A liminal deity is a god or goddess in mythology who presides over thresholds, gates, or doorways; "a crosser of boundaries".[1] These gods are believed to oversee a state of transition of some kind; such as, the old to the new, the unconscious to the conscious state, the familiar to the unknown.[2]
Types of liminal deities include dying-and-rising deities, various agricultural deities, psychopomps and those who descend into the underworld: crossing the threshold between life and death. Vegetation deities mimic the annual dying and returning of plant life, making them seasonally cyclical liminal deities in contrast to the one-time journey typical of the dying-and-rising myth.
- ^ "THE GREEK PANTHEON: HERMES". English Mythology Class Notes. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- ^ Nadkarni, Vithal. "Ganesha for good start". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.