Tears of the Ancestors is an important contribution to our understanding of problems rooted in collective trauma. Individuals who have been abused and victimized will be helped by becoming aware of the patterns in the soul as it responds to deep relational trauma. Those who want to look into the shadows of history and the legacy of war, persecution and genocide will gain insight into what binds us to the groups we already belong to, and how we can manage this belonging in a responsible way. Daan van Kampenhout presents this work with a voice that gently allows not only a walk through various historical conflicts which have been crystallized with our image of who was the perpetrator and who was the victim, but he offers us a mirror as well. The author penetrates with a keen mind and experimental tools to an essential dimension and is able to relate even to painful and traumatic aspects of human experience with compassion and with trust in the basic all-rightness of all life.

Contents include:
● Auschwitz-Birkenau
● The Wheel of Souls
● Ancestral Connections
● Who Belongs
● Hiding the Perpetrators
● Places of Refuge
● Dreaming About Germany
● The Body of Grief
● The Embrace of the Guilty
● Mauthausen’s Gate

About the Author
Daan van Kampenhout was born in 1963, and has studied with traditional shamanic teachers from different cultures. Since 1987 he has been teaching and lecturing internationally on the subject of shamanism. In 1993 he founded the Practice for Systemic Ritual. Daan blends aspects of family constellation, shamanic ritual, chassidic songs and prayer. His systemic rituals are a way to enter fields of collective trauma such as created by war, the holocaust, colonialism and other historical events that touch the lives of groups of people. He works in Europe, Israel, the USA and elsewhere. He is the author of seven books, (including Images of the Soul: The Workings of the Soul in Shamanic Rituals and Family Constellations) and many articles about traditional and contemporary shamanic practices. His work has been translated in eight languages. Daan lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

ADVANCE PRAISE:

“Daan van Kampenhout has presented us with a body of work that is serious and gracefully written, something that wants to be read.
-- Claude AnShin Thomas, author of At Hell’s Gate, A Soldiers Journey from War to Peace

“The Tears of the Ancestors is an important contribution to our understanding of problems rooted in collective trauma. Individuals who have been abused and victimized will be helped by becoming aware of the patterns in the soul as it responds to deep relational trauma. Those who want to look into the shadows of history and the legacy of war, persecution and genocide will gain insight into what binds us to the groups we already belong to and how we can manage this belonging in a responsible way.” -- Rabbi Dr. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, co-author of From Age-ing to Sage-ing.

“Daan presents this work with a voice that gently allows not only a walk through various historical conflicts which have been crystallized with our image of who was the perpetrator and who was the victim, but he offers us a mirror as well. In quiet, we see our tribe, our family, and ourselves in new light.”
-- Francesca Mason Boring, Shoshoni, author of Feather Medicine

“Daan van Kampenhout has written a lovely, inviting book; in opening a discussion of the tribal soul and related dynamics, he adds a dimension to the constellation work which is valuable and important for practitioners to consider, even if a shamanic approach is not their orientation.”
--Richard Wallstein PhD, C.Psychol., UKCP registered psychotherapist. Chief Executive, Centre for the Study of Intimate and Social Systems

“The Tears of the Ancestors contains unique insights into the common aspects of Judaism, shamanic healing and systemic thought, regarding even highly controversial issues. Daan van Kampenhout penetrates with a keen mind and experimental tools to an essential dimension and is able to relate even to painful and traumatic aspects of human experience with compassion and with trust in the basic all-rightness of all life.”
--Aron Saltiel, Jüdisches Kulturzentrum Graz (Jewish Cultural Center,
Graz, Austria)