Systemic Ritual and Systemic Constellations

South-Africa – blog 3 – Where our ancestors walked

Photo: Susanne Hazen. Towerland.

As you have read in my previous blogs, I was in South Africa for the last few weeks. I spent time in Towerland (Langeberg mountains) and Wilderness, among other places.

This is one of the areas of the San – the oldest people in the world. They are descendants of the oldest people on earth. Recent genetic studies show that San genes date back to the oldest human genetic material in the world. And since Homo Sapiens – as far as we know now – migrated from southern and eastern Africa to other parts of the world – it could be that my and your distant, distant, distant ancestors walked here.

And I was allowed to walk on that ground. I experienced this as very special and healing. And it made me realize once again how humble we are.

Meet our distant ancestors.

Another online circle, Systemic Ritual, will be on Monday, March 11, 2024.
This time, we are going to meet our distant ancestors. Are you joining us? See:

ONLINE Circles – Systemic Ritual

Let me take you back to the centuries that preceded us.

The last word on the evolution of Homo Sapiens has not yet been said. But we know almost certainly that many hominins from different species preceded us and lived side by side for millions of years. And the origin of these hominids was, as far as we now know, in the south and east of Africa.
The oldest known hominid, Homo habilis, evolved about 2.8 million ago. H. habilis was the first known human species to use stone tools. The stone tools found in caves in South Africa may belong to Homo Habilis. And I got to touch it!!!
About 1.8 million years ago, Homo erectus, the ‘upright walking man’, appeared. H. Erecus spread through Africa and Eurasia. He lived on this earth for more than one and a half million years. (What do you think – shall we – the homo sapiens – come so far, or do we destroy ourselves soon enough?)
During those years, various ‘variants’ of Homo Erectus emerged. Homo ergaster is one of them. This one stayed in Africa. Homo Sapiens (us) evolved from this species about 200,000 years ago. And the home Sapiens has spread all over the world.

The San – descendants of the oldest people on earth

Back then, long, long ago, there was a woman named =Um-=um-Borose. She was our mother and she came from the sun.
Umum Borose, after her death, gives birth to children of the sun, the San people.
From: https://rozenbergquarterly.com/de-historie-van-de-san/

The San is a name for different population groups in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Angola. They belong to the Khoisan. They simply call themselves ‘people’ or ‘real people’ in their own language.
The Dutch colonists called them ‘Bushman’. This name refers to the bushes among which they lived. The Dutch were not that friendly to them, by the way. In the early nineteenth century, most San were exterminated or expelled. As a result, due to a lack of examples, their knowledge of the petroglyphs and understanding of the medicinal properties of the vegetation disappeared.

The ancestors of the San were once the only people to inhabit the plains and mountains of southern Africa. They made petroglyphs that we can still find today. These petroglyphs are the first human art expressions.

They were nomadic tribes. They lived from hunting and from ‘veldkos’, an African word for everything that can be found and edible in and on the ‘field’. These are fruits, tubers, roots, nuts, seeds, honey, and ostrich eggs.
The San did not live anywhere permanently. There were areas and places where they kept coming back, including safe places in caves or fields with a few simple grass huts and a fire. As hunters, they had to follow the migration of wild animals in the dry season.

San culture was based on a high degree of equality. They were not fighters but lived according to the principle of giving and sharing. This principle allowed them to survive despite often harsh conditions.

When I draw my bow, I feel happy. It reminds me of the old days. We hunted and had a good life. Then, the white man came and took away our hunting grounds. He called us things from nothing. What kind of life is that? – Old Jacob Grandma.
From: https://rozenbergquarterly.com/de-historie-van-de-san/

Fynbos

Fynbos is the vegetation that you only find in the Cape region of South Africa. The Dutch colonists gave the name fynbos. The name refers to the thin trunks of the shrubs, which are unsuitable for construction wood.
The Cape Floral Kingdom is one of six flora kingdoms on earth. Although it is the smallest, it is the flora kingdom with the most diverse vegetation types.
The fynbos is – unfortunately – very ruined. Agriculture, wine growing and exotic plant species have largely displaced this original vegetation.
Numerous fynbos plants are already extinct, and more than a thousand species are threatened with extinction. Reserves are now designated to preserve and restore parts of the vegetation.
Many types of fynbos were used in traditional medicine by the Khoi San. Nowadays, this traditional knowledge is being researched. Unfortunately, a lot of expertise has been lost.
I did a tour with Branden in Wilderness. He is still starting up his company, but you can find him here: Branden Wilderness
I was impressed by his knowledge of ecology and the passion with which he is restoring the native vegetation on his property, in particular by removing non-native vegetation. I also learned a lot about natural medicines. It is a must-see and must-experience for anyone with a heart to take care of our planet and its ecosystem. And last but not least, visiting the cave where our ancestors lived for thousands of years was awe-inspiring.

