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_th
e_dead_ones.pdf_
(http://www.hellingerct.com/publications/j_edward_lynch_phd_-_the_growth_of_the_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/_ ;
(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
