Entering the field  In Family & Systemic Constellations we enter the field in unique moments where the right clients, representatives, witnesses, elements and facilitators bring forth something that wants to be seen in a singular event.  Never repeated.

Entering the field for ritual  Indigenous peoples enter the field on a regular basis for ceremony, ritual, and initiation.  The challenge for these cultures is how to have a number of people, if not the entire group enter the field together, how to enter specific places/experiences in the field with regularity and predictability and how to use these experiences in the field to support a living, vibrant culture and society.

Initiation ceremony for the new Maasai warriors.

What is liminality?  Liminality describes a state of being when individual enter a field that is outside of normal space and time. These individuals are are betwixt and between the normal roles, behaviors and positions assigned by law, custom and convention.

What is liminality?  Their ambiguous attributes are expressed by a rich variety of symbols in the many societies that ritualize social and cultural transitions.

The idea of liminality  The idea of liminality was first introduced to the field of anthropology in 1909 by Arnold Van Gennep in his work, Les rites de passage as a three-part structure:  Separation - liminal period - Re-assimilation

Young man of the Hamer tribe, a tribal people in southwestern Ethiopia Istockphoto.com

Characteristics of Liminality accept pain androgynous anonymity equality foolish heteronomy homogeneity humility nakedness without status obedience sacredness abstinence silence simplicity stateless totality transition uniformity unselfish mystery paradox ambiguity cosmic

The idea of liminality  Victor Turner, cultural anthropologist, first introduced his interpretation of liminality in 1967.

Social and cultural transitions  In many rituals such as rites of passage, coming-of-age rituals and marriage, liminal individuals are reduced or ground down to be fashioned anew, endowed with new powers to cope with their new station in life.  Submerged into the essence of a culture’s soul.

Death and Rebirth Bugisu of Uganda circumcision ritual

Realm of Pure Possibility  Liminality shows up in some form in every society.  Liminal areas of time and space— rituals, carnivals, dramas, and latterly films—are open to the play of thought, feeling, and will….

Realm of Pure Possibility  …. in them are generated new models, often fantastic, some of which may have sufficient power remake the structural world.

Australian Aborigines Woggan-ma-gule Ceremony

Australian Aborigines Woggan-ma-gule Ceremony

Liminal symbols  Liminal symbols help the group to experience the field in a “language of shared meaning and experience”  Liminal symbols are dense, rich and evoking  They are archetypal  Multiple arrangements of liminal symbols produce complex meaning (multivocal)

Liminal Symbols and Color Black Darkness Death Sickness Despair Sorrow Mourning Underworld Evil Witchcraft White Light Sun Death Birth New Purity Surrender Goodness Resurrection Health Red Sun Masculinity Fire Passion Energy Blood War Danger Aggressiveness Yellow: death, betrayal, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, day, dawn, cowardice, jealousy, deceit, illness, hazard

Northwest Coast Tsimshian circa /posts/GJMop38nbfT

Amazonian Indians inhabiting the Xingu River basin

Juan Pueblo, Deer Dance in New Mexico

Liminal Boundaries  Indigenous cultures take great care to keep liminality separate from the everyday world.  The symbols of liminality help to maintain the separation from the chaotic, fluid and inverted behaviors that could be a hazard to social structure, roles and status.

Kikuyu People of Kenya photo by Retlaw Snellac on FlickrRetlaw Snellac on Flickr

Images of Liminality Kikuyu People of Kenya photo by Retlaw Snellac on FlickrRetlaw Snellac on Flickr

In the southern Indian city of Kochi a Theyyam dancer waits to perform during festivities marking the start of the annual harvest festival of "Onam".

Liminality in indigenous cultures and constellations  Soul experience of life on a larger landscape with movements, stances dances and images  Different sense of proportion/space/time and meaning  Weight and dignity

The Turkana live in northern Kenya around Lake Turkana

The Turkana live in northern Kenya around Lake Turkana

The Turkana live in northern Kenya around Lake Turkana

Asaro Mudmen of Papua New Guinea

Huli man from Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea.

Structure vs. Anti-structure  According to Victor Turner, the rules, norms, statuses, codes and behaviors which comprise everyday life, make up, the structural portion of human existence.

Structure vs. Anti-structure  Against structure Turner sees anti-structure, a place that all societies create to temporarily drop the normative ways of life and enter the land of possibilities and pure feeling, a place where societies can express themselves without the usual constraints.

 Bijago man wearing the mask after his initiation (From the island of Orango Grande, in the Bijagos Archipelago, off the coast of Guinea Bissau) tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2012/12/bijago- people-guinea-bissau-african.html

Structure vs Anti-structure

Liminality is Revitalizing  According to Turner this dialectic process is indispensable for any society because no society can function adequately without it.  It is the way that societies can adapt, change and renew their essential qualities.

A dialectic of social action  Structure and Anti-Structure oscillate back and forth much like Yin and Yang.

We need liminality  The pull of liminalty is strong within us in the same way that the orders of love influence our thoughts, emotions and behaviors. It is instinctual, hard wired.

Liminality as pilgrimages Muslims on hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia

Liminality in religion Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Liminality in Social Groups

Liminality in Entertainment Cirque du soleil

Liminality in Film

Liminal process and Constellations  What happens when the renewal of liminal process is missing?  Does the flow of love require the oscillation between structure and anti-structure?  What if the degree of entanglements found in family system are heightened when the family does not move regularly together into the field?  Does a lack of liminal oscillation create more pathology?

Barry Krost, MA, NCTMB Family & Systemic Constellations Facilitator Bodywork & Energy Healer healingfamilyconstellations.com