Sources:
https://www.rmo.nl/museumkennis/archeologie-van-nederland/nederland-in-de-prehistorie/onze-voorouders/
https://www.rmo.nl/museumkennis/archeologie-van-nederland/nederland-in-de-prehistorie/onze-voorouders/
https://natuurwijzer.naturalis.nl/leerobjecten/hoe-heeft-de-mens-zich-over-de-wereld-verspreid
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens
https://rozenbergquarterly.com/de-geschiedenis-van-de-san/
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_(volk)
https://www.capetown.gov.za/Explore%20and%20enjoy/nature-and-outdoors/mountains-and-hiking/focus-on-fynbos
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fynbos

South Africa – blog 2 – I Am of This Place.

As you can read in my previous blog, last week I was in Towerland for the training week: I Am of This Place: Deepening Our Sacred Relationship with Life and with Land with Tanja Meyburgh and Sue Davidoff.
This week, we focused on exploring our sense of ‘belonging’. We did this by connecting to the Land through our senses, rituals, movement and Land constellations.
In the previous blog, you could also read that I often experience difficulty fitting in. So, this week was very educational for me personally. And, of course, I have gained a lot of inspiration for my work as a facilitator in Systemic Ritual and Systemic Constellations.

However, the personal steps I took and the insights I gained were really important to me.
In response to my previous post, someone wrote: “… Not fitting in is also a theme of mine, as well as being excluded and different. I always felt like a world citizen and didn’t want a connection with any nationality. ….. “.

This is also very recognizable to me, being a world citizen and not wanting to tie myself to one nationality or another. Perhaps that is why I have developed such a unique accent – not traceable to any country. The disadvantage of this is that everyone asks you, no matter where you are, “Where are you from?” Actually, with this question alone – no matter how “normal” that question is – people tell you “You are NOT from here.” Add to that the fact that I am indeed somewhat ‘alien’ in some respects, and the feeling of ‘not belonging’ is complete.

What would be a better question?

However, whatever the case is, I can feel at home – with my entire being – wherever I am. The true sense of ‘being in my place’ is within myself, and in that respect, I am indeed a citizen of the world.
In the future, I will make more conscious contact with Land. As soon as I arrive, I will greet the Land and thank it for allowing me to be there. I take in everything that grows on the Land and inhabits the Land and greet, ‘Hello, here I am, Susanne Hazen. Thank you for allowing me here.’
This also means that I will approach the Land and everything there at that moment with respect and love and adapt; as flexible as Water. I will consciously inhale the Air and share something of myself with my exhalation. And with my passion – the Fire within me – I will give the country my love. I need to learn to trust that I can do that and that it will be enough. Unfortunately, I grew up in an atmosphere where I was made to feel like I never gave enough. With my sensitivity to sense the atmosphere and inability to keep up appearances, I have often been accused of being ‘someone who breaks the game’.

The land constellations that we did showed how humans still do not know how to relate to the Land. There is still a long way to go in that regard. I think we need to go back to how the original man, the man from the hunter and gatherer era, looked at Land. Namely that Land is for everyone and that it is essentially incorrect to appropriate Land (or Water or Air). Something that man has started doing since he started cultivating the Land. This has usually been at the expense of others (people, vegetation and animals) and is, in my opinion, incorrectly called civilizing.

In addition, we often ignore areas of Land where ancestors are buried or areas of Land that are considered ‘sacred’ for whatever reason. This is overlooked too often. Men, literally, rolled over it. This asks for conflicts. There are too many examples of this in this world right now.

How do we find our way back to a healthy relationship with Land?

I am of this place. To be continued.

