Adinkrahene: Adinkra symbol of the week No. 2

This week we continue the series by moving from the act of returning, of going back to fetch what was left behind, to the source from which all Adinkra wisdom flows. Now we arrive at the King!

{If you missed week 1 you can find that here: Sankofa Week 1}

❖  THE SYMBOL  ❖

Adinkrahene means ‘King of the Adinkra Symbols’. Formed from three concentric circles, each one held within the other, it's said to have been the original inspiration from which all other Adinkra symbols were born.The source, the centre, the symbol from which everything else radiates outward.

Its three concentric circles are thought to have been inspired by ripples spreading outward from a single drop of water, a beautiful image of how one small act, one moment of genuine connection, can travel far beyond what we can see or measure.

Adinkrahene represents authority, leadership, charisma and greatness. Not the kind of greatness that demands to be seen, but the kind that holds everything together from the inside out, the quiet, centred power of simply knowing who you are. In Akan philosophy, Adinkrahene is also a symbol of the importance of ideas and concepts, the invisible things that, like the circles, are abstract and elegant, yet hold the potential of everything.

❖  WHY THIS MATTERS FOR YOU  ❖

Last week, Sankofa asked us to turn and look back to reclaim the wisdom, traditions and ancestral gifts we may have left behind. It was a symbol of courageous return.

This week, Adinkrahene asks something different. Before we can truly receive what we have gone back for, we must first recognise that there is a centre in us. A still point. A place of inner authority that was always ours, before the world started telling us who to be, what to do, or where we belonged.

I love the ripple image at the heart of this symbol. Because when we do the deep work of ancestral connection, when we go back and fetch what Sankofa sent us for, the effects ripple outward in ways we cannot predict or contain. Into our relationships, our creativity, our children, our futures. One centred person, one genuine act of reclamation, ripples outwards.

You are the still point at the centre of those circles. That's not a small thing.

❖  JOURNAL PROMPTS & REFLECTIONS  ❖

Find a quiet moment, perhaps with a candle lit and your hands resting open in your lap. Then explore:

1. Where in your life do you feel most centred, most deeply yourself? What is present in those moments?

2. What does ‘greatness’ truly mean to you? Not the world’s version, but your own?

3. What ripples have you already sent outward in your life that you may not yet be able to see the full reach of?

4. Who in your ancestry held quiet authority, a centred inner power that others could feel? What do you know or sense of them?

Allow whatever arises to be met with gentleness. You are the centre of your own story. The circles begin with you.

❖  IN MY WORK  ❖

I work with Adinkra symbols throughout my ceramics and jewellery practice. Adinkrahene, with its clean concentric circles, is one of the most quietly powerful symbols I return to again and again, a reminder that everything radiates from a centred, knowing core.

In my EARTH | SPIRIT | FIRE retreat this May, we begin every day in exactly this spirit, returning to centre through ritual and ceremony before anything else. If you'd like to explore this, I'd love to have you with us.

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