Blog-sister Leigh Gaitskill, through her Not Just Sassy on the Inside blog, shares a wealth of discoveries from her Ancestry DNA test and subsequent sleuthing into her roots.
As Leigh writes, she learned of family tree roots and branches that she’d not known about, and found a fresh beauty in the revelation of just how much more connected we are in ‘the human family’ than we might think.
She writes:
“It’s hard to describe the inner shift it creates to feel I came from people from all walks of life and that they weren’t all poor and scrabbling. I have the qualities of those leaders and movers and shakers in me as well. It makes me feel… different. … I’m so amazed to realize all these connections.”
“To see that I have cousins of various levels by the hundreds of thousands out there … Suddenly it’s so clear that the “one web” isn’t just an amorphous spiritual concept but a physical reality.”

In times of increased divisiveness and shaming-and-blaming — often fueled by inaccurate assumptions — Leigh’s insights remind us that we’re ‘family’ with a whole lot more people, from many more places and lineages, than we’re aware of.
As I shared in an appreciative comment on Leigh’s post, my own ancestral DNA test and research helped to confirm a few oral traditions on the Family Tree, gave context to things that arose intuitively (through ancestral memory, once that link was made), and revealed a few surprises, too.
Exploring our own ancestral byways helps to repair a sense of foundation, rootedness, and fortifying gifts of lineage that can leave us feeling more anchored in times of unmooring chaos and uncertainty.

It may also create a link between interests that we’re drawn to or messages that we receive intuitively, where it turns out there is an ancestral connection that was otherwise unknown.
Best of all, we discover that ‘the human family’ is much more than a nice-sounding cliché.
Thanks again, Leigh, for sharing this dip into your ancestral research and the stories you’ve uncovered so far.
Read Leigh’s full post for ancestor photos and a few more of her ‘aha’ insights here.
Related musings:
Are You a ‘Healer of the Family Tree’?
Ancestral Wisdom and Deep, Deep Roots
Desire Paths and Ancestral Byways
Big Love,
Featured Image Credit: Ancient olive tree (photo from Medilico’s Olive Facts)
October 24, 2017 at 3:39 pm
Good evening 🐞
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October 24, 2017 at 3:49 pm
Hi Jamie, Hope you are well. Thanks for sharing Leigh’s post with your readership. I am taking a similar journey with my genealogy and am fascinated with Leigh’s discoveries.
love, Linda
October 24, 2017 at 4:53 pm
Hey there, Linda. Great to see your fresh musings from your own blog-creation. It’s such a wonderful and amazing journey to delve into the genealogy … enjoy your own sleuthing (the Tree has so many roots and branches that we can sleuth and uncover surprises and new intel for a long, long time!). I’m glad it was timely for me to connect Leigh’s wonderful musing with other blog-sisters and brothers who might also enjoy it. Hope you’re well! xoxo Love Jamie
October 24, 2017 at 3:54 pm
I loved having my Ancestral DNA confirm so many interests and resonances throughout my life. In addition to the extra connections, I also find it fascinating that siblings with the same parents can have widely variant DNA expressions. I’m so curious if I have way more Irish, English and Scandinavian (strong interest in Runes and Vikings) than my brother and sister do. My brother seems to lean much more Eastern European, and my sister seems far more German — in looks and temperament.
Anyway, it’s fascinating to find all the connections through DNA. Throw in past lifetimes, and we really are connected to everyone and everything in so many more ways than platitudes. 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Jamie! Love, Laura
October 24, 2017 at 4:51 pm
Yes! I see that with my immediate family, too – I and my two sisters each pull from a different part of the DNA pool; we look different and have different temperaments, interests, ancestral-line inclinations and ‘pulls’. Wild, isn’t it, Laura? Such a great observation.
I also draw from ancestral wells, including some things that came up and only later were linked with ancestral lines or ‘DNA migration’ pathways. Pretty cool, that … ancestral memory. And ya, throw in soul experience and lineage and it’s even more connected than the bio-lines. 🙂
Thanks as always for stopping by and sharing, Laura. Lots of love, Jamie