A longtime friend and correspondent of mine (her name is Lore) wrote the following which I believe sums up nicely how the “bloodline” is not important, not something to obsess over.
Lore writes:
While these matters of possible [bloodline] heritage are interesting, on a personal level I don’t find them too relevant because I focus on the teachings of Yeshua and MM rather than them as historical, which cannot be factually established beyond a reasonable doubt in any case. There is no proof that any of them actually existed, although I believe they did. But the teachings definitely existed no matter its origination.
Bloodline heritage is only important in the context of a tribal or royalty situation. Spiritual heritage is not passed via DNA. Since it is spiritual heritage I am searching for, I don’t focus on family or tribal heritage. In fact, focusing on it can be harmful because it is meant to exclude by establishing an elite class. By the very definition of elite, everyone who isn’t included is excluded and becomes “the other” and even “subhuman.” This elite concept has been used to justify genocide, slavery, and extinction of other species. It has also been used to harm women and deny them their rights for centuries.
There are few facts we can definitely ascertain from the Bible. Those facts have to do with places (such as the existence of Magdala and Nazareth — or nonexistence of same) or events that can be corroborated via historical sources independent of the religious scripture. No where can the existence Yeshua, Mother Mary, MM be independently corroborated, even when one would expect such corroboration to appear, like Roman crucifixion records.
That lack of corroboration does not demean the meaning of these texts. Even if they are completely mythological, they are important. However, they are no more important than the mythologies of other peoples, many of which they pay a striking resemblance to. I know many are consternated over this thought. I find great peace in it because it proves who consistent divine inspiration is.
Hmmm. My experience with ancestral type of spirituality is very different from what Lore describes here. My partner Joseph is an Asatruar (that is, he is true to the Aesir, the old Gods of Scandinavia) and that is a path that is highly tribal with a great deal of ancestor worship involved. While it is not a path of self-effacement at all, and encourages pride and strength and whatnot, it does not look down upon non-Asatruar as somehow “lower than” or “not as good as.” Oh, there are some out there who get that way, but you’ll find those kind of people even among atheists. But not everyone involved in the tribal/ancestral thing gets elitist about it.