Liminal Spaces - are they portals into other realms?

August 2023

“Remember, new life begins when certainty ends” Timothy Carson  

Liminal comes from the Latin word “limen” which means threshold.  These spaces can be often uncomfortable and uncertain, we are on the threshold of something that we are not sure of yet, and this can be disconcerting.  Yet what if we could trust in the all-knowing loving awareness (Source, Spirit, God) that is within us and that surrounds us, that it has a plan for us?  What if we can soften into this experience, and let ourselves be embraced by the beauty of the earth that surrounds us as we are guided forward? We, as individuals, experience many rites of passage throughout our lives. These may be physical, cultural, societal, or religious, to name just a few.   These rites can be broken down into three stages according to Arnold Von Gennep.  Preliminary rites (rite of separation), liminal rites (rite of transition) and post-liminal rite (rite of incorporation).  Each stage may also contain micro-rites which happen before moving on to the next stage.  When we remove ourselves from our regular place in the world, we suspend our identity until the rite is complete.  We can deconstruct the idea of self, so a new self can be built.  By removing ourselves from our day to day lives, we are able to cross this boundary so that we can make changes in our lives. Last year I set of in a caravan with my partner. When I was making plans to leave, I had a sense, an intuition that I was about to embark on some sort of symbolic journey.  Something I would probably not really understand until some time after I returned home.

I had a dream not long after leaving home where I saw myself inspecting the different rooms in my house that I no longer used or needed, and that I was selecting the ones I would leave behind so as I would lighten my load. (I recalled that dreaming of houses symbolically represented the self  and the rooms different aspects of yourself) This was confirmation for me that I was going to be letting go of or healing a number of parts or patterns within me, and this trip was in some way going to assist me in this transition.

As I travelled through Queensland and the Northern Territory over 8 weeks, I was drawn to make small offerings, creations, mandalas, at certain places in nature.  There didn’t seem to be any sort of reason for them (although it feels there are many), I would just be drawn to make something while I was sitting enjoying the scenery around me.  I never let my mind get involved in why or what I was doing, I just connected in with what was around me and waited to see what called to me or appeared to be standing out to me to use.  I have found this to be both connecting to the new land that I was in, but also it felt in some way I was completing something, as well as gifting something to the land.   I was always observed by some guardian of the air – most often a whistling kite or eagle.  More often than not I was gifted with something tangible or an experience from nature afterward. Having a little extra time while we were stuck in a remote place in the NT, I began reflecting on the different offerings that I had made, sketching them, and making some observations.  Something rang a bell about liminal spaces from my study that I recently finished with Heidi Wedd (from Wildflower Walker).  We had been studying the flower code of Clover and how it can open a portal – where two places meet, a liminal space, such as where the waters meet the earth, where the sunrises or sets, or where earth energies cross for instance. I started thinking about how each of the offerings I had created were made in such a place.  Was I opening portals each time I created one?  I know the first one seemed to have a path going into it.  Was that representative of the beginning of my journey, where I was crossing over, and leaving a part of myself behind – my rite of separation?  Further investigation into liminal spaces was calling me.

“The liminal domain offers the potential for transformation, a new life and in some cases a new world”  Timothy Carson, The Luminality Project.  In one of his recent talks, Timothy speaks about how liminal spaces trigger new information patterns within us through being in an unknown space or place, and how these patterns can guide us to find a new path or map to navigate our world.

I’ve been wondering where these patterns or mandalas were coming from but after listening to Timothy Carson, it felt like I had a small piece of the puzzle. Just by being in a physical unknown space, it was bringing forth new information, allowing me to navigate a new path and at the same time leaving a part of me behind that was no longer needed. I was feeling more curious about this journey. If you find yourself in a liminal space, a transitional place, he suggests you ask yourself these two questions?

1. What do you need to leave behind you or what did you leave behind you at the liminal place; and
2. What have you discovered that you need to carry forward / or what did you take forward with you to recreate your new future.

Is it possible to leave behind patterns of behaviour that do not serve us by physically creating an offering in a space we do not know?  By consciously arriving at one of these liminal places in nature where perhaps the water does meet the earth or where the sun greets the new day, with the intention of surrendering an ancestral or personal pattern up that needs healing – can we perform a ceremony where we create something that comes through us that will serve as a gift to the earth and waters, as a symbol of what we are leaving behind as well as where our journey is taking us next.  Are we able to trust in the unseen, the unknown of what we are doing and where we are going?  I know for me I am happy to hand over to Spirit and be guided ahead.