Casting the Circle (The Method I Use)
One of the most basic forms of protective Magick is the magick circle, it is used to protect against spiritual and magickal attacks whilst performing rituals and to contain any energies summoned or made whilst performing your magick. It also is used to create a small ‘rift between worlds’ if you are contacting or evoking entities. Circles have been present throughout history, originally thought to be taken from ceremonial magick, it has since been discovered that it was used heavily in folk magick and even in Ancient Mesopotamia thousands of years earlier. The actual shape of a circle appears in all forms of magick. It represents eternity,unity and the never ending life. A circle with an equal armed cross also stands for the sun and the 4 elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.
There are many different ways to cast a circle, this one is the method I use, pieced together from a variety of sources to suit my needs and most importantly it works for me. The first thing to do as with any ritual is prepare yourself, I do this by a simple 10 minute meditation. Start by breathing in and out, in and out, drawing all your attention to your breaths, notice you chest rising and falling as you do and begin to count your breaths, keeping them nice and slow and steady. Empty your head of all thoughts, feelings and emotions, and just be one with yourself . After 10 minutes you can then precede to gather what you need for the ritual. Set up your Altar to the north of where you will cast the circle, on it you will need any tools you need for your main ritual and 4 candles of red, green, blue, yellow, an athame, a bowl of water, a small bell, salt, a smudge stick and any incense you want to burn during this ritual. In the centre of where the circle will be (and if outside) you can place your fire or cauldron (if inside leave out the fire and or cauldron).
At this point I like to perform the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram to cleanse the area of any negative energies. A traditional way would be to sweep the area with a besom (Witches Broom) to metaphorically sweep away the energies. At this point light any incense you will be using. Take up your athame and begin to draw a circle on the ground, around your central point, to the diameter you require and in a clockwise direction. As you do, imagine a blue energy coming from the end of the athame and creating a blue energy circle as you go. When visualising the circle you should know that its not just a flat circle but actually a sphere encasing the whole area with the line you have created as the circumference. Once completed I like to place candles at each of the cardinal points, green for north meaning earth, yellow for east meaning air, red or orange for south meaning fire and blue for west meaning water. don’t light them yet however.
Next take up the spring water and consecrate it, To consecrate water really easily, take a bowl of water, regular tap water is fine but you can use spring or bottled water. Fill a small bowl and pour in salt, being very generous as salt in magick is well known for being able to absorb magickal energies and as spiritual protection in rituals. In this instance it will clean away and absorb any residual energies, be it positive or negative leaving the area and items fully cleansed. Take your index and middle finger and hold them together just above the water. Start to breathe in slowly and deeply. On the in breath visualize a white energy gathering around you like a white aura. On the out breath let the white aura flow down through your body and fingers and into the water, whilst doing this resist the urge to push the aura out let it flow naturally out your fingertips, also try not to tense up, relax as much as possible. When you get the sense of a total peace, that is the time to stop and begin to sprinkle around the boundary 3 times. Finally consecrate the boundary using a candle to represent fire, a smudge or incense stick for air and salt for earth. Sprinkling or waving each one 3 times.
Now return to the centre, I usually also face the Altar or North. Speak aloud,
By the Elements
Fire, Earth, Air and Water
Three times Three
This Circle is purified
The castle has now been raised
Cast and Bound
So it Be
Move around to the east and light the candles, as you do speak the words
Black spirits and White
Grey Spirits and Red
Come forth
Come forth
Come forth
Throughout and about
Around and Around
The circle is drawn
The circle is hard
The Castle is Raised
All Good come in
All Bad Stay out
When you have lit all the candles, take the small bell from the altar and return back to the centre. Face North and speak the words
White spirits of the North
I summon you and call you forth
Arise you powers of Earth and Stone
To guard our circle
And all who stand within
Ring the small bell three times and move to face the east. Speak the words
Black spirits of the East
I summon you and call you forth
Arise you powers of Air and Wind
To guard our circle
And all who stand within
Ring the small bell three times and move to face south. Speak the words
Red spirits of the South
I summon you and call you forth
Arise you powers of Fire and Flame
To guard our circle
And all who stand within
Ring the small bell three times and move to face the west. Speak the words
Grey Spirits of the West
I summon you and call you forth
Arise you powers of Mist and Water
To guard our circle
And all who stand within
Ring the small bell three times and move to face back north. At this point ask for the old gods to attend the circle. The circle is now cast and you can proceed with whatever work you are doing. When taking it down perform everything in reverse only this time thank the spirits and ask them to leave and move around in an anti clockwise direction. Extinguishing the candles as you go.
As I have already said there is many different ways and each one is just as viable as another this is just the method that works for me.
