I’m Laura. I am originally from the Midwest region of the United States, lands of pine and mulberry, loons, cold lakes, and snowy winters. The homelands of the Dakota, Lakota, Ojibwe, Sauk, Menominee, Fox, Kickapoo, and Ho-Chunk nations.

My people were white settlers in the United States and originally came from the places that are now known as Germany, Poland, Luxembourg, Belgium, England, Scotland, Ireland, and certainly more places that aren’t reflected in the genealogical paper trail. In my own journey it has been important to have a deeper understanding of my people, the cultures I come from, and to deconstruct the idea of “whiteness.”

What started with trying to solve some family mysteries through genealogy gradually morphed into weekly meditations to learn to talk to ancestors directly. This shift from historical documents to “direct” conversation meant the communication became spirit led, soaked in symbol and story, and much deeper in time. This rearranged my concept of what and who we are talking about when we talk about “ancestors.”

After many years of speaking with my own ancestors, I found I could talk with other people’s ancestors too and Wake the Dead Ancestral Services was born. If you want to know more about me and my thoughts on ancestor work, check out the blog.