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.”

Botanical garden, Forth Worth, Texas.

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.

Rakotz Brücke, Germany. Image courtesy of Amazing Places on Earth.

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,

Jamie

Featured Image Credit: Ancient olive tree (photo from Medilico’s Olive Facts)