As we navigate our own emotions, now is the time to look inward for deep systemic healing. It seems to me that the following article is a testimonial to how we are experiencing our time in the world, right now!

2017 was the world's most miserable year on record, study says
By Rob Picheta, CNN Updated 7:25 AM ET, Wed September 12, 201


​
West Mosul residents mourn relatives killed by an airstrike targeting ISIS jihadists. Iraq was named the world's second-most negative country in Gallup's annual Global Emotions Report.
​

London (CNN)Last year was the world's most miserable for more than a decade, according to a survey of people's emotions in more than 145 countries.
People experienced sadness, stress, worry, anger and physical pain more frequently in 2017 than in previous years, according to Gallup's annual Global Emotions Report.
The results mean the world is more "negative" than at any point since the polling company started the study in 2005.

In a year dominated by war, political division and humanitarian crises, nearly four in 10 people told pollsters that they experienced stress or worry the previous day.
One in five people reported feeling anger, while 23% experienced sadness and 31% suffered physical pain.

The title of most negative year in the Negative Experience Index had been shared by 2015 and 2016, with scores of 28, but 2017 recorded a score of 30. The survey polled 154,000 people worldwide.

"Collectively, the world is more stressed, worried, sad and in pain today than we've ever seen it," Mohamed S. Younis, Gallup's managing editor, wrote in the report.

"Regardless of where a country may fall on the Positive or Negative Experience Indexes or where it ranks in terms of specific positive or negative experiences, all leaders need to be monitoring the emotional temperature of the people they lead," he added.
 
When I read this article, I felt a great sorrow for those who experience deep trauma. Our work has helped so many heal their inherited trauma and I continue to wonder how to get more of our constellation work out in the world.

On a positive note:

The word is spreading. We have recently experienced success in Truckee, CA and in Salem, OR with another invitation to head out to Pennsylvania in spring of 2019. We have been honored to have been, and continue to be, invited to these healing communities. I am always amazed at how powerful this type of healing work is. The men and women who show up ready to do their own amazing healing are courageous and centered. Grounded and aware.

I have witnessed clients and representative experience tremendous healing using Catherine as their facilitator. These folks are so open and so willing to go as deep as they need so that true healing begins to occur.

Our workshops in Reno, Truckee, Salem, and on Whidbey Island this past year have been incredible. So many people have shown up to experience constellation work and to facilitate their own healing with Catherine's splendid guidance. Catherine and I look forward to many more humbling experiences as we head into the new year.

As we move forward, we are developing a scholarship fund for participants who are struggling financially and need some monetary assistance. We have $60.00 so far set aside in this fund.

We have decided to offer an opportunity for friends and clients to purchase 2 oz. essential oil spray misters from our web site. All proceeds will go toward the scholarship fund and you will benefit from these products. They are all natural and intended to be sprayed around yourself and your environment.

​Here is what we are offering:

Every now and then there are situations that mis-represents this work. The following is an example of this:

From BisforBananasCisforCancer

In the belief that cancer may have at its root cause mental and emotional reasons, I explored a lot of psycho-spiritual forms of healing.

One of these was Family Constellations therapy.  This post is a health warning for anyone new to Family Constellations therapy – it can be a psychologically-damaging form of therapy in the hands of the wrong practitioner.

The founder of Family Constellations is Bert Hellinger who was a priest and psychologist.  He believed that when unresolved trauma has afflicted a family in previous generations, this can give rise to present or past problems.  These include issues such as murder, abortion, suicide, death of a mother in childbirth, early death of a parent or sibling, war, natural disaster, emigration, or abuse.

During a Family Constellations workshop, each member explores a personal issue.  The facilitator selects a member of the group to represent the issue.  Other members of the group may be chosen to represent family members or abstractions such as Life and Death.  The member whose issue is being worked on, orients these representatives in relation to each other, according to what feels right to him. He then sits down and watches what unfolds between each representative.

