Systemic Constellations & Family Constellations

Website design Vivian Broughton

Exploring Systemic Solutions
First appeared in the Bristol Noticeboard, December 2002.

Vivian Broughton

A man sits next to a woman. There are 10 to 15 other people sitting with them, making a large circle. The room is big and airy. The man and woman talk for a while. The group listens carefully. The man wants to explore an issue in his life and the woman helps him clarify what the issue is. After a short while the man stands up. He asks several people if they will participate in his constellation by representing, perhaps, members of his family, or other elements of his life. These people stand up too. The man then slowly and quietly positions these people according to some inner sense he has of his issue. Then he sits down again.

The man and the woman and the group look at the positioned representatives, who are beginning to experience what it is like to be where they are. One or another may move slightly, or they may remain still with their eyes fixed in one spot. The woman stands and perhaps asks one or two of the representatives what they are experiencing. She may move one or two of them to see the effect on the rest of the representatives. One may speak for a while about what they experience.

Bit by bit the woman explores with them their experience, from time to time referring back to the man to check something or ask for more information. Extraordinarily the representatives each seem to have connected very strongly with the person they represent, sometimes supplying information that no one in the group knew except the man. Eventually some resolution is reached, the various representatives feel better, more peaceful, resolved in some way. The man feels satisfied, sometimes astonished at what has emerged, often strangely uplifted and peaceful. He has seen something he had not seen before, a new image of how things really are, perhaps not what he expected.

Constellations Work is a method of exploring the deeper dynamics that exist within all systems, influencing us at a soul level, affecting how we behave and feel, the decisions and choices that we make.

This work is very new to this country, and differs from other forms of exploration in that the focus is less on the individual as being the locus of change and insight, and more on the hidden forces and dynamics that are at work within the system. These subtle energetic forces are largely out of conscious awareness and yet they affect our lives in dramatic ways.

Within a family, or any other system, the survival and continuation of that system is of paramount importance. The energy that urges for the continued "health" of the family we might think of as love or loyalty; this energy must flow in a clear and unfettered way down through the generations, from older to younger, from earlier to later whatever it takes.

The fates and acts of those who come earlier in a system have consequences for those who come later. Events such as war, premature death, serious crime, betrayal, exploitation have their effect on the system and, if unresolved can require some compensatory action from later members. The causes of our difficulties do not necessarily originate with us, but they manifest through us.

This happens within all types of system. In organisations, prior events leave their mark and effect those who join later, sometimes with difficult or even disastrous consequences. Sometimes these consequences are minor, but at other times they can have a major impact. Often the link between the later consequences and the original event are not seen, however the effect can be felt deeply. Constellations can reveal these connections and show the way to resolution.

What is a Constellation? A constellation is a way of representing the pattern of relationships within a system. These relationships may be between family members, work colleagues, friends, or object elements such as a writer and her book, two departments in an organisation. When we look at a constellation we see how things actually are, rather than how we would like them to be. By working with the information shown we can find what order and resolution might be possible.

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