The Ancestor

The rule

You may have learned that what you leave behind has to be big enough to matter, a title, an achievement, something with your name on it.

Traditionally echoed in Egúngún, the Yoruba masquerade in which the ancestors return to walk among the living, and in the Egyptian belief that to speak the name of the dead is to let them live again.

For you

Who has felt more like themselves because of time spent with you?

Area of life: Home, family and roots
Systems behind it: Colonialism and white supremacy, Family and inheritance

Writing · 1

Essay8 Jul 2025Home and rootsA train from London to Essex, a hollow heart, and the difference between where you live and where you come from.→

Nearby on the map

Also in Home, family and roots

The version of you that's still waiting

No. 39

The Tender One

Softness and tenderness

This page holds the card’s rule and question. The physical deck and companion booklet go much deeper: the full meaning of The Ancestor, a divination meaning, a journal prompt and a somatic practice. About the deck.

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