Almost from our very first moments in the Craft, we're taught that our magick and rituals are performed
within a Circle - a defined area where we interact with magickal energies. We cast a Circle through various
means. Some of us use an athame, a magickal knife, to describe the boundaries of our sacred space.
Others invite the Quarters, elemental energies from the four directions. This concept is not only valid, but
incredibly useful.
Unfortunately, it's also flawed - not in theory, but in scope.
If you've been spending any time here in the pages of Old Ways, especially in recent months, you've read
time and again about how we are spiritual beings living a physical experience. I've mentioned that we
innately have the power of creation at our fingertips, that the only thing that holds us back are the limitations
that we set in place when we came into this lifetime, limitations that we can consciously let go of in order to
embrace the fullness of our power and our birthright as spiritual beings.
Following the path that I was taught, both by physically incarnated teachers and those who are currently
teaching from the Elsewhere, what we consider "Circle casting" is one example of how a concept can be
applied. The unfortunate truth is that very few of us are taught anything beyond that point, including the
theory and application of the concepts behind Circle work. It's as if someone along the way found an old
grimoire whose pages had been damaged by water, burned by fire, torn by earth, and scattered by air.
Pages were missing leading up to the rite of Circle casting and the book was too damaged to read beyond
that point. So the reader, attempting the approach outlined in the grimoire, found it to be useful and taught
it to others.
"It is apparent that you work magick in a Circle," they said. "You've got to try it! It works."
And it does work.
However, the concept is similar to someone offering to teach you how to make breakfast and walking you
through the process of making cold cereal. You take an empty bowl and a spoon, fill the bowl with cereal
and add milk. Voila! Breakfast is made.
So you teach the next person, not calling it "cold cereal" but calling it "breakfast." Then someone decides
to try adding fruit to sweeten it and a handful of berries are tossed into the mix. The debate becomes
"berries versus no berries" until someone decides they like their cereal dry and eats it without milk. We
begin to eat it out of special bowls and use sacred spoons that have been handed down throughout the
ages.
But there's more to breakfast than cold cereal.
The Basics
In its simplest form, a Circle is both a laboratory and a painter's canvas. You're undertaking a twofold
process - a duality that is both precise and divided while also being creative and inclusive. First, you're
creating energetically neutral space and separating it from the world around you so that the only energy that
enters this space is that which you consciously intend to be part of the rite. Second, you're taking the
building blocks of reality and spinning them into thread, much like wool is spun into yarn. Everything
beyond this point is purely dependent on the intent of the ritual that's being undertaken.
Casting a Circle is a surefire approach to this process. That's why it works. You ritually cleanse the area
and then lock it off from the rest of reality. In this energetically neutral space, you pull in the concepts that
you want to weave and set to work. The woven energy is then placed back into the flow of reality, you open
up the space and then ground yourself back in the regular flow of things.
The grounding portion of this process is tremendously important because a part of you is attached to the
energy you wove and placed back into the flow of reality. Casting a Circle literally put you in neutral territory
- you're not in the spirit world, you're "between the worlds," nestled in one of the seams of reality. But as the
weaver of the rite, you're covered in the energy you wove, much like a baker's hands are covered in flour.
The only difference is that instead of leaving powdery white hand prints if you don't "ground" by washing up
after cooking, in Circle casting you become one of the ingredients. As your magick draws energy to it, it also draws your energy into the mix. Because this is happening between the worlds and your energy is still connected to the rite, in a very real sense you're still between the worlds as well. That's why we often feel dizzy or light-headed after working a rite when we fail to ground. We're still connected to it.
(While I've mentioned this in previous materials, one of the easiest and most effective ways to ground after
a rite is simply to stomp your feet until you're firmly entrenched in physical reality again.)
And while our typical approach to casting a Circle is an effective way to work magick, it's only one way of doing so - and our techniques and abilities may not be as effective as we'd like.
Stepping Between the Worlds
Witches are the hackers of physical reality. We see beyond the software of mundane reality and change its
code. But anyone who has ever done any programming knows that you can't do it without accessing the
program's code so you can alter and recompile it.
There's a place between the "user" and the "machine," an area where the code of reality is written. That's
where we do our work, in the seams of reality. I used to work with a group of pagans who used to declare
as part of our Circle casting, "We're between the worlds, beyond the realm of time, where life and death,
fear and love, light and darkness exist as one." It's this place, this in-between, that we seek to reach when
we work Circle-based magick.
Casting a Circle is extremely useful for one reason and one reason only - it allows us to physically
accompany our spirit in the process of weaving magickal energy. Magick relies heavily symbolism. That's
why we can use a stone to represent the entire elemental concept of Earth or a feather to represent all of
the manifestations and potential of Air. If we were working a purely spirit-based rite, we could use shamanic journeying techniques to enter into our inner sanctuary and work the rite there, not moving a muscle, not needing a single physical component. But we step between the worlds when we do Circle-based magick. We're right in the center of reality's seam, in a space between physical reality and the spirit realm. It's our intent that what we're weaving will manifest both in the subtle flow of reality and in our mundane lives. For this process to work at all, we have to symbolically incorporate both our spirit and our physical self in the rite.
