytheistic ancestor worship was no longer permitted.

THE PSYCHIC ASPECTS OF ANCIENT WORSHIP.
When speaking about the psychic aspects of ancient worship we are speaking about the clairvoyant and clairaudient experiences some people had from the beginning of time, a “gift from the Gods” as Homer said. In all communities there were seers and soothsayers, very important, because through their dreams, visions and utterances they could predict all kinds of things important for the future like weather forecasts (for agricultural matters), political strategy which could vary from the best time to go to war to who was to be the next in line for an important job.
Even in the older days, like it is now, it was recognised that the psychic faculty tends to be inherited. Various practices were adopted to induce clairvoyance or trance. For example the seer might gaze into water or a crystal or a polished metal surface. In several cultures the breastplate of the high priest’s garment was decorated with semi-precious stones and appears to have been used for divination. The stones were very important because they were the representation of something powerful. The stones themselves had special power depending on their colour and shape and I found a book where it says that the high priest of the Hebrews had 12 stones on his breastplate representing the 12 sons of Jacob and the twelve tribes of the people of Israel. People in ancient times were aware that dying people frequently become clairvoyant and can foretell the future. On their deathbed people would give blessings but also utter prophetic words.