AOL EmailAlbrecht Mahr has also written a beautiful article on 'How the
living and the Dead can heal each other' in issue 6 of the Knowing Field
journal.
Barbara morgan
Editor
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From: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of TomBuoyed@xxxxxxx
Sent: 17 November 2005 02:40
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ConstellationTalk] 'tis the season of the dead ones
The sequence of the medieval Catholic holy days: Halloween (10/31),
All Saints' Day (11/1) and All Souls' Day (dia de los muertos) (11/2)
celebrate the time of year, when according to many spiritual traditions, the
"veil" separating the realm of the dead from the realm of the living is at
its thinnest, thus affording the best opportunity for clear communication
between the dead and the living.
In the Celtic/Druid tradition, November 1, called Samhain,
(pronounced "So-ween" to rhyme with Halloween) meaning "end of summer" is
also the Celtic New Year's Day. It is one of the "cross-quarter days" or
Greater Sabbats celebrated, each one corresponding to the midpoint of each
season. So Samhain marks the exact middle of the autumn season. Clocks in
the US move back to standard time and it's now downhill to the Solstice,
Christmas & Hannukah.
All this I present as a background introduction to acknowledge and
celebrate the connection and communication with the dead that occurs so
often and so profoundly in family constellations and in movements of the
soul. Between Halloween and the Winter Solstice, then, is the season of the
dead ones.
I wonder if anyone in the CT forum might tell their stories about
the profound effects the dead ones have when represented in constellations.
I would like to honor two constellators, whose work I've discovered
that deals directly with this question. First is Ed Lynch and then the
Dutch Jewish shaman, Daan van Kampenhout.
I know Ed's on the list, so I would like to call attention to and
praise Ed's article on his website called: "The Growth of the Dead Ones,"
which can be accessed from this link:
http://www.hellingerct.com/publications/j_edward_lynch_phd_-_the_growth_of_t
he_dead_ones.pdf
[NOTE: Since this link goes over one line, you should Copy and Paste
it into your browser as clicking it may not work.]
I'm especially moved by Ed's description of the progression of the
"dead ones" through three distinct stages which he calls "Pre-Peace, Peace,
and Deep Eternal Rest." It's very clear from his article that the "restless
dead" in a constellation can, through resolution, move into a more peaceful
state and then affect the living family members in a positive and strong
way. Then that same dead one achieving peace can then go on to what Ed
calls Deep Eternal Rest, where the "job is done" and the dead one can be
"forgotten" in a healthy way.
While we weren't able to make the Portland Conference, Annalea and I
did manage to read all of Daan van Kampenhout's book, Images of the Soul,
which gives a wonderful perspective of the clairvoyant shaman involved in
and observing the dead ones in constellations.
See Daan's site: http://www.daanvankampenhout.com/
I was most intrigued by Daan's description, from the shaman's point
of view, of the importance of the facilitator acknowledging and honoring the
"beingness" of the dead ones represented in the constellation. From the
shamanic view, a facilitator who does not acknowledge that the dead ones are
there as real beings, but instead believes, for example, that the dead ones
are merely abstract psychic memory projections of the client, will actually
manage to weaken much of the healing movement of the constellation for the
dead ones, which in turn will weaken the constellation's healing effect on
the living ones.
Daan also points out the acute discomfort that arises in many
discussions among facilitators and others as to whether the constellation is
merely a therapeutic method, or is a deep spiritual phenomenon which is
difficult to articulate because the psycho-therapeutic vocabulary and mind
set is not equipped to deal with the spiritual phenomena that are so central
to constellation work.
We can see this dilemma at work in the range of approaches to
constellations. Some facilitators, at home with the spiritual side, tend to
become too mystical or shamanic to the denizens of the other camp, who want
to keep the work confined within the parameters of the psychotherapeutic
world view, which can accept the healing movements without having to invoke
the "beings" of the spiritual world.
I hope this stimulates a good discussion of these issues.
Thomas Mellett
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