P.s. I always enjoy it when you write a comment. Feel free to do that. You won’t see your comment immediately because I have to approve it first. But then it’s there.

Looking for inspiration

As you have already read in my previous blog, I travelled to South Africa for new inspiration. I will participate in the training week: I Am of This Place: Deepening Our Sacred Relationship with Life and with Land with Tanja Meyburgh and Sue Davidoff.
On Monday, this week will start. It is a week in which we will explore our sense of ‘belonging’ and nourish ourselves by connecting with the land through our senses, rituals, movement and land constellations.

Prior to this week, I first made a short tour through this beautiful country. The influence of the Dutch, who colonized the country here from the mid-17th century to the 19th century, is indelible and the impact of this period is still present.
While driving through the southern part, you will mainly encounter Dutch place names and street names. Afrikaans (almost Dutch) is officially the third language of the country – next to English and the traditional languages of the original inhabitants. The wine farms, coveted by tourists and offering wine-tasting opportunities, hide a traumatic past for the original inhabitants.
The indigenous Khoisan population was expelled by the Dutch and has been without a homeland since. Apologies have now been made – at the end of 2022 – for the slavery past by the Dutch government and in July 2023 by the king himself. However, I still notice little awareness of this past in Dutch society. And South Africa was hardly mentioned in the speeches surrounding the apology.
An apology is a first step, but then the real work should start, but I don’t see much of that yet.
In my opinion, the protests by the Khoisan in October 2023, during the visit of the Dutch king and queen, were therefore entirely justified.

This history of the Netherlands always gives me a bad feeling. Whenever I am confronted with this history, I prefer to escape into ‘NOT belonging’. I have a fantastic excuse – born and raised in Limburg – a province that was not yet part of the Netherlands in the centuries in question. However, I have lived and worked in the ‘real’ Netherlands for over 40 years, but I still have the feeling of ‘just not belonging’. I don’t even know if it’s ‘not wanting to fit in’ or just ‘feeling left out’.

Who knows what the next week will bring me. On to: I Am of This Place.

To be continued.

Bye, bye 2023, Hello 2024

First, I wish you already a very happy New Year with lots of health, well-being and great challenges.

A look back at 2023

I look back on a pleasant, adventurous and full year of 2023, where I could fully practice my passion – systemic and shamanistic work.
There were no fewer than ten groups for the Systemic Ritual course (online and live); I could give modules in Family Constellations for students at Innerlife Educations. I experienced enormous growth in the one-on-one consultations in my practice, and the advanced group grew!

And I didn’t only give last year but also received. Because I never finish learning. In the spring, I followed Daniel Foor’s ‘Ancestral Medicine‘ course;
In September, I went to Bali for the 8-day immersion organised by Jonine Lee Gabay of the International Family Constellations Training Institute. There, I received workshops from the following brilliant teachers: Tanja Meyburgh, Francesca Mason Boring, William L Mannle and Shavasti Bebeagua.
After that, I couldn’t resist starting the Ancestral Connections training with Tanja Meyburgh and Sian Palmer in October.

So, I gained a lot of new inspiration in 2023, and YOU will notice that in 2024! Because, of course, I will integrate all these new insights and methods into my work.

What drives my work? My top 5!

“Curiosity about people and life as a whole.”
“The inner movement from problem to strength.”
“Interest in the inner processes that people go through.”
“Research into ancient healing methods and their synthesis with contemporary methods.”
“Love for life and for everything that lives.”

A look ahead to 2024

The planning for 2024 is partly ready.
See: workshops-and-courses-online-and-live/

By popular request, there will again be ‘separate’ online circles in Systemic Ritual. Join me and inspire me with your questions or themes you would like to bring up. The first workshop of the year will be around: Bye bye 2023, hello 2024.

Based on the experiences gained with the modules of the Systemic Ritual course, I have improved the design of this course! More time to undergo rituals under my guidance and more time to practice together! See: /working-with-systemic-ritual/

Not planned yet, but definitely coming – a series of ‘Meetings with your ancestors‘ – based on all the new inspiration I have gained. This will be a series of consecutive workshops with beautiful(new)rituals, movement, and music.

In addition, the advanced group continues as usual, AND more opportunities have been created to participate – especially for people who live a little further away from Amsterdam or prefer the day instead of the evening. See: /systemic-ritual-en-sjamanisme-gevorderde-groep/

And what will I receive in 2024?

