Internal Image (Imago)

The internal image —Hellinger used the term Imago or innere Bild— designates the unconscious representation that each member of the family system carries in their psyche of the totality of the clan: parents, grandparents, siblings, excluded members, power and exclusion dynamics, empty and occupied places.

Central premise: even if the client consciously 'does not remember' most of the dynamics of their extended clan, their psyche does register it. This internal image —not necessarily literal but systemic— structures their life decisions, their attractions, their symptoms, their blockages.

How it operates: when a person chooses a partner, when they face a crisis, when they feel blocked in something seemingly simple, the internal image of their clan is operating in the background. The person lives out the script that their internal image dictates, without knowing it exists.

Change in the Constellation: the work of the Family Constellation consists, ultimately, in reordering the internal image. When the client in session 'sees' (through the representatives) how the system truly is —including what they were not consciously aware of—, and when the system is reordered in the session, the client's internal image is updated. After the session, the person now 'carries a different map' of their clan, and this operates silently in their daily life in the following weeks.

Why the session works even if it seems symbolic: this is the mechanism. It is not magic or esotericism. It is a reorganization of the internal image —a deep cognitive-affective structure— which then modulates adult behavior.