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Are you on a threshold? · Remember Why You Are Here

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  Where you are right now is right on that threshold state, that liminal space.
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  And this space itself is powerful and important.
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  Can you trust that there is a specific magic to this threshold state,
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  and allow things to unfold?
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  Hello and welcome back to Remember Why You Are Here,
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  a podcast for seekers and sensitives where you can relax, receive,
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  reconnect yourself, and remember the most important thing of all:
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  why you're here. I'm Asia Suler,
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  and in this episode today I wanted to revisit a video I
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  posted at the beginning of 2024 called "Are You on A
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  Threshold?" And it was something that I shared after years of really
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  reckoning with what a threshold is,
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  of coming out of a huge threshold moment in my life where I had become a
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  parent and had had my daughter.
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  And I'm feeling really called to share this recording now as I just moved out of
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  the one year anniversary of Hurricane Helene here in our mountains.
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  A huge threshold moment for me in my life. You'll
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  hear in this recording that I mentioned the flower essences on my website.
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  And when I went back and listened to it, I thought to myself, oh,
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  we can cut that part out. But then I decided, you know what?
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  I'm going to leave it because it's a testament to this huge chapter of my life.
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  If you're just tuning into the podcast for the first time.
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  I had an apothecary called One Willow Apothecaries for 12 years,
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  and that apothecary was destroyed in Hurricane Helene
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  last year,
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  and it was this really big moment in time.
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  And I talk more about that moment,
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  what we all learned here in the mountains through what one of my friends
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  called a doorstep apocalypse - talk about being on the threshold
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  - in an episode I just released in October.
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  So if you're interested more in the earth-led learnings that
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  came out of that experience, you can check that episode out.
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  But it was this huge threshold moment for me of deciding,
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  will I continue with this or will I let it go?
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  And there's just something so powerful about being on that threshold
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  and about knowing,
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  about having this knowledge of what it looks like to be on a threshold,
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  what to expect, and how to support yourself through that.
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  And I look back now on this time last year,
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  and I just really have so much compassion for myself and the enormity
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  of the threshold that I was moving through at that time.
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  I was really dedicating myself to fundraising,
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  supporting my community,
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  helping our town to recover. Our town was flooded with nine feet
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  of water, so most of the buildings in town were destroyed,
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  needed complete renovations, and-or didn't exist anymore.
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  And so that was really the focus.
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  It was like I was in the midst of this really big moment in time,
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  and I think this is the thing about threshold moments is that
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  when we're in it and we don't know how to name it,
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  it can just feel so overwhelming and confusing. But when we know how to name it,
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  when we know exactly what is happening, where we are,
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  when we have that map,
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  it's so much easier be with those times.
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  It's so much easier to recognize where you are, embrace where you are,
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  and know that a change is coming. So for me, last year,
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  obviously a huge aspect of this change was releasing,
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  letting go of this big part of my business and my life that the
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  apothecary was,
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  and I'm thinking about this even more so now as I really feel like in this
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  larger sense we are on the threshold in this world of
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  some really big stuff. We've kind of been on that threshold for a while,
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  but I think this concept of the threshold is so helpful for us in our
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  individual lives,
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  but also as we step into the roles and the gifts that we are meant to bring to
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  this world in this time where we are all collectively really standing on
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  such a potent threshold. So with that,
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  let's get into the recording and you can discover,
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  are you on a threshold?
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  There are times in your life when you feel you're on the brink of something
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  totally new. You're not yet in this new phase, but you're not who you've been.
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  You're changing, your life is changing,
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  but you aren't quite sure yet what you're changing into or what's awaiting you
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  on the other side. This is a threshold moment,
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  and these moments are some of the most potent and powerful we'll ever experience
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  in our life. This video is a guide to threshold moments,
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  how to navigate these moments and how to embrace the distinct power
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  that can only come about when we are on the brink of a threshold.
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  So let's talk about the etymology of the word "threshold." "Thresh" is an
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  old English word for beating out grain.
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  So you would literally thresh grain from the stalk.
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  A "hold" would be a sill that was created on the doorstop to actually
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  protect the threshing floor. So in this way,
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  a threshold was an actual piece of stone or wood that was placed
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  between the room and the outside that had two functions,
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  both to keep the dust and the debris from outside from entering into this room
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  and also to keep the sanctum of this room intact. So if you were
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  threshing wheat onto the floor,
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  that wheat would have a soft and comfortable and clean place to land,
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  and that threshold would keep your work inside of this room.
