| Casting the Circle |
| Casting Circles is an essential practice for every Wiccan to learn. Some cast a circle before rituals and before any spell work is done, and some only do it when doing spell work. Some believe that a magic circle both protects the worker from negative outside energies and also creates a place for the energy raised to go while doing magic. I personally do not believe that I need to be protected from anything, I don’t believe in bad spirits or demons, so I cast circles only when doing spells (which isn’t often). But, I believe that the beginner Wiccan should learn how to successfully cast circles, so when first starting out you should do them whenever you get the chance. Before performing any ritual, make sure you wont be interrupted (unplug the phone, tell family not to bug you, keep animals and children out of the room, etc). Here is a simple way to cast a circle and work through a ritual. Purification of self - The first thing you should do it prepare for the ritual. This would include cleansing yourself. Take a bath or shower, maybe with some herbal soap, candles, incense - whatever you like to help you relax and create the mood. As your in the tub, imagine all the negative energies and worries of the day come off you into the water. Then before you get out, imagine it all going down the drain. This is just a time to relax and get your mind and body ready for ritual. If you have no time to do this, then you should at least wash your hands and face, maybe your feet too, in the sink and quickly imagine washing negative energies away. Ground and Center - Before you do any rituals or spell work, you will want to take a minute and meditate and prepare your mind. It doesn’t have to take long, just sit and clear your mind. You can also image yourself as a tree, your hands turning into branches with big green leaves at the end, reaching for the sun. Imagine your feel planted firmly, turning to roots, reaching deep into the earth. When you feel calmed you can go to the next step. Create Sacred Space - We call this next step Creating Sacred Space because you want to create a safe, clean space to work. You want to make it spiritual, a place where the God and Goddess can come in peace and harmony. If you are outside in nature, then it isn’t necessary to create sacred space because nature is already clean and sacred. For this next step you should gather all your materials for the ritual and place them on or near the altar. Set your candles, statues, herbs - whatever you need, on your altar. Double check to see that you have everything, and don’t forget things like matches or a lighter and a glass of water (can never be too safe around candles!) Next you can purify the space your working in. If you have a magic broom, symbolically sweep the floor of negative energies, or you can use a smudge stick of sage and wave the smoke around the area your working. You can use any other cleansing incense as well. Also, clean the space up physically too - pick up clothes, garbage and any other things that create clutter. If you prefere to create sacred space with salt water, see the next step instead. Cleansing and Blessing the Salt and Water (cleansing with the elements) - The salt and water are used during rituals for a few things. In this case, it will be used to cleanse the area while walking around the circle. So, take your bowl of water and point your athame/wand/finger into it and say something like “ In the name of the Lord and Lady, may this water be cleansed and all impurities be banished away.” Imagine white, cleansing light going into it from your athame/wand/finger. Now its cleansed. Then, take the bowl of salt and say something like “ In the name of the Lord and lady, may this salt be blessed so that it will lend its protective energies to me.” You probably noticed we didn’t ask that it be cleansed and that’s because here is not need to cleanse salt, because its already pure. Then take 3 pinches of salt, put it into the water and mix, stirring clockwise. By doing this we are creating water that is clean and blessed so we can use it while casting the circle. When your all done with that, take the salt water and go around the circle, clockwise, sprinkling it. Imagine all negativity going away and clean space coming forth. Know that the space your working in is now cleansed. Now, since we already use the elements of earth (salt) and water, you want to use the elements of fire and air. So you can take incense and walk around the circle, clockwise, and a red candle and do the same. Now your done cleansing with the elements. See this page for more detail on cleansing and blessing the salt and water. Cast the Circle - At this point you will draw the circle. One must remember the circle is really a sphere that goes around, above and below the person. It is cast with your mind and the energies you put forth. We use tools to cast