05/22/2026
The Arms of the Ancestors,
Francesca Mason Boring
When I facilitate family systems constellation, I often state that I offer full disclosure: I do not personally understand the ancestors as only allegory, archetype, or metaphor. For me, the ancestors are the people we come from, they support us, and their lives and resilience have an impact on us personally.
I appreciate allegory, archetype, and metaphor. As a writer, I would be nowhere without them.
I also know that there are impactful constellations that can be done that help us to understand how an archetypal influence may hinder or help our life's journey. But I encourage facilitators to enlist the expanse of the ancestors' arms when there are difficulties in life that seem insurmountable.
Whether we were nurtured or not, abandoned or not, adopted or not, we all have ancestors. This is a matter of biology. We do have generations of histories and victories that are written in our family field, our genetic codes, and perhaps our cellular memory.
We may be in the dark in terms of being able to conclusively diagram the mechanisms that make these transmissions of fates occur within family systems. But we have now a plethora of experiences worldwide that have shown us that transgenerational trauma may impact those who are currently trying to live their lives. We have seen that this modality has the capacity to bring into focus the particular dynamics that create systemic pressure and activate unconscious loyalties or contracts that limit life in various respects.
In family constellations, we occasionally replicate the communal healing that followed human beings through centuries of continuation of the species and specific families. People, sometimes strangers, coming together—each with their own ancestral field-activates a healing space that is not bordered or limited by time.
Our ancestors stand behind us with love, strength, experience, wisdom, and perhaps a smile.
Being aware of ancestral fields and bringing to our awareness how many people it took transmitting life generation after generation puts life in perspective. We are part of a continuum. We do not exist in isolation, and to believe that we do is an illusion.
Francesca Mason Boring, Love in Family Systems Constellation: An Invitation to Life, (2025) page 111-112.
