Ancestral Magic

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**Ancestral Magic** is an extremely powerful form of witchcraft that draws on the power of consecrated witches and was commonly practiced among the witches of New Orleans. In many ways, it's similar to spirit magic; however, ancestral magic is limited to the area where the witch's ancestors were buried. Without access to the remains, or to the earth in which they're consecrated, witches who practice ancestral magic are left without such power and will have to seek other forms of magic. Therefore, many ancestral witches are committed to their families and their coven, and the bloodlines of the witch families in the community typically went back centuries.

In New Orleans, witches drew upon the the Ancestors, the totality of all witches who had been consecrated into New Orleans soil and remained attached to the land as spirits. Since the release of the Ancestors from the Ancestral Well, New Orleans witches can no longer practice ancestral magic.

## History

Genevieve explained that the Ancestral Plane (the home of all Ancestors), was created to separate the dead witches of New Orleans from the Other Side; a world-wide spiritual purgatory created by an extremely powerful witch called Qetsiyah to trap all supernatural beings at death. This is most likely the origin of Ancestral Magic, and it appears to remain a traditional source of magic for the coven of witches who reside in New Orleans, though it can be assumed that Ancestral Magic is practiced elsewhere in the world.

Ancestral Magic works by the magic of a living witch connecting with the magic of the witches' dead ancestors and allowing it to flow through them via the witches' natural connection to the earth. To keep their ancestral magic flowing, any coven who practices this form of magic must perform a ritual every three hundred years or so that is known as the Harvest.

During the Harvest ritual, four witches are sacrificed, and their deaths result in all of their magical energy being released back into the earth to appease their ancestors. In return, the ancestors resurrect the four sacrificed witches at the Reaping, through another ritual performed by an Elder of the coven.

The resurrection of the four sacrificed witches is the final step in strengthening the coven's connection to their ancestors' magic, giving all of the living witches in the community more power. Additionally, the four Harvest girls also become more powerful after they have been brought back to life as a reward for their sacrifice to their coven. If the Harvest ritual is not completed, the community will first receive a warning in the form of a series of natural disasters, each one more intense than the one preceding it: first earthquakes will shake the city, then incredibly strong windstorms, followed by torrential rain, and then finally, fire will begin to engulf the community. Afterward, the witches in the coven will slowly start to lose their magic until they "cease to be witches altogether" but in actuality cease to have access to Ancestral Magic.

In order to continue their tradition of Ancestral Magic, when a New Orleans witch dies, the coven must consecrate the body of their fellow witch by performing a ritual to ensure that the spirit of the deceased joins their ancestors and that their magic replenishes the earth, allowing the magic of that specific bloodline of witches to continue flowing. This process allows the living descendants/relatives to continue to draw on the deceased witch's magic, even after their death.