To gain even more new inspiration, I will travel to South Africa in 2024 to participate in the training week: I Am of This Place: Deepening Our Sacred Relationship with Life and with Land with Tanja Meyburgh and Sue Davidoff.

And I’m sure much more will come my way in 2024.

Will we see each other in 2024?

Life after the retrieving of soul parts

In the article ‘Soul loss and soul retrieval’, I wrote about soul parts that have separated from our body and personality at some point in our life. Such a secretion leaves a void, a reduced vitality. Systemic Ritual is one of the methods to get back in touch with those parts and let them come back – if desired.

And what happens after a ritual in which soul parts are retrieved?

After a soul retrieval, you often hear people say that they feel ‘more present’, ‘lighter’, ‘more alert’, ‘less dreamy’ and ‘stronger’.

If you want to learn more about Systemic Ritual and working with the concept of the Soul: See:

Strengthening the soul by means of Systemic Ritual

Often people also report that they perceive colours more clearly, hear better, and smell better. In short, the connection with the physical body has been improved.
This can cause slight disorientation for a few days. The ‘healing’ has yet to settle down and find a place.

You often also hear these ‘side effects’ after a family constellation. Breaking free from an entanglement with a parent or ancestor, with which the method of family constellations works, is somewhere also a form of ‘retrieving a part of the soul’. A soul part, held by an entanglement, could not be fully present in the here and now because it was too closely connected with the trauma of that (ancestor) parent. In that context, this part was on the other side. When the entanglement is broken, that soul part can retake its place in the here and now, in the body/personality of the client.

Be careful

People are often more emotional after a soul retrieval. With the retrieval of the lost soul part, sooner or later, the memory of the event that made the soul part ‘flee’ may also return. That is why you must also be careful with retrieving soul parts after major trauma. The soul part that has thus gone ‘to the other side’ cannot simply be ‘placed back’. There will first have to be some form of healing of this soul part before returning to the client. The soul part may even have to be taken to a ‘healing place’, a kind of spiritual hospital to receive care and healing there before returning.

In addition, the client must also be strong enough to ‘handle’ and ‘care for’ the soul part that is being retrieved. A client must therefore have sufficient strength to receive the soul part again. It must be safe enough for the soul part to return.

Welcoming little Susanne

After retrieving a soul part, feelings of happiness, sadness, or anger can arise. These feelings could have to do with the lost soul part, and the process of remembering and integrating has to start. And that can take quite a while.

I came across the little two-year-old Susanne in a visualisation during one of my ‘retrievals’ (it is not strange to be allowed to undergo several ‘retrievals’). I saw images of her in a beautiful forest with sweet cats, horses, birds, lots of flowers, extensive lawns, streams with clear running water and even two gnomes – Bop and Mieke as the little Susanne called them. The little Susanne had “hidden” in this beautiful place. And no – she didn’t want to come back.
Several times – spread over a few weeks – I had to visit her, become friends with her calmly and convince her that it was also very nice to come back to the here and now, in my body, in my personality. She eventually did.

Welcome home, little Susanne

Then for days, I felt a wave of enormous anger towards my mother and towards my oldest brother. I could skin them. I was sure it had to do with little Susanne and talked to her. I asked her what was going on.
That’s when the memory came to me. I was two years old, and my brother (5 years old at the time) was playing with me, but it got out of hand. He put a pillow on my face and lay on top of it. I choked, I choked. Then, after a few moments, my little body managed to throw him off me with unprecedented force. An unparalleled power of a small body – it managed to survive. I saw my brother startled and he ran away.

I realised this, back then, was the moment a piece of my soul left. I felt panic and fear rise in me. And then anger – I was furious with my brother and my mother. My brother for what he had done and my mother for not taking good care of her children. Where was she?

I told little Susanne that she’d survived, that she’d been strong enough to throw brother off her. And that these kinds of things are not nice, but can happen and that you can not blame a little boy of 5 years.

These words turned out to be completely wrong. This was not what the little Susanne wanted to hear. This did absolutely no justice to her feelings. These words were disrespectful, lacking in empathy – completely bypassing her feelings of fear, panic, anger and sadness. These words made her return to her safe haven with Bob and Mieke in the woods.