Removing the Crutch
When I teach a student in the offline world, I use what I jokingly refer to as the spiral method. We take a
concept, learn it and move on to the next concept, each building on the one before. I require the student to
stretch their boundaries, to let go of old tools and develop abilities and a level of proficiency by stepping
away from the structure of a concept and working with only their own energy. Just about the time we let get
to the point where they're really comfortable in letting go, we go back to the concepts we let go of long ago
and the student is encouraged to use them with their new level of ability. In this way we spiral along the path, coming back to a concept only to leave it behind once more, spiraling ever upward.
There's an old story of a young man who was accepted to study martial arts at a renown monastery. He
proudly left his village behind to study under the guidance of a great kung fu master. Much to his dismay, the master
gave him a single task - to stand before a rain barrel and strike the surface of the water with his open palm
until he'd splashed all the water from the barrel. When the barrel was empty, it was refilled and the student began
anew, day after day after day.
During a major holiday, the student was allowed to return to his village, where the townsfolk were eager to
hear all that he'd learned and see a demonstration of his newly honed abilities.
"I've learned nothing!" he exclaimed, angrily slapping the thick wooden table with his open hand.
The table split in half under his single blow.
And the student understood what the master was trying to teach him.
I've mentioned this before, but keep in mind, the core concepts of magick are incredibly simple - it's the
application of those concepts that are as varied, complex, and unique as the people who work the rites.
When we work with a concept, like Circle casting, it's important that we don't rely on it as the only way to do
something or we will never grow beyond that level. Just like a child, first we learn to crawl, then we learn to
walk, then we learn to run. And just like a child learns to let go of the security of using their hands to crawl
and trusts their legs to hold them upright, so we too need to step beyond our comfort zone, begin reducing
the elements of our rituals and move the energy without them.
If we can do this, we find ourselves with the same astonishment as the martial arts student. Honing our
abilities, we find that when we need to use a fully cast Circle for a rite, that the rite is incredibly powerful.
Instead of the elements of our ritual allowing us to reach a certain level of reality, we find that they empower
us to move beyond that level.
A Natural Progression
We begin working with a fully cast Circle, following instructions laid out in a book, offered by a teacher, or
created on our own. But this is just the first step in the journey of learning how to hone magickal ability.
Remember, the key reason why we use a Circle for magick is that it symbolically allows our physical body to
enter the rite, mirroring our intent to have our magick manifest on both the perceived spiritual and mundane
levels of reality.
When I teach students how to cast a Circle, we pull out all the stops. Candles are placed at the four
Quarters and are lit when Fire is called into the Circle. Water is sprinkled around the boundary we
describe, as is salt to represent Earth. We use either a small set of chimes, a tiny bell, or an ancient
Tibetan singing bowl for Air. Energy is pulled in and directed. We invoke and evoke. Tools and symbolic
elements are utilized. It's a complex and very ritualistic process.
The next step is to let go of the tools while utilizing the same concepts. I'll often have the student pull energy in
from the air around them and shape it into thick cords. When the student is capable of creating three energy cords
simultaneously and weaving them into a single rope, we then direct the energy rope in a circle around us, defining the
ritual area in this manner. This teaches the student to energetically create and maintain sacred space.
The next time we need to use a circle, we will use four candles set at the Quarters and nothing more. The
student is expected to be able to successfully cast a Circle using only these tools and a flame, utilizing their
newly honed ability to create and maintain energetic space.
Taking an additional step away from ritual, we move to using only a single candle flame, the student
connecting to the circle of candlelight and energetically following it and enhancing it to create their ritual
space.
Then, in the most difficult of this series of exercises, we sit motionlessly, eyes open, in full light, and without
moving create energetic space, letting go of the need to pull the energy in, shape it into cords and weave it
into a rope.
When a student has shown aptitude in all of these stages, we return to a fully cast Circle. With mastery over each of the elements involved in the process of creating circular ritual space, the rite itself is greatly
enhanced and they're capable of moving, sustaining, and directing significantly greater amounts of energy within the rite.
And once Circle casting has been mastered once more, we move to working with instant circles - shifting
from mundane to magickal space and immediately manifesting energy without the need for a rite.
Why a Circle?
It's symbolically necessary to use a Circle when working magick. That's not to say that we need to cast a
Circle each time, but that we need to be in a defined energetically neutral space and that we need to be
near the center of that space when we're spinning the energy into threads and weaving it into reality. The
Circle doesn't have to be formal and it need be no bigger than is required to enclose our physical body.
But because of the symbolism of us working a change that will appear both in the perceived spiritual and
physical realms, we need to have both our body (physical) and energy (spirit) present to empower the rite.
