Thousands of people have discovered how researching their ancestors can be not only enjoyable, but also meaningful. Our ancestors’ lives can offer us indirect guidance and healing through their triumphs and tribulations. Along with learning who your ancestors were, you might discover patterns that repeat in your family history, from talents and passions to emotional or physical problems. By examining our ancestors’ lives in a broader, historical context, we can find hope, inspiration, and encouragement from their life stories.

Sharon believes that our ancestors also receive healing from our family history efforts by knowing that they are remembered and that their lives will not be forgotten. She also believes that most of our ancestors do want to help us with finding them in historic records. We just have to be open to the signs, nudges, and inspiration they give us.

Preserving and sharing our ancestors’ lives through oral history storytelling or writing their life stories is healing not only for them, but for us as well, as we discover that times may change, but human conditions and emotions do not. This makes the connections with our family members who have passed even stronger.

By researching our family histories, we honor, acknowledge, and validate our ancestors’ lives. Through telling their stories and by placing their lives in their proper historical context, we also gain understanding and open the path to forgiveness. And we also heal ourselves. By imagining and empathizing with their ordeals, we discover sources of strength to get through our own.

“You are the one who can heal old wounds for your entire lineage, forgive old enemies, shift conditioning and beliefs, release pain that has held preceding generations captive for centuries. This is the gift you bring them….”

— Dr. Judith Rich, “Healing the Wounds of Your Ancestors

 

 I have been a Certified Genealogist® for more than thirty years and am the author of twenty-seven books,  including the best-selling guides You Can Write Your Family History, Tell It Short: A Guide to Writing Your Family History in Brief, Your Guide to Cemetery Research, In Search of Maria B. Hayden: The American Medium Who Brought Spiritualism to the U.K., and Midlife Medium: A Genealogist’s Quest to Converse with the Dead.

I do not do private readings at this time. Please refer to “A Genealogy Medium’s Guide to Communicating with Your Ancestors,” in my book Midlife Medium: A Genealogist’s Quest to Communicate with the Dead, or see the Events page on my website for when I offer webinars on the topic of communicating with your ancestors.

For information about my genealogical research services, please visit my other site: www.SharonCarmack.com. I take only a limited number of clients. And join my Facebook group: Spiritualist Ancestors.