31 October, 2024
Liminal Space, monotype with mixed media, 20 x 12.5 in
What is Liminal Space?
'Liminal space' is a phrase we don't often hear, though we all inhabit these spaces from time to time. One way to describe it is with the analogy of a doorway. When you're right on the threshold, neither completely in one room or the other, neither completely outside or inside, that's liminal space. In my piece, above, the woman appears to be peacefully entering a dream. In our waking lives, however, the in-between is often uncomfortable or even scary.
"The word ‘liminal’ comes from the Latin word ‘limen’, meaning threshold. A physical liminal space is a place where we feel hyper-aware and uncertain, sometimes uncomfortable or unsafe." Karen Hume
In psychological terms, I think some examples can help to clarify, and most are events or situations we can all identify with. Think of being between jobs, perhaps even between careers; facing major life changes is almost always very anxiety-inducing. When you're separated from a spouse but not yet divorced, you're in a liminal space. When your children leave for college, you're still a parent, but then again, you're kind of not.
Karen Hume also points out "...most of us will avoid making a transition with everything we’ve got in us. We will stay in the lousy marriage, wait a few more years before moving, or postpone our retirement date until we have amassed more money." (Liminal Space is Where the Magic Happens)
Halloween: The Ultimate Liminality
I felt this was the perfect time of year for this post, because of the ancient traditional Halloween belief that on the night of October 31, the door between this world and the next is open:
"The Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-in) was a celebration of the end of harvest and preparation for the coming winter—a time usually associated with death. It was celebrated on the eve of the Celtic New Year (November 1st). It was on this night that they believed that the boundary—between the deceased and living—would become blurred and the dead would walk among the living for that single night." ~ Lauren Woodrell, Magus Center
For me, personally, the liminal nature of Halloween 1986 was all too real. Apparently in labor that evening, I laid on the couch while my almost-3-year-old son handed out candy to Trick-or-Treators. My daughter was born the next morning, on what is now All Saints Day. All that night, I was in the space between having one child and having two, between not having a daughter, and having one. Some would even say she is an old soul, who may have walked through that doorway between the worlds..
“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between them, there are doors.” ~ William Blake
Changing: The In-Between
"This is the crux of transition, the spot I think of as the pre-eminent liminal space. Danaan Parry describes it as the space between letting go of one trapeze bar and grabbing the next one." ~Karen Hume
You may have noticed that many of the figures in my work seem to be well aquainted with the in-between. Not to mention, I have an entire series called Transformations. In this post I explain:
"In the process of changing from one thing into another, they were caught somewhere in between. This is the way of nature.
Change happens slowly enough that we may see only some of the "in between" stages. Is a moth the same thing as the caterpillar it once was?
Roots becoming seeds, seeds becoming flowers, flowers becoming nebulae, nebulae becoming fetuses, fetuses becoming butterflies... These images symbolize transformation and the unity of all things."
“Honour the space between no longer and not yet.”
Phoenix Inception, monotype with mixed media, 20 x 13
“And just as the Phoenix rose from the ashes, she too will rise. Returning from the flames, clothed in nothing but her strength, more beautiful than ever before.”
— Shannen Heartzs
Honoring the Space Between
Phoenix Inception, above, is an image of the in-between. The woman is not yet a phoenix, but is perhaps somewhere in the process of becoming one. As her physical body is burned away, her spirit will rise from the ashes as a bird. I can't begin to understand or imagine the liminal stages of this process, and this piece only hints at the beginning of it.
The story of the phoenix's journey is often seen as an analogy of hope and rebirth in the face of despair and destruction. Phoenix lore is usually said to have come from Egypt, and then spread to the ancient Greeks. Other cultures, such as the Chinese, have similar myths and legends.
Just to be clear, there are no stories that I know of that portray the phoenix as anything but a bird. But in modern times, it's seen as a metaphor for surviving a catastrophic experience and coming out the other side, transformed. And what's more liminal than fire, the ultimate transformation, a state somewhere between matter, light, and heat?
"When a phoenix dies, it rises from the ashes, gifted with renewed life. This concept of hope and joy coming from despair is at the heart of the phoenix rising analogy, which has endured as a symbol of rebirth for over a thousand years." (Mitch Ryan, All About the Mythical Phoenix: Bird of Fire and Eternal Life)
Try to embrace liminality, my friends, difficult as it may be - and be open to the transformation it may bring.
Happy Halloween and Samhain blessings to you all! xox
Art and comments evoke a sense of wonder