THE LIMINAL REALM IS CENTRAL in esoteric symbolism, traditionally magical rituals are conducted within a circle. In this place that is not a place, in this time that is not a time, between the realm of humans and of the Gods. It partakes of both worlds but exists between them. The magician can therefore explore and affect both worlds, by having a foot in both camps but remaining bound by the rules of neither sphere.
Rituals that seek to enter the liminal state may include acts of initiation, of passing through symbolic doors or of invoking the help of spirits who are ‘guardians of the portals’. In all these cases the aim is to consciously enter the liminal sphere, to ‘go between’, and thereby be free to alter one’s awareness, to learn new perspectives, to understand better, and perhaps change both inner and outer universes.
Threshold, liminal states are also vital in terms of trance work in magick. A ritual where you are going to invoke the gods into yourself. You would alter your ‘normal’ state of awareness by techniques such as verbal invocation, dance, drumming, drugs etc.
The power of the liminal space is that they have no or markedly fewer rules that normal everyday consciousness. This lack of rules mean that many more things are possible and this included changes in the self and the universe that we typically believe to be impossible.
The final point about liminal spaces is their unpredictability. Although in the example above we had used fasting, dance and chanting during the night prior to the circle casting. Whenever one does a ritual there are unfathomable currents of activity deep within the unconscious that will never be identical on two occasions.
Although the shaman, the witch, the magician lives in the liminal space they are not ruler of that realm. They can try to coax the power of the betweenness spaces in the direction they desire a wise magus will always bow before the capricious nature of this realm.