Over the years, I've had dozens of moments in systemic constellations that really blew me away, both as client and facilitator.
Once I was receiving a constellation to explore my mother line. The facilitator asked someone to represent me and someone else to represent my mother. I was able to be a witness to the interaction; it was like seeing something that lived inside of my experience unfold right in front of my eyes.
My representative, without knowing anything about my life, said something. She named a fear connected to my mother – a fear I'd never spoken aloud and that was very specific.
I recognised it instantly, and I won't share it here. Yet what I can say is that having my secret fear witnessed shifted something in me. I then saw how it was connected to intergenerational patterns, ones that were no longer serving my life. It's this kind of moment – both ordinary and uncanny at once – that keeps drawing people to this practice.
What is systemic constellations?
Systemic constellations rely on our sensing capacities and what makes us uniquely human – our ability to feel when something isn't being said, to hold a knowing inside of us when there's a secret in the system, and to open our hearts when truths are spoken.
In a session, we use these sensing capacities to tune into how we are being impacted by the threads that bind us, keeping us entangled in family patterns, pulled into conformity with societal norms, or that keep us afraid of being visible. While it can be done one-on-one, systemic constellations are often done in a group, where participants agree to step in to represent parts of another person's issue. One-on-one work tends to move slower and more internally, with the facilitator holding multiple roles or using objects to mark positions; in a group, the presence of other bodies and voices tends to bring things forward faster and often surprises everyone in the room, representative and client alike.
This is an approach that is rather unique to systemic constellations (although we can see aspects of it in some traditional rituals in other cultures) – it's called the representative phenomenon. For some reason (there are theories about why, yet I'm a fan of the mystery) we can step in to represent, for example, a family member, and when we report what happens to us in that role (feeling cold, or an emotion, or the desire to look the other way) it reveals information that is helpful in understanding the deep-seated dynamics at play.
Why systemic constellations is having a moment
The first seeds of the practice were sown in the late 1970s, developed by a German psychotherapist named Bert Hellinger, who drew on his background in family therapy, group dynamics, and time spent living as a priest among the Zulu in South Africa, where he witnessed how ancestors are vital to our wellbeing. There's been a recent surge in interest in all the ways it can be applied.
In a time where we are expected to know everything, and AI is increasingly infiltrating our lives with easy answers, systemic constellations ask us to slow down, tune into our bodies, and ask ourselves: What can't I see? What's subconsciously got a hold on me that wants to be named?
What drew me to the practice was the presence it asks of me and how it can address challenges that seem untouched by other approaches. It reminds me of shamanic practices where we step out of the space/time continuum, and something that has been hidden or stuck for years, suddenly shifts.
Systemic constellations in action: A few brief case studies
Systemic constellations are now applied to family contexts, organisational work, as well as supporting people to connect to their purpose or explore the emotional and ancestral roots that may sit alongside physical illness. There are many kinds of insights that can emerge, and when done in a group context, these experiences touch everyone who participates.
Here are a few brief examples:
The blocked artist. An artist, blocked in feeling permission to do art for herself, discovered through a constellation that she'd been unconsciously honouring her grandfather's suffering – forbidden from playing music in his youth – by silencing her own creativity. Naming and releasing that loyalty broke the block.
The silenced voice. One man, stuck in his voice, discovered through a constellation that the block began in childhood – he'd spoken up as a child and hadn't been believed. He saw how he had unconsciously blamed his voice itself rather than the people who failed to listen; reconnecting him to his voice's power began to shift the pattern.
The fear of being seen. A woman came for a constellation who had been feeling a deep fear of standing out, and it was impacting her work. The constellation showed her looking directly at a female ancestor who had gotten in trouble for speaking out. She realised she'd inherited a fear that being seen and powerful was dangerous; naming her story allowed her to reclaim her own.
In this upcoming workshop, we will explore what happens when a silence that once protected us or someone in our family becomes a limitation in our own lives. What happens when we can honour the reason for that silence, without having to carry it forward?
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Andrea Langlois is joined by Gráinne McAnallen to bring systemic constellations, combined with yoga nidra, to The College of Psychic Studies. In this carefully guided practice, Andrea and Gráinne will help you uncover hidden patterns, passed down through family and ancestral lines, working towards reclaiming your voice, authority, and right to be seen. Spaces are limited – book now.
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