Portals play an important role as both a 'real' liminal space and a psychological tool for change
Portal #1
Snow blown ice patterns through a window at Top Withens The first portal has to be the window in Wuthering Heights through which Lockwood is grasped by Catherines ghost. As far as portals go, windows are not designed for passage in the way that doors are but are for mainly observing the other side. Here all three worlds are connected by the hands through the portal - inside, outside and the spirit realm. Bonus portal ! - In this way Emily Bronte also creates a literary portal for the reader to experience the rest of the story ‘I must stop it, nevertheless!’ I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch; instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, ‘Let me in—let me in!’ |
Portal #2
This is the entrance to the Temple of the lodge of the Three Graces in Haworth where Branwell Bronte was an active Freemason and who rose through the 3 degrees from apprentice to master mason. The initiation into the Freemasons would have involved a symbolic death/rebirth ritual giving access to the Temple and the secrets of 'G', the Eye, St John and other Mason symbology used to provide the mental tools to build a perfect conceptual temple and simultaneously become a better person in the physical world. There are several similarities with masonic symbology and themes used by Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre eg Janes death/rebirth experience in the red room which is her gateway (Gateshead ?!) for entry into Lowood, Miss Temple, Martha G and later on Bertha Mason and St John Rivers. Not only was Branwell a Freemason, the family were surrounded by members of the society and so would have been very familiar them and Charlotte uses the idea of secret societies in her juvenilia. Incidentally the Haworth Freemasons were already called 'the Lodge of the Three Graces' the 3 graces being the 3 daughters of Zeus, God of thunder... Bonus portal ! Nice archetypal resonance going on with the sacred female trinity. |
Portal #3
The Fairy cave at Ponden Kirk.
Situated at the top of the valley called Ponden clough and framed on each side by 2 waterfalls feeding the stream is a rocky outcrop called the Kirk. (The name Kirk has its roots in Norse and is associated with meeting places and churchs.)
At the base of the Kirk is a squarish hole that runs completely through the rock. If you are slim enough you can crawl right through to the other side.
One story ive heard is that once when all the different beings from all the realms came with gifts to pay their respects, the fairies instead brought tools and chiselled out the cave and it was this space that they had created that possessed the magic rather than the physical objects brought by the Giants etc. (*Recently heard a interview with, i think, Rupert Sheldrake who was discussing the idea that space itself was consciousness connected by the objects, atoms, fields and patterns within the universe)
Traditionally caves are seen as entrances to the underworld whereas 'holes' provide a portal to begin a new journey and to experience the fairy realms superimposed on this world. They are also,for this reason, associated with fertility rituals and, more recently (since the christianisation of the UK) with marriage. A local tradition says that anyone passing through the fairy cave will be married within a year.
The Fairy cave at Ponden Kirk.
Situated at the top of the valley called Ponden clough and framed on each side by 2 waterfalls feeding the stream is a rocky outcrop called the Kirk. (The name Kirk has its roots in Norse and is associated with meeting places and churchs.)
At the base of the Kirk is a squarish hole that runs completely through the rock. If you are slim enough you can crawl right through to the other side.
One story ive heard is that once when all the different beings from all the realms came with gifts to pay their respects, the fairies instead brought tools and chiselled out the cave and it was this space that they had created that possessed the magic rather than the physical objects brought by the Giants etc. (*Recently heard a interview with, i think, Rupert Sheldrake who was discussing the idea that space itself was consciousness connected by the objects, atoms, fields and patterns within the universe)
Traditionally caves are seen as entrances to the underworld whereas 'holes' provide a portal to begin a new journey and to experience the fairy realms superimposed on this world. They are also,for this reason, associated with fertility rituals and, more recently (since the christianisation of the UK) with marriage. A local tradition says that anyone passing through the fairy cave will be married within a year.
Portal #4 The Moon
Traditionally symbolising change and the passage of time, the moon is often used to mark events - a new moon to begin a new project or a new phase in life, the full moon to mark completion.
As a portal the moon is thought to give access to the dream state, sub conscious and the astral realms and is associated with the mind in many traditions.
The moon is used by Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre and by Emily in Wuthering Heights to both signify an imminent change or to mark important events in the novels.
It is also associated with the sacred female trinity and represented as the triple moon symbol for Maiden, mother and crone.
BONUS PORTAL - The local Freemasons attended by Branwell were a full moon lodge, using the light of the moon to travel across the moor to meetings. The masonic lodge was (and still is) called the Lodge of the 3 Graces, the 3 graces being the daughters of Zeus and an incarnation of the sacred female trinity,
Traditionally symbolising change and the passage of time, the moon is often used to mark events - a new moon to begin a new project or a new phase in life, the full moon to mark completion.
As a portal the moon is thought to give access to the dream state, sub conscious and the astral realms and is associated with the mind in many traditions.
The moon is used by Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre and by Emily in Wuthering Heights to both signify an imminent change or to mark important events in the novels.
It is also associated with the sacred female trinity and represented as the triple moon symbol for Maiden, mother and crone.
BONUS PORTAL - The local Freemasons attended by Branwell were a full moon lodge, using the light of the moon to travel across the moor to meetings. The masonic lodge was (and still is) called the Lodge of the 3 Graces, the 3 graces being the daughters of Zeus and an incarnation of the sacred female trinity,