A Circle is a paradox, much like the fabric of reality. In magick, there is no such thing as linear time,
although we, as human beings, clearly perceive a "before" a "during" and an "after" to each of the events of
our lives. When we cast a Circle, there's a moment when we begin and when we are finished, but once in
place, a Circle simply exists. It has no beginning and no end. Because magick is a tremendously symbolic undertaking, the more completely the symbolism of our weaving reflects the fullness of what we're doing in the ritual, the more effective our rite will be.
Second, energy flows like water. In a circular energetic environment, there is nothing to interrupt the flow of
energy and cause it to "ripple." This is equally important both within the space we create and without. We
not only want the energy of our rite to be as "smooth" as possible, but we want the same from the energy
that flows around our sacred space on the outside of Circle. Our space should be like a round smooth
stone in the midst of a river, not a wall that the river crashes against.
The third and final reason is a combination of the first two and is something we'll likely explore in greater depth
on this journey together. Reality is formed of spheres. We can see this reflected throughout mundane
reality. When we look up at the night sky, we see the celestial sphere, a perceived sphere on which the
stars, planets, the moon, and such are reflected. When we speak of a governments and world affairs, we
talk about their sphere of influence. We might refer to a person's network of relationships as their social
sphere.
If we were to step completely outside of our mundane senses, we'd discover that this is also true on a
magickal or spiritual level. Each of us creates our own sphere of reality. If you're in energetic balance, you
can reach out and sense the world around you equidistant in every direction. That's your sphere. Reality
isn't an even plane, but a series of overlapping spheres that create a seamless whole. Because there are
so many individual overlapping spheres, and we're capable of perceiving the energy of those we interact
with, we see this conglomeration of individual spherical realities as a composite, rather than as its
individual pieces.
Spheres and the Paranormal
One theory on ley lines, ghostly manifestations, and the like is that, when we limit the whole to just the
energy we who are physically manifesting create, there are gaps, places where our spheres fail to fill out all
of reality. Because we typically experience only one level of reality at a time (usually the mundane or physical realm), we aren't aware of the greater
whole, but other pieces of that whole fill those gaps just the same. Where our reality stops, the rest of the greater scope of reality fills in the spaces.
There are rules to this process as well. And this is where it gets complicated.
Imagine that each sphere was a teaspoon filled with food dye. If you take someone that isn't aware of
anything but mundane reality (a condition one of my pagan friends impolitely describes as "head blind")
their teaspoon is almost pure food dye. They're aware only of their own color and when you pour them into
a large bowl filled with water, all you can see is the color of their dye.
Now if you take someone that is attuned to various levels of reality, their "dye" is going to be much more
diluted - not because they're less powerful, but because their perception is a truer reflection of the whole or
reality, represented by the bowl filled with clear water. Remember that letting go process we talked about? How Spirit is love and how our magickal abilities become enhanced the more we let go of fear, grow spiritually, and embrace love? In that process, it's not only our sight that is becoming clearer, but our "food dye" becomes clearer as well.
So imagine that you're near one of the gaps in reality that we described above and the color of the food dye that flows into the bowl of clear water to fill that gap is red. (To keep this model an accurate representation of reality, spirits and the like have their own "food dye" as well. They also create their own reality, much as we do, it's just that we aren't always attuned to their presence, let alone their perspective of reality.) If your dye is blue and you're poured into the bowl, you're going to experience varying
levels of red. Maybe your teaspoon is clear enough that the actual red of the other dye comes through and
you see a physical manifestation of the fae or a ghost or one of the gods. Perhaps your colors blend and, in
your joined purple, you only feel or sense their presence. It's not that they're not there, just that sometimes our
own teaspoon is so filled with our own color that we can't perceive anything but our own self, our own
definition of reality.
How it Works
When we cast a Circle, in whatever form we choose, we're essentially creating a new sphere. We're inside that sphere, constructing it out of the energy we pull in and the energy of our own "food dye." That's why we define the boundaries of our Circle. That's why we need energetically neutral space. When we cast our spell, work our magick, or perform our rite, we're
symbolically pushing the sphere we've created into the midst of the greater network of spheres with the intent to influence reality,
much as our own definition of reality influences the world around us.
Doing so, we're not only between the worlds, bringing a new sphere to life, but we're stepping into a middle
ground, half in our own personal sphere, half in the Elsewhere. That's why it's so important that we ground when we finish
a rite. Because just as we influence the flow of reality, so it can influence us once we release the
boundaries of our Circle. We will naturally integrate back into our own sphere over time, but dizziness, light-
headedness, lack of focus, and occasionally nausea are common side-effects of failing to properly ground.
There isn't a right or wrong way to cast a Circle. But it's important that we use them when weaving magick.
Using a Circle creates a new sphere; moving energy without one simply pours a small amount of dye into
the bowl of water, color that influences the bowl for a moment, but is quickly diluted with the other spheres
that come in contact with the water.
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