2025 Adjudicator’s Workshop – Crossroads

The word “crossroads” has both literal and figurative meanings. Literally, it refers to a place where two or more roads intersect. Figuratively, it represents a critical point in time or a stage of development where a significant decision must be made, potentially leading to different paths. In folklore, crossroads can also be seen as a liminal space, a place between worlds where supernatural events can occur

All entries should involve the theme of Crossroads in whatever way you like.

To get your creative juices flowing – it might be useful to consider the following:

Interpretations and Meanings of “Crossroads”

Literal Meaning

• A junction where two or more roads meet and cross: This is the basic, physical definition found in most dictionaries. For example, “Turn right at the next crossroads” refers to a place where streets or pathways intersect.

Figurative and Symbolic Meanings

• A critical turning point or moment of decision: Used metaphorically, being “at a crossroads” indicates a point in life where a significant choice must be made, often one with lasting consequences. Examples include individuals facing pivotal career or personal decisions.
• A place of transition or transformation: Symbolically, crossroads often represent moments of change, uncertainty, or the potential for new directions—times when the outcome may alter a path forever.

Spiritual, Mythological, and Folk Significance

• Liminal and mystical locations: In folklore, crossroads are seen as “boundary places” where the worlds of living and spirit, known and unknown, overlap, making them sites of supernatural encounters, communication with spirits, or rituals. They are often regarded as powerful, magical, and sometimes ominous places.
• Sites of divine or supernatural intervention: Greek mythology and other ancient traditions viewed crossroads as places where gods and mortals interact. For example, the goddess Hecate is closely associated with crossroads, seen as a guide at the boundaries between worlds and choices.
• Ritual and cultural usage: Throughout history, crossroads have been locations for placing offerings, erecting altars, or performing rites—to seek guidance, invoke transitions, or protect against evil. Some traditions associate crossroads with the possibility of bargains with spirits or the devil, such as the legendary “deal with the devil” at a crossroads in the blues folklore of the American South.

Psychological and Literary Perspectives

• Symbol of inner conflict and decision-making: Psychoanalysts like Jung have described the crossroads as a mother symbol, representing the conjunction of opposites and the psychological tension involved in choosing a path. In literature, crossroads often appear in stories to dramatize decision-making, transformation, and personal growth.

Other Contextual Uses

• Community or central hub: Less commonly, “crossroads” can refer to a main centre of activity in a town or region, where people gather and various paths connect.

Summary Table

Context	Meaning/Interpretation
Literal	Road junction
Figurative	Turning point; moment of choice
Folklore & Mythology	Liminal space; spirit/worlds intersection
Ritual & Magic	Site of transformation, spiritual communication
Psychological & Literary	Symbol of conflict, decision, union of opposites
Community/Geographical	Central hub of activity

Crossroads, therefore, carry layered meanings spanning the literal, metaphorical, spiritual, and psychological; making them a powerful symbol across cultures, history, and personal experience.

Crossroads in Literature

The crossroads is a powerful and recurring symbol in literature, operating on multiple levels—literal, metaphorical, spiritual, and cultural. Its uses can be summarized as follows:

• Decision and Change: At its most basic, the crossroads represents a point of choice or transition, a moment when characters must decide between different paths, each with lasting consequences. This metaphor is widely used to highlight indecision, transformation, and pivotal life moments.
• Liminality and Transformation: Crossroads are considered liminal spaces—thresholds between worlds or states of being. In narratives, they locate characters or communities at the edge of transformation, symbolizing opportunity, danger, or the unknown. These spaces can mark shifts in identity, fate, or understanding.
• Spiritual and Supernatural Encounters: In folklore, particularly in West African, European, and American traditions, crossroads are depicted as sites where the supernatural and mortal worlds intersect. Examples include meetings with gods (like Eshu in Yoruba tales), spirits, or the Devil (as in Robert Johnson’s blues legend or the Faust myth). Such encounters often involve negotiation over destiny, talent, or soul—a motif especially strong in music and magical lore.
• Cultural and Historical Functions: Historically, crossroads served as execution or burial sites for those outside mainstream society (criminals, suicides), reinforcing their association with marginality, exclusion, and societal boundaries. They have also been used as places for community gatherings, rituals, and rites of passage.
• Symbol of Fate and Free Will: Literarily, the crossroads embodies the tension between predetermined fate and free will. Authors use the setting to externalize a character’s internal conflict, emphasizing moments when personal agency is tested or destiny asserted.
• Connection to Music and Cultural Myth: In Black American literary and musical heritage, the crossroads are central—serving both as a site of struggle and a place for spiritual bargaining (as in blues music legends and August Wilson’s plays).