Again I had to find her there. This time I stayed with her, feeling the fear again; we relived the panic, cried, and cursed on brother and mother. We managed to thank the unparalleled strength that appeared back then. We realised it wasn’t ‘I’ who managed to throw off my brother – it was my body’s survival instinct that managed to do that.

These emotions persisted for several weeks. My brother should be glad he didn’t call or meet me in these weeks. I would have given him the full blast of anger.

Integrate

After a ritual in which soul parts are retrieved, you are not done yet. A piece that has been separated from you for years needs time to integrate. That part needs all your attention, wants to be heard, seen and respected. That can be done in different ways.

As I described above, you can regularly start a conversation with the retrieved soul part. If you don’t have experience with this, find a therapist who can help you.

Pampering yourself is also a suitable method. The soul part has left because of a lack of joy, safety, etc. Show this soul part that there can now be joy, safety by undertaking things that underline this.

Bodywork – massage, emotional bodywork, shiatsu, acupuncture – methods that get the “chi” flowing again can be of great help too. Traumas are stored in your body. When a soul part is back, your body can also adapt, and physical blockages can finally be released with a little help from a therapist.

soul retrieval 3 tekening Susanne Hazen (2)

Drawing – the drawings in these articles are my own. After a return of a soul part, I created these – completely intuitive. One drawing shows what I felt. I felt as if a ‘body’ sank into me.
The other drawings show how I took care of the soul part – by travelling with it regularly – in visualisations – to a safe, beautiful and warm place to have quality time together.

After severe trauma, the first thing to do is consult a psychotherapist or psychologist until there is enough strength to do a session in which soul parts are retrieved. After that, a therapist can again be helpful to integrate the retrieved soul part.

Inspired by:

Ingerman, S. Soul Retrieval. Mending the Fragmented Self.

Notes from Daan van Kampenhout’s courses

Soul loss and soul retrieval

In shamanistic traditions, it is stated that parts of the soul can separate from us and that this separation, this loss of soul parts, can be a cause of physical and mental illness. In this context, by soul, I mean an intangible part of our being that gives us vital energy and houses emotions, memories, feelings, sentiments. (This idea of the soul is similar to the concept of the astral body – as described in the article “The Five Bodies”)

If you want to learn more about Systemic Ritual and working with the concept of the Soul: See:

Strengthening the soul by means of Systemic Ritual

Lost parts of ourselves mean that we experience less energy/vitality because there is less ‘spirit’ in us due to the loss. A ‘full soul’ is fully present, clear, radiant. We unconsciously try to regain the lost parts through dreams, daydreams, quests for healing, spiritual disciplines, and by creating relationships with others that repeatedly mirror our lost soul parts.
This search requires a lot of energy, while we already lack power because we have lost parts.

Parts of the soul can be lost due to various circumstances. These do not always have to be extreme circumstances.

Examples through which soul parts can ‘depart’ are:

You are too busy and lose sight of your soul
The soul gets bored because you “don’t live it.”
Souls can get jealous and then go to a ‘better place.’
Difficult situations “It’s not fun here anymore, so I’m going to a better place.”
Trauma, including abuse, loss of a loved one, miscarriage, abortion, surgery, accident
Sudden and extreme shock/fear
Parts of the soul can also be ‘stolen’ by someone else.

Symptoms or expressions of soul loss are:

Lack of vitality and connection with life
The feeling of being ‘absent’ after, for example, the death of a loved one, an accident or after an operation – the feeling of still being a bit in the anaesthesia
Feeling after a divorce that ‘a part of you is still with the other person.’
The feeling of dissociation or depersonalization
Can’t remember a situation
Chronic depression

In shamanism, there are methods to bring the lost soul parts back to the person. This technique is called soul retrieval. Also, with the Systemic Ritual method, we can contact lost soul parts and help bring them back. After a soul retrieval, you will experience more connection with life, the earth, yourself and others.

For ONLINE and LIVE workshops and courses, see: workshops-and-courses-online-and-live/

Inspired by:

Ingerman, S. Soul Retrieval. Mending the Fragmented Self.

The Wheel of the Souls

In the article “The Multiple Soul”, you have read that shamanistic traditions assume multiple souls. In my work, I distinguish the family soul, the tribal soul, the individual soul, and the universal soul. You can give the souls a place on the Wheel of the four directions, and the Wheel tells something about the development.