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  So I love looking at the etymology of words because it helps us understand how
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  these words are functioning in our life and what it really means to be on a
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  threshold. So thresholds delineate two worlds.
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  A threshold is neither here nor there.
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  It is that space where the outside meets the inside and the inside
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  meets the outside. So when we are in threshold moments of our life,
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  we are neither here nor there.
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  We are leaving one phase and entering another one.
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  We often don't quite know what that next phase looks like.
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  If you've ever crossed over the threshold from a bright sunny day into the
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  interior of your house or vice versa,
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  there's a moment where your eyes need a second to adjust,
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  where you can't quite see what's ahead of you. These are threshold moments,
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  moments where you are crossing over from one phase of your life into another,
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  from one way of doing things into another.
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  And it's often a time when your identity itself is in flux. Now,
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  for thresholds, we can either be crossing in or crossing out,
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  and both have their power and their potency.
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  So I know that when I had a baby and I was postpartum,
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  I was very much in a threshold moment.
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  Yet the motion of this was not me stepping out into the world,
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  it was actually me going within. When I look back on this time,
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  it was a time where I was crossing over that threshold into the room,
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  into the womb, into a time of my life where I was less public,
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  less visible, where I was home a lot,
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  where I was really doing a lot of deep inner work, staying at home with my baby,
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  in those early days. So if you are on a threshold,
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  you might be moving in one direction or another.
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  Perhaps you are moving out into the world,
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  you're ready to put yourself out there in a new and different way to meet new
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  people, go on adventures. Maybe you're feeling that call.
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  That would be stepping over the threshold and into the outer world.
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  But you might also be hearing the call to go inward,
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  for a time of contemplation, study, inward growth,
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  introspection. This is you crossing the threshold to go in,
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  and both are incredibly valuable because in both instances,
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  where you are right now is right on that threshold state,
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  that that liminal space.
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  And this space itself is powerful and important. And a lot
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  of folk traditions, thresholds were considered to be magical spaces,
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  spaces where we would want to invoke protection and blessings,
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  but also spaces where we can actually interact with some of the unseen elements
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  of the world,
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  spaces where spells could be enacted. There's a reason why there's
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  still this tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold
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  after a wedding. There is an initiation here,
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  when we move through thresholds.
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  And when we can connect to the threshold moments in our life,
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  we can really embrace the power and magic that comes with liminality.
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  Thresholds are important. They have a deep and distinct magic,
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  and there's even this concept in a different way of using the word threshol,
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  that they're a space where we have to linger.
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  We have to actually spend time there in order to reach the fullness of our
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  potential to step over into the other side. So in medicine,
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  there's the concept of a threshold dose.
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  There's a certain amount of that medicine that you have to take in order for it
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  to start being effective. So in this way of thinking,
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  thresholds aren't something we should rush over.
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  It's something we should spend time with, linger there,
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  be there. I know for example, when I was postpartum,
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  a big threshold experience in my life,
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  it wasn't going to work for me to try and rush through that to the other side to
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  see who am I going to be as a mom, as a parent,
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  as someone who now is in a completely different phase of my life.
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  It wasn't going to work for me to just rush through that moment.
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  I had to be there,
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  fully and completely. So wherever you are in your life right now,
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  maybe you're in a threshold moment.
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  Can you get comfortable with being in-process,
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  with being in that liminal state? Can you get comfortable with not knowing?
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  Can you get comfortable with the fact that yes, you are neither here nor there.
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  You don't know what's coming up next,
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  but you know something is moving and shifting and changing,
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  and can you just be with the process right now? Can you be in the unknown?
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  Can you trust that there is a specific magic to this threshold state and
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  allow things to unfold. If you would like a practice to help you
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  increase your comfortability with this threshold moment and to invoke some of
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  the magic of what's coming next in the potential of this threshold state,
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  try taking care of your literal threshold to your house.
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  So this could be the threshold to your front door, your back door,
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  maybe the threshold to your bedroom, if that's where your sanctum is.
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  Tending the threshold is a powerful magical practice for tending the
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  threshold moments of our life,
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  for tending these spaces where we are vulnerable, often sensitive,
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  uncomfortable.
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  Our thresholds are where we meet the world and it's where the world meets us. So
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  this is a beautiful place to anoint. It's a beautiful place to clean.
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  If you've never cleaned your threshold before,
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  get out there with a bucket of water and some soap, a duster.
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  Get out there and actually literally clean the threshold underneath your door.
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  Clean the doorframe.
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  It's amazing how much energy this can free up just literally cleaning the
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  threshold to your house. Once you clean the threshold,
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  bless the threshold in some kind of way.
