“Into the Woods” I Go – Guest Post by Marian Lee

I feel a sense of cozy yet mystical expanse when walking in the woods, whether a small grove of trees or a large dense forest. The small nooks and crannies of living breathing lifeforms from the roots of tree trunks, the fallen logs decaying back into the earth, and fungi covering rocks create a lush full home for animals and plants. Yet, forests are also majestic; the trees rise to the heights, their branches forming a natural cathedral with none of the cold sterility often found in human-made religious spaces. In the woods, our senses are rejuvenated. No wonder we are drawn into the magick of these natural spaces of beauty and mystery.

Forests pull us in and imbue us with a sense of awe tinged with fear of the unknown and unseen, and a sense of completeness with an acknowledgment of missing what is truly important in our lives—connection and relationships. Forests are confusing otherworldly realities, boundless places of no horizons where you can lose your bearings, but also your identity and self-importance. Stephen Sondheim’s musical, “Into the Woods” embodies the fear, confusion and redemption found in our dark mysterious forests.

It is easy to become lost and tangled in the confusing darkness obfuscating what exists within. Therefore, forests are also a metaphor for longing of the true self where onerous standards of society—beauty, worth and value— are contested. By becoming lost we can also find ourselves, so forests are a place of redemption. They serve as a place for discovery of real meaning in our lives and what we really desire while living out our time on earth. However, forests are not all about self-discovery and dark mysteries. In pre-modern times, the woods also served as a venue for Spring or May revels used not only to make merry but to have fun and gasp, sex.

As a liminal border between worlds, forests are unmatched. Often these liminal places, called the Borderlands, are guarded and can only be crossed after making an offering or payment. Past and present beliefs in an array of guardians inform our understanding of the importance of such ecology. Gods, goddesses, faeries, spirits and such watch over and protect sacred groves, glens, rivers, pools and wells and also whole forests and mountains. After all, hidden faerie treasure exists in sacred mounds, stones and trees, and an unaware person trespasses at their own peril or in exchange for a higher price than one wants to pay.

Liminal space just on the border of a forest divides the mundane world from the supernatural realm. Some argue that there really is no division as spirits are all around us at all times. They are for the most part simply unseen and not felt by those still in the physical body. However, folk and fairy tales are built upon liminal space that lies between mortal and magickal realms. It is a place of potent enchantment and can take the form of a door, bridge, alleyway, wall, border or a stone circle.

Liminal time is also a portal into the Otherworld or the Faerie realm. Dawn and especially twilight, are auspicious times of formidable magick. In addition, certain times of year, equinoxes and solstices, occur when the veil thins and one can easily pass between worlds. Witches and other powerful beings embraced this liminality because they were (and maybe still are) constantly moving between states of reality, crossing borders through time and between the physical and Unseen worlds. And of course other liminal spaces and time exist within each world.

In addition to forests, I also find that graveyards are powerful liminal places beyond our ordinary reality and feel a shift in consciousness whenever I enter one. I often visit a local graveyard surrounded by woods, for me the best of liminal spaces combined. I once walked over to an above ground sarcophagus graced by a beautiful angel statue leaning over it in grief. I did not feel any movement of the senses standing next to the sarcophagus, except a deep sadness, but when I stepped over to the foot of another plain gravestone, a shift occurred.

I knew I had entered or could enter another time and place. I chose not to at that time but the shift was palpable. I even moved back and forth between the two burial places to make sure I wasn’t imagining this shift. Was this plain headstone a secret portal into the Unseen world? Was the angel in her grief a gatekeeper against any who did not show the proper reverence for the dead? Interesting to contemplate.

Politics and Folktales

In medieval days, wooded areas were a means to vanish from an oppressive feudal society to form alternative woodland societies. Forests also meant safety and freedom for loners and outcasts—the witch, conjuror, herbalist, hunter, hermit – sharing a place of everyday magickal possibilities and practical living using natural materials at hand. The politics of disaffection played out in the forests where outlaws who operated outside the law. Because they felt the law itself was unjust, they took to woods to hide and perhaps regroup to fight another day. The woods are also a political motif of merit where all animals, plants, insects and humans have their strengths and weaknesses. It is a reminder that all living organisms need to thrive in its embrace of balance and sustainability.

Ancient woodland forests of Northern Europe were integral in folktales of that region. Folktales were sacred repositories for memory, lore and spirit-beings. Almost every European fairy and folk tale has woods or a forest full of mystery, beauty and danger. From Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel to Beauty and the Beast to classic literature, Robin Hood, Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, Through the Looking Glass, the Narnia Chronicles, and of course Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, the forest is also a character in the story. Arthurian myth and many other mythologies of the British Isles, especially the Celtic mythologies, are permeated with the mystery of wooded groves and forests.

Many visionary stories develop out of the desire to find the hidden liminal portal or door in the hedge, woods, stone circle, garden wall, faerie circle, even a singular tree which serves as the passage between waking and the dreaming. Liminal portals are especially mystical when characters enter an enchanted forest or grove of trees. You will recognize the hidden or liminal portal as a plot device used in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles, The Secret Garden, and of course, the Harry Potter and Outlander series.

Moving from the physical world to the Otherworld takes us beyond the scope of our own understandings and senses into a world and consciousness out of time and space to explore and grow. This crossing over becomes our own hero’s journey from which we return with a deeper knowledge and wisdom of our true essence and reality. We are never the same person who entered the woods from the one who returned.

In my imagination, I venture into the woods regularly when reading these kinds of visionary stories. But when I need some fresh air and exercise, I leash my dog and head out the door. Once crossing liminal space and entering a local wooded wonderland, I am still the child who walks into the woods, willing magick and mystery to reveal themselves.

About the author

Marian A. Lee is a retired chaplain and now has time to write for pleasure. She is currently working on a YA fantasy novel which includes many mysterious liminal portals. She is a practicing traditional witch and finds working with spiritual allies and stepping between worlds an awe inspiring and somewhat mind bending experience.