The Knowing Field Issue 26

Dear Reader,

I am writing this Editorial having just emerged from a very intense time with my daughter as she approached and gave birth to her second daughter (my fourth grandchild). Working with constellations and being completely immersed in ‘living the work’ at the same time is an extraordinary blessing for which I am grateful every day. This personal involvement means the production of issue 26 has been somewhat delayed.

At the Bernried Intensive this year, Jan Jacob Stam talked of our need to pass on this work to the next generation, as the bulk of us who have been around the work a long time are now in our 50s and 60s. I think about this a lot as I watch the next generations within my own family emerge into their own lives. the knowing field 4 At the same time, in this particular issue we have a theme of individuals addressing the wider field with societal constellations, large group constellations, the perpetrator/victim dynamic in Germany and Japan, immigration and bringing Africa more fully on to the constellations map. What will the future hold? Will constellation work just fade into the distance or will it spring forward into a bold place in the forefront of everything?

Will the paradigm shift to take on the concept of ‘field’ and ‘systemic consciousness’ really catch on worldwide? If so, where will constellation work fit within that? Lots of unanswered questions, but of course, if we stay in the present and don’t worry at all about the future, then what will be will be: we can just enjoy being here now with the richness and the privilege of being involved with something so powerful and rewarding – and at the hub of life itself. Bert Hellinger’s poem At Last gives us a great start to this issue. Birth and Death, are they really different things? Is there really a beginning and end or just one continuous circle? And is this just true of Birth and Death, or of everything that has a beginning and end? phenomena, Diana Claire Douglas is starting an exploration into societal constellations and her interview with Jan Jacob Stam marks the first of a collection of interviews she is proposing to carry out to find out what is happening worldwide with regard to these large-scale constellations and how effective they are.

Here, Jan Jacob talks about how he became involved with societal constellations and what is important about the stance of the facilitator in such constellations. He gives many examples of how they can be usefully applied. Sarah Peyton is becoming a regular contributor to the journal and we are pleased to include her second talk at the Bernried Intensive last year, in which she gives us more insight into the relationship between the two hemispheres of the brain, and the work of the amygdala and hippocampus. She includes a beautiful personal example of the effects of trauma on the right brain and body: how, with no sense of time, we can be re-traumatised by a completely unconnected event in the present. She emphasises the allimportant need for resonance, which helps us recover much more rapidly from that experience.

Once again, she shows how valuable constellation work is in helping us through this process, which enables the hippocampus to spring back into action, so we can integrate the experience. The next two articles begin to move us more fully into the new paradigm of field phenomena and systemic consciousness. In the first, Dan Booth Cohen and Emily Blefeld Volden describe how they work with three levels of consciousness: personal, ancestral and spiritual. They offer an example of their approach with a large-group constellation using these three dimensions of consciousness. In the second article, Evelyn Brodie explores the issue of nonlocality, the integration of shamanic work and the current findings of neuroscientists.

She also advocates the full involvement of the ancestral field and our need as facilitators to Still looking at these wider issues, in the Constellations section, Karen Carnabucci gives us an example of a group constellation, looking at how to help to spread the work in North America. She describes how people represented various aspects that might be needed and then brought themselves into order. Richard Pantlin’s constellation with a traditional healer from Zimbabwe, is the first of three articles in this issue stemming from Africa, and offersing us insight into some of the cultural differences between us. I’m sure those of us in the Western world could learn a lot from these cultures. Although it is an individual constellation with one individual from Zimbabwe, the cultural differences show up really clearly as part of the process. It seems apt to precede the section on the History of Nations with Francesca Mason Boring’s personal reflection on the issue of immigration.

Given the current waves of migration from Africa and the Middle East to Europe and in Southeast Asia, this is a very timely article. As Francesca explains, it follows a personal experience for her of a large-group constellation facilitated by Judith Hemming and her own subsequent facilitation of immigration constellations. She vividly describes some of the pain and trauma involved in this process and how to take care of that when facilitating. Her insights into what might be needed also come from her own inner knowing, stemming from her ancestral experiences of both immigrant and indigenous roots. In addition to Richard Pantlin’s individual constellation, featured in the Constellations section, Africa also appears in the History of Nations section.

