Caol Ait

Thin Places

What are "Thin Places" ?

What is a "thin place"? In Celtic tradition  "thin places" are the cracks in time that we often find ourselves in after loss.It is the liminal space that seems to exist between temporal time as we had previously known it before unwanted transition came into our lives. In my work with people who are grieving a loss that they did not "put their hands up for", you do not have to explain a "thin place" at all. It is where those individuals in acute mourning dwell. They describe it vividly to me. It is dark and color-less , timeless, without hope, and not where they had every imagined they would be.But yet, they are there. In my work as an "Anam Cara" to the bereaved I am not afraid to companion those who are finding themselves lost and alone within "thin places" not of their own choosing. My role is to join them in these places and shine whatever light they can perceive into their present darkness. I am also there to assure them they are not alone. I am there to be a witness that contrary to what they believe at present this place is a safe space of shelter until they are fully ready to trust themselves to emerge again into the mainstream of life . Most of all I tell them that the greatest need of their loss is to suspend for a time in this "thin place". A thin place allows us all the opportunity to suspend,to grieve,and to heal. It is a blessed sanctuary for all that mourn.A sacred space of encounter and experience that we cannot imagine will be a helper to us when we first enter. Thin places  "are" when we "are not".I am grateful for the "thin places" in our lives that afford us the time and the space to begin to heal from loss.