Seeds for a happy planet

Weird. I’m on my way to the next Women Moving the Edge gathering, and I still have to finish my blog posts from the previous one, which was just a few weeks away. So here is the description of how the constellation unfolded that we did on the third day. It is followed by a report of what we all understood from it afterwards. It is really amazing stuff!!!

Players in the constellation were Stillness, Trees, the Immanent World Source, Humanity and Juice/Lifeforce. As the facilitator of this constellation I didn’t point out which elements should be represented. I left it to the participants to choose for themselves what was calling to them and when they would take their place, wherever they felt it was.

In the beginning, there was Stillness… who walked into the space. She rose up on her toes, and started to wobble. Then the Tree moved in and stood behind Stillness, embracing her to ground and stabilise her. Soon they were joined by Immanent World Soul, who lay on the ground, face down at Stillness’s feet, holding her ankles to help keep her stable.

Meanwhile, in another part of the room, Juice started to jive, rocking back and forth like a dance rhythm or heartbeat – constant motion, constant motion. Humanity (not knowing herself yet as that) felt drawn to the movement, called to engage, moving closer, attention drawn inexorably towards the familiar energy of the life force. Humanity felt totally disconnected from Stillness and everything else in the room – just felt attracted to the Juice, and started to go with that, because it felt good.

In the Stillness-Trees-World Soul constellation, World Soul turned face up, reaching past Stillness and touching Tree. She turned because Stillness’s constant upward aspirations made her feel quite sick. When face up, the World Soul could begin to participate in life in a quite different way, and Stillness could look down at her, no longer feeling drawn upwards so strongly. Stillness then turned around to be in contact with Tree, which made her feel happy and light.

Juice and Humanity moved in closer to the others. They were clicking their fingers and jiving together. Juice wanted to get closer to the World Soul, came and stood at her feet, so they were facing each other. Humanity followed, because she wanted to stay close to Juice. The proximity of Juice made World Soul feel nauseous. Stillness wanted contact with Juice, but Juice just seemed to be doing its thing. It was at this stage that the constellation, together, determined the identify of Juice and Humanity. Humanity drew them both closer to World Soul – who recognised “the energy of Brazil”.

From the beginning, the relationship between Stillness and Life Force was ambivalent. Life Force: I want to tell her it’s OK to feel the impulse. When Stillness, seeking reciprocity, replied It’s OK to feel the stillness, Life Force replies It’s not my job, being unwilling to stop moving – and believing that in order to feel the stillness, she would have to stop – and that would kill her, she wouldn’t be herself any more.

The Tree spontaneously stepped out of the constellation and went and sat down.  This was a heart-breaking moment. The World Soul reacted (without having seen Trees leaving): Something has just died. Trees: I felt like I wasn’t needed any more. World Soul: Well you are needed – it was like some of the sap went out of the world.

When Juice and Humanity got closer to the World Soul, rocking around and being over-excited, World Soul retreated back to curl herself around the roots of the Tree – feeling more affinity with nature than with Life Force, which felt like it was ‘on a trip’. Humanity tried hard, to bring Stillness and Life Force together, but Life Force felt constricted and broke away. Stillness later noted that Humanity felt extremely hot already at this stage (man-made global warming?)

Humanity and Life Force were pulsing together in rhythm, very connected, but rather banging and jostling the others, particularly World Soul and the Tree, which knelt and crouched over World Soul. When asked to find her deepest longing, Humanity could find no answer. When asked if she felt well, she barely understood the question. Something’s happening – I don’t know if ‘well’ is the right word! Juice then started gesticulating, wanting the World Soul to come ‘up’, believing that Humanity was having a baby, and so wanting that to happen: I thought we were having contractions for a minute, over there (humanity) but it seems like labour has stopped. Humanity also felt like something was being birthed. But I couldn’t let go. The rest of the constellation felt like a monster was being born – like there was an orgy going on. With all the movement, knocking against the Trees and World Soul, the Trees crouched down over World Soul, It felt like hanging on for dear life – as if Humanity was going mad - and Stillness came and laid down at World Soul’s back, ‘creeping into her’. World Soul began crying in relief.

The facilitator encouraged Humanity to Find a place where you can rest. Keep following your body. Humanity then laid down – she literally put her head on top of the head of the World Soul (who wasn’t happy about that!). Humanity then lost consciousness – lying on the floor, face down, with her toes still flexed under her. With Humanity taking up less space, leaving the Trees and World Soul some space to recover, the Trees stood up, and Stillness moved away from the constellation and sat down on a chair to hold space.

Life Force then stated that she was holding the space and sensing that there was a possibility for something to happen, giving gentle urges for upward movement.  This activated the World Soul to turn over and connect with Humanity in an intentional way: The first thing Humanity is going to see when she comes around is me – Immanent World Soul. While humanity is still a bit groggy and feeling humble, World Soul is coming out of the closet, to make a BIG impression. World Soul started to arouse Humanity by blowing in her hair.

