A Door to Anywhere

A door to anywhere, that’s what I’d choose. I love yesterday’s Daily Prompt from WordPress. I don’t always relate to them, but then I checked today and found this prompt. It reminds me of the television show, The Librarians. Their doors open to all sorts of adventures. And I’d love that.

I would immediately go to what’s considered the past. I refer to it that way because I believe time is a linear construct for our use while in physical form. It’s an anchor of sorts, but only for reference purposes. I believe everything actually happens at once. Still, I’ve been researching my ancestry on Ancestry.com, and I’ve discovered some amazing things. Evidently, I knew nothing about who I am or where I’m from.

Initially, I began my life as an ancestry.com junkie researching the number of witches in my family. As a witch, it’s important to know these things. Given that I have the requisite grandmother from Ireland, I was sure that it would be in her line that I would find them, but nothing came up past her father. I then moved on to my paternal side, and I hit the jackpot in more ways than Carter has pills.

I’m from the Plantagenet line, so half of my ancestors are royalty. I had no idea. Knights Templar, witches both imprisoned and burned at the stake, some family members drawn and quartered, all done by the royal end of my ancestry. Many raped and pillaged their way throughout the world, acquiring this castle or that Queen. The Blessed Virgin is a cousin and reluctantly I trace back to the Patriarch, Adam, although I have a feeling it was Lilith and not Eve who was my original mother, given that there’s not a subservient bone in my body. Plus, there’s the witch thing.

Having been drawn to runes since I first saw them in childhood, I’ve been thrilled discovering my Viking and Druid heritage. Elen of the Ways is a great aunt, and it turns out that King Harald Bluetooth (of bluetooth device fame..the symbol is a bindrune) is my 32nd great-grandfather. Queen Boudicca of the Iceni is an aunt. I would definitely open the first door to reconnect with my Druid and warrior side, if only to ask Odin if I could ride Sleipner, his eight-legged horse. How else could a granddaughter reach Hel without a noble steed to ride? But before that journey began, I would spend the most blessed time with Odin, learning all he had to say about the runes, his gift to the world that I love so much. I assume I practiced seidhr, a form of Norse magic, as a volva. Too much is familiar for that not to be so.

There are some Cleopatras and a couple of Ptolemys. John Rolfe, husband to Pocohontas, is my 10th great-grandfather. William the Conquerer is there as is Jaquetta who traces her lineage to the Goddess Melusine. I don’t understand taking Robert the Bruce’s heart to the Holy Land on crusade, but thankfully my 23rd great grandfather’s heart found its way back. I’m not sure how with all the people who apparently died carrying it throughout the trip. This may sound morbid, but the best information is in the individual’s name, particularly if there are titles, and how they died. I can’t even fathom what being drawn and quartered looks like, but it’s so cool when it’s there. Sigurd Fafnisbana “The Dragonslayer” Sigmundsson is a grandfather, evidently battling with Odin, and slaying a dragon. He was married to Brunhild, the Shield Maiden. The warrior Queens are just the best, aren’t they, especially when they’re not afraid to slay their husbands, who no doubt deserved that fate.

But before returning to the doorway, and back to my present life, I would ask the Kings and Queens who caused so much harm, if it was all worth it in the end. The cruelty, the oppression to gain more. And what was gained by killing witches? For all that they tortured and burned, more stayed underground, giving birth to witches today. The charges were treason, but witchcraft was easier to convict on, and Lady Janet of Glamis was burned while her son was forced to watch this travesty. Lady Janet was my 14th great grandmother, and whether she was actually a witch or not is still in question. My 15th great-uncle, King James V is responsible for her murder. His grandson, a cousin, commissioned the King James version of the Bible. Odd, isn’t it, how religion is mixed up with such carnage. Looking at the world as it is now, it seems we’ve not learned much. Our world is still about the haves and have-nots, seeing others as separate instead of family. Because if I’ve learned anything from my ancestry addiction, is that we really all are family, no matter how it might look.

We’re capable of such unity, and such devastation. It all comes down to how we choose to see it.

I choose family.

~Blessings and love to our One Family!