Black Sheep

This quote dropped in my lap today. It is written by a German Catholic, Psychotherapist named Bert Hellinger. It blew me away. He answered questions I have had all my life about the dynamic of being the truth teller and the designated black sheep of a family.

I’m posting this for whoever needs to read this, as I was blessed to have it show up on social media when it did.. After many years of struggling to understand the dynamic of being the black sheep, I feel like I finally have validation and understanding. I have been asking for clarity on the subject, and I finally have it. And his words on the matter gave me perfect clarity. Thank God!

So, Bert Hellinger, thank you!

“The so-called black sheep of the family are, in fact, hunters born of paths of liberation into the family tree.

The members of a tree who do not conform to the norms or traditions of the family system, those who since childhood have constantly sought to revolutionise beliefs, going against the paths marked by family traditions, those criticised, judged and even rejected, these are usually called to free the tree of repetitive stories that frustrate entire generations.

The black sheep, those who do not adapt, those who cry rebelliously, play a basic role within each family system, they repair, pick up and create new and unfold branches in the family tree.

Thanks to these members, our trees renew their roots. Its rebellion is fertile soil, its madness is water that nourishes, its stubbornness is new air, its passion is fire that re-ignites the light of the heart of the ancestors.

Uncountable repressed desires, unfulfilled dreams, the frustrated talents of our ancestors are manifested in the rebelliousness of these black sheep seeking fulfilment. The genealogical tree, by inertia will want to continue to maintain the castrating and toxic course of its trunk, which makes the task of our sheep a difficult and conflicting work.

However, who would bring new flowers to our tree if it were not for them? Who would create new branches? Without them, the unfulfilled dreams of those who support the tree generations ago would die buried beneath their own roots.

Let no one cause you to doubt, take care of your rarity as the most precious flower of your tree.

You are the dream of all your ancestors.”

Bert Hellinger