Magic may, by its very nature, be a circular phenomenon. We can surely say magic moves in a circular manner, unleashed by us into the causal space to hopefully return in the fullness of its manifestation. It just seems intuitively right the perfection of the circle would be inherent in the underlying metaphysics we engage with magic.
Skip the Circle, Shortchange Yourself
A magical practitioner who thinks circles are relic techniques of no value shortchanges himself or herself by discarding this essential magical act. The circle is the logical next step after entering a magical state of consciousness.
The Focused, Sacred Space of the Circle
The raised magical circle separates the magician from normal time and space, placing him or her into a void-space where subtle energies may flow unimpeded and be channeled for maximum effect. It also provides a focal range within its circumference where the magician may better focus the mind and more effectively direct energy into the goal at hand.
Energy herein conforms to the circular arc and can move as concentric rings of magical energy or a spiral form of magical force between the material and astral realms, using the ether as a channel of transit. Whether or not that specific concept is workable for you, the core point is your circle equates to improved energetic dynamics that produce stronger magical results.
Full Spectrum Protection, Even from Objection
Within your circle you are protected from the currents of misfortune, the energies of curses and jinxes, detrimental spirits (who may often linger around the hapless magician) and the permeating doubt in magic held by the contemporary world. If raised correctly, the circle will even prevent your own doubts from interfering with your magic.
The circle can also insulate you to some degree against unfavorable energetic conditions that, while potentially benign or neutral, may negatively impact your work. Examples of such conditions include moon phases and other astrological alignments, numerological indications, and other cycles, states, or conditions that would counteract the specific operation you intend to perform.
Why in the world would you deliberately avoid casting a circle after considering these points?
The Magic Circle: Not Just for Ritual After All
Many people incorrectly presume a magic circle is only needed or useful in ritual magic applications. This is false and there is no lore or historical evidence to support the idea.
The Versatility of Magic Circles
Magic circles can be used for any form of magic, and ar/e also applicable to meditation, astral travel, a space for magical study or training, and even lucid dreaming or just a safe sleeping space. With some practice and understanding you can even use a magic circle in a crowded space without anyone else (aside from the astute psychic bystander) knowing what you are up to.
How to Cast a Basic Magic Circle
For this simple work you need a place where you can concentrate undisturbed. If you can close a door between you and everyone else do so. Also leave your phone out of the work area.
If you use a magic wand bring it along. If not you can use a quartz or other crystal point, one that feels good for projecting energy. If you don’t have either of these tools you can use the pointing finger on the hand you write with, and if you don’t have that, use another finger when the time comes.
You should enter the magical state, just as you do prior to any working of magic.
Banishing and Clearing the Space
The act of encircling will itself remove problematic energy from the interior space and shield against energetic issues and entities from the outside. However there is a correlation here to the state of mind and personal power, skill etc. of the magician and the banishing potency of a circle cast without preparation.
A very proficient witch or wizard may raise a highly fortified circle without preparatory cleansing and even without lifting a finger. The question to ask yourself is simply: are you a highly trained magical powerhouse?
if so, I beg your pardon. Otherwise it would behoove you to perform some elementary clearing or banishing in the space prior to raising the circle. This initial work might take many forms, including but not limited to:
- Burning Sage, or Juniper, or both. (either dispels “bad energy” and repels troublesome spirits and entities)
- Burning, or adding to the above some Vervain, along with Yarrow (daytime) or Lavendar (nighttime) (this bit isn’t for banishing, but to attune the space to mystical and magical energies)
- Use a banishing pentagram of earth to clear your body and aura, then a banishing hexagram of earth or a banishing cross to clear the surrounding area. (A pentagram will clear you and the area around you if you have sufficient will and clear enough intention.)
- Hold a kyanite in your receptive hand to align the Middle Pillar chakras and harmonize your energy matrix. At the same time hold a citrine in your projective hand and use its energy to purge your Middle Pillar and auric field, from just above the crown to the floor beneath your feet. the citrine will simultaneously strengthen your manifestation channel, which uses the Middle Pillar.
You can also proclaim: Hekas, Ekas, Este Bebeloi! This channels the magic of Hecate and clears unhelpful energy and unwanted spiritual guests from your presence and workspace. It is highly effective but must be deal out with intention and faith in its efficacy.
