Be Prepared
Copyright© 2025 by Han Jansz. van Meegeren
Chapter 21
“The next part of the Ring of Threads is called Liminality. Before we start, I would like you all to go to the bathroom, use it if you have to, and remove all the makeup you have on. With that, I mean nail polish and toe-polish as well. That goes for you as well, Aislinn. You can keep your clothes on, but the rest of it should all be gone when you get back here. I will give you ten minutes at the most, starting now.” Drew said and pressed the stopwatch on his phone.
After we were all seated again — I was next to Aislinn, who was wearing this gorgeous grey pleated skirt that almost touched the floor — Drew resumed Liminality.
“Arnold van Gennep, full name Charles-Arnold Kurr van Gennep — he lived from 23 April 1873 until 7 May 1957 — was a Dutch–German-French ethnographer and folklorist who was the first to develop the concept of Liminality. In anthropology, Liminality — which comes from the Latin word ‘limen,’ which means ‘threshold’ — is the quality of ambiguity and disorientation...”
I zoomed out after that. Drew being Drew. A quick look around showed that I was not the only one. After a few minutes, Drew came to the conclusion about why this Limi, or something like that, was the centrepiece of this ritual.
“In front of your cushion is a thread of wool that Kia crocheted for us. This thread represents your individual story and your intention for the ritual. What do you want to take home to the colonies from this ritual and how can it help you out there? I invite you all to tie a single knot in your ribbon, and silently infuse your intention into the knot.”
It was silent for a while. I called my knot ‘Harmony’. Above all, I wanted us to live in harmony. I wanted to recreate the feeling of togetherness I was feeling right now, to come back to me whenever I looked at this knot. I was not the last one to tie her knot. Kia and Joyce seemed to struggle with it.
“The moment has come for all your individual intentions are ready now to be woven together. Please pass your ribbon on to the concubine on your left, who receives it and ties her own ribbon to it. This goes on around the circle until we have created one long interwoven thread. It’s a symbol of the interconnectedness and unity of our group.” The thread was a multicoloured feast, and we would find a place for it somewhere on our new planet.