“The Liminal Odyssey: The Alchemical Power of The Spaces In-Between” by Sande Hart

"The Liminal Odyssey: The Alchemical Power of The Spaces In-Between" by Sande Hart

"I sat down several times over the past 15 years to tell a single story of a remarkable experience that happened to me in 1982 at a no-nukes rally and music festival involving 100,000 people at the Rose Bowl in Southern California. I have been urged by friends to tell this story but simply did not have enough of a story to fill a book.

In early 2021 I sat down again, only this time I started to employ some practices that I had learned over the years, such as reverent listening. As I wrote, the experience stretched in ways as to reveal much more than the wild experience I first remembered it to be. Suddenly, eleven more equally meaningful and interesting stories poured onto the page, each expanded to a new understanding and anchored in a different skill, science, philosophy, indigenous shared knowledge, and methodology I had picked up over the years, and in most every case, I learned these skills from the scientist, author, thought leader, shaman and indigenous elder or philosopher directly. Those first-hand experiences are part of my story as well. In this way, illustrating the skills in their practical application, as taught directly by the expert in their field, wrapped up in my personal (often vulnerable) stories is relatable. Some of the chapters and their lessons wrote me in real time, so humility and humor were essential for this book to be in its integrity for you, my accountability partner on my Liminal Odyssey.

The word liminal means "threshold", the space in-between crisis and action, dilemma and choice, opportunity and action. A liminal space is any threshold, including this evolutionary growth spurt we are amid right now; between here and the unknown place that is calling us. This liminal space is our moment of choice, and it is our responsibility and our privilege to question assumptions, heal the wounds that no longer serve us, discover our planetary assignment, show up in our most authentic genius-self, and operate in enlightened self-interest where my service to you benefits me and all of humanity.

In liminal space, we can interpret, question, examine, dream, and imagine possibilities for new creativity that is so necessary right now to move on from old problems, beliefs, and myths of the assumptions we have been living in.

It’s time for an evolutionary shift, and it’s a good thing we are in one right now. The space in-between is the demarcation place of that paradigm shift. It occurs after the separation of what was and before what is and can determine what will be. However, one need not experience a crisis to drop into the liminal space. In fact, I find opportunities all day long. My stories are evidence of what happens when those otherwise mundane experiences turn miraculous. The same is true for you and your stories.

Each of those stories converge as building blocks of practices that result in a unique philosophy and a practical guide to live as a Spiritual Activist to midwife the unknown place that is calling us. I have accepted my mission and am on my way. I wish you an Odyssey of awe and wonder and will meet you there. I know you are counting on me to show up in all my glory and I wish the same for you."