Is family constellation spiritism? Understand this and other myths

Some people who start to have contact with the Constellation – either because they heard someone speak or because they “fell with a parachute” in some group session (live or recorded) – may initially be confused, thinking that the Family Constellation session is spiritism and not therapeutic.

If this is your case, calm down! It is very likely that they did not explain how the technique works in practice.

In constellation group sessions, volunteers are used to represent members of the client’s family/business system, of their social group or the aspects involved in their problem (father, mother, spouse, ex-partners, children, grandparents and grandparents, the company, partners, money, employees, etc.).

The space where the Constellation unfolds is called the field. By positioning themselves spatially in the field, these representatives begin to present the emotions of the represented person and some movements that express the hidden dynamics that act behind that problem, relationship or conflict in question.

Why isn’t Family Constellation Spiritism?

It is at this point that people are usually impressed, especially by the credible way in which representatives represent the assigned role, even when they know nothing about the person they are representing. And the confusion usually occurs when someone represents a deceased person.

In this regard, it is important to highlight that not only dead people are represented. And not just people. It is common, for example, for someone to be asked to represent a symptom, a disease, a country, a company, the destination and so on.

That is, what happens in the body of the representative is not a spirit that is incorporated, but a phenomenon that we call morphic resonance. The person captures what is stored in the invisible, in the field of memory (or morphogenetic field, as biologist Rupert Sheldrake’s theory says).

This field works in a similar way to the well-known cloud databases, in which we don’t see the information, but we know it’s there, somewhere, all we need is an access key to access it.

Family constellation is not religion

In a constellation, anyone can access this memory field through an attitude of neutrality, without intention or judgment. So it’s not about religion. It is a biological phenomenon, which happens in all species.

This is how, for example, birds know when and where to migrate, turtles know where to lay their eggs, and fish in a school know the right time and direction to move together to escape a predator.

Individuals of a group or species capture the information (or memory) in their bodies from this great invisible database.

How did the Family Constellation come about?

The Family Constellation was developed by the German Bert Hellinger (1925-1999) who, in addition to being a psychotherapist, pedagogue and philosopher, was a theologian and was a missionary of the Catholic Church in his youth. Although his background was religious, his work never had any relation to any religion.

Family Constellation was born as a new approach to Systemic Psychotherapy, based on Phenomenology and the theory of Morphogenetic Fields by biologist Rupert Sheldrake.

The term Family Constellation came from the German word Familienaufstellung, which in a literal translation would be “family placement or configuration”. It refers to the representation of members of a family system, showing their relationships through the spatial configuration of these elements.

In Brazil, and in Spanish-speaking countries, the term “constelação familial/constelación familiar” was adopted, since the first books by Bert Hellinger were translated from the English version, which in turn translated the verb stellung in german for constellate (group in a given position).

What is the family constellation for?

The Family Constellation is a technique for the spatial representation of human relationships, which allows identifying, in a brief and experiential way, the cause of the disorders and conflicts that we experience in the family, professional, relationships and health spheres.

Although Bert Hellinger initially believed it to be a method of psychotherapy, he soon realized that his discoveries went far beyond what was known as therapy, and that they could offer help in the lives of people who did not suffer from diagnosable mental disorders.

His work evolved in order to lead people to what he called the movement of the spirit (and this is where people also get confused!). The movement of the spirit is nothing more than an internal posture of tune with a broader, spiritual consciousness that goes beyond individual or group consciousness.

It is a force that moves everything, regardless of our will, and leads us through love for everyone as they are and everything as it is.

When the Family Constellation is Dangerous

As with any other profession, if the Family Constellation is applied by a professional without the necessary qualifications and experience, it can be dangerous. Because the client can be led to come into contact with very difficult issues, shadows and biographical and transbiographical traumas that can even re-traumatize him.

That’s why it’s important to choose a professional with good training in the area, good years of practice and well recommended.

Many people criticize Constellation claiming that it is a pseudoscience and that it is not authorized by the Psychology Council. Whoever makes such claims is correct. The Constellation is a knowledge that fits as philosophy and not as science, because its basis is phenomenological.

It’s a way of seeing and putting yourself in life, and being able to change our relationships, the constellation has profound therapeutic effects, even against depression. Although science is very important, it may not be able to explain everything when it comes to behaviors, feelings and the human psyche.

Constellation also does not belong to the field of Psychology, nor is it a therapeutic method, as is Psychoanalysis. They are completely different professions and with different backgrounds, given their specificities. For this reason, the Family Constellation does not submit to the Psychology Council.

Who can apply the Family Constellation?

A Family Constellation facilitator does not need to be a psychologist, psychoanalyst, doctor or psychiatrist, although many professionals in these areas end up graduating and acting as constellators. There are even many lawyers, prosecutors and judges who seek this training to work with Systemic Law.

There is no council or entity that regulates the profession. Bert Hellinger didn’t want that in life either, although there are currently movements in that direction in Brazil and in other countries.

The important thing, when having a Family Constellation session, is to look for a serious professional, who had face-to-face or at least semi-presential training in recognized institutions or at Hellinger Schule itself, with its teachers or precursors of the technique in Brazil, in addition to complementary training and several years of practice.

Benefits of family constellation

The technique reveals very quickly, in just one session, what are the hidden dynamics (almost always unconscious) behind the problems, difficulties, conflicts and illnesses. In possession of the new information, there is no way for the customer to remain indifferent. It is not possible to “unsee” what has been seen and, thus, a new consciousness emerges.

By clarifying the problematic dynamics surrounding the issue, the client can find the inner posture and emotional path needed to resolve it. The new awareness is reflected in the reality of the client’s own life and of the other individuals involved in the system.