Standing at the Threshold

Each day we ask “is this pandemic at its peak?”. Each day many of us feel we are on the threshold of a new era, a new time. We see the challenge to reset our habits, our priorities, our thoughts as we wait.

I have often shared the above picture of the Newgrange Spiral Stone and I have written about portals, paths, and thin places where spiritual transformation occurs more readily then in daily life (at least for me). Today, I am inspired to talk about this picture again because it is a threshold stone, i.e. it is the entry way marker: the place of standing in the in-between. The Celts created and then marked such places as sacred, as places of ritual to remind them to be mindful of the powers just beyond their immediate awareness and of how by intention they could enter a place of awe and wonder.

We are at a threshold moment globally and individually. As we are asked or forced to stay inside our homes in separation, we cannot help but be mindful of this extraordinary time. Stepping out beyond the threshold of our home is a conscious act, not to be taken lightly. We can step out in fear, in gratitude, in uncertainty or hope. The choice is ours. We become conscious of even the smallest interaction, we see how we are impacted by global events, and we feel what a great privilege it is to walk freely, taking in the air and beauty around us.

The Celts were not the only culture that gave significance to thresholds. Sand mandalas drawn each morning by peasant women in Buddhist countries, mezuzah nailed to an entry door by Jews throughout the world, or the groom carrying the bride over the threshold in our own neighborhood are all examples of other cultures that give meaning and attention to this place in-between: this threshold. 

But back to the Celts, John Donohue in his book To Bless The Space Between Us has a wonderful piece that includes these lines: 

“A threshold is not a simple boundary; it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms, and atmospheres.”

I was reminded of this reading when I attended an on-line novena by the Abbey of the Arts called “Novena for this Time of Unravelling”. Christine Valters Paintner, the talented poet, writer, Benedictine oblate and founder of the Abbey has a deep connection to early Celtic Christianity and the pre-Christian Celtic traditions that gave rise to the Celitc spirituality that informs my work and sustains me im difficult times.

I highly commend her book, The Soul’s Slow Ripening-12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred and  O’Donohue’s To Bless the Space Between as you experience this period of threshold.