What unfolds is a most bizarre and magical experience – often the representatives will re-orient themselves physically, or interact with each other in a way that reveals hidden aspects of the issue, or the dynamics between the members.  Sometimes they will move or say or feel things that can only have been felt by someone who was part of the family whose issue is being worked on.

Healing is achieved when each member’s needs and places in the family hierarchy are acknowledged, either through re-positioning, or verbal phrases.

My father had died of colon cancer, and I wondered how much of the energetic of cancer could be inherited through trauma incurred in previous generations.

The first few constellations dealt with my father – I was always close to him, and the family constellations seemed to imply that I wanted to be with him.  In yet another, I had a kind of ceremony with a representative of the Life Force – I found that very healing.  I also had sessions in which I dealt with mother-daughter issues, and grandmother relationship  as well as family wartime atrocities.  So as you can see, I went deeply into Family Constellations, and so this review is not based on a one-off, but accumulated experiences.

I would say that Family Constellations can be very profound and transforming.  But it is also very tiring – I found that I took to it very easily and had a talent for it.  But the week after I was physically and mentally bone tired – I didn’t have sufficient boundaries to filter out the energies of the other people I was working with.  For example, I had to represent a mother who died in a concentration camp.  For me, while it wasn’t a full death experience, I did feel the deep love for the son I had left behind, and the feeling of not being able to breathe properly – it turned out the mother had died of a respiratory illness.

And Family Constellations did not cure me of the emotional or spiritual or karmic causes of cancer.

So if you are seeking a cure, don’t expect Family Constellation work to be a magic wand.  It will throw up more issues than you started out with especially if you are dealing with life-and-death issues.

And finally, Family Constellations can be a dangerous tool.
I attended a workshop run by Judith Hemming.  It was the most damaging Family Constellation workshop I’ve ever participated in.

In it, I was shown that no matter what method I used, whether allopathic or complementary, the impetus was towards death.  Worse, the constellations was ended at that point by the facilitator who then proceeded to discuss my issue in front of the whole group:  “Look at George Best … he was given a new liver, yet he chose to drink himself to death. Look at your father … he was given six months to live and died.  You cannot interfere with the path of the soul.”

You can imagine how devastated and suicidal I was by that one workshop.   I had participants coming up to me and virtually willing me towards death by their condolences.  I had others who said that I shouldn’t take any notice of what the facilitator had said.  I was left feeling I had no hope of living, that no matter what I did, I was doomed to die of cancer.  I was left to go home in a state of extreme distress and doubt and failure.  I wonder why I didn’t throw myself under a train that evening.  It took me over six months of counseling to get over that one workshop, run by an irresponsible and insensitive facilitator – I wonder how she would have felt, had she had cancer and been given the same prognosis.

There are too many therapists out there with God complexes and when you are vulnerable, it is easy to place yourself in their hands, in the hope of a cure.  Only God knows whether you will live or die.  No human should have the permission to do so.

As cancer patients, we are already battered and bruised by the diagnosis and treatments.  We should therefore learn to take care of ourselves, and beware of the BS that’s out there, people who think they have the answers, who think they know better than us and who try to make us doubt our inner selves.  Their job should be to strengthen, not to weaken!  If in any doubt:  ask yourself the question – is this treatment/practitioner strengthening me or weakening me?
For this reason, if you are fragile, vulnerable and open to suggestion, do not go to Family Constellation workshops – they should carry a health warning that they can be hazardous to life.

If this article had been written as an opinion based around the facilitator and not the work, it would have been more concise...
 
In response to this article...

