Liminality

Liminality in murray-stein‘s Jungian usage names the transitional state in which “the very foundations of a person’s world are under construction” — the pupal middle phase of any major transformation, and especially of midlife-transformation.

“This is a transformational epoch that extends over a considerable period of time, over years or even a decade or more, during which people find themselves living in a sort of limbo. I call this liminality. The very foundations of a person’s world are under construction during this time. Such transformation is life-changing. It is a massive reorganization of attitude, behavior, and sense of meaning” (Stein 1998, Transformation, ch. 1).

Stein distinguishes the trigger — “a singular encounter with a transformative image — a religious symbol, a dream, an impressive person, an active imagination — or by major life trauma like a divorce, the death of a child, or the loss of a parent or loved one” — from the liminal work itself, which is long, slow, often subtle, and only in retrospect recognizable as complete. “Liminality is the constant theme of our times. Nothing is stable and secure” (Stein 1998, Transformation, Introduction).

The concept is kin to, but distinct from, Victor Turner’s anthropological liminality: Stein locates it primarily in the intrapsychic transformation of the adult rather than in ritual passage, though he honors the ritual resonance. The classical figure who presides over such passages in the Lineage is hermes — psychopomp of transitions — though Stein reaches this figure largely through alchemical iconography rather than through primary philological sources.

Relationships

• midlife-transformation
• transformative-image
• individuation
• hermes

Primary sources

• stein-transformation-emergence-self (Stein 1998)