all family members be reconciled . . .
—Jack Kornfield,
Vipasanna Buddhism teacher
When we realize that we are deeply connected to our Family Lineage, and that neither time nor distance can alter that, we begin to discover the complexities of our family’s past and our unique place within our Family Lineage. The Participant Energy Field describes the field of individuals who are present and willing to support the Constellation process as the Client and Representatives open to their unconscious. They act as the holding container and witnesses to the process. Finally, the Ancestral Energy Field is the powerful spiritual presence that is the guiding force behind the healing. Through meditation, prayer, and invocation at the beginning of our seminars and programs, we ask for this presence and for the permission of our ancestors to help us with our work.
Individual Energy Field
This diagram shows the Individual Energy Field, Seven major Chakras and the Four Levels of Consciousness.
The Family Energy Field
This diagram shows how each Individual Energy Field is held within the larger Family Energy Field.
Moving into the Vesica Pisces
This diagram shows moving into the Vesica Pisces and the connection between the Chakra systems.
Strands of Awareness—Ten Universal Themes
Imagine a rope comprised of three cords: One cord is you, the second cord and the third cord is your mother and father respectively. The cords are distinctive and separate unto themselves; intertwined, they create one solid piece of rope. Upon closer examination, the cords are created from individual strands. More subtly, threads of fiber make up each strand. Threads form a strand. Strands make a cord. Three separate cords create the rope. The rope, extending back in time, is solid, twisted tightly. The present moment, your place, is near the unbraided end.
Recognizing that we are the continuation of consciousness that began with our mothers, fathers, and our own pre-incarnational choices, we can examine the larger strands within these three cords. The Constellation Approach identifies these ten central Strands of Awareness as Universal Themes that are inherent of families everywhere on the planet:
1.Family of Origin
2.Father’s Lineage
3.Mother’s Lineage
4.Siblings
5.Physical Disease and Mental Illness
6.Death
7.War and Conflict
8.Immigration/Migration
9.Religion
10.Relationships
As you will discover in Part II, each theme provides the basis for a distinct Constellation that you can experience as part of your journey towards peace. We believe it’s our shared responsibility to continue to braid, passing on our respective contributions to the next generation.
Threads of Consciousness
Consider this: Embedded within each Universal Theme are finer and finer nuances of human experience. By slowly unraveling the Ten Strands through TCA, you will become more aware of these individual Threads of Consciousness. Attitudes, beliefs, and patterns regarding money and sexuality are prime examples that every family and individual inherits from the previous generation. These examples of Threads of Consciousness are non-personal, yet they affect each of us personally. They are woven into the cords of our being waiting to be examined.
Each Constellation offers the opportunity to bring to awareness the threads unique to our own heredity, and hence, the ability to make different choices. Because consciousness is interconnected, person-to-person, individual to family, family to community, community to society, society to civilization, and civilization to humanity, the effect of one person raising his/ her consciousness contributes to the positive evolution of all.
Some Threads of Consciousness
•sexuality
•money
•violence
•separation
•loss
•addiction
•service
•abuse
•suicide
•poverty
•body image
•pride
•humility
•patience
•courage
•generosity
•kindness
•tolerance
•charity
•devotion
•shame
•betrayal
•dignity
•belonging
•abandonment
•prejudice
•intimacy
•rejection
•isolation
•discrimination
Everyone in each generation contributes to the evolution of consciousness in a particular way. Through awakening to the awareness that Threads of Consciousness exist, we gain the ability to make different choices.
Levels of Consciousness
Levels of Consciousness are not linear or hierarchical but rather intersecting, permeating, and affecting all aspects of our being. In the Constellation Approach there is a progression through these four Levels of Consciousness: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual. Each of us inhabits these Levels of Consciousness like layers of clothing, one on top of the other. The outermost layer is the Physical. It primarily comprises the senses—sight, hearing, taste, and touch. The Mental Level of Consciousness houses our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs of the situations and people in our life. Beneath the Mental resides the Emotional Level of Consciousness—where we experience feelings in reaction to what occurs externally in our environment. At the deepest internal level is our Spiritual Consciousness. This is the level where Soul Consciousness resides. It allows the expansive ability to comprehend the complexities of life. Imagine a pyramid with the base as the Spiritual Level of Consciousness. From this broad base of consciousness each level is added to create our individual pyramidal self.
Life is experienced through our emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations. These three layers inform and supply us with useful information but not the complete picture. In order to have the broadest perspective on any given situation or relationship with another human being, we need to engage the Spiritual Level of our consciousness.
In a Constellation, you experience the Levels of Consciousness as the following:
1.Mental—The