WHAT IS A FAMILY CONSTELLATION?
Family constellations are an excellent method to bring to light the workings of the collective conscience across generations. Constellations often take place in groups. Each participant has the opportunity to constellate his or her family by inviting representatives from the group of participants. The person asking the question places the representatives in relation to each other, as corresponds to his or her inner image. The surprising and as yet unexplained phenomenon is that the representatives suddenly feel like the real people for whom they have been constellated. They have the same feelings and sometimes also similar physical symptoms. The representatives feel, observe and tell how their mutual relationships are and what tendencies they have. The counselor and the client see which events in the background of the family are relevant and which dynamics are at work, which may be related to the client's question. From these insights it is possible to make a move or do process work that has a healing function for the client. Often, facing the inner image by means of a constellation alone is very enlightening and valuable.
THE PILLARS
The pillars of systemic work are binding, order and balance between give and take.
The binding means that every family member has the right to his place and the right to belong equally. No one can be excluded. Even a family member who committed suicide, a child who died too early, a criminal or an addicted family member.
The order represents the hierarchy within the system. People who are entitled to a place earlier in the system, go before those who came later in the system. That is why parents have priority over children. The first child goes before the second, etc.
Balance in give and take, parents give to their children what they can give. The children take what they get. Children have no right to demand anything from their parents. They must take their parents as they are.