An initiation is a rite of passage and as such it should, according to anthropologists and historians of religion, contain three parts: separation, a liminal phase and aggregation. Given that we are deep in the season of the fall, right on the cusp of winter, I want to dwell a little on the second part – liminality, the in-between aspect where transformation occurs.
Liminality is a threshold, steeped in symbolism, a stepping away from the normal everyday world and into a state of between-ness where the everyday falls apart and gives space for ambiguity and discomfort. This symbolic death can be vulnerable, scary or even painful, but it is a necessary break from the ego, the shedding of identity in which can be found the spark of the new self.
There are of course several reasons for going through an initiation and for entering a liminal phase. It is a rebirth, a gaining of understanding, an introduction to powers and mysteries, an experience that can set you on a path to illumination, awakening, or to deep personal change. Most of us go in and out of these spaces several times on our magical journeys. In an order, such as the IOT, the initiation also holds another meaning. It is a shared experience of being stripped down and given a new role. It is a social transformation that becomes a source of strength through the sharing of the stories of initiation. In this the order becomes a part of the internal narrative of “us who have gone through the upside-down-world and emerged on the other side”. As a novice, you are not fully part of that community. You may very well feel welcome, included and respected, but you haven’t travelled the same path as everybody who is on the inside. For the novice, the initiation is the –coming-of-age-story of their life within the order.
image and text by Frater Runkorp