Mini-Rituals

Thresholds

“Rituals, anthropologists will tell us, are about transformation. The rituals we use for marriage, baptism, or inaugurating a president are as elaborate as they are because we associate the ritual with a major life passage, the crossing of a threshold, or in other words, transformation.”

Abraham Verghese

Thresholds are interesting places. Neither here nor there, neither in nor out, they are openings to change. When we cross a threshold, we are moving from one reality into another. Whether we're going from inside our house to the outside environment, or enacting a ritual such as baptism, we are opening ourselves to transformation.

Here's an example: Some friends of my son were married last Monday—a gay couple who have been together for more than twenty years. They went down to the courthouse, got the license and were married right there among friends. One of them told my son later, “We've been together so long, I didn't think it would matter, but it did. We're different.” Carl Jung would say that when we participate in a ritual such as marriage, we are activating a universal archetype that, by its very nature, transforms us.

In our spiritual lives, we associate rituals such as birth, baptism, communion, confirmation, marriage, ordination (vocation), and last rites, with major life changes. They are thresholds from one stage of development into another, from birth to death. But, we also enact little rituals every day whether we know it or not. Yesterday, in preparation for going outside into the cold, I put on three layers of clothing, then added a woolen scarf, a coat and a hat that covered my ears. It took about ten minutes to get all that gear on. A mini-ritual to prepare for transitioning from warmth to winter. At mealtime, we prepare the food, we set the table, we take down the plates and utensils, some of us say grace, we take our napkin, unfold it and place it in our laps. All this, in preparation for taking in food which will be transformed into us.

Thresholds are liminal spaces. Today, notice when you cross one. Pay attention to what changes when you pass from one reality into another. Begin to view your “preparations” when you rise in the morning, when you sit down to eat, and before you tuck yourself in at night as little rituals of passage--holy thresholds of transformation.

                                                           In the Spirit,

                                                                 Jane