The Family soul

A baby cannot be born without a father and a mother. With this fact, the baby becomes a member of the family system.
A baby comes from the spatial, formless, timeless and nonpolar direction of the North; actually a gift from the ancestors whose place is also in the direction of the North. The North-East point in the Wheel is the moment of conception.

If you want to learn more about Systemic Ritual and working with the concept of the Soul: See:

Strengthening the soul by means of Systemic Ritual

A baby comes from the spatial, formless, timeless and nonpolar direction of the North; actually a gift from the ancestors whose place is also in the direction of the North. The North-East point in the Wheel is the moment of conception.
The child gets to know the polarities, rules, norms, values, and concepts about the world and life in the family.
The child adapts to that because he needs protection and structure, just as a body needs bones. Adapting to the rules, norms, and values makes the child belong to the family and feel safe.
In essence, the family soul narrows our space. This is necessary to be able to participate in the world later on.
At some point in adolescence, the family system feels too limited. At that moment, the child starts to rebel against the parents, the so-called individualisation. It is a fake individualisation because the family is replaced by peer groups. Friends come, and the child starts to adapt to the accompanying subculture of these peer groups with their rules and limitations.

The tribal soul or collective soul

Joining a community is a necessary and logical step. Belonging to a group is needed to function in the world. It is a law of nature that you are more powerful as a group than as an individual. Therefore, when you join a group, you experience more safety and power.
The group forms a unit by the grace of excluding others. As a result, polarities arise – we and them. To have a sense of being part of a group implies that there are outsiders. Sometimes it concerns minor differences, such as dress codes.
There are ‘hard cores’ in the tribal soul. Groups that only look inward, cannot or do not want to enter into a relationship with other groups. Dialogue is not possible in that case.
This hardcore does not allow individuation. The hardcore does not tolerate dissenting opinions or behaviour from its group members. We know this from religious communities, but the same thing happens within football clubs and other associations or between political ‘camps’.

The individual soul

In time the individual member, if the circumstances are well enough, develops and matures. At one point, he/she will experience that the tribal soul also becomes too oppressive. The group member starts to feel different in some aspects and wants to find his own values.
This entails a whole process. We are programmed to survive, and that works better in a group. If the chances of survival (physical and mental) allow it, the individual can grow further.
In humanistic psychology, this is called self-actualisation. In Jungian psychology, it is referred to as the process of individuation.

The universal soul

It is paradoxical, but while maturing in the individual soul, the realisation will come that you are a universal being; one with all there is.
Ultimately, by observing your being, you arrive at the deepest core of your being. The identification with your body and personality disappears. That structure is released and transforms into a sense of unity with the whole. That is timeless, formless, unconditional, awareness of the equality of people, animals, plants. Here there is no more experience of polarity, no personal identification.

Multiple souls

Photo:
Design: Alma Mekking
Paintings by: David Ridley

Every culture and religion believes in a concept of the soul or whatever it is called. There is a belief that we are more than our body and that we also have a soul, which continues after the body’s death and returns to where it once came from.
In shamanistic traditions, it is believed that we do not have one soul, but several souls as human beings. The ideas about how many or which and how they are called differ per culture.
In this article, I make a distinction between:
– the family soul
– the tribal soul or collective soul
– the individual soul
– the universal soul

If you want to learn more about Systemic Ritual and working with the concept of the Soul: See:

Strengthening the soul by means of Systemic Ritual

This classification is based on the work of Daan van Kampenhout and is also described in his book: The tears of the ancestors.

The family soul

The family soul becomes visible during a family constellation. The family forms a system, and everyone within that system is interconnected. Every person in a family is connected to all other relatives. One also remains connected with those from the family who have been excluded or rejected. Everyone carries the energies within the family. This means that if a disturbance occurs, for example, an accident or an untimely death of a family member, it will affect everyone in the family and efforts will be made to compensate for this disturbance. This often happens because one or more family members take on a burden that does not belong to them. They help carry that burden out of love and loyalty to the family.
The sickening thing about it is that one cannot bear the burden of another. One is only strong enough to carry one’s own burden. This mechanism is called entanglement. Entanglements within a family weaken and disrupt or obscure the deeper order.
A family constellation makes the entanglements, conflicts and tensions of a family visible. These are energies that often unconsciously determine the course of affairs within a family. A constellation usually also shows the way to the solution of the problem.
The family soul can also be called family karma.

