Liminal

"Liminality (from the Latin word līmen, meaning "a threshold") is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of rituals, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they will hold when the ritual is complete. During a ritual's liminal stage, participants "stand at the threshold" between their previous way of structuring their identity, time, or community, and a new way, which the ritual establishes.

lim·i·nal  

/ˈlimənl/

Adjective Of or relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process. Occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.

liminal  (ˈlɪmɪn ə l)
— adj
	psychol  relating to the point (or threshold) beyond which asensation becomes too faint to be experienced
[C19: from Latin līmen  threshold] Relating to a beginning or first stage of a process; inceptive; inchoative; marginal; insignificant.

The temporal dimension of liminality can relate to moments (sudden events), periods (weeks, months, or possibly years), and epochs (decades, generations, maybe even centuries)."