The first time I heard an Irish folk tune, I thought "this is what music is supposed to sound like." The lilt and the cadence touched me. I've felt that must have been an ancestral memory embedded in my DNA.
This one really resonates. I've always felt such a deep connection to the Maritimes in Canada, long before I knew I had a rich ancestral history in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I've spent the last few summers in Prince Edward Island and felt an almost magnetic pull, like I never wanted to leave. I recently discovered that some of my ancestors immigrated to the island from England, I didn't think I has a connection there. Strangely enough, I don't feel this same connection with my Quebec roots. Even though I spent every summer in Montreal as a kid, and my father and last name are both French Canadian, I've always felt like an outsider there. Maybe I need to go back knowing how far back my ancestry goes in Quebec and see if it feels any different this time around.
Thanks for sharing that with Emily. That magnetic pull to certain locations can be strong at times. I had that ‘feeling’ of being at home when I visited Dublin for the first time. It was only later that I discovered long standing family roots there.
I find this more than interesting Paul, as I have experienced it. About 20 years ago, my daughter and I went on a bike ride around Wales, spending just one night at Haverfordwest, where my 2x great grandparents were from. I've often wondered whether the feeling I had there of coming home, was just me projecting my feelings. But it seemed very real to me that this was an important place to me, and though there was nothing about it that particularly appealed to me from a tourism point of view, for many months after returning home, I felt the need to pack up and move there. It felt that this was where I belonged.
Jennifer I felt a similar connection when we entered St Mary’s Church in Haverfordwest on our trip there some years ago. This church was where several of my ancestors were baptised and/or married. St Mary’s is not an exceptionally beautiful church inside but it felt like I belonged there, to sit among the plain wooden pews and touch the stone font and to walk the aisle to the pulpit. My Evans family lived at Fountain Row not far from the church. I have begun a small One Place Study for that here:
I think it's a thing. But I'm really curious how this can be proved one way or another. I'm seeing data on epigenetic studies that suggest that certain types of fear seem to be passed down in mice (and potentially also already quite clear holocaust victim families etc.) Mice that were trained to fear a specific smell had pups who were born to fear a specific smell, for instance. There's a bit of a jump from that to being in love with Ireland, but they just haven't come up with a good mouse test for Ireland yet, IMO.
Thanks Nancy, agree hundred percent with you that at the moment we cannot scientifically prove it conclusively either way. As we discover more and learn more about the human brain, I am sure that more will be revealed over the coming decades. Whether this can be proven for sure is another thing, for the time being its sits on the shelf as a sixth sense.
The ultimate proof of ancestral memory is the near universal human loathing of snakes. Some think that this is a genetic based trait passed down from the earliest days of mammals finally out competing reptiles.
When the family saw Jurassic Park at the theatre release, I might have cheered when T Rex ate the lawyer, but my three elementary school children screamed and ran out of the theatre.
I definitely believe it's real...My father's family suffered a great deal of trauma during WWII (so did my mum's to a lesser extent - her dad collapsed from a major stroke after VE day celebrations). I had grown up hearing the stories from my dad and grandmother - they suffered from severe anxiety for as long as I could remember.
When I found pre-War photos of my dad's family in the early 2000s, it triggered something inside me that took my natural tendency to anxiety to the next level. I saw a counsellor when things became extreme, and he concluded after a few sessions that I was likely suffering from intergenerational trauma. Incidentally, I physically resemble my dad and paternal grandmother - in one photo of the latter from the 1930s, it's uncanny. I wonder if that clear genetic connection is also part of the root of my anxiety. Of course, at least some of it could be my own natural tendency towards anything history related - I've always felt a strong connection to the past.
Unrelated to me personally, but of equal importance - I have seen the effects of intergenerational trauma all around me as a result of the residential school system imposed on the Indigenous population here in Canada, alongside the more general government policies that sought to assimilate rather than acknowledge the forms of government and cultures that already existed. The Reconciliation process here has revealed much that is difficult, but also explains a great deal and makes it clear, at least to me, that trauma can indeed be handed down genetically.
