Constellations in the Southwest

Catherine and I now live in the Tahoe/Reno region. We settled here after my father passed away in May of 2023. We now offer constellations in this region as well as Washington State and Oregon. We are currently working on our first book together. Here is the introduction:

Navigating these challenging times:
How Systemic Family Constellations can help.
 
Introduction
     We are living in challenging times and life can feel oppressive. It becomes more difficult to remain optimistic as we face an ever-divisive society. Our planet is evolving into a more inhospitable place for humans to live. Our Nations are at odds and at war. Our borders are being tested to their limits with immigration. Our communities are struggling to accept one another. Our inner cities are looking for help. Our neighbors are dealing with escalating housing and living costs.
     Our children are facing a grim future and living situations are changing in ways that most western societies are not prepared to accept. Our children are moving back home or are remaining at home with their parents well into their twenties.
     Our politicians are failing us for the sake of re-election. We, as a society, are feeling the heaviness of all these issues. Isolation and mistrust are filtering into our hearts and daily lives.
     This heaviness can, and does, take its toll on our psyche. It affects our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Our pain is soul deep, and time seems to be running out. Who can we turn to? Who will hear and feel our pain?
Our symptoms manifest as depression, anxiety, hopelessness, mistrust, etc. Our leaders propagate fear to keep us from uprising and rebelling to save ourselves. Now is the time to look inside our individual souls for help.
     Systemic Family constellations facilitation can address soul level trauma that prevents us from living our lives to our fullest potential. This book shows the reader how addressing inherited ancestral trauma gives you the tools to live a healthier and more fulfilling life. Trauma resolution is the first step to healthier relationships with yourself, partners, children, community, and society.
     Catherine and Joe facilitate in-person groups in the western states and video conferencing worldwide. We have witnessed amazing transformations with hundreds of people in group settings.
     In the pages ahead we take you through the constellation process and give examples of constellations we have facilitated over the years. We also share how and when we decided to follow this path of incredible healing. This journey has brought us to you, the reader, who has been called to learn, resolve, heal, and walk this journey with us.
     Systemic Family Constellation trauma resolution work is a experiential modality that allows us to access our inherited ancestral trauma. We are all born with this trauma that is passed down from generation to generation. We all experience this phenomenon, some more than others. This inherited ancestral trauma has been passed from our ancestral lineage as far back as 14 generations. This transference is said to be epigenetic in origin. Epigenetics is our emotional genetic makeup influenced by our environment that is passed from one generation to the next.
     If this physical trauma is not processed in the individual’s lifetime, it develops within the cellular memory of that individual. The now embedded trauma is passed down to their offspring through their DNA and they will inherit their parent’s trauma. The child’s expression of this inherited trauma may manifest as emotional issues (depression, anxiety, ADHD, ADD, and so on) or physical issues (Chronic pain, lung issues, joint issues, diagnosable or un-diagnosable chronic illnesses, etc.) or spiritual issues (feelings of unworthiness, not belonging, out of place, lost direction, etc.)
     The original trauma may have been a physical experience, such as an adult or child witnessing a murder or a family member dying by suicide. Trauma may also occur from an event in history such as, war, migration (especially across oceans), genocide, imprisonment, enslavement, etc.
     Systemic Family Constellation trauma resolution work is an alternative healing technique to modern talk psychotherapy and takes the client deeper into his or her inherited ancestral trauma. When deeply embedded trauma is present within a client’s DNA, talk therapy may not expose the origins of the client’s trauma. Much like allopathic medicine treats the symptoms of the disease, talk therapy addresses the issue at hand and looks for answers to the client’s presenting ailment, but often it never attends to the foundational emotional wound. Thus, although talk therapy can help the client function better in the world, the client is still vulnerable to relapse and backsliding because the root cause remains firmly intact.  In contrast, holistic medicine addresses the whole body and the root causes of unwellness, not only just the symptoms. This is the approach of Systemic Family Constellation trauma resolution work. Simply put, constellations look at the whole, the roots, and not just the afflicted part.
     So, whether a person’s trauma has emotional or physical origins or a combination, Systemic Family Constellation trauma resolution work addresses the trauma at its root. An SFC facilitator works with the client to address their remembered trauma. The client does not need to know what the trauma is or how it originated. The facilitator can access information within the morphogenic field, or the knowing field. when a constellation is set. The origin of the client’s trauma then has an opportunity to be revealed and resolved. This is said to be a phenomenological experience for the client and other representatives. Which is to say that during an individual or group setting, we release the construct of the analytical mind, and open to a deeper sensation inside ourselves. We invite the unseen realm to guide us through the process.
     Bert Hellinger was the man who pioneered Systemic Family Constellation trauma resolution work. He drew some of his wisdom and knowledge from Virginia Satir, a family therapist and Jacob Moreno, who used psychodrama therapy.
     Bert Hellinger was born December 16th, 1925, and died September 19th, 2019, at the age of 93. Bert Hellinger was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1952. After his ordination he traveled to South Africa to live with the Zulu tribe for 16 years in the 1950s and 1960s. It was uncertain whether Hellinger wanted to convert the Zulus into Catholicism.    
     Bert Hellinger lived in South Africa for 16 years. During these years he served as a parish priest, teacher and, finally, as headmaster of a large school for African students. He also had administrative responsibility for the entire diocesan district containing 150 schools.
     During his time in South Africa, Bert Hellinger followed the wisdom of the Zulu people who offered their understanding of the importance of those who came before them, their ancestors. The Zulu tribe members introduced themselves and always acknowledged their lineage and the responsibilities and position within the tribe their family members held. The influence of the Zulus deeply impacted how he was to present his work in later years as a result of working as a missionary beside the Zulus.
     Bert Hellinger moved back to Germany during the 1960s and began working with the Holocaust children of Jewish survivors. He became a psychoanalyst and observed that more than 80% of the presenting issues of the clients he saw were not psychological, rather systemic in nature.
    He came to believe if a victim could have compassion for a perpetrator, trusting and knowing that a perpetrator had also been harmed, then true healing, forgiveness, and resolution may result.
   Bert Hellinger began to develop Systemic Family Constellation trauma resolution work in the 1990s. Facilitator trainings in constellation work spread throughout all of Europe and eventually made their way to the US. This type of therapy was not well received within the western therapy community. It wasn’t until the 21st century that Constellation work ultimately became more accepted in the United States.
     For more on the history of Bert Hellinger, you can research Bert Hellinger’s work and the various books that are available on this topic. It should also be noted that Bert Hellinger never wanted to dogmatize systemic constellation work because he knew the inherent wisdom of the knowing field and that it was always shifting and reshaping itself and dogmatizing this work might destroy its effectiveness.