Continuing in the Footsteps of your Ancestors:
Choosing to See, Choosing to Witness, Choosing Change
Sept 19th & 20th, 2020
9:30 – 4 pm
With Chris Halas Wood and Nikki Mackay
Registration Deadline Sept 1st, 2020
There are more forgotten dead than there are living. This workshop is a sacred weaving of Activism and Ancestral Constellation. By Choosing to see the forgotten dead and bear witness to our ancestors’ stories we are able, as individuals, to Choose to witness the forgotten living in our present within the families and communities that we are a part of.
Traumatic events exert a force long after the participants have died and science has shown that trauma can be genetically passed down the generations. This wounding affects how we move in the world individually and collectively. Our sense of belonging and safety can also be influenced by the memories held in the lands of our ancestors. These memories pass silently from one generation to the next and become stirred at points of transitions, choices and change that are in resonance with our ancestors and their experience.
Migration, whether through choice or force, is common within a family’s historical narrative. If there is unresolved trauma around a forced displacement, then the associated entanglement will be rooted to that time and with those ancestors. That historical narrative will flow down the line to the descendants in the present generation and can influence their actions, experience and beliefs.
America is a predominantly a country of immigrants. Our land(s) of origin influence us, individually and collectively. This is particularly true if there is an entanglement around land, be it displacement, slavery, perpetration, betrayal, exclusion or a belief system associated with the land(s) of origin.
The past lives inside of us.
Just for a moment think about who you are and where you come from. Do you know where your grandparents are from? Your great-grandparents? And the generations before them? Has there been movement within your family from one place to another? Were your ancestors ever forced to move? Did they lose their land or their livelihood? Can you imagine how difficult that move or moves were?
It is impossible to uproot an entire family lineage and drop them into a new land without someone or something being left behind, even if that is simply regret. Most commonly what is left behind is more than regret. It is the elder generations who cannot make the move. It is the early blossoming love that is left behind. It is the separation of parents and children. It is this that creates the fractures within the field of belonging. It is the cost of this wound that rips the fabric of the family field that is carried forward.
Transformation and healing are possible.
I see you
I feel you
I remember you
You have not been forgotten
This is our 5th workshop, in an unfolding series exploring the system of belonging operating in Madison, a system that is not inclusive of all in our community. We invite you to take a little time to consider the path from ‘there’ to ‘here’ of your ancestors and to step into their stories that you may unconsciously be living as your story.
Family Constellation is a therapeutic approach that allows the invisible influences from the present and past to be made visible, acknowledged and made whole. This process allows an individual or collective to uncover the hidden historical narrative that they are unconsciously holding in order to bear witness and give place to the trauma before fully and freely moving forward with their own life.
This is a highly emotive subject and our approach will be both gentle and supportive as we truly bear witness to the collective past trauma. By consciously presencing the past we can create a more hopeful, just and equitable future for everyone.
Venue: Threshold at 2717 Atwood Avenue in Madison, WI
Cost: $250 Scholarships are available so please contact Chris Halas Wood
To Register or Questions: Chris Halas Wood or 608-609-8653
Registration Deadline: Sept 1st, 2020
Chris Halas Wood is a passionate social justice activist, scientist, and teacher, who has worked extensively with Nikki and is living the transformational power of this work. This thread continues to explore the healing connections and possibilities between the personal and collective fields working toward the healing of racism and creating a more just world for all.
Nikki Mackay is a highly skilled Family Constellation facilitator who has come to Madison regularly for the past five years. She brings her extensive skills as a facilitator, teacher, therapist and scientist with 17 years Family Constellation experience to bare in her work.