Systemic (family) constellations are a method that allows us to change unconscious attitudes and systemic conditioning that influence our health, life, wellbeing and destiny.
The creator of this method is Bert Hellinger, a German psychotherapist whose life path intersected with the history of the 20th century.
Childhood and Youth in the Shadow of Nazism
Hellinger’s childhood and youth took place during the Nazi era. His family rejected this ideology, which is why Hellinger did not attend Hitlerjugend meetings. Due to his absence and his membership in a Catholic youth organisation, he was suspected by the Gestapo of being an enemy of the state. To protect himself from the Gestapo, he joined the army and became a soldier at the age of 17. He spent the end of the war as a prisoner in a camp in Belgium.
From Theology to South Africa: Years of Formation
After the war, he studied theology, philosophy and pedagogy. In 1953 he entered a religious order and went on a mission to South Africa. For 16 years he observed the Zulu people, who lived in a traditional clan-based community. Respect for parents is obvious there, as is the principle that no one in the community is exposed to ridicule. It was also there that he first encountered training in group dynamics.
The Path to His Own Method
After leaving the order in 1971, Hellinger trained in many therapeutic approaches:
- psychoanalysis
- Gestalt therapy
- Arthur Janov’s primal therapy
- Eric Berne’s transactional analysis
- Milton Erickson’s hypnotherapy
- Murray Bowen’s family therapy
- and others
All these experiences led Hellinger to create his own therapeutic method, called the method of systemic constellations or family constellations.
What Does a Constellation Session Look Like?
A systemic constellation session is a deep, emotional therapeutic process that usually takes place in a group, although it can also be conducted individually.
The main aim of the method is to reveal hidden family dynamics and unconscious loyalties that may underlie life difficulties, illnesses or repeating patterns. During a group session, the person bringing their issue, the client, does not enact their story themselves.
Instead, they choose representatives from among the workshop participants for themselves, members of their family, and sometimes also for abstract concepts such as illness, fear or success. The client then intuitively places them in the space of the room. A key element of the method is the so-called knowing field. Although the representatives do not know the client’s history, they begin to feel authentic emotions, physical tensions and even adopt the postures of the people they represent.
The facilitator observes these reactions, introduces changes in the constellation and offers simple, healing sentences, the so-called words of power. The whole process aims to restore the so-called Orders of Love in the family system, which brings the client relief, understanding and a new perspective on their own life.
There are also individual constellations, in which the client and therapist use small figurines to uncover these dynamics.
In both group and individual constellations, access to hidden knowledge is made possible by the so-called knowing field. The knowing field is something we cannot fully describe, but its effects are real and go beyond what we know from classical psychology.
How Do Constellations Work?
Constellations bring positive change through:
- reconnecting what was separated
- revealing unconscious or denied bonds in the family system
They show that the cause of many problems lies in so-called entanglements, that is, unconscious identifications with members of the family lineage, as well as other unconscious attitudes that are destructive to the individual.
The Orders of Love
Through the Orders of Love, we can bring order to irregularities in the family system so that we can grow within it.
The Orders of Love include:
- reconciliation with the family
- recognising and honouring unconscious bonds
- taking one’s rightful place in the family system
The Necklace Metaphor
Metaphorically, constellations are like untangling a knotted necklace.
Unconscious attitudes and conditioning entangle us and make us “knotted” in our family system. This also means that we are not living our own life. Energy in the lineage is blocked or flows in the wrong direction.
As a result, we may experience:
- difficulties
- adversity
- illnesses
- and other challenges
Through constellations we can untangle this necklace, find our place in the lineage, heal our relationship with our family and with ourselves, and find greater peace and a sense of fulfilment.
If you feel that the topic of systemic constellations speaks to you and you would like to see how it works in practice, I invite you to get in touch.
We can talk about whether constellations, group or individual, could support you in what you are going through right now.
Write to me and together we will find the best form of work for you.
with love, Kaja