Thank you so much for sharing your own story with me Teresa as well as your life experiences of the school system in Canada. It’s by sharing these examples, however difficult they might be, that can help us to understand more about how we can inherit much more than just physical things from our ancestors.
I believe we do have ancestral memories and that these can also manifest in the professions we choose. I ended up in engineering and have strong technical and construction interests. But while my adopted dad started engineering school before getting drafted, he never finished and didn't really push his profession of mechanic on us. Also, my adopted family didn't really push math or school. I found out as an adult that my mom left high school at 16 and definitely was not technical at all. So where did this engineering mindset come from and even more strange my love of sewers? After testing my DNA I was finally able to figure out my birthfather - his family had people with technical interests/professions, and his great grandfather built a business selling sewer pipe as well as other clay products. I am sure many of my other interests are somehow tied to more of my ancestors. But I also wonder how my life is tied to my adopted family's past as I believe I have been woven into their story as well.
Thanks for sharing your story and your experience with me Pam. We learn both from nature and nurture. We inherit certain characteristics from our DNA but we also learn from our environment and surroundings so you will have definitely inherited certain characteristics from your adopted family.
Yep, absolutely fair point. Snakes and heights don’t bother me at all, but thunder and lightning send me into a cold sweat. Irrational fears are very real.
To the point about ancestral stories… forgive the self promo, but, Projectkin.org had a terrific talk on exactly this point from Rhonda Lauritzen last October (see /specials) and coming up next Thursday is a talk with Jennifer Holik of ancestralsouls you won’t want to miss! (See /events)
I was in a cafe at Euston in London one Saturday morning waiting for the British Library to open and I suddenly realised I felt really at home in that area despite having no links to it. Or so I thought. A few months later I was reading a Tudor ancestor's will - he referred to "my manors of Euston and West Ham".
I have always felt at home in London but just assumed it was because it was - well, London! Now I know I have a great many ancestors who made their home there. How far back can this feeling survive from? I wonder - lots of medieval castles to visit I think.
It happens to so many people and far too often to just be a coincidence. I’m a believer but I fully understand why others don’t believe and West Ham is definitely my Manor!!
When I was a teen, I visited Germany with my family. I was already into genealogy then. When we drove thru southeastern Bavaria with its mountains and incredible painted houses, I felt a deep sense of "being home" the whole time. I knew my great-grandparents were from Bavaria but didn't know where. I have since learned they came from a different part. But I am still waiting to see if further research will show my family came from the southeastern part.
Thanks for sharing your story with me Anne. We don’t always know the answers, they may not be apparent at the time. Further research might well lead you to discover that you do indeed have roots in the area that you travelled through.
Thanks Paul, for bringing this up. I am discovering more and more the "lines" in my family that show strong characteristics. One line (the one I just wrote about for the storytelling challenge: Military Marvel) is what I call my suicide line, because so many of them killed themselves. There is also a gardener line, a traveller line, and so on. The suicide line is fascinating because of repeated trauma, abuse and mental illness. But it is a bit scary too...
Any kind of trauma or inherited trauma is a monumental thing to process and some people are too afraid to look these things in the eye, so they remain locked away forever. The healing process takes lots of forms and each of us has to find our own way there.
I've written about this already. During my time in New York City, I lived very close to where my ancestors lived a few hundred years earlier. This involved ancestors on both my paternal and maternal sides, separated by about 100 years. I believe they speak to us in ways we don't understand.
I believe in intergenerational connections. I had always been fascinated by Wales. I knew one of my grandfathers came "from Wales," although all my grandparents were dead before I was born and no one knew exactly where he was born and raised. I finally went there for a family holiday in my 40s and on a hunch, stayed in North Wales. I had a strong reaction to one area, and that led directly to my first novel series. I felt like I was having visions as I wrote, like I was being driven to show the daily life of the Welsh prior to the 1282 invasion, even though evidence is scarce. Last year I drove along the north Wales coast again and felt that same strong feeling of peace and belonging.
