The Mandorla is an ancient symbol of two circles coming together, overlapping one another to form an almond shape in the middle. The Mandorla is also known as the "Vesica Piscis", symbolizing the interactions and interdependence of opposing worlds and forces. It is a symbol used in many spiritual and religious cultures throughout the world.

The circles symbolize interacting but complementary opposites. The space within the overlap is the place in which we are called to "remain". This is the place where you arrive after you leave one room and have not yet entered another. In this place, you are living on the threshold and this requires faith. This is where transformation can occur, for the individual or the community.

If we deny one of the opposites (eg. our shadow, death, ..), the circles may only touch; they do not intersect. In this situation, we are polarized, out of balance. Perhaps, too, when we become wholly integrated, the overlap is total and there appears to be only one circle (for awhile anyway).

The Mandorla, known in both East and West, expresses the standpoint of the mystic. It symbolizes for us the tensions of life, the tension of complementary opposites:

In our remaining in the place of the intersection of opposites, we too can be transformed if we but bear the tension of remaining there.  The Mandorla calls us to living in the both/and rather than the either/or.  It encourages us/we rather than me/you.  It is a place where diversity is acknowledge and embraced.