Conceptual basis:

The philosophical orientation of Family Constellations were derived through an integration of existential phenomenology family systems therapy and elements of indigenous spiritual mysticism.
The phenomenological (2) lineage can be traced through philosophers Franz Brentano, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. Rather than understanding mind, emotion and consciousness in terms of its constituent parts, existential phenomenology opens perception to the full panorama of human experience and seeks to grasp a sense of meaning. Family Constellations take their form from family systems psychology. Leading figures in this movement whose influence can be recognized include Jacob Moreno, the founder of psychodrama; Iván Böszörményi-Nagy, the pioneer of transgenerational systemic thinking; Milton Erickson, a pioneer of brief therapy and hypnotherapy; Eric Berne who conceived the concept of life scripts; and Virginia Satir, who developed family sculpture, the precursor of Systemic Constellations. In the past decade, further advancements in the use of the process have been innovated by practitioners throughout the world. The process draws from indigenous spiritual mysticism to contribute towards releasing tensions, lightening emotional burdens, and resolving real-world problems. Hellinger lived as a Roman Catholic priest in South Africa for 16 years in the 1950s and 1960s. During these years, he became fluent in the Zulu language, participated in their rituals, and gained an appreciation for their distinct worldview. Of particular importance is the difference between traditional Zulu attitudes toward parents and ancestors and those typically held by Europeans. Heidegger postulated that to be human is to find oneself thrown into a world with no clear logical, ontological, or moral structure. In Zulu culture, Hellinger found a certitude and equanimity that were the hallmarks of Heidegger's elusive authentic Self. The traditional Zulu people lived and acted in a religious world in which the ancestors were the central focal point. The ancestors were regarded as positive, constructive, and creative presences. The connection with ancestors is a central feature of the Constellation process. The term "Family Constellations" was first used by Alfred Adler in a somewhat different context to refer to the phenomenon that each individual belongs to and is bonded in relationship to other members of his or her family system.
 
Systemic Family Constellation (4) trauma resolution work is an alternative healing technique to modern talk psychotherapy. When deeply imbedded trauma is present within a client’s DNA, talk therapy may not expose the origins of the client’s trauma, which may have originated in a family member as much as 14 generations past. DNA embedded trauma can be inherited from previous generations much like physical expressions such as genetically inherited heart disease. This transference is said to be epigenetic (3) in origin.
 
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. It may have also manifest when a mother has given up a child for adoption or the death of a child or parent in a family system. The trauma can be a physical self-experience such as an automobile accident or any accident where physical damage to the body has occurred. The trauma may also have been an event in history such as war, migration (especially across oceans), genocide, imprisonment, enslavement, etc.
 
If this physical trauma is not processed in the individual’s lifetime, it will develop within the cellular memory of that individual. The now embedded trauma, in the DNA, will be passed down to their offspring who will inherit the parent’s trauma epigenetically (3). The child’s expression of this inherited trauma can manifest as emotional issues (depression, anxiety, ADHD, ADD, and so on) or physical issues (too many to list).
 
The trauma can be addressed through Systemic Family Constellation (4) work with a facilitator who works with the client to address their remembered trauma, if it happened in their lifetime. The miracle of Systemic Family Constellation work is how it can address trauma passed down from past generations. When this is the case, the client does not need to know what the trauma is or how it originated. The facilitator can access information within the morphogenic field when a constellation is set. The origin of the client’s trauma will then be revealed.
 
An example of how this modality can work:
 
I witnessed a constellation for a friend who experienced a limp in his left leg from the time he began walking as a child. He did not experience any physical trauma to his leg when he was younger and doctors throughout his life were unable to assess the cause of his limp. He arrived at a point in his life where he wanted to correct his disability and sought out constellation as his only modality to achieve the healing he desired. He had tried a variety healers. He called the constellation and chose participants to represent his various family members suggested by the facilitator. He also chose a representative for himself. The facilitator engaged the morphogenic field (1) and followed the emotional feelings of the representatives, asking pointed questions as the constellation progressed. The facilitator added more representatives as needed as he followed the progress backwards through the generations of the client. He asked enough questions of the representatives to determine that a great – great - great grandfather’s family fought in the civil war. The brother of the client’s ancestor decided to fight for the South which broke the family apart and the brother was dis-owned by the entire family. The Order of Love had been disturbed. The brother lost his left leg in the battle and the family never spoke to him again. During the constellation, the facilitator had the representatives of the brothers face each other and acknowledge they had done the best they knew how and reconciled. There was forgiveness from each side. The representatives did not know the story, but they did ‘feel’ the energy shift and the emotional experience was very real for them. The facilitator asked the client, who was in tears, if this felt right for him. He nodded and the energy that flowed from one representative generation to the next was evident to all who witnessed and participated in this constellation. After the constellation was closed, the facilitator shared the story to the client who agreed to allow the representatives hear what had unfolded. All of the representatives felt the power of the client’s constellation and all experienced some form of trauma relief and healing through the family members they represented. Two weeks passed by and my friend’s limp healed. This is the healing power of Systemic Family Constellation.
 