The tribal soul or collective soul

We are not only part of our family system but also of several collective fields. These collective fields are not connected to each other. The boundaries between tribal fields are strong and aim to remain intact. This is called the tribal soul or collective soul.
Each tribe that defines itself in words of “what we have in common” and “in which we differ from ….” has formed its own tribal soul. As a person, you are usually part of different tribal souls. Think of: possessing a nationality or coming from a certain region, being part of a religious community, being part of an association, being part of a school, etc.
Within a particular ‘tribal soul’, certain aspects of yourself come to the fore more than others. For example, you work at a bank, and in your spare time, you immerse yourself in shamanism. You probably don’t show that side of yourself at work. And during seminars on shamanism or other spiritual matters, you may not want to say that you enjoy your job as a bank mortgage seller. This is the impact of the ‘tribal soul’.
A tribal soul disappears after the group falls apart. Some tribal souls are very powerful – think, for example, of nationalities and religious communities.
There are ‘hard cores’ in the tribal soul. Groups that only look inward cannot or do not want to enter into a relationship with others. These hard (i.e. fundamentalist) group cores do not allow individuation, i.e. this hardcore does not tolerate dissenting opinions or behaviour from its group members. We know this from religious communities, but the same thing happens within football clubs and other associations or between political ‘camps’.

The individual soul

This is the part of ‘I as an individual’ – autonomous, independent of others. Your values and truths, your personal experience are the most important for you here.
If you believe in reincarnation, you might add that this is the part of your soul that appears, evolves and leaves again and again at different times in different places on this earth.

The universal soul

This is the deep realization that we are universal beings, one with the whole—timeless, formless, equal, absence of ‘I’ and absence of the polarities.
This is also referred to as ‘the great soul’ by Bert Hellinger. At this level, everything and everyone is connected.

Inspired by: Van Kampenhout, D. Tears of the ancestors.

What is the effect of a family constellation?

By Susanne Hazen and Josianne Zwart (Hey Joos! Virtual assistant & projectmanager)

By reading the previous blogs you know now:
– what a family constellation is
– how it works
– what the role of a representative is in this process.

A family constellation is a powerful experience that enables people to gain deep insights into their problems and how these can be – unconsciously – related to family members.

But what effect can a family constellation have on you as a participant? I will tell you more about it in this blog so that you can participate – well prepared – in a family constellation.

Interested in Family constellations or Systemic Ritual?
During the online workshops, you can get to know Systemic Ritual at an entry-level. We will mainly do some constellations or rituals so you can experience how it works and what it can do for you.
Do you want more and live? Click here for the workshop series ‘Hidden Dynamics’.
It is also possible to have an individual session. See: individual-consultation-systemic-constellations-and-systemic-ritual/
Are you a professional and do you want to learn new tools? In that case, the course in Systemic Ritual is useful for you. See: Course in Systemic Ritual.

When a person becomes more familiar with family constellations, he or she may develop a desire to view family photos or visit relatives. This awakening of the family spirit comes from finding connection and respect for family members. A constellation can even lead to setting up a special place in the house with photos and other memories.
The process of going through a family constellation can lead to a change in attitude towards parents, relatives, and the world around us. Judgments, prejudices, arrogance, and strong opinions give way to respect and humility. The participant learns to accept others as they are and lets go of the need to change them.
Attending seminars in family constellations encourages people to take their own responsibility. Instead of blaming others, they learn to recognize and bear their own responsibility. This is a challenging but essential process for personal growth.
Understanding of other cultures: When representatives in constellations regularly take up roles from other cultures, this can lead to a better understanding and familiarity with different structures and cultures. It opens the mind to diversity and increases intercultural understanding.
Family constellations can lead to a changed inner attitude towards parents, brothers, sisters and partners (even if the relationship has ended). There is more peace and acceptance. It doesn’t have to result in more contact. The feeling of belonging and that others are (or have become) important is the most essential.

Strong feelings can occur after a constellation. Therefore, the person submitting the question must have a point of contact, such as the facilitator or a therapist. This allows the questioner to share and process the emerging feelings as part of the therapeutic process.