Thanks for sharing those experiences with me, Marie. It’s so hard to put that feeling into words when you encounter it. It tugs at something deep inside you for reasons you can’t quite explain, almost like an invisible force gently drawing you toward a place, a moment, or a memory.
When I see this sort of question, it always makes me think of NZ longfin eels which no doubt sounds bizarre BUT ... NZ longfin eels are endemic to New Zealand. They start their life near Tonga. After their parents mate, the resulting eggs are left floating in the sea somewhere near Tonga. When the elvers emerge, how do they know to swim all the way to the rivers and lakes of New Zealand? And when they get towards the end of their life, how do they know to swim 5000km back to the Tonga Trench to mate and then die? . Clearly there is some sort of intergenerational message going on here.
That’s incredible Jane. There must be something far more powerful than the human brain can understand going on here. Which also brings me back to all the stories I have heard before about humans. One day we will be able to unlock all the answers
It's very real, very true and certainly feels magical, emotion, weird or even scary. But it is based in science, quantum mechanics, physics, cognitive psychology and more. I offer a presentation called "Ancestors Calling: Science, Synchronicity and Dources" that offers information on how our brains, DNA and a variety of cognitive cues foster these incredible situations. AND check out Henry "Hank" Jones' books, "Psychic Roots" and "More Psychic Roots" for some great stories!
Thanks so much for this reply Judy, I really appreciate you sharing it.
I agree there’s something very real in these experiences, especially in how they’re felt, and your point about links to psychology, the brain, and even broader science is really compelling.
I’ll definitely check out the books you mentioned, thanks again for such a thoughtful and generous response.
The first time I heard an Irish folk tune, I thought "this is what music is supposed to sound like." The lilt and the cadence touched me. I've felt that must have been an ancestral memory embedded in my DNA.
This one really resonates. I've always felt such a deep connection to the Maritimes in Canada, long before I knew I had a rich ancestral history in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I've spent the last few summers in Prince Edward Island and felt an almost magnetic pull, like I never wanted to leave. I recently discovered that some of my ancestors immigrated to the island from England, I didn't think I has a connection there. Strangely enough, I don't feel this same connection with my Quebec roots. Even though I spent every summer in Montreal as a kid, and my father and last name are both French Canadian, I've always felt like an outsider there. Maybe I need to go back knowing how far back my ancestry goes in Quebec and see if it feels any different this time around.
Thanks for sharing that with Emily. That magnetic pull to certain locations can be strong at times. I had that ‘feeling’ of being at home when I visited Dublin for the first time. It was only later that I discovered long standing family roots there.
I find this more than interesting Paul, as I have experienced it. About 20 years ago, my daughter and I went on a bike ride around Wales, spending just one night at Haverfordwest, where my 2x great grandparents were from. I've often wondered whether the feeling I had there of coming home, was just me projecting my feelings. But it seemed very real to me that this was an important place to me, and though there was nothing about it that particularly appealed to me from a tourism point of view, for many months after returning home, I felt the need to pack up and move there. It felt that this was where I belonged.
I do really believe that there is something in this @Jennifer Jones
Jennifer I felt a similar connection when we entered St Mary’s Church in Haverfordwest on our trip there some years ago. This church was where several of my ancestors were baptised and/or married. St Mary’s is not an exceptionally beautiful church inside but it felt like I belonged there, to sit among the plain wooden pews and touch the stone font and to walk the aisle to the pulpit. My Evans family lived at Fountain Row not far from the church. I have begun a small One Place Study for that here:
https://app.weare.xyz/public/fountain-row-haverfordwest/places/7vxva1apdx3k
I think it's a thing. But I'm really curious how this can be proved one way or another. I'm seeing data on epigenetic studies that suggest that certain types of fear seem to be passed down in mice (and potentially also already quite clear holocaust victim families etc.) Mice that were trained to fear a specific smell had pups who were born to fear a specific smell, for instance. There's a bit of a jump from that to being in love with Ireland, but they just haven't come up with a good mouse test for Ireland yet, IMO.