Another example of how this modality can work:
 
When I was training to become a facilitator, I was called up to represent a part of history. The client was a woman whose children, a boy and a girl, began to fight verbally and physically with each other. The two were very close and had been respectful and loving toward one another through their young years. Their mother noticed that the two began to bicker which escalated to outright fighting in a short period of time. The two were about 5 and 7 years old. The mother tried all forms of therapy for her and her children and nothing seemed to be working. She heard about this form of healing and was drawn to do her work. Somehow, she realized this was not about her children. She called in a constellation and the facilitator asked her questions about her family and her husband’s family. She was Jewish, and her husband’s family was from Germany. The origin of the trauma she held went back only a couple of generations. The facilitator set the constellation and I was called to represent Nazi Germany and another participant was called to represent The Holocaust. Two others were called to represent her grandfather (a Holocaust survivor) and her husband’s grandfather (a Nazi officer working in a concentration camp). The facilitator worked the field and ultimately had the two men, representing the grandfathers, acknowledge one another, bow to each other, and accept that they were doing the best they could. (I will say here that this does not excuse this horrible event in history or absolve anyone from any crimes committed. It simply illustrates the power of this work). The woman was in tears and felt the release of the unknown trauma she, AND her husband carried forward. She checked in a week later and her children had stopped attacking each other and peace in her family was restored. I will note here that the client’s husband was never told about what she called in or experienced in her constellation. Talking about this work can, and often does, undermine it’s effectiveness.
 
 
 
 
 

1. Morpohgenic Field: This is an extension of the body’s nervous system. Certain cultures have used energy for healing for centuries, often referring to it as Chi, Aura or Prana. Morphogenic or Morphogenetic fields are fields of thought created by everything in existence; it is the input and output of creation.  With every thought and action (or non-action) every individual strengthens one of those fields of thought that exist or with the focus of enough minds, creates a new one. 

 

1. Phenomenological: Denoting or relating to an approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of direct experience.

       "the phenomenological approach's reliance           
       solely on personal experience"
       This term refers to experience based on non-
       intellectual construct and more on                 
       experiential construct. It is said that when     
       some individuals experience an emotional
       shift or movement related to personal
       existence that cannot be explained
       scientifically, this experience is
       phenomenological.
 

1. Epigenetics: the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself. The study of the process by which genetic information is translated into the substance and behavior of an organism: specifically, the study of the way in which an expression of heritable traits is modified by environmental influences or other mechanisms without a change to the DNA sequence.

 

1. Systemic Family Constellation: An alternative therapeutic method which draws on elements of family systems, existential phenomenological experience engaging the morphogenic (1) field and discovering resolution to trauma embedded in the cellular DNA using participants or talisman to represent a client’s family members or emotional components of his or her self. It is also appropriate to use ideological elements of any system such as institutions, governments, nations, or timelines in history in order to seek resolution of trauma.

As I sit here in Poulsbo, WA, preparing to participate in a talk Catherine is offering at Unity of North Kitsap, I am reflecting on what is emerging in our world.

