The Knowing Field Issue 36

When I reflect on Editorials over the past 16 years, I recall many occasions when we were in turbulent times, both within the Constellations field and in the wider world. We’ve travelled together through many different events, some tragic, some controversial, some even celebratory.

When I edited issue 35, Bert Hellinger had very recently died. And now, in unprecedented times, the whole world is wrapped in responding to a new viral disease, called Covid-19/the coronavirus/the Pandemic. Although it has multiple names, its effect is global, with many countries being in ‘lockdown’, social distancing, impending vaccination, scientific theories, conspiracy theories, searches for truth, an ‘infodemic’ on social media, and many unanticipated deaths.

Can constellation work offer anything? With many people moving online and urgently familiarising themselves with video conferencing, such as Zoom, we’ve witnessed many large and small-scale constellation events. In this issue, we have just three examples of collective constellations exploring the pandemic, which I will come to later.

But first, let’s stay with Bert. Even though his death is now a few months back, he is still very much with us in Spirit. I sat and intuitively opened one of his books when I was considering the impact of the current situation and what he might say. I picked off my bookcase ‘Fulfilled’ and opened it. I landed upon his first contribution, entitled: The Future. The words feel so apt for what is happening currently: he writes about Fear, probably the most rampant emotion in the world at the moment, with the government and the media re-traumatising so many people on a daily basis with their publication of how many have died from the virus. He challenges us to question, from that place of fear, in whose hands we place our future. He shows that in our powerlessness, we become powerful, that in our innermost core, our souls, we can meet eye to eye those we perceive as holding the power and see that ultimately all are contained within the same great love.

In his second piece, entitled Breakthrough, he challenges us to confidently open ourselves to a breakthrough that comes at times of great change, not to a different consciousness, but more from a different, cosmic consciousness that comes to us from afar. Many prophets over the years have foretold that the world would face disaster, man-made or natural, running parallel to a shift in consciousness. Is this the consciousness to which Bert is referring? Are we ready for it? That’s his challenge to us. Thank you Bert for supporting us in Spirit through your writing, in taking ourselves forward in these unprecedented times, ready for what may come our way. There is incredible wisdom in the Field.

Moving on, our Spotlight conversation this time comes from Lisa Iversen and Una Suseli O’Connell on the theme of Una’s recent book describing her journey through her ancestral history. They discuss what she discovered about how best to research this and preserve the dignity of family members past and present. A short extract of the book is included to give readers a taste of what they might expect from her memoir.

In the History of Nations, Cultures & Religions section, regular contributor Anngwyn St. Just links the history of the venue where she had been invited to run a seminar on collective trauma, to the horrors of Argentinian history and the involvement of the USA in overthrowing Peron’s government in the ’70s. Political turmoil and violence, upheaval, crushing of government opponents were all part of the overall breakdown of the regime, the ‘Dirty War’ years and Operation Condor. Drawing on Rupert Sheldrake’s contention that places have fields of memory, she makes a powerful link to this history, symbolised by an empty chair sitting in the circle and holding what Arnold Mindell referred to as a ‘time spirit’. This chair seemed to be carrying the intensity of held-back emotions implicit in a nation that held so many secrets, cover-ups, betrayals, and genocide. As with many of Anngwyn’s writings, it makes for difficult reading, but is another piece of history clamouring to be revealed. As is often the case, Anngwyn is fearless in her pursuit of such uncovering.

Given the worldwide coronavirus (Covid-19) situation, it felt imperative to include some examples of constellations on this theme. I’m sure there are many others who have and are still doing collective constellations on this topic, so I have selected a sample of three very different ones from China, the USA, and Australia. It is interesting to compare and contrast these three pieces from different parts of the globe and see where the common elements are in them. Constellations can be a powerful tool with such global issues, and the revelations from these blind constellations are stark and often surprising.

