Scared Space Series 2: Traveling Through Liminal and Cosmic Space

Liminal Spaces

The first session I attended was by Rissa Miller called “Between Worlds: Understanding Liminal Spaces.” I wanted to deepen my knowledge about liminal spaces. Liminal spaces are “between” and they often represent transition to and from physical and metaphysical places or states of mind. You haven’t quite left where you were and yet not fully in the new place or state. It is an edge, a threshold in which you are suspended.

I was interested in this topic, because I am often drawn to the liminal or feel I am in between in many cases. I am in liminal spaces as I sit with people who are actively dying because they are not dead yet, but they aren’t quite what they used to be while “living.”

A feeling of liminality can be experienced in physical places and in this reality including: staircases, high and low tide, the shore line where water and land meet, doorways, bridges, mirrors, labyrinths, burial grounds, sunrise/sunset, certain times of year, abandon places. Oftentimes, observing these can feel eerie or surreal. I loved how Rissa stated “reality feels tilted or unsettled.”

Examples of liminal spaces found in my personal photos.

The presentation went to further describe some of the lore associated with these places and times that deepens the overall liminality such as ghosts, myths, and cryptids that straddle our reality and another time and place.

I especially loved the conversation about Hecate and the crossroads. I will share more about my personal experiences, but I chose “Cadence of the Crossroads” knowing crossroads are a liminal space we can go to to find connection and transformation before moving on along our paths.

Rissa shared Arnold Van Geppup’s theory involving three phases of liminality people experience. Phase one is letting go and leaving behind. Phase two is a state with no structure so there is much potential because “old rules don’t apply." Phase three is re-integration where there is movement onward with new rules or knowledge integrated within. I will have to look into this more!

For more information about Rissa, check out her website: https://www.teaandsmoke.com/about-rissa

Cosmic Spaces

Later in the conference I attended a ritual led by Thorn T. Coyle and Laura Tempest Zakroff titled: Moving with the Serpent from the Earth to the Stars: A Magical Working to Claim Our Place in the Cosmos.

Find Thorn at https://thorncoyle.com/

Find Laura at lauratempestzakroff.com/

This was a beautiful ritual. I wish I could do it again. I should have journal more afterwards. We moved to the sound of live music, swaying as we anchored ourselves to the earth. There was a fiery core in the center and from it rose the serpent.

The serpent crossed the threshold of land as a tree quickly growing into the sky. Like a snake shedding it’s skin, the tree seemed to peel away as a woman, a goddess, emerged. (This image was somewhat similar to one I received and in prior ritual!)

I recalled a dark sea, an image I am familiar with, representing the dark cosmos. The stars appeared like a net of light gently laying upon this dark sea. It was like a veil of stars and I kept thinking “Star of the Sea.” Mother Mary, yes she, came to mind and I saw an image similar to one’s I grew up with in the Catholic Church.

We were encouraged to reflect on what we wanted to bring to this world. I imaged a lighthouse calling to others to communicate I am a safe harbor in which to stay. We chanted all together. We danced a spiral dance, which was exhilarating. I don’t think I really have any more words to describe it.

I felt like we, the participants became a liminal space for a moment as the energy of the serpent flowed through us like a conduit from the earth into the skies. The cosmos is so vast and ancient, yet there so many doorways to discovery.

An image I created that somewhat depicts what I saw in my mind's eye during this ritual