Constellations and the dynamics of state

In this section we will describe various scenarios to illustrate a constellation within a business setting. A constellation is the process used in this work to allow for an emergent process to bring into resolution, understanding or recognition of state. A constellation uses the Human Template Model© as the blueprint.
The Human Template Model (HTM) illustrates the simple ordered increasingly complex hierarchical levels within a human being, and the holarchical (of equal value: holarchy) niches within a business organism, within which a series of bridges or qualities allow for vertical, horizontal and informational Logos to permeate the whole system and other organizational systems separate, lateral and larger or smaller than it.
A HTM constellation is realized in various ways dependent on the facilitator(s). This trained person guides the process. A HTM constellation is used in a group to elicit information about the state of a situation. A participant is first chosen. Often this is a CEO or person in charge of particular project or department, but this is quite variable, as we may choose someone at random to represent an employee in a particular situation. However the person chosen will usually have some relationship with the dynamic that needs to be understood, illuminated or resolved.
The person chosen usually, but not always, acts as the human element of the constellation. However the person may name himself as a particular voice. For example the person may indicate that they are viewing the constellation from the niche of the human-animal or from the quality of reflectiveness. In this case the person takes on that niche, and is placed there, after they have found the others who will fulfill the other positions. There are a few rules which the facilitator will apply, but again the process is given room to be organic and free-flowing, so on occasions the rules may be articulated but not acted upon per se.
For example the working arena is usually said to be the space created, and this is normally within the circle of participants. Participants are the whole of the group in the workshop, not just those who actively will become part of the constellation. Each person (when the subject is a business) in the room will have a relationship to the constellation, and may become actively involved during the process, if they feel that they should be included in the actual process. A good size room is optimum, but constellations can be done in small spaces. The only criteria normally voiced is that in the arena there will be a single fixed object. This is the icon that carries the heart on it. It represents the fifth level of being; that which we call the noble level.
Why is it static?
In the realm of spiritual ideas, this level is seen as the level that surrounds, encircles and envelopes the human being. It sits above the human, and is static in that we humans rise towards it, and its influence descends upon and around us. The two elements are not mutually exclusive, meaning that as we ascend, this force or quality does not necessarily descend to meet us. On the other hand, we understand through empirical experience that this force, which in Islamic theology is known as the Ruhul Qudus and in Judaism the Ruah haKodesh – is the Holy Spirit or Grace. This is the keystone of the work. In the process and throughout the workshop we introduce the idea of silence, quietness, surrender. Surrender means to open, be receptive, to let go of our thoughts, habits, feelings and emotions and history and to open ourselves to this Holy force.
In some societies and cultures the separation of church and state is seen as sacrosanct. People’s religious, spiritual, atheistic or agnostic proclivity is seen as private and should not be interfered or violated. So when we introduce silence, quietness, centering, surrender – in this order – we are widening the map. We certainly ask people to engage in this moment of internal gathering, where they come into themselves for a moment, dropping away their thoughts, letting go of the ideas just filling their head, coming back into relative silence to prepare for the next moment. We leave room for individual autonomy, allowing each individual to participate or not. Someone’s bowed head and closed eyes, may also be another’s quiet pose, eyes open, yet silent gaze.
Silence allows a Holy, elevated or noble force to permeate the process, whether self generated or some other force that creates a field around us. This is the defining element in the work.
The action of placing people into these various positions appear to further create and amplify the field – or frequency that has been set up in a particular constellation. We believe the process is similar to entrainment when two or more bio-oscillators (human beings) tune into nearby bodies (other humans) and synchronize with them. There are many forms of entrainment, the most obvious is in chronobiology when the circadian rhythm within an organism aligns its own periodicity to the period and phase of an external rhythm. In a similar but contradictory manner, pendulums in clocks naturally fall into antiphase, and not in synchrony. The clocks when near to each other, either accelerate or decrease their swing until in their synchrony but antiphasic state. In constellations we ask the participants to tune into the field around. The psychiatrist Albrecht Mahr coined this as the Knowing Field (1999) in that each person acts as an antenna and receiver, tuning into body sensations and allowing these to inform the participants; acting from what they receive. This is not role acting, mime or theatre, nor psychodrama, although elements of the process may appear to be some sort of role playing or drama to those on the periphery watching. This Knowing Field could lead the participants to sense and articulate dynamics in the field previously not realized, spoken about, or hidden.
It appears that when we as an antenna become focused and intent upon a task, others who join the immediate environment tune into the field and act as receivers, amplifying what they are able to pick up. The human body acts as both an antenna – emitting its own radio waves – but also as a receiver, and in some cases a very effective amplifier, and on occasions (and with training) a decoder, as well as a capacity to ‘get the picture’. In practice, most people are learners, and as we place people into constellation we acknowledge that their capacity is rudimentary, or limited, and has to be learnt. On the other hand, when given instruction many people are able to articulate what they feel rather than acting upon it.

This monolithic dynamic of a constellation is often seen when we build constellations with many participants acting as humans in particular niches. The system becomes rather heavy and unmoving, emphasizing perhaps the structured and substantial nature of an organization and its inherent difficulties in change and alter how things are. The people become sensorial (alive and sensitive) but less inclined to act or move - they feel the field but are unable to act from it – perhaps because the field is inhibitory. They do not act upon their feelings that has been received from a signal broadcast. We believe this is often simply a factor of culture, as well as inner noise. It is as if the people have so much going on internally, that they are unable to discern accurately what they feel, so they chunk up the message, so to speak, into their minds. This is obvious at one level, as business people, for example, may not want to be seen expressing their emotional or sensory self – that is, move spontaneously or express something apparently erroneously, without thought. Talking about what they feel by-passes the emotive process which may not be culturally appropriate. They are able to speak about what they feel and in their speech pepper it with clues that help the facilitator to know what is going on.
Signal transmission

A human body is composed of many elements, each emitting a particular frequency. We are effectively the sum of all that we contain, which could be said to oscillate or emit a certain and particular frequency.85 This is may also be referred to as the sum of our individual biomagnetic fields (the magnetic fields emitted from all our structures – heart, brain, organs &c.). The radio mask is our material structure (integrity or unified structure) and the field is emitted by a frequency ‘generator’ – the snake or inherent flexibility – the life within as resonance of our biomagnetic field. This frequency will be the resonance of the individual human creature, as distinct from that emitted from an animal or plant, but each individual will have some sort of disturbance in that field which will give each of us a particular and specific individual frequency. When we are distressed, emotionally disturbed, fearful we emit a signal. Many people intuit this – they receive it. Some people are said to be empathetic or empaths – they tune in to other people’s states and can read from this field. We all have this ability in that we unconsciously tune in, and can pick up messages. Non-verbal communication is a growing field in psychology, where visual clues are look for, the field, in turn, is another arena through which we can read data. A message maybe carried by the person’s demeanor, looks, posture, clothes, smell &c., but that doesn’t answer the fact that many people already know of a person’s state before meeting with that person. They have tuned into their state from afar. Of course for some people this occurs occasionally, others it’s a gift or a curse, and for some it can be learnt as a skill. For most people the signs are read from the person’s stance in space, or how they look, rather than picked up as a signal.
The constellations mirror specific group or business dynamics, which usually have remained hidden, not talked about. The elements placed as a constellation, sit in the field of all the participants. They are complicit in it, but are usually unable, unwilling or, in some cultures, simply unable to talk about such intimate or personal things, especially when it is associated with business. A HTM constellation allows an unfolding to occur.