I really like the idea of thresholds and transitional spaces. Like portals into a magical world, I imagine they allow us to to move from the everyday to a safe place where we are not the same as we were before. Crossing the threshold can have symbolic meaning as when the groom carries the bride over the threshold or a couple jumps the broomstick to show that they have left one way of being in the world and begun another. I like that little rituals like this involve a physical act that illustrates a psychological shift. When we refer to crossing a threshold in our lives there is the implication that having made this choice we will never be the same again. And then there is the transition zone between land and water. A shoreline is a powerful place of change where so many things can happen.
When I started to write about this I remembered a really early portal in my life. One of the interesting things about this crossing is that it came with a sound. I wasn't very old when I started spending most of my summers sleeping in a tent. The zipper on the tent and the sound that it made symbolized safety and protection from all the threats of the outside world. I still feel this way when I hear the sound of a long zipper on a tent or a sleeping bag. In my 8 year old mind, the thin walls of the tent had just been blessed with magical powers that would keep me safe until dawn. I don't think I thought the walls had become unbelievably strong, but that I had become invisible.
A couple of years ago I took a course to become a Certified Life Cycle Celebrant. As part of our study of rituals and ceremonies I was introduced to the ideas of Joseph Campell. In his research he found that unique cultures spread through time and space had developed a wide range of rituals and ceremonies but these practices generally shared universal symbolism and structure. I love to think about that when I am feeling disconnected! Thousands of years and thousands of miles apart, people came up with sacred rituals and ceremonies that have a common structure and symbolism.
This pattern of sacred meaning is often described as the Hero's Journey. Part of the pattern involves an individual leaving the known for a journey through the dangerous unknown and then returning with something of benefit to all. In order to do this at least one, if not two, thresholds must be crossed. I embrace the idea that we can move through a time of transition with all its' confusion and uncertainty and emerge on the other side a profoundly different person than when we began. Washed by fire, if it's a particularly brutal transition, or pushed incessantly down a fast moving river - whatever the initiation we never see the world the same way again.
I do my best work in the studio when my mind is calm and expansive. I don't work well with a grocery list of other demands on my time circling through my head. I Know this is true for most people but often it is easier said than done. To help remind myself that I am crossing the threshold between the everyday and my sacred space, I painted a drawing at the threshold of my studio. The idea is to notice the drawing on my way in and to allow it to help me to enter the present moment. It is also a little ritual that connects me back to the thousands of years of civilization that has thought it important to move mindfully from one state to another.
I recently crossed another threshold, from creation to completion with this new sculpture - Sleeping Moon. She is carved from Brazilian soapstone and finished with bees wax. I used the two colours of the stone (green and brown) in my design and I am really happy with how she turned out.
Smaller pieces like this can be really satisfying. I think of them as a 3 dimensional doodle, often using scraps of stone left over from larger pieces. With smaller sculptures I don't feel the reluctance to change the inherent grace of the stone that I sometimes feel when I start a larger piece. With larger sculptures I know that I need to alter and remove some of what has drawn me to the stone in the first place. I think this is because I see the stone as more than raw material for me to use to satisfy my creative urge. We need each other to create the final form.
I recently crossed another threshold with this new sculpture - Sleeping Moon. She is carved from Brazilian soapstone and finished with bees wax. I used the two colours of the stone, green and brown, in my design and I am really happy with the way she turned out.
