The-Knowing-Field-Issue-33

You will see that this issue of the Journal has a new layout. A regular subscriber said she found it difficult to read the two-column style on the screen, and after consulting with my advisory board, I have decided to try this layout as an experiment. I would welcome your feedback on how you find it, compared to the previous layout. Personally, I find it less attractive, but if it is easier to read, then that’s the most important thing.

We have a truly international flavour to this journal with contributions from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, China, USA, Canada, UK, Mexico, Norway, Spain, and Croatia. With themes of colonialism, oppression, and gun violence, it is not an easy read at times. At the same time, there is an encouraging number of workshops and intensives on some of these thorny issues.

We begin with a beautiful piece from Bert Hellinger, taken from his regular letters back in 2012, where he guides us on a journey through our memories and asks us to look again at previously disturbing events through a different lens and to be able to let go of what no longer serves us.

It felt appropriate to have a cover design with an African flavour as the first five articles are from South African facilitators and teachers of systemic constellation work, who are planning a 5-day intensive in KwaZulu-Natal in September. This will be preceded by a ceremony to honour the Zulus and their contribution to constellation work – a fitting tribute and somehow a ‘coming home’ for the work, with the founder, Bert Hellinger, now in his twilight years.

The first article is an open letter from Tanja Meyburgh to Bert Hellinger, containing many questions about Bert’s time in that country. Tanja then interviews Lindiwe Mthembu-Salter, who relates her experiences as a Zulu there. Catherine Geils offers us a taste of what might be on offer as she has conversations with several other people who will be present. Tanja then writes further about Bert Hellinger in South Africa, offering information that she has gathered on her travels. Finally, before we leave this country, we have another piece from Tanja and her colleague Niall Campbell on what they refer to as Reverence and Dignity, linking some of the orders in constellation work to many African traditions. It is heartening to see so much good work being done there to bring together the indigenous with the more recently arrived white population, and it promises to be a very interesting Intensive.

Regular contributor Anngwyn St. Just offers us some further thoughts with her two contributions on the ongoing gun violence in the USA, but with an added note of encouragement from the fact that some of the young people are now saying via social media that enough is enough. It is difficult to shift these long-time habits, but moves are being made in that direction. In his Community Constellation, Chuck Cogliandro adds an extra possibility for looking at these issues through a large-group constellation.

Bertold Ulsamer and Cheng Lap Fung offer us some sobering insights into oppression in China and the effects of it. The one-child policy is only now beginning to show disastrous effects, with huge numbers of abortions, swapped children, women feeling that they are unimportant, and the proportion of men to women being distorted. Many women have interrupted reaching-out movements towards their mothers as a result of this oppressive ruling. Fortunately, this is now easing with a relaxation in this law, but the effects will be felt long-term. This is only one of many kinds of difficulties in this vast country, and we are grateful to both authors for offering some insights into what goes on there. We look forward to Part II from Cheng Lap Fung in the next issue.

Lynn Stoney describes a constellation on the effects of colonialism and slavery here in the UK and her realization after the constellation that, as a descendant of slave-owners in the Caribbean, she was holding the other side of the question to the question-holder. A first step is being made to begin looking in more depth at this issue in October when we invite Anngwyn St. Just to come and facilitate a two-day workshop on this evocative subject in the town of Bristol – a city well known for its history of involvement in the slave trade.

Moving away for a moment from these large-scale issues, we have a personal journey from Patricia Robertson through her ancestral line, as she demonstrates to us the benefits of doing genealogical research to pass on to our descendants. Diana Claire Douglas offers us a further look into how she works with the Collective and adds her observations from this process – a helpful learning tool for those beginning to offer these kinds of constellations.

We have three articles in the Personal Reflections section this time, with an interesting piece from Rafael Ruiz from Mexico on what it means to be a representative. This would make a useful teaching tool for new trainees on what being a representative entails. Leslie Nipps raises an interesting discussion on whether or not it is OK to challenge and criticize our parents and leaders. I imagine there will be cultural differences in this respect, as well as different viewpoints on what feels right, so I am grateful to her for raising the subject.

Alemka Dauskardt rounds off this section with a plea to consider men as well in the recent highly publicized #MeToo campaign. Accepting that women have indeed been oppressed over many centuries of patriarchy, she makes the case that many men have suffered too and gives examples from Turkey of the way men have been weakened by traumas of violence and emasculated through not being able to protect their women. Her plea is for us to take a systemic approach and come side by side as men and women to begin to address some of these difficulties together.

It is rare but heartening to have some contributions from Australia and New Zealand in the form of reports on the biennial Intensive held there. It is very encouraging to see that this Intensive drew people from many parts of the world. The reports of events there are very positive, and it is tempting to want to join them for the next one!

We have two book extracts this time, the first from Francesca Mason Boring’s next book *Family Systems Constellations: In the Company of Good People*, which will be published in Summer/Autumn 2018. She challenges us all as facilitators and trainers to look at how we may unconsciously be castrating men due to our own family history. She also urges us to consider some of the cultural issues connected with the routine disempowerment and humiliation of many men as victims of colonial rule, as well as through war-time experiences over many decades. The second book extract comes from the first of a series of three books I am writing on motherhood – an area which I think needs deeper exploration within the constellations field. It is an interview with a courageous woman from Lithuania who is currently going through difficulties with the authorities there as a result of her work with mothers and babies. This is reinforced in Cheng Lap Fung’s article when he writes about the disturbing increase in the numbers of caesareans and episiotomies in China.

The book extracts are followed by two letters to the Editor and a dedication to the memory of Anutosh Boon Foo, who died recently and who will be deeply missed by many in the constellations community as a lively and enthusiastic supporter of the work.

This is followed by an invitation from Alemka Dauskardt on behalf of ISCA to visit the beautiful Adriatic Coast in September for a gathering of constellation facilitators and trainers to share experiences, offer presentations, and network with each other. There will be just one guest speaker, Ervin Lazslo, as ISCA are hoping to encourage everyone who feels ready to come forward and present something to the rest of the attendees on a particular theme.

Finally, in the Poets’ Corner, I am pleased to include a few contributions from a trainee of mine, Angus Landman, who has brought a rich addition to our trainings here in the UK with his poetry.

When I reflect on the content of this issue, I feel encouraged that even though the world appears to be in a pretty sorry state at the moment, there are many movements happening across the globe, with constellations and other approaches aimed towards healing some of these issues.

My thanks once again to my team of Editors and Advisors and to Lubosh for his design work.

Barbara Morgan
Editor