it, but they are merely aids, they help set us in a magical mood. With that said, lets proceed. Your altar should be placed either in the north, or east, if you don’t have a compass then you can just leave it where it is. The altar can go in the middle of the circle (in other words, you will cast the circle around the altar) or you can put the altar to one side of the circle. The area you work in can be as big or small as you want, although most people prefer a 9' by 9' space. To make the physical perimeter of the circle, you can place things like shells, stones, flowers, leaves, candles (be careful with these!!!) - whatever object you can think of around in a circle, that way you will know how big it is and where the boundary is. So when you have your altar placed where you want, you then take your athame, wand, or finger and walk clockwise (also called doesil) in your space, pointing downward at the perimeter and imagine a white light coming from the tip of it, going down into the earth. Imagine gathering energy from the earth below you and the air around you and see that energy coming from your athame/wand/finger. Its important to use energy from somewhere else and not from inside you or you will get tired and drain yourself. Then at this time you can say something like: “I walk the boundary of this sacred circle with love and positive energy. May this space be clean, pure and safe for my workings. So be it! ” When you’ve walked around (some people walk around as much as 3 times, but one time around is just fine) then just take a minute and see the circle in a sphere around you. Call the Elements and the God and Goddess -It is customary to call the elements and the God and Goddess into your circle to lend their power and protection. To do this, first stand in the north, athame/wand in hand (or just raise your hands in the air) and since the north corresponds to earth, see earthy representations in your mind. See mountains, animals, trees, the color green and brown, etc and meditate on that for a minute. Then, say something like “Hail and welcome the spirits (or elements, or watchtowers) of earth! I ask that you join me in my circle and aid me in my workings. So be it!” Then go to the eat, raise athame/wand/hands and meditate on water properties - the wind, birds, creativity, scents, etc and say something like “ Hail and welcome spirits of Air! I ask that you join me in my circle and aid me in my workings. So be it!” Then do the same for the south, imagine fire, heat, the desert, reptiles, etc and say “ Hail and welcome spirits of Fire! I ask that you join me in my circle and aid me in my workings. So be it!” And lastly the west, and meditate on water properties - the ocean, sea shells, fish, sand, etc and say “ Hail and welcome spirits of Water! I ask that you join me in my circle and aid me in my workings. So be it!” Now that you’ve called the elements, you have to call the God and Goddess. Gaze at a picture or statue of the goddess (or a goddess symbol, like a shell or flower) and imagine say “Great goddess, Mother earth, that which creates and sustains, you who are called by a thousand names and have lived in the hearts of man for thousands of years, please be with me in my circle and lend me your aid. Hail and welcome!” Then call the God. “ Oh great God, Father of the Forest, the Free Spirit, you who run wild and sacrifice yourself for the land and for the good of your loving people, be with me in my circle and lend me your aid. Hail and welcome!” The Working Part - At this point you would do your spell, meditate, psychic work, or celebrate a Sabbat or Esbat. If you are doing magic, do not forget that you must raise energy as well. If your doing magic, you would visualize your goal, and raise the energy to send out into the universe. To do this you could chant, drum, dance, sing, etc. Then when the energy is ready, when you can no longer stand it, you push the energy up and out of the circle into the universe so it can go work. This is very important to remember or magic won't work. Visualization and energy raising are the 2 most important things to do while doing magic. See the page about magic for more info. Cakes and Ale - Now that you’ve done doing whatever it is you cast a circle for, its time to start to end the ritual. One thing most Wiccans do is have a simple feast to ground themselves and thank the God and Goddess. You don’t have to have cakes and ale, most people just have something like cookies and juice or bread and water. Be creative! Check out the recipe page for some ideas on a food and drink to use. The juice/water/whatever should go in your chalice, or some other special cup that is used just for this purpose and the bread/cookies/whatever should go in a bowl or plate used only for this purpose. In traditional Wicca (Gardnerian, Alexandrian) and some covens where there are males and females, the male would