Family Constellations

When a new baby enters the world, they bring with them genetic characteristics that elicit oodles of joy. The act of recognition of a parent with its beloved offspring is miraculous. Our heritage is a vital part of who we are yet we spend little time understanding the impact of these trans-generational relationships. The stories of a family are unique and often tragic and each of us carries the vibrations of these relationships, passing them on to the next generation. Sound too much to think about?

Family Constellations therapy enables you to dissolve the negative impacts of your family story. The therapy was conceived by Bert Hellinger, a missionary and Renaissance man whose relentless curiosity and acute sense of observation led him to pioneer a profoundly restorative methodology of psychological healing.

He read philosophy, theology and education, and during his 16 years in South Africa, studied the constellations of the society around him. His observations into the powerful Zulu culture and their multi-faceted family hierarchies gave him an understanding into what makes a family function, or not. What had never been considered before was the role of the ancestors.

After he returned to Germany, his homeland, he immersed himself in studying psychotherapy and various treatments, and it was during this time that he identified the "Orders of Love". Basically this means how a family establishes order within its reality - a closed system with operational requirements and consequences if things are out of joint. This is a systemic view of psychology that takes into account the whole and the sum of its parts. When one of those parts dysfunction, the whole system malfunctions. That means the skeleton in the closet is actually very much alive in the ‘field’ of knowing.

The workshops are designed to bring you into contact with this ‘field of knowing’. The workshop I attended was excellently facilitated by practitioners Claudio and Helen Celestino, who have been working with Family Constellations for many years and are leaders in the work in Cape Town.

Family Constellations therapy enables you to find your centre point again and helps relieve the over - burdens that are sometimes not yours to carry. The workshop consists of a group of participants who are integral to the process of your discovery. It is quite indescribable how the intuition of the group works to bring to light aspects of your dilemma you would not have before considered, yet played out before you gives it cognisance , what it never had before. It is like astral travelling, yet you are fully awake and able to involve yourself in the outcome. You step back a little from your life and let the show play out before your eyes.

You choose representatives of the protagonists in your dilemma and they enter the ‘field of knowing’ – essentially the morphogenic field first recognised by Rupert Sheldrake. Jung called it the Collective Unconscious; energy healers will describe it being a part of the Auric energy field. Whatever description resonates with you, the information you access within this field activates new perspectives leading to profound outcomes.

The modality has brought healing to groups on many levels, helping people manage terminal illness, AIDS, drug and alcohol dependency, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, anxiety, trauma and grief.

The time it takes to activate in your life varies so be prepared to experience a new angle in the journey you are making toward wellness. Begin the process of reconciliation with your immediate family. The ripple effect spreads.

For workshops and enquiries Constellations Institute of South Africa +27 21 785 7071 +27 83 656 2580 Email: CISA [info@constellationsinstitute.co.za]