Intuitive Genealogy Part 1
A paper trail isn't always necessary.
It’s a new year so let’s explore some new ideas about genealogy and military research and new ways to connect with your ancestors. This is the first in a new series where I invite you to put aside your paper trail and go within. To see what else is available to you, if you are willing to go into that spiritual higher consciousness space.
Have you done some research on your family and wonder what else is possible to learn? Do you have unanswered questions about things you’ve heard or discovered in the records?
Have you explored some social or cultural history about your family and wondered where do you go from here? What perspective shift is required? Is it time to step away from the paper trail and go within and connect with your ancestors? If you do, what might you discover?
Or maybe you have only stood at the edges of working with your ancestors and chalked it all up to that often used “safe” word, ‘genealogy serendpitiy’? Have you been afraid to explore more for fear of being ridiculed or banned from certain groups? Or have you stepped into this area of research and connect which allows you to heal not only your life but that of your entire lineage. Even all of humantiy. When we heal ourselves, we heal everyone.
Is 2024 the year you step out of that safety zone accepted by the genealogical community and even yourself, and push boundaries? Are you ready to work with your ancestors to expand your research and heal your lineage? Are you ready to step off the paper trail from time to time? When you do, you will discover there are many of us who communicate with our ancestors. We are more powerful together.
What if……..?
What if family history research isn’t only about facts, proof, and seeing how many people you can add to your tree? What if it’s also about healing?
Healing of self and family? Healing of all of humanity? Simply because of your hobby?
When we hear the words, songs, and pain of our ancestors, sometimes simply acknowledging their voice is enough to:
Allow the ancestor to step forward and communicate.
Heal something in the family even if you can’t exactly identify what that is.
Clear stuck energy that allows you to move forward.
Break down a brick wall or expand your research options.
Bring peace and closure to an ancestors - even allowing them to finally cross over or go on to the next phase of their journey.
Heal something within YOU!
Make the voices in your head silent. You know, those nagging thoughts or phrases that you’ve heard a good part of your life? Some of you reading this know exactly what I’m talking about.
My Story…..Joseph Kokoska
My great grandpa, Joseph Kokoska, died when my mom was a child. I remember her telling me when we moved out of Chicago down to southwest Missouri, that he was with her from time to time.
When I moved out and got a divorce in 2012, Joseph stepped into my life as well, only I didn’t know it at first. At the same time I was also deeply involved in learning how to research all military branches for WWII and writing my family’s stories of war. No one else had figured out how to research any veteran, even if the file burned, so that was my mission. To learn more about that, visit the WWII Research & Writing Center and check out all the articles, videos, resources, and over 20 books I’ve written to help researchers.
It finally hit me though, that he was there spreading his unconditional love energy that I’d never felt from any living human before (until December 2022), through a writing prompt.
Yes, I connected to my ancestor through a writing prompt. One in which I was transported back in time to 1921 when my great grand Uncle Michael’s remains were being waked in the family house on 18th Place in Chicago and Joseph was the only person in that room to see me when I entered. You might call it time traveling through writing. Or a merging of timelines. But does time even really exist?
Joseph told me I had 40 years of repressed emotions to process and it was my mission to help others tell the stories of their veterans. So I could do the hard, emotional work of military research (which included so much death and trauma) to process my emotions or become a serial killer.
I chose to be a researcher, writer, and teacher.
Joseph always appeared in my life through the writing prompt when I needed him or he just popped into my life when I needed a bit more love and support. His energy always feels like unconditional love mixed with tremendous joy that brings giggles and happy tears. I love it when we appears.
Joseph was a primary ancestral guide until about 2019 and then he stepped back. He does still appear but by that point he had done his job and I was figuring out how to merge my ancestral healing work into the military and genealogy work while also saving myself in a marriage to a Dutch man who was slowly dying.
Our ancestors do not always stay our entire lives. Most have a soul contract with us to assist at key moments. Others appear as we do more research on our family. Some show up gently while others appear filled with such pain and trauma it’s hard to process. However they show up, you are allowed to set boundaries and protect your energy. You are allowed to help them or not. It’s all your choice.
Be sure to subscribe and stay tuned for the next part of Intuitive Genealogy.