When most witches talk about ancestor work, they think of bloodlines, family trees, and names that can be traced on a map. But not all ancestors share your DNA—some share your struggle, your resistance, and your defiance.
This Samhain, the veil thins and the dead draw near. It’s the perfect time to remember the ones history tried to silence. Queer ancestors who loved in secret, carving out joy in a world that punished them for it. Women who labored, resisted, and bled for rights they were denied. BIPOC ancestors who built empires with their hands, their backs, their lives—while their names were erased from the record. Workers who rose up, demanded more, and were buried in shallow graves, their cries echoing long after their bodies turned to dust.
These are the ghosts we can’t ignore. And they are ancestors, too.
Ancestor work isn’t limited to blood ties. Ancestors are those whose battles you inherit, whose sacrifices ripple through your life, whose survival made your own possible. If you are queer, femme, marginalized, a witch, or simply alive in a world shaped by those who came before—you are carrying their fire.
So how do you honor them? Create space on your altar for the forgotten. Light a candle for the nameless. Speak their causes aloud, even if you don’t know their names. Dedicate your Samhain ritual to more than family—dedicate it to lineage. To survival. To the ghosts who shaped the path you walk today.
Because ancestor work isn’t only about who made you by blood—it’s about who made you possible.
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