Welcome new followers! As I begin to set up my new website, I’m sharing a few of my older blogs and moving them here. This blog comes from Nov 2017, originally written for Hekate’s Day.
Liminal Space is Key in Modern Witchcraft
I’ve been reflecting on why it is that Hekate has drawn so many followers. What I have come to realize is that in today’s world, and in modern witchcraft, we are in fact yearning for liminal space. On today, a day when many modern witches celebrate Hekate as Goddess of the Crossroads, some might argue that we avoid those liminal spaces and think of them as negative experiences. But what I have discovered, and I hope you have as well, is that liminality, the space between, is where the magick happens.
Liminal space is where growth happens. It is where life, death, and rebirth happen. It is where cycles begin and end. And so, we need it. We need Hekate, and She is calling us all into these spaces within ourselves and our communities so that we can bring about growth, and decay when needed.
I remember once when I was a young budding pagan, and only recently had discovered Hekate’s presence in my life, that I was so keen and eager to get involved in the local pagan community. I pushed (okay, barged) my way in , created and was a part of some beautiful magick along the way, and like a bull in a china shop, broke things as well. Sure it worked for a number of years, but eventually, I broke my own hope for a community among other things. I have since found my witchcraft community with the Temple of Witchcraft, but the lesson of this beautiful disaster sticks with me – growth and decay cannot happen when we are just plodding forward. We need liminal space in which we can stop and reflect on where we are going.
Liminal space, as I learned from the above experience, wasn’t just an individual phenomena. Liminal space occurs within altered brain states (like when you can meditate, daydream, work ritual, etc), and I have to tell you it requires total disconnection from screens of any sort. I have found (as have a multitude of researchers) that having a phone in the room, and on, is enough to keep your brain’s focus elsewhere. It is a way to get a hit of dopamine and pull you out of that liminal space, and so I suggest leaving the screens elsewhere. If you’re a fan of music for ritual, I’d suggest any method of listening but your phone (iPod with the playlist, a CD, etc).
Liminal Space is Natural Law
The Hermetic Principle of Correspondence reflects this natural law – the part reflects the whole, and the whole reflects the part. We are a part of the cosmos itself, and so this liminal space is in fact a part of the natural law.
We as individuals pause, when we meditate, offer silent prayers, and experience personal growth in the crossroads of our lives. Communities (including families, towns, etc) experience liminal space, most often following breaks, deaths (and the subsequent death rites), and continued marking of rites of passage (for example, graduations, births, etc).
Our world experiences liminal space when we advance on a global level. Peace at the end of a war. A shift of consciousness toward healing the planet. Tragedies that affect the whole world.
Our cosmos experiences liminal space as well. Planets station. Eclipses have profound impacts. So, friends. If our world and cosmos experience liminal space, who are we to say “I’m too busy”. It is part of the natural order to honour this space. As above, so below. As within, so without. To honour this space and liminality, within ourselves and in others, we must go forward with forbearance, and patience. We must allow the growth. It can be messy, but, oh, dear Gods, is it ever beautiful. And it is sacred.
I therefore put forward to you a charge to find a space of liminality within your life. Build it into your day for growth and personal reflection. Build it in that you can find ways within your community to honour liminal space, find ways to connect to liminal times within the cosmos (solar festivals, solstices/equinoxes, etc). You can also use sacred days to connect to that liminality, using the correspondences of that time/space to deepen the connection.
Today is a holy day for Hekate of the Crossroads. Therefore all of my acts within liminal space are in devotion to her. My gratitude for the life I live and love are for Her. My acts of charity are offered up to honour Her. My fight for justice are offered up to honour Her. My love and pleasure are offered up to honour Her. My joy, fear, passions, and pain, are offered up to Her. My tears are offered up to honour Her. May I be blessed in the liminal space that she offers us, within the embrace of Her dark cloak of the starry heavens.
May you too find ways to Work within the liminal towards your true Will, for the Highest Good, Harming None. Blessed Be.
Witching with Jade 