Honoring Queer Ancestors

Ben Stimpson, author of “Ancestral Whispers: A Guide to Building Ancestral Veneration Practices,” joins host Julian Crosson-Hill on the Queer Spirituality podcast. They discuss the importance of queer spirituality and the role of ancestors in our lives. Ben shares his personal spiritual journey and how it led him to explore ancestral veneration. He explains that ancestral work is about unlocking our vastness and connecting with our higher selves through our queerness. Ben also emphasizes the need to expand our definition of ancestors beyond blood relatives and embrace the idea of affinity ancestors and conceptual ancestors. He highlights the healing and empowerment that can come from working with our ancestors and encourages listeners to write their own stories and connect with their ancestral lineage.

Key Points:

• Queer spirituality is about unlocking our vastness and connecting with our higher selves through our queerness.
• Ancestral work is not limited to blood relatives; it can include affinity ancestors and conceptual ancestors.
• Ancestor veneration is a way to heal and empower ourselves by connecting with our ancestral lineage.
• Spirituality should impact every area of our lives, not just during religious rituals or ceremonies.
• Writing our own stories and connecting with our ancestral lineage can bring healing and empowerment.

Quotes:

“Queer spirituality is the idea of unlocking my vastness by unzipping, by taking down constructs, by moving and experimenting with parts of myself in this liminal space of temporal reality that we exist in right now.” – Ben Stimpson

“Ancestor veneration can give us the tools to begin to heal those relationships of those individuals who are dead. They’re dead. The relationship changes. We don’t need to put up with their bullshit as much anymore.” – Ben Stimpson

“Ancestor work is about relationship and coming back to oneself.” – Ben Stimpson

Resources:

Ben’s Website
Ben’s Facebook
Ben Stimpson – YouTube