“Hang on now. (You might say.) Are you saying magic requires belief in order to function?” No, that is not what I am saying. Magic is a technical function of proper execution, but understand it must work within the framework it is given and will almost always have factors and forces to overcome. Your doubt is an incredibly powerful counteraction to your own magic and the magic of those you interact with, so you must learn to temper it and convert it to healthy skepticism instead of outright naysaying and self-doubting.
Raising or Casting the Circle
A circle placed on the ground is a cast circle, you can do this by drawing with chalk, sprinkling salt, and many other ways, including the method below.
Raising a circle is simply tracing it in the air around yourself. You can do this with a wand, a magical blade, a crystal, or your pointing finger.
There are other nuances to be uncovered for both cast and raised circles, but you can’t learn it all in one go. 😉
The Wand Finger
When casting or raising a circle with a wand, dagger, crystal, etc. you hold the tool in your projective hand, or the hand you write with. Some left-handers use their right hand because, while they right with the left, they would use a hammer or throw a ball with the right, indicating (potentially) the right hand is still their projective limb. Without a tool you may use the wand finger, which is the index or pointing finger of your projective hand.
Each finger and the thumb represent a different element or planet. different systems exist, but a common system uses the following order:
- Digit
- Index finger
- Middle finger
- Ring finger
- Little finger
- Thumb
- Planet
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Sol
- Mercury
- Venus
- Element
- Air
- Fire
- Water
- Earth
- Spirit
Luna and Mars are attributed to specific parts of the palm.
Also note the elemental attributions may not make sense in conjunction with the planetary assignments. there are other arrangements you can try, though none I have found make sense in the scheme of modern correspondence tables.
However, this is all right. All things, from planets and trees to people and spirits and crystals and thoughts and yes, even the digits on your hand, contain all planetary and elemental energies. The way we categorize them often depends on how we use or experience them and references the more dominant energies present.
This will make more sense as you work within any given system. At any rate the arrangement above works out wonderfully for the wand finger.
The wand finger is attributed to Jupiter, a planet that appears prominently in wand lore from the Middle Ages, likely due to that sphere’s emphasis on authority and wisdom, as well as magic. Further, the correspondence to the air is perfect in a system (like the one I subscribe to) wherein air is the standard element of the wand in the suite of ritual tools.
Seriously: Enough Yapping Let’s Cast or Raise this Circle!
You decide whether to cast or raise the circle. As usual, there is debate among experts of the Art as to the benefits of either approach to encirclement, with some claiming the grounded circle connects to the Mother below and others pointing out the circle in the air about you is appropriately in the liminal space between this world and the other, unseen yet present world of the ether. These finer points can be debated or argued over later. Just choose the approach that you’d like to try and go with that for now.
Where to Begin the Circle and How Big Should it Be?
Magic circles often start with the caster facing the east, towards the direction of the rising sun. Alternatively, some magicians begin in the east during daylight and begin in the west, the traditional direction of the moon and lunar wind, for operations at night. You can also just start facing north, as north is the prime cardinal direction used to orient oneself to the other directions when reading a map or using a compass.
You can also ignore directional correspondences and simply begin the circle right in front of you, in the direction you are facing or will face during the work to come.
The Size of Your Circle
Circles can vary in size and specific sizes may be prescribed for specific operations. I like to use a 3, 6, or 9 formula unless I have reason to do otherwise.
By this I mean I will project my starting point either 3, 6, or 9 feet in front of me and retain a radius of the same distance for the entire circle as I draw or project it. Radius is the distance between where I stand, at the center, and the boundary of the circle in any direction. This results, of course, in a circle with either a 6, 12, or 18 ft. diameter, or distance from any point along the circumference or boundary of the circle to the opposite point across the circle.
Three feet may be sufficient for a quick, personal magical act. Or this may be ideal if other people are with me in close quarters but not part of my work.
Nine feet is for operations with many people or requiring lots of space.
I use a six feet radius for most work, giving myself plenty of room to move about as needed once the circle is in place. this is big enough for almost anything you find need to do within a circle.
Pick your starting point, being mindful of how far in front of you to place it and then aim your magical tool or your wand finger directly at that point in space. Feel or imagine a connection with this point and relax your body and mind.
