Looking back and seeking signs: How Family Constellations show another way of knowing

"The experience was like a waking dream. Family Constellations are like a waking dream, too. They honor the difference between noticing and knowing, the space between. All I know is that when I searched for my ancestors, I found them.."

By Betsy Hostetler, Ph.D.

“Let’s keep looking. Maybe we’ll see a sign.”

That was my only hope, because we had no map and no directions. Lou Ann, my best buddy in high school, had accompanied me to Sugarcreek, Ohio, to look for the place where my great-grandparents had lived their lives and died. We found only a worn and deserted town.

“I see a sign,” I told her. “It’s the sign to the highway.”

We’d come a long way to get here, and we were both reluctant to leave. As we drove out of town and up the hill, Lou Ann asked, “Would you like to pull over, look back and at least take a picture?”

“Yes,” I said. It took a little while to find a place where the road was wide enough for us to stop. When we did, I looked up and saw a cemetery, the one where generations of my family were buried.

The experience was like a waking dream. How did that happen? Was it intention, intuition, ancestor guidance? Was it an accident or fate? It didn’t make any sense, on one hand, and it made perfect sense on the other. 

Family and Systemic Constellations are like a waking dream, too. Like water that turns to mist, the tangible information our minds hold is transmuted into another kind of knowing. Constellations sessions help us learn that what the mind knows and what the heart knows are not always the same. They bring knowledge from another realm to help us take good steps in this one. 

Melody Allen, who is co-director with me for the 2017 North American Systemic Constellations Conference, and I are excited to see you at the pre-conference and conference Oct. 5-8 in Virginia Beach, Va.

In this very special gathering, we’ll join with others to share our stories, connect, learn from one another, grow and heal.  With other kindred spirits, we’ll take time to look back.

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About the author

Betsy Hostetler, Ph.D., is co-director of the 2017 North American Systemic Constellations Conference. She is the principal of Hostetler Consulting, an organizational development company doing ground-breaking leadership development and culture change work in the Washington, D.C., area. Using a deep systems approach, she has helped leaders make the lasting changes they want to make. She is a graduate of the Hellinger Institute of DC, and she has studied with family and organizational constellation leaders from the United States, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. A founding member of The Constellations Group, she co-leads monthly workshops at National Integrated Health Associates in Washington, D.C.

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Join us for the 2017 North American Systemic Constellations Conference Oct. 5-8 in Virginia Beach, Va., for health professionals, educators, business and life coaches, consultants, clergy, community activists, change makers and others interested in alternative health, social justice and innovative practices. A pre-conference is also available. More info here. We'd love to have you subscribe to our e-letter here.

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