South Brazilian Indigenous Ancestors in Family Constellations

By Márcia Maria Queiroz Linhares

Presentation

In this work, I present the facts that were revealed during 14 years of a weekly work in
some Family Constellations that I facilitated, as well as the observations I made from them, in
cases where the clients' ancestors were indigenous.
Over the years and as the number of constellations of entangled customers with
indigenous ancestors increased, I became aware that there were difficult destinations common
to all of them. Thus, at the origin of the constellated questions were few causes (difficult
destinies) that resulted in the most varied consequences (symptoms).
Everything that will be reported here, as well as the conclusions to which I have come, derive
only from the observations made in the Constellations which I provided. Therefore, they do not
derive from historical or literary research. Also, this is not a definitive study on the subject. I just
share my experience so that you do not get lost and that you might eventually be useful to
constellators who are interested in the subject. Thus, it is possible that other Constellations
show different experiences.

Initial observations
Expressions used in the text. I use here three expressions that require explanation. Difficult
destination: Traumatic event occurred in previous generations to which the client is linked and
that gives rise to the symptom. Symptom: An issue that brings discomfort to the client, of any
nature, physical or not. The question to be constellated.
Descendants of indigenous people: I do not mean all of them here. I am referring only to the
constellations whose symptoms originate in a difficult fate with these ancestors. Put another
way: those whose symptoms show entanglements with indigenous ancestors.

As I had access to the data that made this study possible.

Secrecy. I develop my practice of Constellations in a medium-sized city in the interior of Paraná,
where people and families are known to each other. It was imperative, therefore, not to expose
the client to the group. Thus, in individual attendance carried out days before the Constellation,
the client had a previously completed questionnaire, with questions suggested by Ursula
Franke, in The River Never Looks Back, where the destinations were identified difficult moments
in his family, based on the genogram that would be made during the care. The symptom was
also revealed only to the therapist. Thus, at the time of the Constellation, the group, as well as
the representatives, had no knowledge of either the difficult destinations or the constellated
symptom.

Genogram. The making of the genograms made the clients search information about their
ancestors as far as the memory of the family could reach. I began to realize that the set of more
than three hundred genograms ended up pointing to a few difficult destinations, which gave rise
to most of the customers' symptoms. The Constellations later confirmed this conclusion.
The ancestry in the Constellations
Developing my work in the interior of Paraná, a state inhabited by immigrants from Europe, Asia
and Africa, in addition to the Indians who already settled the land, information always
requested in the genogram related to the country of origin of the ancestors. Of these
immigrants, some married among themselves, some with blacks or with Indians. The
constellations then portrayed Polish, Ukrainian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, African and
indigenous ancestors, among others.
Over time, two different situations became evident: in the first, in families from Europe and
Asia, the difficult destinations that originated the customer issue were basically personal or
family. As an example: mothers who died giving birth, who abandoned their children, people
who murdered or were killed, who committed suicide, starved, etc. To these destinations I
generally label personal or family matters, meaning that they occurred to anyone regardless of
race.
In the second case, there were situations in which an important event, or difficult destiny, which
overcame many members of the race, overcame personal and family matters that might have
happened in that family. This is what happened to the blacks and the Indians. For blacks, slavery
was the most important. For the natives, the aggressor-victim nucleus, the shame and the
absorption of the race. To these I call difficult destinations common to the breed.

Difficult destinations common to Indigenous ascendants

In this work I chose to separate in three species the difficult destinations common to the
Indians.

Domination-subjugation relationship. Most of the time, the indigenous ancestor is a female, and
India is "snared," that is, it has generated descendants and formed a family with the white
conqueror against their will. In this way, the client's family was formed on the binomial
domination-subjugation, that is, aggressor-victim. Then the offspring may be entangled with
one of the two polarities of the first generation: either with the white aggressor or with the
Indian victim. If the client's symptom is related to the aggressiveness, he may be saying: to the
white aggressor I am like you; or to the Indians (or Indians) subdued, in an attitude of revenge: I
for you. If the symptom is related to the victim's attitude, with hopelessness or apathy you may
be saying to the indigenous ancestor: I am like you. The aggression of children at school and at
home and the passivity of daughters in the face of life or of partners are frequent themes of the
Constellations.

Shame-Exclusion. It happens in the first mixed generation, that is, in the second generation, that
is, the son / daughter of white and Indian. This one feels ashamed of the mother, meaning that
it does not accept it and consequently excludes it. He excludes his mother on the personal level,
failing to take her life. By this the flow of life and energy are greatly blocked. It also excludes the
culture of the mother, since she can not, for example, go from thong to school, present
grandparents to friends, perform rituals to God Thunder. These two exclusions occur externally.
But they have their internal correspondent, because of the difficulty of uniting the two cultures
within themselves. He wants to identify with the white father, but he knows that his other half
is indigenous. The daughter may be proud of her mother, but feels that she has characteristics
of the white father. Hence the insecurity about identity: Who am I? From this strong blocking of
the flow of life, a chronic lack of energy results in subsequent generations, making them much
more susceptible to all kinds of symptoms.