“To be at a crossroads often means to be at a place of uncomfortable indecision, at a place where one’s life path might forever change.”

Overall, the crossroads in literature is a rich, layered motif through which authors explore choice, spiritual encounter, transformation, and the complexities of human experience. Its use transcends culture and era, making it a versatile symbol for narrative tension and change.

Crossroads in Popular Culture

The crossroads is a potent and widely recognized symbol in popular culture, serving roles that range from markers of fate to sites of supernatural encounter. Its uses span music, film, television, comics, folklore, and more, often focusing on themes of choice, transformation, and the unknown.

Music:

• The crossroads is legendary in blues music, most notably tied to the story of Robert Johnson, who, according to popular lore, made a “deal with the devil” at a Mississippi crossroads to attain extraordinary musical talent. His song “Cross Road Blues” epitomizes this motif, and the narrative has influenced countless artists across genres.
• Songs like “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and rock adaptations (e.g., Cream’s version of “Crossroads”) further cement the symbol’s musical significance.

Film and Television:

• Movies such as “Crossroads” (e.g., the 1986 film and the 2002 Britney Spears movie) use the motif to explore self-discovery, ambition, and life’s big choices.
• The crossroad appears as a literal, magical place in series like “Supernatural”, where characters make deals with demons, mirroring longstanding folklore about bargains and fate.
• Animated series (e.g., “Avatar: The Last Airbender” episode “Crossroads of Destiny”) use this metaphor for character-defining decisions.

Folklore and Spirituality:

• Many traditions see crossroads as mystical or liminal spaces—portals between worlds where spirits can be contacted or where trickster gods, like the Yoruba deity Eshu and Greek goddess Hecate, reside.
• The notion of making deals at the crossroads (often with the devil or spirits) is a common trope in literature and storytelling, linking directly to tales in hoodoo, Vodou, and European folklore.

Comics and Theatre:

• Comics (e.g., The Incredible Hulk’s exile to “The Crossroads”; encounters in Hellboy) evoke the crossroads to mark choices with existential or supernatural consequences.
• In theatre, works such as J.M. Synge’s “The Well of the Saints” and Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” use crossroads to represent moments where fate and destiny collide.

General Symbolism:

• Across all these mediums, the crossroads is a universal metaphor for personal dilemmas, transformative choices, moral tests, and the intersection of parallel worlds or possibilities.
• Pop culture leverages this deep-rooted symbolism to dramatize the struggle of decision-making and the unpredictable impact of those choices on life’s journey.

“The crossroads is a powerful symbol that has been woven into the fabric of pop culture, captivating audiences through music, film, and literature… The crossroads motif represents critical life choices and transformations.”

This enduring symbol continues to inspire artists and audiences alike, reflecting the challenges and mysteries inherent in choosing one’s path.

Crossroads the TV show 😊

Crossroads was a long-running British television soap opera broadcast on ITV, debuting in 1964 and running until 1988, with a later revival from 2001 to 2003. The show was set in a fictional motel (later hotel) in the Midlands and focused on the lives of its owners, staff, and guests, particularly centred around Meg Richardson, a widow who transforms her home into the Crossroads Motel using insurance and compensation money.

Production and Legacy:

• The show was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling and produced by ATV until 1981, then by Central Independent Television until its first cancellation in 1988. The early 2000s revival was produced by Carlton Television.
• Although often criticized for its low production values—with frequent mentions of wobbly sets and fluffed lines—Crossroads achieved immense viewership, reaching up to 15 million viewers at its peak in the 1970s and early 1980s.
• It was notable for being broadcast “as live” with limited retakes and varied scheduling across the ITV network. The show’s popularity was such that even decisions to stop airing it caused public outcry, prompting reversals of those decisions in some regions.

Cultural Impact:

• Crossroads became a byword for “cheap production values” in British TV culture. Yet, it maintained a devoted fanbase and played a key role in British daytime television.
• Its main storyline focused on feuding sisters and the expansion of the motel as a community hub, reflecting contemporary social and business themes.
• The show remains a significant part of British television history for its longevity, audience size, and influence on the soap opera genre in the UK

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C. M. Angus – July 2025