We watched the film, Black Panther (twice in two days) and came away feeling absolutely inspired that our world, as I see it, is in the throws of great changes. Like the mighty Juniper in the photo above, there are always things we can count on the remain solid an rooted. Our physical humanness has changed little over the millennia. We have advanced out science and technology as we continue to access our brains capacity to solve problems with new technology. Science is a wonderful tool and yet we seem to have left our spiritual advances behind.

I speak of how we treat each other with little regard for the precious life of our fellow humans. I realize there is a great hope emerging and that there are a great number of people who would do what I perceive to be the right thing. Alas, there are also those who continue on a journey with the intent, knowing or not knowing, to place road blocks in our spiritual advancement.

I am amazed by the youth of America in their ability to stand in solidarity and face the "Leaders" of this nation and demand something be done about gun control. They are fighting for the schools to be safe to attend without fear of whether they will be murdered on any given day, anywhere in this country, at any school or church. I am appalled at the response from those in power. "More guns in schools, that is the solution." "Take away our second amendment right and then our homes." These talking points are so far off base and not what anyone is projecting. 

I'm sure you are all aware of the political banter in the news this past week, and it is right to be informed and aware of op eds and listen, watch, or read the news and filter out what is false and what is true. I believe it is also prudent to look at what is occurring from within ourselves.

When I see all the trauma exposed in the world right now, I wonder how we can take a closer look as a collective. I watched the inner battle emerge as I watched Black Panther and discovered that not only was it a deeply personal battle between King T'Challa (Black Panther and Erik (Kill-monger), it became quickly apparent to me that this was a battle between a nation and the outer world.

T'Challa's trauma became clear when he discovered what his father had done and, ultimately, who his ancestors were and how they lived their lives as past rulers of Wakanda. I realized that T'Challa's trauma was revealed and that he carried the DNA trauma from so many generations past and it manifested as a new ruler who was faced with challenging decisions which affected his own personal relationships.

Kill-monger's trauma became clear, also passed down from past generations and affected his physical being as he went out in the world destroying everything around him only to face his nemesis, T'Challa, for the final conflict in an attempt to resolve his trauma.

This individual and personal trauma expanded into the trauma of the institutions of both Wakanda and the outer world.

I saw this film as a constellation with many layers of trauma and watched how the trauma was exposed and how the healing was offered. The film was the facilitator and the client was humanity. Black Panther was a truly great example of systemic constellation work using ancestors, family, and social components and the actors became the representatives.

I see our current experience in the form of a constellation when I open to the issues humanity faces with our poor leadership, mass shootings, homelessness, and poverty. The client then becomes humanity and the representatives become love, indifference, despair, activism, solidarity, and so on. The facilitator must then become consciousness.

                    OUR COLLECTIVE ONENESS IS SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF OUR LUNGS...
                                 NO MORE! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 

We now must reveal the resolution of our collective trauma and move forward so we might continue to evolve to a higher level of consciousness. Our time is now to affect this welcome change.

As the mighty juniper tree stands strong, rooted in Earth, we, as a society, must send our own roots deep into a new consciousness so that we can remain a viable traveler, as Thomas Berry said, "In Earth."

​Joe Arnold 2/25/2018

Part one:

​Three different studies, done by different teams of scientists proved something really extraordinary. But when a new research connected these 3 discoveries, something shocking was realized, something hiding in plain sight.

Human emotion literally shapes the world around us. Not just our perception of the world, but reality itself.

In the first experiment, human DNA, isolated in a sealed container, was placed near a test subject. Scientists gave the donor emotional stimulus and fascinatingly enough, the emotions affected their DNA in the other room.
In the presence of negative emotions the DNA tightened. In the presence of positive emotions the coils of the DNA relaxed.The scientists concluded that “Human emotion produces effects which defy conventional laws of physics.”

