The most important thing that I took away from my Systemic Constellations time in Athens with Ubele and Fractality, was the power of building a ‘knowing field’. In systemic constellations, the creation of a ‘knowing field’ enables all the participants in the space to (somehow) get on to the same (psychic) page and share a deep understanding and connection with each other by examining and ‘feeling’ latent family/ancestral dynamics. This idea of examining family (and ancestral) dynamics rather reminded me of a variety of Continental African ancestral worship. But what was interesting to me, was how this spiritual element of the ‘knowing field’ resonated very strongly with Robbie Shilliam’s book, Black Pacific: Anti-Colonial Struggles and Oceanic Connections, where he identifies the cosmologies of Europe, Africa and Oceania, as represented by their spirit totems, Hermes, Legba and Tāne/Māui (respectively), who come together in a spiritual ‘hinterland’ away from the “fixing gaze of Britannica” (p. 23). In this hinterland, which is in essence a ‘knowing field’ these totems or ancestors walk in unity of purpose (where there is no hierarchical dominance), giving their children direction and guidance (if we choose to listen!).
Read more here.
Academic Creative Enterprise 