The Knowing Field Issue 24

Dear Reader,

There is a theme of ‘magic’ running through the journal this time. This leaves me with the ongoing dilemma I have about the use of this word and some people’s association with new age ideas and ungrounded spirituality. A bit like the word ‘soul’ it can be used to depict something, which cannot be matched by any other substitute word, but what do we mean by ‘magic’? I imagine different people will have their own personal response or reactivity to the word.

I recently did a personal ‘nature’ constellation in which I used the word ‘magic’ to describe my experience of two parts of the constellation coming together and then that ‘togetherness’ being shown to me in reality. I can only describe this as magic but what is it I personally am saying when I use this word? For me, it is about the effect of an external reality on my soul. I wonder if that’s what it means for others who use it? An interesting point for reflection. At the same time, Bert Hellinger’s writing re-stimulated in me an ongoing question I have regarding the constellation work and the dilemma I find myself in increasingly often of seeing how important and potentially life-transforming this work is, such that I find it deeply satisfying to pass it on to others and at the same time, the inner calm that I have achieved through this work which pushes me increasingly into a desire for a more ordinary existence without the need to offer help to others towards this transformed inner state.

Maybe that has more to do with age and life stages than anything else but it is an interesting question to ponder and I imagine one that I am not alone in contemplating! None of us can know for sure what Bert is referring to in his writing on the two kinds of happiness but I personally received it as a soul message about the joy of what I would name as ‘ordinariness’ and maybe his own longing for that state as he moves towards his own death. How is it possible to hold these two polarities of the ‘magic’ of the work and the ensuing wish to pass it on to others, alongside the simplicity and inner calm it can engender in us as a result?

This is an ongoing question for me. In the first of my spotlight interviews I experienced the ‘magic’ of the potential coming together of science and constellation work via people like Sarah Peyton who has managed to convey in ordinary accessible language, details about how the brain works and indeed how it fits with the constellation work in terms of interpersonal neurobiology and field phenomena. These are exciting developments and I found the conversation very stimulating. In her conversation with Bill Mannle, Susan Pogue talks to him about his work with adolescents and his approach to training. She encourages him to speak too of his own spirituality and how that relates to the work he does.

Louis Hillebrand and Fawzia Hanssens describe in some detail their approach as a couple with constellations and how they have found a way to work together, combining their different strengths and their gender differences. We have not had many contributions from Belgium so it was good also to hear something of the history and culture of this country. A welcome addition to this issue is the conversation between Sofia Georgiadou and Judy WilkinsSmith, focusing more directly on the organisational field of constellation work.

They also feature later in the journal offering an interesting comparison between various Family Therapy models and Hellinger’s constellation work. Also on the organisational theme Charmaine Tener offers the first part of a two-part research article on the perspectives of facilitators working with organisational constellations in North America. I found it particularly interesting that the majority of those interviewed do not use the word ‘constellation’ on a regular basis with clients. There has been much discussion of the use of this word over the years so it’s good to see the issue raised once again. I’m glad to see two submissions from regular contributor Jane Peterson: the first on her understanding of how family constellations differ from organisational ones, which she offers as a springboard for further discussion.

The second is a further development of her work with somatic imaging and how this kind of knowledge can amplify and enhance our work as facilitators. Susan Pogue returns us to the world of ‘magic’ with her piece on fairy tales and how they can be used to enhance the constellation work. Quoting both Hellinger and Schneider she shows how this theme has existed for some time within our field and hopefully her article brings it once more into the foreground. In the Personal Reflections section, another regular contributor Francesca Mason Boring reminds us of the essential difference between our more western style left-brain approach to facilitation of a constellation and that of being led by the field and the constellation itself, as touched on in the two conversations I had with Sarah and with Louis and Fawzia.

Having recently dipped more deeply myself into the world of Nature Constellations I was very moved by Susan Schlosser’s article on her experience of being in relationship with the Grand Canyon in all its beauty and physical challenge. The cover design is also based on this incredible natural phenomenon. Gloria Davila’s constellation article drew me once again into this ‘lightness of being’ that I am experiencing from time to time and which I felt was depicted in both Bob Marley’s and Bobby McFerrin’s songs and the sharp contrast between them and the deep pain she describes in the clients she is working with.

Currently running my trainings in both the UK and Romania with a man sitting beside me, I have become increasingly aware of the dance between men and women and the need for men to find healing through being with other men. This seems to me to be a significant contribution constellation work can make where men are valued as men. So it is particularly moving to read of the men’s ritual which was led by Bill Mannle and took place at the Australasian Intensive held in Sydney towards the end of last year.

Each year we receive contributions from various people, regular and new, on their experiences at the Intensive at Kloster Bernried in Germany. It is interesting to notice how that network has built up over the years and to reflect on what it might be that makes the community there so solid, such that people return year after year. Here again, we have the use of the word ‘magic’ by one or two authors to describe their experiences there. Anngwyn St.Just’s chapter from her latest book Waking to the Sound of Thunder (second in a group of three) is a step into the culture of Peru and its turbulent history and current traumas which provides stirring and at times, quite harrowing reading but even here there is a touch of ‘magic’ with Anngwyn’s introduction of the realm of ‘angels’.

Finally, I am pleased to include two poems from Jan Crawford as part of her series on The Consenting Adult. As the second of pdf only issues of the journal, The Knowing Field Journal, whilst still a lot of hard work to bring together, has developed a lighter touch to it for me, which seems to be in line with the path I am being drawn towards.

My thanks once again to all supporters of the journal.

Barbara Morgan