In the second, similar but unrelated experiment, different group of scientists extracted Leukocytes (white blood cells) from donors and placed into chambers so they could measure electrical changes. In this experiment, the donor was placed in one room and subjected to “emotional stimulation” consisting of video clips, which generated different emotions in the donor. The DNA was placed in a different room in the same building. Both the donor and his DNA were monitored and as the donor exhibited emotional peaks or valleys (measured by electrical responses), the DNA exhibited the IDENTICAL RESPONSES AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. There was no lag time, no transmission time. The DNA peaks and valleys EXACTLY MATCHED the peaks and valleys of the donor in time.

The scientists wanted to see how far away they could separate the donor from his DNA and still get this effect. They stopped testing after they separated the DNA and the donor by 50 miles and STILL had the SAME result. No lag time; no transmission time. The DNA and the donor had the same identical responses in time. The conclusion was that the donor and the DNA can communicate beyond space and time.

The third experiment proved something pretty shocking! Scientists observed the effect of DNA on our physical world.
Light photons, which make up the world around us, were observed inside a vacuum. Their natural locations were completely random. Human DNA was then inserted into the vacuum. Shockingly the photons were no longer acting random. They precisely followed the geometry of the DNA. Scientists who were studying this, described the photons behaving “surprisingly and counter-intuitively”. They went on to say that “We are forced to accept the possibility of some new field of energy!”

They concluded that human DNA literally shape the behavior of light photons that make up the world around us! So when a new research was done, and all of these 3 scientific claims were connected together, scientists were shocked.They came to a stunning realization that if our emotions affect our DNA and our DNA shapes the world around us, than our emotions physically change the world around us.

And not just that, we are connected to our DNA beyond space and time.

We create our reality by choosing it with our feelings.

Science has already proven some pretty MIND-BLOWING facts about The Universe we live in. All we have to do is connect the dots.

Sources:
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq1q58wTolk;
– Science Alert;
– Heart Math;
– Above Top Secret;
– http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/mistic/esp_greggbraden_11.htm;




​
Part Two:
Another report about Epigenetics follows and proves quite interesting

​Scientists Have Observed Epigenetic Memories Being Passed Down For 14 Generations

                                               The past lives on. 

SIGNE DEAN 21 APR 2017
The most important set of genetic instructions we all get comes from our DNA, passed down through generations. But the environment we live in can make genetic changes, too.

Researchers have now discovered that these kinds of environmental genetic changes can be passed down for a whopping 14 generations in an animal – the largest span ever observed in a creature, in this case being a dynasty of C. elegans nematodes (roundworms).

To study how long the environment can leave a mark on genetic expression, a team led by scientists from the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in Spain took genetically engineered nematode worms that carry a transgene for a fluorescent protein. When activated, this gene made the worms glow under ultraviolet light.

Then, they switched things up for the nematodes by changing the temperature of their containers. When the team kept nematodes at 20° Celsius (68° F), they measured low activity of the transgene - which meant the worms hardly glowed at all.

But by moving the worms to a warmer climate of 25° C (77° F), they suddenly lit up like little wormy Christmas trees, which meant the fluorescence gene had become much more active.

Their tropical vacation didn't last long, however. The worms were moved back to cooler temperatures to see what would happen to the activity of the fluorescence gene.

Surprisingly, they continued to glow brightly, suggesting they were retaining an 'environmental memory' of the warmer climate – and that the transgene was still highly active.

Furthermore, that memory was passed onto their offspring for seven brightly-glowing generations, none of whom had experienced the warmer temperatures. The baby worms inherited this epigenetic change through both eggs and sperm.

The team pushed the results even further - when they kept five generations of nematodes at 25° C (77° F) and then banished their offspring to colder temperatures, the worms continued to have higher transgene activity for an unprecedented 14 generations.

That's the longest scientists have ever observed the passing-down of an environmentally induced genetic change. Usually, environmental changes to genetic expression only last a few generations.

"We don't know exactly why this happens, but it might be a form of biological forward-planning," says one of the team, Adam Klosin from EMBO and Pompeu Fabra University, Spain.

