Psychologists’ experience of constellations work: Implications for professional psychology training

Collective human consciousness is evolving out of an earlier phase of patriarchy, and domination and disregard for the feminine principle, women, and indigenous peoples. Remnants of this phase persist in Western education practices and are reflected locally in the disparity between African public health and the academic, theory-driven education and practice of psychology. An integral psychology approach is proposed, one that embraces feminine, indigenous and embodied forms of consciousness. This article discusses constellations work within an integral psychology framework and presents findings from a study that explores seven female South African psychologists’ transformational experiences of constellations work in respect of their therapeutic consciousness and practice of psychology. Findings were an expansion of awareness, participatory knowing, validation of subjectivity, and trust in, opening to, and integration of intuition. Findings support constellations work as an integral practice that affirms feminine, indigenous and spiritual aspects of self and abilities - dimensions experienced as excluded from conventional psychology training. Psychologists’ consciousness transformation and implications for training are discussed.