Liminal Space

Posted by joereilly on Feb 13, 2023 | 2 comments

Here we are in this liminal space
What can be let go of what can be embraced
Nothing is lost that can be faced
With compassion and love and healing grace

This is not the life I had imagined. Last year at this time I had no idea what was to come. My marriage had just ended. My guitar teacher and mentor Gilbert “Farmer Jack” Potter and my spiritual teacher Thich Nhat Hanh had both recently become ancestors. My life and my heart were broken open into a state of unknown, a liminal space. I was in a lot of pain and my daily prayer was “Help me know what to do and what not to do.”

What I experienced during the past year, in addition to deep emotional pain, was being held with love and care by family, friends, and community. This love contained true compassion and understanding, and led me through the grief of the losses I had suffered towards even deeper and more transformative love.

My rescue dog Caillou found me, with the help of my dear friends Finn and Mary, and has been a loyal and loving companion ever since, staying by my side with emotional awareness and playful presence. I have been blessed to enter into a new loving and committed relationship with an amazing woman named Kateri, who is both spiritual and joyful and with whom I continue to laugh, learn, and grow.

I joined a wonderful grief group called Expanding Life in Loss, and wrote this song Liminal Space as part of an assignment to express our feelings about grief.

My music took on new dimensions as I expanded my band, The Community Gardeners, and performed with them at several music festivals last summer, culminating in a lifelong dream of having my own show at The Ark in Ann Arbor. We’re scheduled to perform this April as part of the Rhythm of the Earth Mindful Music Festival at the Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California.

I have continued to work on my fourth children’s album, which I started several years ago, and am getting close to finishing. My hope is to release this album, Seeds, in the spring.

I am asking for donations to help me achieve this goal. Any amount is welcome and will go towards the post production of the album. All who donate $10 or more will receive an advanced copy of the album (you can choose either digital or CD format). Donate via my GoFundMe page. Thank you for your generous support!

Last year at this time I could not have imagined the many blessings of my life in this present moment. I am so grateful for the raft of love that has carried me through the seas of shock and despair, into calmer waters of serenity and joy. I am here now, smiling at these blessings while continuing to tend to the wounds of divorce and death.

From death comes new life, and nothing is lost. I am grateful for the gift of love that continues in many forms, even through death. Indeed, that is what we are all made up of, the same stuff of all beings who have gone before. And I am committed to keep letting that love flow through me in song and in relationships, one day at a time, to the best of my ability. Thank you for helping me do that, and for all the ways you share love in the world.

With love and deep gratitude,
Joe

P.S. Check out this new and unique raw Earthwork Music compilation Voice Memos Vol. 1. I contributed a couple of musical sketches to this eclectic mix!

P.P.S Listen to my interview with Shaun Nethercott on the Great Lakes Odyssey Radio Hour!