Given that Bert Hellinger spent 16 years as a missionary to the Zulu, it is somewhat surprising that we have not had more articles from South Africa, or any other African country for that matter. There is clearly some movement happening on that continent in relation to constellation work, but it is rare to hear about it. So the knowing field the three articles in this issue, which connect us to three very different African countries, are very welcome. When I read Michael Mungoma’s experience with his tribe in Kenya and the stories from Zanzibar gathered by Jane Flood, I wonder whether many people in parts of Africa just don’t need the work as we do. Many of them seem closer to the land, more in touch with their ancestors, living more ‘naturally’. Jane Flood’s report offers us some insight into the lives of those peoples in the world who have retained such a close link to nature, not learnt to read or write or become caught by the modern technological age.

Their stories, passed on only verbally, are therefore invaluable as a link to times gone by and some kind of ancient wisdom. Although not directly linked to constellation work, this article seemed important to me, informing us all about cultural differences and the value of story as a way of continuing the family line. I also f ind it very heartening to hear of parts of the world that remain uncluttered by modern living. In Michael Mungoma’s account of the customs of his Luhya tribe in Kenya, you can immediately spot some familiar links to constellation work. At the same time, there are one or two customs, that fly in the face of what we have experienced in the constellations field, around the burden of secrets, or a child bearing the name of an ancestor who had a heavy fate. This rich section includes two articles with another focus: painful memories and family involvement in historical atrocities.

Michael Gollmer offers us a moving report of his visit to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the stories of prisoners having to walk ‘test tracks’ for miles a day for the shoe business. He shares his personal involvement through his own family’s links to that business and the pain of acknowledging and facing up to one’s perpetrator ancestry. Olivia Fermi’s report of her visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in connection with her project, which she has chosen to call the Neutron project, leads us through the project itself and describes a constellation in relation to her connection to Japan and its history, in addition to her grandfather’s links to the nuclear industry. Like Michael, Olivia is attempting to address the perpetrator/victim dynamic and find healing for both sides. In the Reviews section, Max Dauskardt discusses the Editor’s recently published book and CD collection, Coming Home: A First Step into the World of Family Constellations, whilst Anngwyn St. Just, regular contributor to the journal and author of many books on the wider global issues, continues to wake us up, in this Book Extract, to some of the traumatic and harrowing events that echo across the decades with uncanny repetitions in place and time. In this chapter from her latest book, entitled At Paradigm’s Edge: Vol III of the Trauma & Human Condition series, she writes of the oppression of the indigenous Mexicans and their fight for justice.

First in the Reports section is a presentation from the new Chairman of ISCA, Max Dauskardt offering his thoughts and vision for the future of the organisation. He talks of the importance for each of us to have a feeling of individuality and difference in terms of our own particular style of facilitating, but at the same time to feel some gravitational pull towards the centre, where we can find Bert Hellinger’s insights, the Intensive at Bernried in Germany and other Intensives which are beginning to emerge across the world. He invites and encourages conversation, global interaction and exchange of ideas as a way of maintaining a balance between differentiation and belonging. And finally, we have three articles emerging from this year’s Bernried Intensive, two of which are about Horse Constellations – a new, rapidly growing way of combining the ancient wisdom and awareness of horses with constellation work.

Again, it seems timely that horses, with their ‘herd’ mentality and holistic way of seeing the world, are coming more fully into the realm of constellation work. I conclude my Editorial on an optimistic note. Whilst there are horrendous tragedies happening all over the world, in constellation work we have a tool which really is effective and, as is so vividly described in the articles here, one that can help in many different kinds of difficult situations. One important positive outcome of the increase in technological advances, is that we are forced to look at wider, global issues and like it or not, there is a definite trend towards taking account of the bigger picture. Constellation work is poised to be hugely influential in this respect.

Once again, my thanks to all those who continue to support the journal with their donations, subscriptions and positive encouragement and of course to those in my editorial team who offer their advice and practical help when needed.

Barbara Morgan

Editor