The Veil Is Thinning: Ancestor Work and a Directive for Your Lineage
There is a particular quality to the late October light. The shadows lengthen earlier. The primal knowing within our bodies — the preverbal energies of creation — is felt as a profound stirring.
We are one week from Samhain (pronounced “sow-win”), the ancient Gaelic fire festival on October 31st. For the Celts of Ireland and Scotland, this was the most sacred threshold of the year — a liminal time when the boundary between the living and the dead softened. Families set places at the table for ancestors. They lit communal bonfires, extinguished their hearth fires, and carried embers home to relight them from a shared flame.
This was not morbid. It was relationship. It was the radical act of remembering that we are not the first, and we will not be the last.
What We Carry
We carry our lineage in our bodies.
Dr. Rachel Yehuda’s research at Mount Sinai demonstrated that trauma — particularly prolonged trauma like the Holocaust — alters gene expression in survivors and is measurable in their children and grandchildren. This is epigenetic transmission: survival patterns passed down not just through story, but through biology.
And we also inherit resilience. Creativity. Courage. The grandmother who survived something unspeakable, and still chose to sing over her weaving by the fire. The patterns of tenderness, of laughter at the table, of returning home. The veil thinning is an invitation to work with all of it.
This is exactly the kind of deep, intergenerational material that our art therapy work at Fox + Feather is designed to hold. The body remembers what the mind has not yet named — and creative expression gives it somewhere to go.
Art Directive: Your Lineage Map
This is a practice we use in clinical art therapy to explore intergenerational patterns, inherited wounds, and inherited gifts. You don’t need to be an artist. You need only a willingness to let your hands lead.
What you’ll need:
- Paper (larger is more freeing), pens, markers, colored pencils, or collage materials
- Photographs of ancestors, if you have them
- A candle or cup of tea to mark this as sacred time
The practice:
- Begin at the center of your paper. Draw or write your own name. You are the living bridge.
- Moving outward, add family members — parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins — as far back as you know. They can be symbols, colors, words, shapes. No realism required.
- As you place each person, ask: What did they carry? What did they survive? What did they love? What did they pass to me?
- Draw connections between the figures.
- Add one image or word for what you want to heal — and one for what you want to carry forward.
This map is a conversation, not a finished product. Return to it. Let ancestors visit you in memory or dreams this week.
Sitting With the Season
Light a candle at dusk. Set a place at your table for someone gone. Say a name out loud that you haven’t said in a while.
The greatest act of honoring the dead is to live fully. That is the medicine.
If this practice stirs something in you — if the intergenerational work feels like territory you want to explore more deeply — our team of licensed art therapists is here. We offer individual art therapy sessions for female-identifying clients, trans-femme individuals, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, ages 8 and older, in person in Guilford, CT and via telehealth throughout Connecticut. Schedule your free 15-minute consultation or call us at 860-393-0940.
With love and wildness,
Sarah + the Fox + Feather Team
Fox + Feather Healing Arts
FAQ
What is Samhain?
Samhain (pronounced “sow-win”) is an ancient Gaelic fire festival celebrated on October 31st. For the Celts of Ireland and Scotland, it was the most sacred threshold of the year — a liminal time when the boundary between the living and the dead softened, and communities gathered to honor their ancestors. It is one of four great Gaelic seasonal festivals and one of eight sabbats in the Wheel of the Year.
What is epigenetic trauma?
Epigenetic trauma refers to the transmission of trauma’s biological effects across generations. Dr. Rachel Yehuda’s research at Mount Sinai demonstrated that prolonged trauma — such as Holocaust exposure — alters gene expression in survivors in ways that are measurable in their children and grandchildren. We carry not just our own histories in our bodies, but those of the people who came before us.
What is a Lineage Map in art therapy?
A Lineage Map is a clinical art therapy practice used to explore intergenerational patterns — both inherited wounds and inherited gifts. Using drawing, collage, symbols, and color, clients map their family systems and begin to identify what they want to heal and what they want to carry forward. No art experience is required.
How does art therapy help with intergenerational trauma?
Art therapy accesses the body’s stored experience through creative expression — reaching what verbal language alone often cannot. Because epigenetic trauma is held somatically, approaches that engage the body and the image-making process are particularly well-suited to this work.
How do I get started at Fox + Feather?
We offer a free 15-minute phone consultation. Contact us here or call 860-393-0940 to connect with our team.
Why Choose Fox + Feather Healing Arts
Fox + Feather is Connecticut’s only group art therapy practice specializing in eating disorder and trauma recovery — including the intergenerational patterns and inherited wounds that so often lie at the root of both. We serve female-identifying clients, trans-femme individuals, and LGBTQIA+ community members ages 8 and older, in person in Guilford, CT and via telehealth throughout Connecticut. We accept Husky insurance and most FSA and HSA plans. Meet our providers or book your free consultation today.
References
History.com Editors. (2023). Samhain. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/samhain
Yehuda, R., Daskalakis, N. P., Bierer, L. M., Bader, H. N., Klengel, T., Holsboer, F., & Binder, E. B. (2015). Holocaust exposure induced intergenerational effects on FKBP5 methylation. Biological Psychiatry, 80(5), 372–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.08.005