“Liminal Traveller”
“Liminal Traveller” - created July 8th, 2021
THE MANDALA PROJECT - How it came to life
If you know someone whose day would be brightened by this Mandala, please pass it along! Even more magical, with a love note from you!
The Mandala Project: #35
The word liminal comes from the Latin word ‘limen’, meaning threshold – any point or place of entering or beginning. A liminal space is the time between the ‘what was’ and the ‘next.’ It is a place of transition, a way point that asks us to surrender to the not knowing.
The creation of each mandala feels like entering into liminal space.
This one was built with simple raw materials: charred tinder from a fire built on the shore of a lake Lily and I visit often, a couple of pieces of wood strewn nearby (perhaps remnants of kindling?), a sun-baked sandstone boulder—along with what I find to be the most helpful tool in crafting with mystery: a willing and open collaboration with the imaginal field.
Liminal space is where all transformation takes place, if we learn to wait and let it form us.
Author and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr describes this space as:
“…where we are betwixt and between the familiar and the completely unknown. It’s a space where genuine newness can begin. Get there often and stay as long as you can by whatever means possible…This is the sacred space where the old world is able to fall apart, and a more expanded world is revealed. If we don’t encounter liminal space in our lives, we start idealizing normalcy.” *
I hold shadow work as an invitation to trust in darkness, mystery, and the unknown.
In the burning down of old ideas and identities, this Mandala reminds me that we are guided by beings who swim alongside us in times of transition, showing us how to move with ease through the currents of liminal space.
*Thanks for the definition @ inaliminalspace.org
"Earth Elder" - The Mandala Project: #41
Grief is becoming intimate with the immovable truth that we’re not meant to hold on to or possess that which we love.