At the same time, Life Force was blowing the Tree. Stillness was trying to find a way to connect with Life Force, and it was Tree that offered a hand, so that Stillness and Life Force, who could not connect directly (because Life Force couldn’t stop moving), ended up being connected through Tree. When Stillness could finally touch Life Force, she understood that the intention was not to restrain her, just to have contact.

World Soul then awakened Humanity and the two stood up together, very slowly. Humanity needed time to rise, feeling the power of the magnetic connection with Immanent World Soul.

Post constellation insights

Humanity: I seem to be attracted to what felt good; not quite knowing what to do. Going into my body, I didn’t understand that question; I didn’t know what to do. At some point somebody told me not to hurt the trees; that was totally new information to me. Maybe humanity doesn’t get that yet, that it is hurting the trees? It felt like groping in the dark for me.

When the World Soul started to pull me up, everything was right; there was total connection, awakening, recognition, everything. In a sense, I was ready for this.

I didn’t really know my own exhaustion until I lay down on the floor. I tried so hard to make something happen, not knowing how. Wanting to know, seeking… a lot of trying.

At the end, I looked at both sides, for the first time I could really look and see – in a new way. (Trees were on one side, Life force and Stillness on the other side). That was really powerful.

Stillness: What stood out for me was the relationship with the Trees.

The relationship with ‘Juice’ was difficult. I did not want to move, and I had the impression that Juice did not want to be still, so we found ourselves locked in our positions. Then I could lay it on humanity and say “it’s up to you to solve this”. Humanity tried so hard. I had my hand on her back and she was so hot from the effort. And we tried, but it wasn’t a natural dance.

Then the constellation shifted and Trees and the World Soul lay together. It was so wonderful to lie there, behind and almost in the World Soul. It was so beautiful, and very vitalising. Until I woke up from what Humanity and Juice were doing – which was quite a disturbing scene. Humanity looked drunk. Like in a Bacchanalean orgy.

Humanity’s eyes showed me: I’m not drunk! Ria asked Humanity: Are you well? There was no connection! Humanity didn’t understand! It took an intervention from the facilitator.

World Soul: That intervention was the pivotal point! Ria asked: Listen to your body and follow your deepest longing. This didn’t work.

Facilitator: I saw that Humanity was not in connection with her body. It really changed when I said: “Find a place where you can rest”.

Juice: I felt like the Life Force, the creative energy; Juice was part of who I was… at some point it felt like we were having a birth… ‘something’ being born was OK for me. But it is good that it was stopped, it would have had three heads!

World Soul: Yes, it would have been a monster. When Humanity rested it gave the Trees a chance to reestablish. Then life and strength came back into me too. When Stillness and Life Force could find their dance I could… I was gently blowing in Humanity’s hair, she was totally knocked out. She was awoken by the faeries that she didn’t believe in, but it was there. The meaning of the immanent World Soul… it could only exist with the consciousness of Humanity, the conscious relationship between Humanity and World Soul. Humanity needed to be awake and sober, otherwise it couldn’t sense me. Then Humanity woke up and fell in love with me.

Trees: I was very struck by how central I felt; I was in the center of the holding. That was surprising. And really surprising was when Stillness found it’s place behind the Life Force; that was a perfect balance.

Another strong moment was when Humanity lost the plot. I thought: Jesus! I try to help you! And you knocked me down! And I knew you needed support.

World Soul: Stillness came too. I was totally blissed out; the tears came down.

Humanity: I was going underground. Some renewal was possible from there. It were cycles of going in and out: going into the dark, coming out… I became aware of the support of the ground; it is always there. Ground – underground/dark – space… I’m learning willingly to descend… and hanging out in the dark. Go underneath when it was an apocalyptic moment.

Powerful for me was to have World Soul there, on the ground. She has been there all the way through. I apologize that I didn’t notice her before. She needs my attention.

World Soul: There is really this sense that Humanity has to knock itself out. Then nature can recover and then Humanity awakens. I was recovering because of the trees who were recovering, then I was helping to let Humanity stand up. There is a right timing to stay down long enough.

What is the translation of Ria telling Humanity to rest? There might still be a need to tell that it is OK to slow down. Is this a role for the feminine?

When Humanity was on this trip, totally oblivious of the World/Earth, she would need to learn from the World Soul; listen to what it’s mother has to say. It seemed we haven’t evolved at all; it was all ‘me and instant gratification’.

Juice: I go where I can move, looking for openings to do that. There were some times when I felt better. When Stillness was behind me, which felt good. In the ‘arranged birth’ I felt like a destructive force. Life Force is just energy; it needs to balance in the polarity.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 4:45 pm and is filed under constellation, women moving the edge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.