The Memory of Places

IntroductionPlaces, buildings, and spaces hold a wide range of different energy fields,and a growing number of people all over the world have become attunedto this dimension. Many find themselves asking: Why do I feel so differentin this place? Am I feeling restless because of the energy of this newhouse? What effect does this site's past events have on me?I have been working with place-related issues in myconstellation work since 1997 and in the process have discovered severalnew systemic layers and dimensions. Time and again, the work has shownthat incidents and events of past centuries that transpired in old structuresand sites play a significant role in the constellation field; that there is asort of »native soul« or spirit that belongs to a family and moves aroundwith it. Or that spaces tend to complain when their occupants don'tacknowledge or accept the energy they have to offer.In my work, I have experienced on numerous occasionsthat people resonate with the places they live in and the past conflictsattached to them. This includes wars, accidents, and natural disasters, butalso murder and abuse of power. Much of it is relived on the unconsciousplane, giving rise to new conflicts and, for some residents, even illnesses.It's often unclear at first why a person feels or behaves in a certain way. Thereasons remain unknown and cannot be resolved using classic systemicconstellation methods, such as family or organizational constellations.These systemic processes mainly reveal family patterns and currentprofessional situations that, on an unconscious level, are shaping andsteering the way people behave. To recognize and resolve these underlying12 Introduction 13matter in the construction and real estate industry, where decisions canoften have a far-reaching impact financially.Place constellations can also be very useful for clarifyingissues in urban planning, architectural projects, and in the search for theideal business location.The systemic constellation method

Table of ContentsIntroduction .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11The Systemic Constellation Methodology.. . . . . 15The Constellation Process.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Clarifying the Issue.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16The Constellation Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17The Role of the Representative.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Constellations and Their Effects.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19The Phenomenological Approach.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20The Ideal Spatial Setting for a Constellation.. . . . . 21A Wide Range of Diverse Layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Places, Spaces, Buildings.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Finding the Right Place.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Why Don't I feel at Home Anywhere? .. . . . . . . . . . 30I'm Torn Between Two Homes.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31My Roots.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Where Is My Right Place Professionally?.. . . . . . . . . 38I Want to Finally Reclaim My Place.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Privately and Professionally?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41How Does My Ancestors' Wartime Escape AffectMe and My Profession as a Real Estate Agent?.. . 42Considerations for Buying, Selling, and RentingProperty and Land.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Buying A Property.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Ownership Conditions and Their Influenceon a Property.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Why Can't I Find an Apartment?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Selling a House.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49My Mother's Beloved House .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Author Kristine Alex (née Erb), Dipl. oec. troph., was born in 1963. She has a son and lives with her family nearby Lake Chiemsee in the Chiemgau region of Bavaria, Germany, where she also works in her own institute and seminar house. She also has a practice in Munich. In 1988, Kristine graduated in Nutrition Studies and Ecotrophology from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Bonn with a specialization in World Food Economics and Consulting and Communication. Before she discovered constellation work, she worked professionally on various international projects in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. This included leading international nutrition studies in Haiti, Mauritania, and Zaire and setting up an international epidemiological cancer study in Europe. She also held a responsible position at the International Red Cross for one year in the crisis area of Rwanda (refugee operation in Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, Congo). She first encountered constellation work in 1993, and since then she hasn't looked back. In 1998 she founded »Systeme in Aktion« (Systems in Action), a systemic constellation and training institute, and opened her practice in Munich. At that time, constellation work in a professional context was still very new and unknown. In 2001, she published her book The Orders of Success. An Introduction to Organizational Systemic Constellations (German Title: Die Ordnungen des Erfolgs. Einführung in die Organisations Constellation), which was one of the first on the subject and is still being used today as a foundation textbook. Her third book, The Memories in My Body (German Title: Mein Körper erinnert sich) was published in 2011. In addition, she works with a wide variety of areas, including supporting the clarification process for family issues, and working with children and adolescents. One area of expertise is working through the psychological background of bodily symptoms in everyday life and at work. During the last years she concentrated on the