"Worms are very short-lived, so perhaps they are transmitting memories of past conditions to help their descendants predict what their environment might be like in the future," adds co-researcher Tanya Vavouri from the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Spain.

There's a reason why scientists turn to C. elegans as a model organism - after all, those 14 generations would only take roughly 50 days to develop, but can still give us important clues on how environmental genetic change is passed down in other animals, including humans.
There are many examples of this phenomenon in worms and mice, but the study of environmental epigenetic inheritance in humans is a hotly debated topic, and there's still a lot we don't know.

"Inherited effects in humans are difficult to measure due to the long generation times and difficulty with accurate record keeping," states one recent review of epigenetic inheritance.

But some research suggests that events in our lives can indeed affect the development of our children and perhaps even grandchildren - all without changing the DNA.

For example, studies have shown that both the children and grandchildren of women who survived the Dutch famine of 1944-45 were found to have increased glucose intolerance in adulthood.

Other researchers have found that the descendants of Holocaust survivors have lower levels of the hormone cortisol, which helps your body bounce back after trauma.

The latest study on nematodes is an important step towards understanding more about our own epigenetic inheritance - especially because it serves as a remarkable demonstration of how long-lasting these inter-generational effects may be.

The findings were published in Science.

Greetings friends. This is the first in a series of blog posts introducing systemic constellation healing work. Catherine and I are bringing this work forward to the world together. We will share what systemic constellation work in a way we hope you can understand. As we post these blog entries, we welcome any feedback or comments to help us clarify and offer as much information as you may require.

A bit of history seems to be in order here.

Catherine VanWetter has been a certified Systemic Constellation Facilitator for fifteen years. She was trained by Stephen Victor and has been facilitating this healing work and is well respected by many. Our website, as you may know, is www.gatekeeperconstellations.com, which is where we are broadcasting our blog posts. Feel free to visit and read more about systemic constellation work.

I am Joe Arnold and I have been trained in systemic constellation work as well. I bring sacred music, Native American Flute, to our partnership and hold space for this work as Catherine navigates the field. My website is www.cuseami.com if you want to hear my music and learn more about who I am.
The following is an interview Catherine and I created for our blog posts.

Joe: Hello, my name is Joe Arnold and I'm sitting here today with Catherine VanWetter and we're going to offer you a brief introduction to systemic constellation work.
I looked up the word systemic in the dictionary and it literally means, “Relating to a system as opposed to an individual.” Then I looked up the word constellation and it means, “A group or cluster of related things.”
So, Catherine, with those two definitions in mind can you briefly explain what systemic constellation work is?

Catherine: Thanks Joe. Systemic constellation work is a therapeutic approach that is solution focused and resolution focused.

Joe: Okay, so what makes this approach unique?

Catherine: Psychological therapy works with the mind alone and the story of who we think we are. Sometimes it can be difficult to move beyond that story. Systemic constellation work incorporates the whole system which includes mind, body, emotion, and spirit on our cellular level. I'm not meaning to denigrate psychological, or talk therapy, and I want to reiterate its importance because our story is a part of who we think we are. Systemic constellation work is simply a different approach of moving through the story of who we believe we are.

Joe: There are many terms used in systemic constellation work with specific definitions. We will spend time defining these and how they apply to this work. These terms are:

Multi-generational trauma
Inter-generational trauma
Lineage
Behavioral imprint
Somatic
Psychological
Quantum field
Knowing field
Morphogenic field
Energetic field
Phenomenological
Epigenetic
 
Okay Catherine, can you go down that list for us now and explain briefly what these terms mean?

Catherine: Sure. I will start with the first term on our list.

‘Multi-generational trauma’ refers to trauma passed on from one generation to the next, i.e. from grandmother to mother and mother to daughter, or grandfather to father and grandfather to son.

‘Intergenerational trauma‘ is trauma that happens within generations, i.e. sister to sister or brother to brother.

‘Lineage’ is where an individual has come from. In other words, are you from Italian descent, are you from German descent, or are you of Native American descent and so on.

