ancestral spirit
Departed relative's presence
An ancestral spirit is the soul or supernatural presence of a deceased family member or forebear, believed in many cultures to remain connected to the living.
Ancestral spirits may protect, guide, or require appeasement from their descendants: They set out offerings to honor the ancestral spirits.
The concept appears across African, Asian, Indigenous, and other spiritual traditions where the dead maintain influence over the living.
- departed soulsPeople who have died
- ghostApparition of the dead
- shrineSacred devotional place
- family altarDomestic place of worship
- offeringSomething presented or given
totem · lineage · haunting · veneration · burial · ritual · shaman · guardian · departed · memorial · incense · bloodline · apparition · worship · elders · tomb · sacred ground · heritage
- ancestorsforebears, forebear, forbear, forbears, forefather
- spiritsghost, vodka, rum, whiskey, brandy
- Guardian Deitiesguardian angel, household gods, household god, Lares, genius loci
- guardian spiritsguardian angel, animal guide, patron saint, dream guide, good fairy
- shamanismshamans, shaman, medicine man, medicine woman, shamanic journey
- Caribbean Folklorejumbie, duppy, Anansi, moongazer, ghost tales
ancestral spiritposterity
Future generations collectively
progeny · future generations · unborn child · descendants · offspring
ancestral, ancestor, ancestors, ancestry, ancestress, spirit, spirits, spirited, spiritual