Trying not to put labels on things especially spiritual experiences is good becuz its not really what u know that matters, at least as far as catagorical knowlege is concerned anyway.. its mostly what u believe that counts. Its ok to call it this or that but u can't go around thinking u really know anything becuz u'll only find out just how much it is that u don't know becuz nobody really knows. I try to keep categories and labels at a minimum tho it is hard to talk about this stuff without using them.
Yeah, I know... It's just that I really have no opinion. It may sound a little weird, but there are so many beliefs and theories about so many things, and I haven't seen enough "evidence" regarding some things to form a real opinion of my own.
Even with divination, for example, some say it's the spirits, some say it's the self or the higher self. I've been reading cards for awhile and I still have no clue. (never bothered asking the cards either. :-p) I don't know how it works, just that it does.
I'll occasionally feel bugged, like something or someone is trying to get my attention... living, dead, something else... I can't always tell the origin, but sometimes "gender".
To me its the experience that matters. If you think your ancestors r trying to tell u something yer probably right.. or maybe its yer spirit guide... could just be all in yer head. I believe in reincarnation tho I don't think that everybody is instantly reincarnated after they die. I think, for most poeple, its a choice and your spirit has some say in what type of person they want to be before they come back. Your mother or brother or best friend could be an ancestor. I believe some people r punished in this way tho its not our place to pass that kind of judgement here on earth.
The part about the two offerings is interesting.. maybe u have two spirit guides and they r also yer ancestors and they were making their presence known.. could be. Maybe its the african american couple from yer dream who knows? I'd just let it be for a while, kick back for now and wait for results.
I had no one particular in mind when it all started out, and the dream about my aunt and the dog actually happened before I set the tobacco out. The first person who came to mind, I won't say "sensed" as in literally in the room with me or anything, was my grandfather, and so I made coffee. And I think it was the rum, because while he will pop up in dreams I've never had a sense of him while awake that I can recall at the moment. haha So, I'm blaming the rum.
The urging wasn't like when I have felt an energy/presense in the room. A woman came to mind, for lack of better terms, and I didn't know who she was, or which side of the family. So, long story shorter, I just got the feeling that "she" didn't want her stuff with what was left for my grandfather. When I thought about it later, I wondered if it might be someone on my grandmother's side, as her side
HATED my grandfather. (Wanted him buried in a different cemetery sort of hatred.) But it just didn't make sense to me that even in death there would still be a grudge. So, I wasn't sure if it was just a preference for individual acknowledgment OR if it wasn't a relative at all!
Since it is a main altar, and not something set apart of my ancestors, I did wonder if something or someone else might have wanted to get in on the action since I was receptive?
I've never left a food or drink offering so this is all new to me.
