Approaching Liminality as a Pilgrimage

Liminal times are not a neat crossing from 'what was' to 'what is yet to be'. Because between the death & rebirth - the ampersand in the middle is the pilgrimage.

By the time you're reading this, I'll have landed in Scotland - the place of my pilgrimage.

The origins of this trip were witnessing my mother's end-of-life journey, navigating the underworld initiation of bureaucratic probate matters, and my desire to honor my need for a symbolic rebirth. Or, as my husband said, do something nice for yourself after all that you've gone through.

Plus, I'll be spending my birthday in a place I've always wanted to see—the Orkney Islands, visiting stone circles and ancient Neolithic structures. At this moment, what my soul needs is to go to a land that nourishes my imagination with all its myths and striking landscape, and serves as a symbolic ritual of me crossing the threshold into this next stage of my life and work.

Then, my mentor, the astrologer Brian Clark, sent me one of his articles in which he speaks of pilgrimage as a rite of passage to help me prepare for my journey. This got me thinking about how we might approach liminal times with the mindset of a pilgrimage instead of counting down the minutes in between, hyper-focusing on the destination.

Between death & rebirth - the ampersand in the middle is the pilgrimage.

Because of our materialistic society, our connection to the mysteries is tenuous and fragile. Rituals that link us to the mysteries are poorly understood, stripped of their gravitas, and at times reduced to hashtags, yet our soul craves them. Nevertheless, we can shift that by widening our view of what's unfolding in our lives.

This may be where fictionalizing our lives may be helpful—a way to see our lives like a fairy tale or, if you prefer, a fantasy, romantasy novel. One isn't just going through probate bureaucracy; one is journeying through the Underworld and dealing with bureaucratic demons (that's one that helped me!). One isn't just visiting another country but going on a soul pilgrimage.

I believe this helps us not only re-enchant our lives and honor Neptune but also broaden our perspective on life's events, making them more soulful and meaningful.

If pilgrimage reflects an inner journey in the outer world, why not make it more imaginative?

Guided by spirit, pilgrimages invite us to approach the crossing of life's threshold with more awareness of the relationship between our inner movement and the outer manifestation of these internal shifts. We're not just going from point A to point B; we're reclaiming the lost parts of ourselves, one of them being our lost ability to be in a more open conversation with the Unseen Realm.

What helped me immensely when I was in the thick of witnessing my mother's last days was my connection with the unseen realm. When others would say to me how sorry they felt for me being an only child and having to go through all this alone, treating me as an orphan, I would say that I was grateful for the help I was receiving from both the seen and the unseen realms. That mindset made all the difference as it afforded me the strength and sense of belonging to something bigger than just the practicalities of the physical moment.

Becoming a pilgrim during these liminal times.

A pilgrimage is not the same as a tourist trip.

In tourism, we collect attractions—with a ‘been there, done that attitude’.

In tourism, we consume, reducing things to their hashtags and souvenirs.

Pilgrimage is participatory, where we are engaged in the conversation unfolding in the present moment. It requires presence and the ability to look into the eyes of what is unfolding in front of us, not just jumping from attraction to attraction.

Tourism is voyeuristic and detached, while pilgrimage allows us to be transformed by the place and its attractors.

Attractions are objectified, but attractors invite us to see and be engaged with them. They come alive, tridimensional, as opposed to the flatness of being 'just' attractions. Pilgrimage is about seeing with, not looking at.

A pilgrimage stimulates a sense of reconnection, remembrance (as in re-member—putting our disjointed parts back together), and a considered approach to the neglected parts of ourselves. Whatever arises during a pilgrimage reveals the return of the discarded, repressed, and forgotten parts of ourselves, much like the prodigal son, and requires us to acknowledge and welcome them back—preferably with a hot cuppa.

The jarring aspect of a pilgrimage is that our ego is not at the steering wheel, but our soul. In contrast, our egos may feel an affront to its persona, with its need for progress, productivity, and growth, while the guidance from the soul says otherwise.

It invites reverie, flights of fanciful imagination, holding lightly the tension of the paradoxical and trusting that clarity will unfurl in due time. It feeds something deeper, and its nourishment will fill us up in months to come. There's no need to take Pepto Bismol to accelerate digestion; it's meant to take its time to nourish us.

A few steps to take in venturing through these liminal times

You may be aware that we're no longer in Kansas, as Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz. We've already been separated from our habitual routines and ways of being. Although we've skipped the step of being able to set our intention for this venture, we can still do that. Yes, we know we're in uncharted waters, but we can still invoke an image, a story perhaps, to help support our journey.

Calling on an image, story, or even word theme will help us feel more authorship in how we engage with these times instead of feeling like chaos is happening to us. Don't fixate on it too much because it will shift as we venture forth, but let it be what gets you to shift your mindset and cross the threshold. One thing about pilgrimages is that holding it all lightly and letting playfulness have its part are vital ingredients here.

Once we have our image/story intention for how we want to participate in these times, we can better assess which aspects of our lives are difficult to let go of or even which ones we are actually looking forward to detaching from. Liminal times are an opportunity to free ourselves from outmoded ways of being and showing up in the world. It's an opportunity for a rebrand.

As we collectively venture into these uncharted waters, each one of us will hear the particular sound of our calling. This can be seen as an image that beckons like a dream, a sense of purpose, and a desire to give birth to something that can only be brought forth by our particular make.

During these liminal times, don't be surprised if what used to hold our focus no longer does. Old dreams, goals, and visions may lose their luster, shift, or completely sputter out. Nevertheless, it's worth noticing what beckons our attention now, even if we can't see the full picture. It may feel completely out of the left field, but don't dismiss it. Listen to it and take stock of what parts of yourself want to find expression at this stage of your life.

I feel that the call we hear is linked to the return or deepening of aspects of ourselves that haven't had a chance to be more fully expressed.

We are not alone.

Be it a pilgrimage or our collective venturing into the uncharted waters of these liminal times, we can be sure we're not alone. Guides, helpers, and mentors will show up when needed. They may not show up in ways we might expect, but they await us where we need them. Some may show up to deliver us dream images, flights of fancy, synchronicities, and practical wisdom. In many ways, we are guides and helpers to others. Remember, the seen and the unseen realms!

The belief that only the material world is real and that we're alone is a draining fallacy. It's a lot about how we shift our inner vision to expand our awareness and symbolic seeing. It may take some practice to get ourselves to be more aware and not dismiss what our mind's eye notices or to avoid dismissing meaningful encounters as a mere coincidence. It's a hard habit to break, but more and more folks are becoming more comfortable with this expanded reality. Some call it magical thinking, magick, woo, but it's a reclamation of a gift we always had that has been clouded for the last several centuries.

This is vital because I believe that the unseen realms, the Otherworld, the archetypes or deities, however you want to call them, want to be in a relationship with us and want to help.

Perhaps these liminal times are really a return home to abilities we always had but failed to see. It's to return home and see it for the first time.

So we have the choice to either approach these liminal times holding on to our anxieties as crutches or take them as a pilgrimage, respecting both the journey and the destination. We may just come home spiritually renewed, inspired, and ready to fully step into our CREATION MAKER era.

Ease & Grace,
Vanessa Couto