Thanks Nancy, agree hundred percent with you that at the moment we cannot scientifically prove it conclusively either way. As we discover more and learn more about the human brain, I am sure that more will be revealed over the coming decades. Whether this can be proven for sure is another thing, for the time being its sits on the shelf as a sixth sense.
The ultimate proof of ancestral memory is the near universal human loathing of snakes. Some think that this is a genetic based trait passed down from the earliest days of mammals finally out competing reptiles.
I agree. We have an in built something that tells us to be wary of the things that can potentially kill us - snakes and spiders are two good examples.
When the family saw Jurassic Park at the theatre release, I might have cheered when T Rex ate the lawyer, but my three elementary school children screamed and ran out of the theatre.
Funny, with me it was exactly the other way round. I was terrified, but all the kids in the cinema just laughed.
I definitely believe it's real...My father's family suffered a great deal of trauma during WWII (so did my mum's to a lesser extent - her dad collapsed from a major stroke after VE day celebrations). I had grown up hearing the stories from my dad and grandmother - they suffered from severe anxiety for as long as I could remember.
When I found pre-War photos of my dad's family in the early 2000s, it triggered something inside me that took my natural tendency to anxiety to the next level. I saw a counsellor when things became extreme, and he concluded after a few sessions that I was likely suffering from intergenerational trauma. Incidentally, I physically resemble my dad and paternal grandmother - in one photo of the latter from the 1930s, it's uncanny. I wonder if that clear genetic connection is also part of the root of my anxiety. Of course, at least some of it could be my own natural tendency towards anything history related - I've always felt a strong connection to the past.
Unrelated to me personally, but of equal importance - I have seen the effects of intergenerational trauma all around me as a result of the residential school system imposed on the Indigenous population here in Canada, alongside the more general government policies that sought to assimilate rather than acknowledge the forms of government and cultures that already existed. The Reconciliation process here has revealed much that is difficult, but also explains a great deal and makes it clear, at least to me, that trauma can indeed be handed down genetically.
Thank you so much for sharing your own story with me Teresa as well as your life experiences of the school system in Canada. It’s by sharing these examples, however difficult they might be, that can help us to understand more about how we can inherit much more than just physical things from our ancestors.
I believe we do have ancestral memories and that these can also manifest in the professions we choose. I ended up in engineering and have strong technical and construction interests. But while my adopted dad started engineering school before getting drafted, he never finished and didn't really push his profession of mechanic on us. Also, my adopted family didn't really push math or school. I found out as an adult that my mom left high school at 16 and definitely was not technical at all. So where did this engineering mindset come from and even more strange my love of sewers? After testing my DNA I was finally able to figure out my birthfather - his family had people with technical interests/professions, and his great grandfather built a business selling sewer pipe as well as other clay products. I am sure many of my other interests are somehow tied to more of my ancestors. But I also wonder how my life is tied to my adopted family's past as I believe I have been woven into their story as well.
Thanks for sharing your story and your experience with me Pam. We learn both from nature and nurture. We inherit certain characteristics from our DNA but we also learn from our environment and surroundings so you will have definitely inherited certain characteristics from your adopted family.
Yep, absolutely fair point. Snakes and heights don’t bother me at all, but thunder and lightning send me into a cold sweat. Irrational fears are very real.
To the point about ancestral stories… forgive the self promo, but, Projectkin.org had a terrific talk on exactly this point from Rhonda Lauritzen last October (see /specials) and coming up next Thursday is a talk with Jennifer Holik of ancestralsouls you won’t want to miss! (See /events)
I was in a cafe at Euston in London one Saturday morning waiting for the British Library to open and I suddenly realised I felt really at home in that area despite having no links to it. Or so I thought. A few months later I was reading a Tudor ancestor's will - he referred to "my manors of Euston and West Ham".
I have always felt at home in London but just assumed it was because it was - well, London! Now I know I have a great many ancestors who made their home there. How far back can this feeling survive from? I wonder - lots of medieval castles to visit I think.