Under the Personal Reflections section, another regular contributor, Alemka Dauskardt, looks more widely at the issues men and women face these days, with an increasing number of people opting for the single life or struggling in their intimate relationships. She sees these struggles as symptomatic of a wider malaise rather than the cause of the difficulties. In many of her examples, men are excluded, while the women live under the illusion that they can carry on with their family lives as if these absences were insignificant, only to find somewhere along the way that everything is beginning to collapse. When women remain angry with their former partners or the fathers of their children, their sons find they can’t form intimate relationships with women; they cannot find a way to embrace their masculinity. Similar problems arise for women who have been unable to embrace femininity due to historical mistreatment of their gender and the fractured relationship with their mothers this can cause, often going back several generations. Through the example of a constellation, she shows how by widening the net to include patriarchy and the Force that guides us all, we can sometimes help to bring about healing on an individual and collective level simultaneously.

We return to the issue of the coronavirus through Rafael Ruiz Amdal’s writing on the difference between approaching the virus and all that it entails through the eyes of a child, and widening our lens to look at it with the eyes of mature love, as adults. If we look at what is happening through the lens of a child, we are in danger of projecting all kinds of false realities onto the external world, rather than doing the inner work necessary to endure the hardship we are currently all being placed under.

And helping us out as facilitators, Leslie Nipps offers practical advice on how to work online with group constellations. Although initially somehow sceptical myself, I have now found I can do this with some adjustments, noting some of the limitations mentioned by Leslie. I have discovered, much to my amazement, that even a Zoom computer screen can show us field phenomena, like where the different representatives are in relation to each other, how they can move for no apparent reason to another bit of the screen, that their image goes dark, or they lose their connection; and I can add all this to the field of the constellation! I never thought I would end up thanking technology, but I do now – every day. Thank you too, Leslie, for showing the way. I hope others will follow.

Next, new contributor to The Knowing Field, Nikki Mackay, writes about looking at the interruption in our connection to our father and how this may impact on our connection to land, our sense of safety and belonging; and how all this links to issues of migration and feelings of displacement. I recall many years ago, Bert Hellinger saying that if we come from a different country or land to our partners and we have children, the family fares better if they move to the father’s country of origin rather than the mother’s. Not as a rule but rather what strengthens the family soul more. It is refreshing to have an article on the role of fathers. Thank you, Nikki.

Another of our regular contributors, Max Dauskardt, invites us to accompany him as he continues his research into trying to place constellation work in the bigger ‘knowing’ or ‘Akashic’ field through the study of quantum physics and cosmology. His quest is to understand what ‘soul’ is and express that in language that is comprehensible for the average reader. He challenges us to look from the ‘easier to grasp’ macro to the ‘almost impossible to grasp’ micro, from the explicit order to the implicit order and in the end, through the example of an online constellation, he throws open to the reader the question of reincarnation of the soul. Thanks to Jen Altman and her extensive editing experience and scientific understanding, for her help with this, which was too much of a stretch for me to edit alone with my own limited understanding of quantum physics.

In Book Reviews, Alemka Dauskardt gives a beautiful overview of my second book, the first in a 3-volume series on Motherhood. Many thanks, Alemka.

Bertold Ulsamer has written a lovely handbook to help us deal with our current existential fears in relation to the coronavirus. He was restricted by Amazon from linking the book directly to the coronavirus, but they were willing for him to publish it once he widened his remit to include fear in times of crisis. We include an extract from this useful handbook, not only for our current times but for any point in the future when we may again be faced with our own fears.

I am interested that I have had more poems this time than at any other time in my role as Editor. Within our training group, we have been and continue to be living the macro within the micro field of the group, with two family deaths – one father and one brother – the death of a pet and a lot of trauma, fear, and chaos. Yet, we have balanced all this with a huge input of poetry, music, art, and nature (many animals visiting, coming to us – deer in back gardens and nearby woods, birds crashing into windows and being nursed back to health, horses putting their heads through windows, dogs joining the online constellations). Nature has provided us with such a resource during these difficult months and helped sustain us all. Amazing!

So I am pleased to include here two poems from Karine Butchart (not part of our training group but a dear friend and regular attendee at our annual constellation camps) and a selection from our current training group, under the title which came out of the group: Poetic Expressions from the Frome Training Course – or, as another participant put it: From Frome to Zoom. Some pearls from a UK Facilitator Training responding to lockdown. I couldn’t decide between the titles so I’ve included both!

Thanks to my Editorial and Advisory Board, and in particular this time Jen Altman, and of course to Lubosh Cech, my designer, Abi Eva my assistant, and Francesca Mason Boring who offer their regular support for each issue.

Barbara Morgan
Editor