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  So I often like to bless the threshold of my home during the high holidays
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  of the Wheel of the Year. So on the equinoxes and the solstice,
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  I often will bring flowers and leave them on the threshold,
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  sprinkle flower essences or water from the creek,
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  ways to bless this space, to bring in fortune,
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  to bring in energy, to bring in light,
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  and to bring in protection as well. Here in the south,
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  in the Hoodoo tradition from the African diaspora,
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  there is a powerful practice of actually using red brick dust on the threshold.
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  This practice of using red dust to bless, anoint,
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  and protect is an ancient part of human culture.
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  It goes back hundreds of thousands of years in the use of ochre.
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  So if you have access to either red brick dust or ochre or some other red
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  pigment,
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  this might be a beautiful way to both anoint and protect your physical threshold
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  as well as this threshold moment in your life. Other ways to anoint,
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  bless and protect your threshold are salt. So any kind of salt works well here.
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  Salt is purifying and protective. And water.
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  Water is a universal blessing agent. I love using water from our creek here,
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  but I'll also sometimes just take water from the faucet,
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  perhaps leave some flowers in that water, put some flower essences in the water,
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  and then splash it over the threshold as a part of my ritual cleaning and
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  blessing. If you want to work with flower essences for your threshold,
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  you can check out the flower essences on my website.
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  I have a whole collection of flowers that I love to work with for invoking new
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  eras, for bringing in magic, protection,
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  and support. So wherever you are in your threshold moment,
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  hang in there. You're here for a reason.
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  There is a really potent new era waiting for you.
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  There is wider vistas of who you are, why you're here,
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  and what's possible, that are waiting to unfold for you.
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  All you need to do right now is get comfortable with being on that threshold.
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  Embrace the fact that you're on a threshold. Know that it's temporary.
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  You're only going to be here for a short moment in your life.
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  So any way that you can, enjoy it,
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  enjoy being in this in-between,
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  and enjoy all the magic that can arise out of the state of becoming.
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  After re-listening to this,
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  I decided for myself I really need to clean the threshold of my house.
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  It really is so refreshing.
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  I love that I named that practice here.
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  I love that I reminded myself to do this practice. Currently,
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  there's a whole bunch of chalk on the threshold of my door.
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  My daughter has really liked from time to time getting chalk and chalking
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  outside the door. And I remember one of the first times she did it,
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  when she was quite young, she was probably only a year and a half,
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  she drew these symbols on the door that really,
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  they look like something out of the paleolithic caves of Southern
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  France,
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  like these pictographs that come straight out of the
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  human imagination.
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  It was so beautiful and cool to see her just intuitively start
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  to make these drawings.
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  And it felt very much like she also was intuiting
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  this sacred space of the threshold. Blessing this threshold,
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  chalking right outside on the door on the threshold,
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  and I left those chalkings up for a long time.
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  Now the chalk looks a little different,
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  but it still feels like such a blessing in that space. So if you embark
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  upon this ritual, I'd love to hear about how it goes for you,
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  how you decided to anoint the threshold,
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  hopefully this recording was helpful for you.
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  And just orienting yourself to where you are in your life,
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  what it means to be on the threshold,
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  and how to simply be with yourself in this moment.
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  How to embrace the medicine that is inherent to this moment. As
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  always, you can leave a comment if you're on a platform where you can do that
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  or you can head on over to my website,
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  AsiaSuler.com/remember and leave me a voice note.
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  It's been so sweet to get tidings from you all as we move through this
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  huge threshold time on this planet. And I just want to say a big thank you to
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  everyone who has left a rating or review this past fall.
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  If you're not aware, if you're just tuning in, I'm currently on a sabbatical.
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  I am taking five months off to work on my next book.
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  It has been such a huge decision for me,
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  such a huge experience.
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  It felt very much like I created a threshold for myself,
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  demarcating one era of my life from another,
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  and your ratings and reviews just really help this podcast so much.
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  This is the only place that I am publicly continuing to show up right now
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  as I do this deep work on the book.
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  And your support here has really buoyed me.
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  It has helped me so deeply,
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  and I'm just so grateful for you and all the ways in which you
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  have helped me to make this big threshold moment of change
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  and opening and creation possible for myself. So thank you so much for
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  listening.
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  Thank you for all the ways in which you've been willing to move through
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  thresholds in your life, all of the thresholds you've been on in your life,
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  because I know you've been on many.
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  And as you move across or move through this
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  threshold time in your life and this threshold time on the planet,
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  may it help you remember that most important thing of all:
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  why you're here.