There are times in your life when you feel you're on the brink of something totally
new. You're not yet in this new phase, but you're not who you've been. You're changing,
your life is changing, but you aren't quite sure yet what you're changing into,
or what's awaiting you on the other side. This is a threshold moment, and these moments are
some of the most potent and powerful we'll ever experience in our life. I'm Asia Suler,
writer, teacher, Earth Intuitive, and author of Mirrors in the Earth, and this video is a guide
to threshold moments —how to navigate these moments and how to embrace the distinct power
that can only come about when we are on the brink of a threshold. [gentle violin music]
So let's talk about the the etymology of the word "thresh-hold." Thresh is an Old English word for
beating out grain. So you would literally thresh grain from the stock. A "hold" would be a sill
that was created on the doorstop, to actually protect the threshing floor. So in this way a
threshold was an actual piece of stone or wood that was placed between the room and the outside
that had two functions — both to keep the dust and the debris from outside from entering into
this room, and also to keep the sanctum of this room intact. So, if you were threshing wheat onto
the floor, that wheat would have a a soft and comfortable and clean place to land, and that
threshold would keep your work inside of this room. So I love looking at the etymology of words
because it helps us understand how these words are functioning in our life, and what it really means
to be on a threshold. So thresholds delineate two worlds. A threshold is neither here nor there. It
is that space where the outside meets the inside, and the inside meets the outside. So when we are
in threshold moments of our life, we are neither here nor there. We are leaving one phase and
entering another one. We often don't quite know what that next phase looks like. If you've ever
crossed over the threshold from a bright sunny day into the interior of your house, or vice versa,
there's a moment where your eyes need a second to adjust, where you can't quite see what's ahead of
you. These are threshold moments, moments where you are crossing over from one phase of your
life into another, from one way of doing things into another. And it's often a time when your
identity itself is in flux. Now for thresholds, we can either be crossing in or crossing out,
and both have their power and their potency. So I know that when I had a baby and I was postpartum,
I was very much in a threshold moment. And yet the motion of this was not me stepping out into
the world, it was actually me going within. When I look back on this time, it was a time where I
was crossing over that threshold into the room, into the womb, into a time of my life where I
was less public, less visible, where I was home a lot, where I was really doing a lot of deep
inner work staying at home with my baby in those early days. So if you're on a threshold you might
be moving in one direction or another. Perhaps you are moving out into the world — you're ready
to put yourself out there in a new and different way, to meet new people, go on an adventure. Maybe
you're feeling that call. That would be stepping over the threshold and into the outer world. But
you might also be hearing the call to go inward — for a time of contemplation, study, inward growth,
introspection. This is you crossing the threshold to go in. And both are incredibly valuable,
because in both instances, where you are right now is right on that threshold state, that
liminal space. And this space itself is powerful and important. In a lot of folk traditions,
thresholds were considered to be magical spaces, spaces where we would want to invoke protection
and blessings, but also spaces where we can actually interact with some of the unseen
elements of the world — spaces where spells could be enacted. There's a reason why there's still
this tradition of of carrying the bride over the threshold after a wedding. There's an initiation
here when we move through thresholds. And when we can connect to the threshold moments in our life,
we can really embrace the power and magic that comes with liminality. Thresholds are important.
They have a deep and distinct magic. And there's even this concept, in a different way of using
the word threshold, that they are space where we have to linger, we have to actually spend time
there in order to reach the fullness of our potential to step over into the other side.
So in medicine there's the concept of a threshold dose. That's... there's a certain amount of that
medicine that you have to take in order for it to start being effective. So in this way of thinking,
thresholds aren't something we should rush over, it's something we should spend time with, linger
there, be there. I know for example, when I was postpartum, a big threshold experience in my life,
it wasn't going to work for me to try and rush through that to the other side to see, you know:
Who am I going to be as a mom? As as a parent? As someone who now is in a completely different phase
of my life? It wasn't going to work for me to just rush through that moment. I had to be there,
fully and completely. So wherever you are in your life right now, maybe you're in a
threshold moment, can you get comfortable with being in process? With being in that liminal
state? Can you get comfortable with not knowing? Can you get comfortable with the fact that,
yes you are neither here nor there, you don't know what's coming up next, but you know something is
moving and shifting and changing? And can you just be with the process right now? Can you
be in the unknown? Can you trust that there is a specific magic to this threshold state,
and allow things to unfold? If you would like a practice to help you increase your comfortability
with this threshold moment, and to invoke some of the magic of what's coming next and the potential
of this threshold state, try taking care of your literal threshold to your house. So this
could be the threshold to your front door, your back door, maybe the threshold to your bedroom,
if that's where your sanctum is. Tending the threshold is a powerful magical practice for
tending the threshold moments of our life, for tending these spaces where we are vulnerable,
often, sensitive, uncomfortable. Our thresholds are where we meet the world, and it's where the
the world meets us. So this is a beautiful place to anoint. It's a beautiful place to clean. If
you've never cleaned your threshold before, get out there with a bucket of water and some soap,
a duster. Get out there and actually literally clean the threshold underneath your door. Clean
the door frame. It's amazing how much energy this can free up, just literally cleaning the threshold
to your house. Once you clean the threshold, bless the threshold in some kind of way. So I often like
to bless the threshold of my home during the high holidays of the Wheel of the Year. So on
the equinoxes and the solstices, I often will bring flowers and leave them on the threshold,
sprinkle flower essences or water from the creek — ways to bless this space, to bring in fortune,
to bring in energy, to bring in light, and to bring in protection as well. Here in the south,
in the Hoodoo tradition from the African diaspora, there's a powerful practice of actually using red
brick dust on the threshold. This practice of using red dust to bless, anoint, and protect,
is an ancient part of human culture it goes back hundreds of thousands of years in the
use of ochre. So if you have access to either red brick dust or ochre, or some other red pigment,
this might be a beautiful way to both anoint and protect your physical threshold, as well as this
threshold moment in your life. Other ways to anoint bless and protect your threshold are:
Salt. So any kind of salt works well here. Salt is purifying and protective. And water.
Water is the universal blessing agent. I love using water from our creek here,
but I'll also sometimes just take water from the faucet, perhaps leave some flowers in that water,
put some flower essences in the water and then splash it over the threshold as a part of my
ritual cleaning and blessing. If you want to work with flower essences for your threshold. you can
check out the flower essences on my website. I have a whole collection of flowers that I love
to work with for invoking new eras, for bringing in magic, protection, and support. So wherever
you are in your threshold moment, hang in there. You're here for a reason. There is a really potent
new era waiting for you. There is wider vistas, of who you are, why you're here, and what's possible,
that are waiting to unfold for you. All you need to do right now is get comfortable with
being on that threshold, embrace the fact that you're on a threshold. Know that it's temporary.
You're only going to be here for a short moment in your life, so any way that you can, enjoy it.
Enjoy being in this in between, and enjoy all the magic that can arise out of the state of becoming.
[Violin music]