The Knowing Field Issue 25

Dear Reader,

This feels strangely like a transitional issue of the journal. It is the smallest I have done for some time and there seems to be a lull in the number of articles coming my way. This has not previously been the case since I took over Editorship in 2004. Oddly, the image I have is of a tsunami, as if the waters are being sucked back before the huge wave comes in. The title of Bert Hellinger’s piece, The Turning Point, seems to fit with this metaphor. Here he writes of the pursuit of heroes/gurus and finally returning to our own garden. This has deep resonance for me and I found the last couple of sentences particularly poignant. These days we are so much more of an entity across the whole world. In the past, we would have known nothing of what was happening on other continents and even those with a spirit of adventure were only able to reach particular parts.

Now, with the advance of technology we are able to be in touch with most major events and if something like a tsunami happens in the Indian Ocean, or more recently such atrocities as the Charlie Hebdo shootings in France, the anti-terror raid in Belgium, the market attack in Nigeria and the Ebola outbreak, each one of us is affected by it. When it comes to humanity itself we are all touched and connected. the knowing field 4 At the same time, this globalisation and inter-connectedness can be a positive force, as is happening with the constellation work.

Many people’s lives across the globe have been and continue to be transformed by this amazing work; it is a privilege to be part of such a movement. A number of people have followed that movement by travelling to many different places in the world, so others could benefit. Bert himself has been to countless countries offering people the benefit of his wisdom. Others haven’t ventured far from their own garden and have been quietly beavering away in their own corner of the planet, planting seeds and watching their labour take root and in many cases blossom and bear fruit. For those of us who have stepped beyond our own borders, how many of us will be able to return to our own gardens and see that the work itself, in some ways so simple and yet so profound, doesn’t need much adding to it? If we are to ‘walk our talk’ as it were, then there are family ties, ancestors and descendants who need our loving attention.

How can we find the balance between these two places – stepping out so others can benefit and tending to our own patch? This is something I am regularly juggling myself as a mother of two and now grandmother of three with a fourth on the way. So returning to my initial image of a tsunami, is the tide really turning? Will there be a real paradigm shift across the world in our lifetime? Or will more bridges need to be built before this can take place? When you read through this issue, you will see some areas where that is happening and other areas where any kind of coming together still seems a long way off. In the Spotlight conversation between Susan Pogue and Don Paglia, Don, whose name you may recognise from previous articles in the journal, speaks to Susan of his work with couples, his place on the Connecticut training and how his spiritual beliefs influence his work. In working with couples, Don is a natural bridgebuilder.

He also shows how he is able to incorporate his spiritual beliefs into the work he is doing, without creating any difficulty or having to compromise on his own philosophy and belief system – another bridge. In the Research & Development section, we start with Sarah Peyton’s piece on the right and left sides of the brain, which has been taken from her first talk last May at Bernried in Germany. I think most of us can begin to grasp some of what happens in our brains and bodies and how constellation work fits within that. Her approach, which draws on the work of Daniel Siegel, Marshall Rosenberg and others, is providing a bridge between the scientific world and the rest of us. At the same time, if as she said in her Spotlight interview in issue 24, scientists themselves are being personally affected by the research they are doing, then the bridge could also go in the opposite direction and we may in the not too distant future f ind many more of these scientists sitting in a constellation workshop! Maybe this is part of the theme I am referring to above. Is this a turning point: that finally the scientific and the ‘alternative’ world will move closer together and constellation work will be accepted into mainstream? Or will it always remain on the fringes, being used subversively by some or adapted to fit what we think is needed, either in organisational or therapeutic fields? Ursula Gubler-Lanz’s piece on Art Therapy and Constellation Work follows on well from Sarah Peyton’s talk, as it shows the value of using imagery as the bridge between the right and left sides of the brain.