Absorption of culture. When the Indian enters the white culture, a process of slow and
inexorable absorption of the characteristics of its culture, made by the members of the
dominant white culture, begins in the light of its own parameters.
I often say that indigenous culture is horizontal while that of immigrants is vertical. What I mean
by this? For example: regarding the posture in relation to nature, that is, to the earth, plants,
animals and rivers: the Indians are placed on the same level. They live, enjoy and enjoy, not
wanting to keep them under their orders, nor aiming at property. White considers himself
superior, wants to dominate them according to his interests, aims at property and
accumulation. At work, the Indian makes enough for the day and does not compete to be
superior. White is competitive, aim for the first place, reach the top and accumulate. In the
sexual life, freedom prevails, of men and women, without guilt. With white sex is linked to guilt
and prejudice against women's freedom. For the Indian, there is a great commitment to the
tribe, to the clan, often prevailing over the commitment to the family. As for whites, the
compromise that prevails, or is expected to prevail, is with the family and with one person: the
husband, the wife.
In our society where the culture of immigrants predominates, one of us who acts according to
the precepts of white culture is socially considered praiseworthy, meritorious, good party, a
good man.
Already one of us who is entangled with indigenous ancestors and who today exhibits some of
the characteristics of his culture, such as disinterested in the conquest of wealth, for gaining
career positions, fighting for an important position or for accumulating money, will certainly be
of concern to parents, spouse and children. And will not be considered a successful citizen in
today's society, based on the characteristics of competitiveness, accumulation and conquest.
The same is true of women's rules of conduct and morals. As the unions with Indian ties to the
tie generally occurred in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, the parameter for the
judgment of the indigenous ancestor is the behavior of the white woman, usually the
Portuguese woman, of that time.

Links within the same family

Another relevant finding occurred when the constellated symptom consisted of discord
between siblings, or between parents and children. I found that very often the reason lay in the
following: one of them was entangled with the aggressor and the second with the victim. Either
the first was entangled with the white ancestor and his culture and the second with the
indigenous ancestor and his culture. That is to say, one of them carries the characteristics of the
white culture and the other the characteristics of the indigenous culture.

In this aspect are many examples, which show in symptoms such as:

brothers who fight and attack each other for no apparent reason;
parents and children who show dislike or aggression toward one another;
parents and children or siblings: one is not satisfied with the other's lack of interest in pursuing
career positions or winning in life, or accumulating wealth or money;
an overly passive or submissive mother or daughter;
woman with constant fear of physical or sexual aggression;
family members who are ashamed of the free sexual behavior of a woman in the family;
family that complains that one of its members has greater willingness to help friends than the
family itself.
In such cases and when the Constellation is requested by the parents for their children, when
the parents realize the entanglements of the children and that their behavior is not due to a
possible misrepresentation of the parents, the relief is immediate.

Final conclusions
At the beginning of many of the individual constellations, I observed that a great force, the
strength of the Indians, remains held in the generation in which the indigenous ancestor was
excluded. This power remains blocked in the past, several generations ago, prevented from
flowing to the descendant in the present. Then, at the beginning of the Constellation, the
descending (constellation) usually appears almost without energy.
However, in the course of the Constellation, when the ancestral Indian is accepted and included
and consequently the flow of life is reestablished and liberated, sometimes something powerful
happens: the life that comes to flow to the descendants comes with more force. As if together
with the visceral force of the elements: earth, air, water, fire, thunder and wind. And to the
constellation, along with this power, haughtiness, dignity and full life flow again.
I think the same can be true for the collective. Keeping in mind that a system can only evolve
when all its components are present and considering also that many of us Brazilians have some
indigenous ancestry, this powerful force may be blocked for a significant portion of the Brazilian
population.
Thus, I think that the true power of Brazil, as a country, will only be liberated when the natives,
the first inhabitants of the land on which the nation was built, are recognized and honored. And
when they have a place of respect in the heart of every immigrant who came here to make a
living, make money and raise their children. Because the material development brought by
immigrants, albeit inexorable and a natural consequence of the historical phase in which it
occurred, was undoubtedly built on the losses and disrespect of the indigenous people.

Marcia Linhares
oimarcia@uol.com.br.
Constellation in Brazil since 2003. She has been a student of Brigitte Champetier de Ribes since
2014.