Use Your Inner Power to Draw the Circle
An easy way to relax in a situation like this is to check your neck and shoulders for tension, and then release whatever tension you may find. Do the same thing for your hips and lower back. Releasing all this tension will immediately make you more relaxed.
Entertain no thoughts of what you were doing before this moment, and do not let your mind wander into the future. Stay fixed here and now with but one goal in your present mind, namely the successful casting or raising of a magic circle.
Projecting a Beam of Intention and Psychic Energy
With tool or finger aimed at the origin point for your circle, take all that intention you have for making a circle and concentrate it into a beam that you project from your core, down your arm, through your hand, into your tool and finger and then out in a straight line to the point you have chosen to start from. This should, and with practice eventually will be a single movement of energy in response to your intention.
Form the energy from your intention and them project it to the starting point.
Your beam may be invisible, composed of brilliant white light, or the popular silvery blue color recommended by many writers and teachers. Or it might consist of fire, water, purple mojo, or anything you find appropriate and that resonates your true power as it is projected.
Turn or Step to Rotate a Full 360 Degrees
Without taking your wand or finger off the plane of the circle and never allowing the beam you are projecting to cease or to flow backwards, turn on your heals or take baby steps around to rotate a full circle. As you turn the beam stays constant, drawing a circle at whatever distance you have chosen for the radius as it moves.
Which Direction Do You Turn?
I generally teach people to turn clockwise, or to their right. This is Deosil, or “right way” or “sunwise”, related to the solar or male principle and illumination, creativity, “I am”, the will, and so on. You’ll note in the diagram of you in the center of the circle, the image resembles the astrological sigil of Sol, so the clockwise or Deosil movement seems to strike the right chord.
Clockwise is by no means mandatory nor is counterclockwise by any means wrong. In fact there are reasons to encircle while turning left.
This leftward, circular motion is Widdershins, which can represent, among other things, trouble and bad fortune. Such energy may be useful if you are working magic to thwart an enemy.
Counterclockwise movement can also represent the feminine or the lunar sphere. It can also mean secrecy and mystery.
Yet another reason to stroke the circle leftward is the fact that counterclockwise motion can be used to smite or banish. with this in mind you could turn left on your circle, for example, if you’ve made no time for preliminary banishing.
Full Circle at Last!
Now your circle is complete. You are nearly ready to put some magic to work in your special space. I want to thank you for all this reading and to assure you that, in practice it will take you a fraction of the time you have spent on this article to actually cast a circle. All this yapping on my part translates to a few seconds or a minute or so at most in actual work for you.
It will prove a good investment of energy and time well spent. The returns, over time, will be better results and greater consistency of those good results from your magical efforts.
Stating Your Intention
With the circle cast or raised, you should next state its purpose. This is simply what you will use the circle for, and it may be spoken aloud or thought clearly. By stating your intention you activate the energies and spiritual critters of a helpful nature within and around you, engaging them with your work so they can help the process and outcome.
Closing the Circle
When you are finished with the work you need to banish energies and spirits you have called forth. when conjuring elementals and channeling planetary forces this banishing should take the form of pentagram and/or hexagram banishing rituals or something similar. For less involved work you can simply say “It is finished.” or “My work is done. My will is spun, by moon and sun. Magic begun. Stopped by no one. Victory won.”
Extend your arm through the perimeter of the circle with intent to close it, and it will dissipate, returning the area to normal space and time.
Closing Thoughts
there is a great deal more that could be discussed about circles. There are the directional correspondences and elemental attributions, plus the directions associated with the raw powers, from which the four elements emerge. Also each planetary sphere is assigned a direction, and there are variant considerations for pentagram and hexagram rituals, and for operations of sorcery and spirit evocation.
The magic circle is the gateway to a parallel universe unto itself that can be studied over the course of a lifetime. If you’d like to learn more have a look at this…
Magic Circles Made Easy
Magic Circles Made Easy
The core nexus of a magician’s power dwells in the magic circle he or she raises before spell casting or ritual work. Too many contemporary practitioners consider the magic circle a stuffy relic of the past, to be forgotten. Such thinking prohibits the naysayer from reaching their full magical potential.
This brief work will lay out for you what the magic circle is truly all about. You will be given three basic methods for circle casting, a thorough understanding of how, when, and why to use various magic circle techniques, and many examples of magical circles you can begin using right away.
This material should become a staple in your magical library and, above all, your regular magical practice.
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