Of course constellations are images in themselves, whether we use pieces of card, shoes or actual people, and, if we subscribe to the idea that the image and bodily experience come f irst and then we add words to try and make sense of those images and somatic experiences, we are following what Sarah advocates, letting the right brain be in the driving seat. In her own work, Ursula is drawing on the words of Barbara Innecken and Eva Madelung from their book: ‘Entering Inner Images’ to demonstrate what she is doing and offers example of how this is put into practice. We have two organisational pieces in this section: the second part of Charmaine Tener’s article (part 1 is in the previous issue of The Knowing Field) on the discoveries coming from her research into the use of organisational constellations by North American facilitators, and Beth Hand the knowing field focusing on leadership.

Charmaine makes an interesting observation – that many of those trained in organisational constellation work in North America do not make the work their main profession. Instead they hide it in amongst the other work they do, almost coming through the back door, as it were. In many cases the word ‘constellation’ is also avoided, as if using such a word would put people off. This left me wondering how common this is elsewhere in the world and to what extent constellations are used almost ‘subversively’ within the field of organisations (and maybe also in other areas, like therapy). She poses the question whether this will always be the case and, given the theme in this issue of bridge building, maybe some discussion will follow around this whole area.

Beth’s piece, interestingly, has a similar theme: she advocates stepping into the leader’s world, trying to understand how busy they are and finding ways to meet them where they are, speaking their language. This of course also includes not being too overt about constellations and the use of the terminology if that is what is required. I am reminded of my own journey with this and my decision to stick with what I feel in my soul to be true; not to be willing to compromise on that for the sake of being accepted within mainstream bodies or even the public at large. Like it or not, for me constellations are part of a new paradigm which has not yet been generally accepted. At the same time, with people like Sarah Peyton and Daniel Siegel building important bridges between science and mainstream, the acceptability of constellation work becomes more possible. What do readers think? In the News from around the World section, regular contributor Anngwyn St.Just has written a harrowing piece on the way black people are still treated in the USA.

The process of reconciliation and any kind of bridgebuilding between black and white still seems a long way off in this part of the world. With victims and perpetrators as the theme, this article can be linked to Susan Pogue’s review of the film: The Railwaymen, the true story of the British Army officer, Eric Lomax, who locates the man who tortured him during the second world war and together they f ind a way towards reconciliation. Sometimes, it is possible to find that reconciliation and many people are working towards making this possible. Also in this section, we are offered an up-to-date view of ISCA. As the new President, Max Dauskardt is hoping to inject some energy into ISCA and take the Association forward in a powerful way.

Although a vast amount of work was done previously to try and build an international association for all of us as facilitators and trainers of constellation work, the body reached a plateau and seemed unable to grow further. After the near death of the Association, Max has grabbed the baton with a new enthusiasm and vigour and a sincere wish to find ways to link us across the globe. If you are interested in our global connectivity and building bridges between us, then read his article, write to him or join the Facebook group and make your own voice heard. Returning to the Reviews section, Claude-Hélène Mayer writes on the book Returning to Membership in Earth Community edited by Ken Sloan and Francesca Mason Boring. She highlights an important chapter written by Daan van Kampenhout on working with LBGT groups and the need for their inclusion in the Earth Membership community.

Following the theme of diversity and bridgebuilding, the section ends with Jen Altman giving us a peep into Amerta – an approach to movement which seems to complement constellation work very closely in that nothing is prescribed, but instead movement emerges from the body itself. The book she reviews: Embodied Lives, contains a series of articles from people who incorporate Amerta into their work and their lives in various ways. Charlotte Palmgren of Sweden has provided us with an extract from her forthcoming book: Under ytan: Berättelser ur verkliga livet utifrån ett familjesystemiskt perspektiv (Under the Surface: Real life stories from a family systems perspective) which she hopes will be available in English next summer. Here Charlotte offers us a touching example of the effectiveness of constellation work.

Please contact Charlotte direct if you are interested to hear more. In an issue which covers so much about bridge-building and interconnectedness it is poignant to end with another poem from Jan Crawford, taken from her series: ‘The Consenting Adult’ entitled: The Other Instinct, where she writes so movingly about the simple peace that comes when we can find our heart connection to our ancestors – returning to our own garden.

Barbara Morgan

Editor