Confusion and doubt can also arise after a line-up. This is because the old, familiar image – which was based on the perspective of the questioner (the client) – is being replaced by a new image.

This transformation can cause an inner struggle, with some parts of the questioner resisting the new image and wanting to hold on to the old. The new image represents a change that has not yet been experienced and the realization of the new image is not fully present. Crises and conflicts may still arise before the completion of this new image actually comes into effect. It is a process of growth and development that takes time and patience. But family constellations provide a valuable tool for gaining deep insights, breaking through emotional blocks, and promoting personal growth.

I also want to participate in a family constellation
Do you find this interesting, and would you like to experience a family constellation yourself as a representative, or do you have a question you would like to explore? Then sign up for the Hidden Dynamics workshop. In these workshops, we will explore (family) themes using Systemic Ritual and Family Constellations.

What (or who) is a representative, and what is its role during a family constellation?

By Susanne Hazen and Josianne Zwart (Hey Joos! Virtual assistant & projectmanager)

I explained in my previous blog how a family constellation works: a participant (also known as a client) brings in an issue about which he or she wants to gain clarity. Based on that question, a facilitator gets to work during a family constellation. The representative is an important part of this process, and I will tell you more about that in this blog.
The role of a representative during a family constellation is crucial. They are substitutes for real family members of the client. These representatives have several important advantages over actual family members.
One of the main advantages of representatives is that they are not biased; they have no personal relationship with the client and his family.

That is why they can look at the situation objectively – without the intervention of one’s ratio – and really feel their place in the line-up. This is important because many clients are often trapped in their perspective on the situation and their family members’ role in it. The client has been attached to this structure for a long time and consciously and unconsciously tries to defend it. By using representatives, who often show a different picture of the situation, the client can let his own perspective on the situation go and gain new insights simultaneously.

Representatives are also more flexible than the client’s actual family members. They are not trapped in the entrenched structures of the family and can, therefore, more easily sense and go along with changes within the energies of the knowing field. This allows the client to understand the dynamics within his family better. Any blockages can be identified and resolved with the help of the facilitator.

The representatives perceive the energies and thus have a serving function. It is up to them to communicate to the facilitator what their observations are. They can experience intense feelings but do not have to act them out. They just share them.

Representatives also have a steering function. They serve as a compass for the facilitator, indicating whether an intervention is appropriate or not, based on their immediate perception.

Who can be a representative?

Anyone can be a representative; no special knowledge or gifts are required. The place within the ‘knowing field’ in which the representative is placed has its own power. While each representative has their own way of expressing things, experience can play a role in accurately entering the knowing field. With more experience, a representative can become faster and more precise in their expression.

Representatives experience feelings that indicate what relationships are like. For example, a representative can just feel good, or feel wobbly, sad, or angry.

Many people like to represent because they do something for their fellow man. For example, it can already be a relief for the client to see how his representative expresses the same feelings as those that the client himself must deal with in daily life. Seeing this will not change one’s feelings, but this insight alone is liberating.

It is also possible that representatives have experiences that they do not know from their own lives, such as those of a proud great-grandmother, a war criminal, an alcoholic, etc. This can lead to other insights that would otherwise have remained hidden.

In general, the fear that the representative will bring his own experiences into the constellation is unfounded. In exceptional cases, a person can be overcome by their own emotions. Other representatives will also notice this, and the facilitator should pay attention to this.

Is it dangerous to be a representative during a family constellation?

No, in general, a participant can handle this role. It happens that a representative still suffers from the tension he/she has acquired in his/her role for some time after the position has been set up. Therefore, the facilitator must ensure that the representative consciously steps out of the role. There are different techniques for that.

Tip: Another self – Netflix series
To find out more about this in a visual and compelling way, I recommend the Netflix series Another Self: This Turkish series follows three women and their partners. The reason for the journey they make is the diagnosis of a serious illness with one of them. During the journey, they are introduced to family constellations. They are confronted with unresolved trauma from their family history, including murder, secrets, migrations and forbidden loves. Through systemic constellation work, it becomes clear how their family histories have influenced their lives. The series shows (with the right dose of drama and romance) how constellations can support you in finding yourself. Watch the series here.