It happens to so many people and far too often to just be a coincidence. I’m a believer but I fully understand why others don’t believe and West Ham is definitely my Manor!!
When I was a teen, I visited Germany with my family. I was already into genealogy then. When we drove thru southeastern Bavaria with its mountains and incredible painted houses, I felt a deep sense of "being home" the whole time. I knew my great-grandparents were from Bavaria but didn't know where. I have since learned they came from a different part. But I am still waiting to see if further research will show my family came from the southeastern part.
Thanks for sharing your story with me Anne. We don’t always know the answers, they may not be apparent at the time. Further research might well lead you to discover that you do indeed have roots in the area that you travelled through.
Thanks Paul, for bringing this up. I am discovering more and more the "lines" in my family that show strong characteristics. One line (the one I just wrote about for the storytelling challenge: Military Marvel) is what I call my suicide line, because so many of them killed themselves. There is also a gardener line, a traveller line, and so on. The suicide line is fascinating because of repeated trauma, abuse and mental illness. But it is a bit scary too...
Any kind of trauma or inherited trauma is a monumental thing to process and some people are too afraid to look these things in the eye, so they remain locked away forever. The healing process takes lots of forms and each of us has to find our own way there.
I've written about this already. During my time in New York City, I lived very close to where my ancestors lived a few hundred years earlier. This involved ancestors on both my paternal and maternal sides, separated by about 100 years. I believe they speak to us in ways we don't understand.
Thanks Bill I definitely agree with you 👍
I believe in intergenerational connections. I had always been fascinated by Wales. I knew one of my grandfathers came "from Wales," although all my grandparents were dead before I was born and no one knew exactly where he was born and raised. I finally went there for a family holiday in my 40s and on a hunch, stayed in North Wales. I had a strong reaction to one area, and that led directly to my first novel series. I felt like I was having visions as I wrote, like I was being driven to show the daily life of the Welsh prior to the 1282 invasion, even though evidence is scarce. Last year I drove along the north Wales coast again and felt that same strong feeling of peace and belonging.
Thanks for sharing those experiences with me, Marie. It’s so hard to put that feeling into words when you encounter it. It tugs at something deep inside you for reasons you can’t quite explain, almost like an invisible force gently drawing you toward a place, a moment, or a memory.
That's so true. I feel fortunate to have writing as a creative way to use those feelings in a novel or story.
Liked your piece, thought you might resonate - I serve the song beneath the traps—the bass that bombings couldn’t own. https://thehiddenclinic.substack.com/p/what-i-found-in-the-smoke-that-the
Loved this thank you 😊
When I see this sort of question, it always makes me think of NZ longfin eels which no doubt sounds bizarre BUT ... NZ longfin eels are endemic to New Zealand. They start their life near Tonga. After their parents mate, the resulting eggs are left floating in the sea somewhere near Tonga. When the elvers emerge, how do they know to swim all the way to the rivers and lakes of New Zealand? And when they get towards the end of their life, how do they know to swim 5000km back to the Tonga Trench to mate and then die? . Clearly there is some sort of intergenerational message going on here.
That’s incredible Jane. There must be something far more powerful than the human brain can understand going on here. Which also brings me back to all the stories I have heard before about humans. One day we will be able to unlock all the answers
Same with Scottish salmon
It's very real, very true and certainly feels magical, emotion, weird or even scary. But it is based in science, quantum mechanics, physics, cognitive psychology and more. I offer a presentation called "Ancestors Calling: Science, Synchronicity and Dources" that offers information on how our brains, DNA and a variety of cognitive cues foster these incredible situations. AND check out Henry "Hank" Jones' books, "Psychic Roots" and "More Psychic Roots" for some great stories!
Thanks so much for this reply Judy, I really appreciate you sharing it.
I agree there’s something very real in these experiences, especially in how they’re felt, and your point about links to psychology, the brain, and even broader science is really compelling.
I’ll definitely check out the books you mentioned, thanks again for such a thoughtful and generous response.