What Can A Circle Teach Us About Spirituality?

#1: Adinkrahene 

Commonly reserved for royalty, Adinkrahene is an Adinkra symbol celebrating greatness, charisma, and leadership. 

Adinkrahene inspired the designs of the other Adinkra symbols, many of which are celebrated and worn as adornment throughout the African Diaspora. 

#2: Yowa 

Yowa is a sacred cosmogram of the Bakongo people, mapping out the reincarnation process. Yowa looks like  a circle with a cross inside it. It’s believed the center of the cross represents the point of communication between our world and the ancestral realm. 

Much of South Carolina’s enslaved population was descended from the Bakongo. Archeologists found objects etched with Yowa in the quarters of enslaved people. 

#3: Wining 

Wining is a Caribbean dance form focusing on the circular, rhythmic motion of the hips and pelvis. Circling the hips counter-clockwise is seen as a sacred rotation that embodies the earth’s rotation and symbolizes the creation of life. 

Wining was traditionally performed at rites of passage ceremonies. 

#4: Keep Your Circle Close

One of the most powerful examples we see of the circle is our circle of friends and family. The phrase “keep your circle close” reminds us to think critically about who we want to be in community with.  

The circle remains central to our community practices, healing cycles, rites and rituals, and ancestral wisdom. 

How can we reflect the sacredness of the circle within our own faith practices?