THE MEANDA RING by Karen Harper

Greetings all you soul whisperers! When I offered to do Monday Morning Meanderings for a spell while Dane got a little bit more country (is that possible?) I had this idea for a little mythologized story of us, her community. I hope you will enjoy and feel curious about Sophia.

The Meanda Ring

At the Time of Turning, there was such power and presence in the Silence it began to sing. No one knew how long the hidden deity had been there, but it began to be noticed by those in various wakening states. One great handful of these, situated in the heart of the heartland, became quiet enough to hear the Silence and steadily their sense and understanding grew. They were inclined to share their experience with one another, and paid particular attention to this churning stillness that called them to awareness, much as a mindful child heeds its mother. They came to be known as the Meanda Ring.

It happened that the Way Keeper of their village was well accustomed to the wild voices of wind, water, earth and fire. She made shelter for one and as many as came from a great turtle shell; and she drummed and chanted that they might all come into greater harmony with the One, the Silence that Sings. Each, as they were moved, caught the melody and danced their own dance to this music.

These were individuals hearty enough to withstand the discomfiture of their gnosis, and were therefore of “sound foot.” Each stood sufficiently strong in their own stead, and so remained sure-footed whether alone or together. Still, moving into true alignment with their souls, they at times encountered discord with the people and aspects of their world that resisted the Turning. Sometimes it was difficult, but they continued to dance, haltingly at times, and they were sustained by the harmony within, and among, one another.

Small groups of them gathered in the Wild, with the Way Keeper, and elsewhere. A certain connectedness emerged, not only with each other, but with the Earth that embraced their dancing feet, and Sophia, the Silence that sang them into full being. This inter-wovenness distinguished itself; it called for recognition and celebration.

On the Feast Day of Sophia (November 28), they gathered en mass around a great fire. Each brought a ring of their own choosing and the Way Keeper collected all of them in a turtle shell and charged them with her blessing. She mixed them together with red petals and blessed that for which they stood, while those gathered danced and chanted as of old:
I am a circle, within a circle,
With no beginning, and never ending
As the Way Keeper passed back among the circle, placing on each person’s hand the ring that was their own, she reminded them that it now held something of all the others. Henceforth when they gathered, they wore their rings as symbol and so if any asked, “What kind of ring is that?” They would answer, “a Meanda ring.” These symbolic circles within the greater unbroken circle, thereafter known as The Meanda Ring, regardless of how many or few were gathered, represented a new way of being in the world and with each other. Sophia (aka Holy Spirit, Divine Wisdom, Sapienta, Asherah, Mother of All) moves us (man and woman alike) to ‘Call the Circle, in order to be in holiness and in the world.