Healing Inherited Ancestral Trauma

The voices of the forgotten ones

The stories of the victorious are remembered. But what about the stories of those who have been forgotten: the stories of our ancestors. Why does it matter that these are hidden away?

There are many dark periods in our history endured by our ancestors who survived the most adverse conditions. Two of the most recent were the Agricultural and Industrial Revolution, which spanned the eighteenth and nineteenth century. This period is glorified as one of the great achievements of mankind. However, it is just one side of the story. During this time, there were millions of people who experienced struggles that are incomprehensible to most people living western lives today. Severed from their land, many of our ancestors were forced to migrate into the industrial towns and cities of Britain. They had to leave everything they knew: their communities and their way of supporting themselves, to reside in slums of industrial Britain.

What impact did this severance have on their lives? What relevance does this hold for us in our lives now?

Science has now proven that any unresolved trauma that our ancestors experienced can be passed down to future generations through DNA.  This can result in unhlepful patterns that play out in their descendant's lives. Many of us are living with the inherited ancestral trauma endured by those who came before us. These patterns are holding us back from living the lives our soul is calling us out to live.

The Path to Forgotten Freedom

Through my book, The Path to Forgotten Freedom: Healing Unresolved Ancestral Trauma, I bring to the light the story of my great-great-great grandmother, Catherine. Catherine fled her homeland of Ireland during the Great Famine in 1848 and lived the remainder of her life in the slums and workhouses of Victorian London.

Alongside the telling of Catherine’s' story, I explain the impact that inherited ancestral trauma can have on us. I offer practical steps to enable this trauma to move through the body and psyche using techniques from Shamanism to wild therapy and dreamwork to genealogical research.

Themes that underpin the causes of many ancestral traumas include power, powerlessness, oppression and control. These are explored alongside reflections on how on our lives and the lives of those that came before us are affected.

This book offers hopeful practical solutions to live in a different way and presents a path to reclaim the lost freedoms of our ancestors.

Praise for The Path to Forgotten Freedom

It has touched me at a profound level – Glennie Kindred

“I would like to thank Nicola for sharing her story. It has touched me at a profound level. In this retelling of the Industrial Revolution through her ancestral line, Nicola’s voice is a powerful witness to the deep trauma held in our DNA from a period in our history that is usually glorified. Through her honest and gentle writing style, Nicola brings a deeper awareness of how the industrial revolution may be understood from its impact on the workers and the country folk of our land, who were forced by the elite to leave their homes, their livelihoods and their intergenerational communities in the countryside, to live isolated, disempowered lives, in dire conditions in the industrial town slums.

Nicola engages our compassionate hearts, as she uncovers her family’s story, and helps us become aware of the trauma and powerlessness that our country folk ancestors lived through and how this may continue to affect us during our own life’s journey. This is a book of reclaiming, of reconnection and healing. It is testimony to our collective journey to re-find our lost relationship with Nature, to create heart-warming community, and to speak up for those who have no voice or power. This is a powerful book, whose influence stays with me.”

Glennie Kindred

This is an important book for these times – Jayne Johnson

“Nicola tells the story of her ancestor Catherine and offers the reader insights and understanding of historical and political issues of the 1800’s alongside present day world issues in a beautiful, flowing and connecting style. This is an important book for these times and a must read for anyone who is interested in Shamanism, ancestor work and how we are conditioned by our past and by societal norms and culture.

There are lots of big subjects in this book, which Nicola tackles with grace and honesty. The amount of detail, time, energy, work and play that has gone into this creative offering is obvious from the very first pages, which draws the reader right into the story and it’s beginnings in Ireland.

This complex weaving of personal and collective history with present day issues reveals a colourful tapestry of threads and patterns which paint a picture of the reality of poverty and powerlessness, pain and suffering, not only in our recent history but how this continues into the present. What is unique is that Nicola offers, from her own experiences and understanding, antidotes and solutions, which are refreshing and welcome in an age where overwork, stress, and anxiety are major problems facing many people.”

So captivating: a beautiful marrying of fact and fiction - Carole Prestedge

“When someone asks you to read their book prior to publication, there can be a dread in the pit of the stomach that says “What if I don’t like it?  What if it is awful and I am being asked to say what I think of it?” However as soon as I started reading The Forgotten Path to Freedom, I knew that wasn’t going to be the case. It is so captivating, a beautiful marrying of fact and fiction.

I love the way Nicola has magically woven the story of her forgotten ancestor Catherine and her family, with her own experiences of life, the intergenerational patterns she has identified and the cruelty and the conditioning of the system we live in, over the centuries.

At times in the book, just when I was on the verge of reading enough historical references and events, facts and figures, back would come Catherine, and I would be lost in her harrowing tale.

It is a book brimming with knowledge and wisdom and yet is written simply, openly with warmth and empathy, especially for the folk who have come before her. I believe my ancestral story is a similar one, and it has inspired me to have more understanding of the choices and decisions they made in life and to find out more.

Nicola shares her own healing journey, the gems of the way of the shaman, and offers guidance and signposts for those of us who may also wish to uncover our ancestral stories and/or run off to the hills!

It’s just a delightful read. Thank you, Nicola.”

It is a book that can help to bring about profound transformation in our lives. – Ann Wells

“There is a lot of information in Nicola’s book. She has managed to take her ancestral story, her own personal experiences and her insights and weave them into a coherent whole which makes fascinating reading.

The story of Catherine, her ancestor, and her connections to Nicola, both genetically and emotionally, make the story a compelling one to read. The analysis of how this has affected her and, crucially, how she was able to bring about deep ancestral healing makes the book so much more than just the story it is telling. It is a book that can help to bring about profound transformation in our lives.

As a Shamanic practitioner and as someone who has done some ancestral healing work, much of what Nicola says resonated with me. But this book is for more than just people who are already aware of these things. It is a book for anyone who wants change, wants healing and wants ancestral connection. It may be about ancestors, but this is a piece of work which is needed now, is relevant now and can help to change lives.”