‘Behavioral imprint’ is a genetic code where we have behaviors that are literally imprinted into our cellular memory and into our psychic memory.

‘Somatic’ means body memory.

‘Psychological’ refers to the mind body.

The next four are all tied together. ‘Quantum field’, ‘knowing field’,’ morphogenic field’, and the ‘energetic field’. What these are, is the inherent memory that gets passed on.

‘Phenomenological’ is a term within quantum physics in which you can't wrap your mind around how or why something is and how that something happens.

‘Epigenetics’ means just because our cells may have an imprint of disease or cellular memory of some type it does not mean that we will necessarily inherit that gene. In other words, it means we can switch it on or switch it off.

One thing we didn't include was what Bert Hellinger referred to as ‘the orders of love.’ The ‘orders of love’ are a natural phenomenon that happens within a family system.

The first ‘order of love is’, everyone and everything within a system has a right to belong. It is imperative for that part to be included for the health and well-being of the family system.

The second ‘order of love’ is that there's place. We all have our place and in the interest of systemic family constellation work, the father is to the right and the mother is to the left. The oldest child’s place is to the left of the mother and then the next child and the next child and so on. That is finding one’s place within the family system or constellation.

The third ‘order of love’ is reciprocity. This means the only responsibility of a parent is to give love to a child and the only responsibility of the child is to receive that love from the parent. If a child grows up and does not have children, the way they give love is by being of service.

Joe: Catherine, will you now speak of the people who have influenced your understanding of this work and how their research has supported systemic constellations. The first person on the list is Bert Hellinger who you mentioned before regarding the ‘orders of love’.

The next person is:
Dr. Virginia Satir - social worker and pioneer in family therapy.
Dr. Jacob Moreno - psychiatrist and pioneer in psychodrama.
Dr. Rupert Sheldrake - biologist.
Dr. Bruce Lipton - stem cell biologist
Dr. Candice Pert - neuro scientist
Dr. Peter Levine - somatic therapist
So, Catherine can you share briefly about these individuals?

Catherine: Certainly, there are many who have influenced my work as a systemic constellation facilitator.

Bert Hellinger (1925-present), a psychotherapist who coined the phrase, systemic constellation work and in part developed his theories through the work of Virginia Satir.

Dr. Virginia Satir (1916-1988) was widely regarded as ’the mother of family therapy’ and contributed and worked within the field of family dynamics. She is also known for creating the Virginia Satir Change Process Model, a psychological model developed through clinical studies.

Dr. Jacob Moreno (1889-1974) was the founder of psychodrama focusing on the present rather than the past using interpersonal relations and group psychotherapy.

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake (1942-present), is a cell biologist and talks about the quantum field and the knowing field that includes the field of morphic resonance.  Sheldrake's morphic resonance hypothesis posits that "memory is inherent in nature" and that "natural systems, such as termite colonies, or pigeons, or orchid plants, or insulin molecules, inherit a collective memory from all previous things of their kind.

Dr. Bruce Lipton (1944-present), is an American developmental biologist also known for promoting the idea that genes and DNA are influenced by a person's thoughts, emotions, diet, and other key 'environmental' factors and how they get passed on from generation to generation.

Dr. Candice Pert (1946-2013), neuro-scientist and pharmacologist, worked with what is termed neuropeptides which are small protein-like molecules (peptides) used by neurons to communicate with each other. She also discovered the opiate receptor which is the cellular binding site for endorphins in the brain.

Dr. Peter Levine is a medical biophysicist and specializes in somatic memory we carry, especially if there's drama and how to release it from the body. Dr. Levine developed somatic experiencing (SE) therapy and established the Foundation for Human Enrichment in Boulder, CO.

I will reference these people when I share more about systemic constellation work in our next blog post.

​Joe: Thank you Catherine. Our next post will include, in more detail, what systemic constellation work is and how it is helpful for profound healing.