hold the athame and the female the chalice. He would plunge the athame into the chalice and bless the contents that way, and do the same with the food. But since we are doing this as solitaries we will do this different. Sit down and relax. Set the food before you a hold the chalice above you. Say something like “ Bless this chalice, Great Goddess, so this juice (or whatever is in it) will replenish me.” Take a sip of it, then give the rest to the Goddess, either pouring it to the ground if your outside, or pouring it into a special bowl, called a Libation bowl that you can later pour into the ground after the ritual. Then take the food and say “ Bless this bread, Great God so that is will replenish me.” Eat some and then put it into the libation bowl or onto the ground. Then sit again and ground yourself. You can do the exercise of turning into the tree again. When you feel replenished, go to the next step. Release the God, Goddess and Elements - Now we have to thank the god, goddess and elements for being present and lending their power. First start with the Goddess. Say something like “Gracious Goddess, I thank you for being with me in my circle and lending your power. Blessed Be!” Then the God. “Gracious God, I thank you for being with me in my circle and lending your power. Blessed Be.” Now for the elements. Since we always work clockwise when starting something, we work counter clockwise (widdershins) when ending it. So start at the West elements, water. Just say a simple thank you, raise your hands and say something like “Thank you spirits of water for lending your aid. Hail and Farewell.” Then go to the south, then to the east and finally to the north and say the same. Then stand in the middle of the circle and say “Blessed Be.” Now start at the north, and walk counterclockwise with your athame/wand/finger and imagine it absorbing the energy of the circle. See the white light going back into the tip if your tools. When your all done you can say a traditional ending such as “May the circle be open, but unbroken, may the peace of the Goddess be ever in my heart. Merry Meet and Merry Part until we Merry Meet again. Blessed be.” Now that your all done with the circle you just want to clean your altar up, pour any remaining water and salt in the ground, or leave it on the altar to suck up negative energies for a few days. Clean up the area if your outside - pick up litter and your belongings, and put your materials away. One note - while the circle is cast, you don’t want to leave it (walk through it) or it will get weak. So like I said above, make sure you have everything in the circle before you start. If your working with others, you can adapt the circle casting so everyone has a part. One person could call the quarters while another casts the circle. There are many, many ways to do it and there are many poetic invocations and saying you could use. Once you are confident in your abilities, I would recommend using longer, maybe more poetic circle castings. Don’t be afraid to write your own as well. It will be more meaningful if you do. Some creative ideas for casting circles In order for circle castings to not be boring, I have though of some neat things you can use while casting and some props you can use to craft a more magical effect 1. Use polished stones (found at craft stores) to form the perimeter of the circle. Place a candle between them at each of the quarters. 2. If your outside, use a stump or a fallen log as an altar. 3. Hang white lights (x-mas lights) around the room, or string them through branches on trees if working outdoors. 4. Place a staue of an animal that corresponmdes to that element in the appropriate place around the circle. 5. Imagine or call on a different ANIMAL (north - deer, east- bird, south - snake, west - dolphin, SEASON (north - winter, east- spring, south - summer, west - fall), GOD/GODDESS, FAERIE ( North - gnome, East - sylph, South - Salamander - West - Undine) or MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE ( North - Unicorn, East - Griffon, South - Dragon, West - Mermaid) when calling the quarters. 6. Imagine when the circle is cast that it is made of fire, a grove of trees, hedge, waterfall, fog, or a stone circle. 7. If working outside, buy some of those Tiki Torches and put then around the circle. Or get some big rocks and place them around it. If you have the time and space, buy some trees and place one at each quarter. 8. Draw, paint or sculpt a symbol for each of the directions in the appropriate color. 9. Place as many natural objects around, and on the altar as you can. Get rocks, feathers, pine cones, acorns, flowers and leaves. 10. Cast the circle silently. Say the words in your mind and use a lot of visualization. Use gestures and body movement a lot as well. 11. Scatter herbs around the perimeter of the circle. |
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