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