Lesson #6

Casting a Circle & Invocations
part 1

What Is A Wiccan Circle?

There are places on the Earth where the wall between the worlds is thin as a veil, and ancient peoples would go there to worship, pray, celebrate, and work magick.

Wiccans can make such magickal places, wherever we are, whenever we need them. We call it Casting a Circle, and Creating Sacred Space.

The magick Circle is a prime tool (and symbol) in Wicca. As such, it has different meanings, so let's start by getting clear on them.

In Wicca, a Circle is...

1. A geometric shape, for instance the circle around the star that creates a Pentacle
2. Standing or moving around in a circular orbit — e.g. "We circled around the room clockwise"
3. A symbol of the Circle of Life, the Goddess, or the Moon
4. An alternate word for a group or coven of Wiccans/Witches — e.g. "My Circle meets every Full Moon"
5. An alternate word for a Wiccan ritual — e.g. "We went to a Beltaine Circle"
6. Participating in Wiccan ritual — e.g. "We Circled in an open field"
7. A magickal construct that creates a safe environment and a bridge between the worlds — e.g. "We began by Casting a Circle"

It's the latter definition we're interested in for this lesson. With so many definitions, though, is it easy to get confused? Not really. The context gives it away.

And for our purposes today, the clue is the word Cast. None of the other uses of the word Circle contain that term.

And, by the way, it's always "Cast a Circle." Drawing a Circle on the floor or in the air is different from Casting a Circle.

Sometimes it's also called a ritual Circle, a magick Circle, or a Wiccan Circle.

So What Does Casting a Circle Mean?

When you Cast a Circle, you're creating a magickal structure. You build it out of imagination, intention, and energy, although sometimes you may wish to use solid objects as well — a vine or rope delineating the boundary of your Circle, or objects in each Direction to "hold" the Circle, for instance.

And let's be clear: because you build it out of energy, a Circle is invisible (to most people), but that doesn’t mean it isn't there!

Wind is invisible, but you have no doubt it's real, right? It's the same kind of thing. With practice, most people can learn to sense a Circle — by touch or sight or inner knowing. (Of course, this assumes that the Circle is strong and well-made... another skill that takes practice.)

And what's a Circle for? It's like a magick bubble, transporting you outside the ordinary physical world and into Sacred Space.

Sacred Space

There are places in this world that are neither here nor there,
neither up nor down, neither real nor imaginary.

We tend to divide life between mind and matter
and to assume that we must be in one or the other or both.
But religion and folklore tell of another place that is often found by accident,
where strange events take place,
and where we learn things that can't be discovered in any other way.

— Thomas Moore

Sacred Space is an energetic location where Divine energy touches the Earth (somewhat like a tornado's vortex funnels air from the upper atmosphere down to the ground), where we can transcend the confines of our mortal awareness, and step outside the limitations of Newtonian physics to shape the quantum foam to our intentions (i.e., magickally alter our world).

It's a transitional space, the Gateway of consciousness where the world of matter and the world of spirit/energy overlap.

Casting a Circle is the way Wiccans create Sacred Space, wherever we're working. It's like creating a temporary Chakra on the Earth.

You make a Circle (actually a sphere) situated in a space on the planet, linked to the physical world. And yet the boundary of the Circle sets this space apart from the material world, and when you stand within it, you are standing in the spiritual realm... like you're visiting the Divine’s embassy on the Earth's soil.

When we Cast the Circle, we step into the liminal zone between realities. That's why, when you are within a Circle, you are said to be "Between the Worlds."

This is where magick and magickal ritual are always performed. Not because it's traditional or because someone said we should, but primarily because we must step into the spiritual realm in order to work magick.

There are other reasons as well....

Why Cast A Circle In The First Place?

As Wiccans, as I'm sure you know by now, we don't do things because dogma requires it. We do things because they're useful and true. So what are the reasons Wiccans Cast Circles?

There are 4 primary reasons:

1. To help us shift consciousness
2. To access Divine and magickal energy
3. To create a container for working energies
4. For protection from unfavourable outside influences

Where Magick Is Real

In physical reality, you may have heard, there's no such thing as magick; it's not real. This is absolutely true. Magick cannot work on the level of matter.

However, in the spiritual realm, magick is the reality.

And since the spiritual world is the source of the material world, magick from there can and does alter the physical world.

As St. Paul and so many other sages have, in their own words, said: "That which is seen hath not come from that which doth appear." In other words, the physical world is not the source of the physical world. Everything in material reality has its cause in the spiritual realm.

When you Cast a Circle, you are creating a doorway into the spiritual realm, the Causal Realm. This doorway is metaphorical, but it's also literal. You will not physically notice much of a difference, being Between The Worlds, but your consciousness shifts toward the spiritual realm.

And what you do within the spiritual realm has effects in the real world.

That's why, after Casting a Circle, we say, "What happens between the worlds, changes all the worlds."

Containment

The Circle is also a container for magickal energy, allowing you to raise and hold energy until you have moulded it and are ready to direct it to a specific magickal use.

Without a container, the energy you raise would just keep flowing out into the world, not waiting for you to imprint it with your intentions. It wouldn't be very beneficial to raise energy, just to have it leak away into space before you can tell it what you want it to do, would it?

You hold it in, you keep calling in more energy, until you have a big sort of cauldron stewing with magickal potential... which you can then use for a particular task.

An analogy of this would be drawing water in a bucket full of holes. No matter how much water you scoop up, you won't have any in there by the time you get to washing the floors. You need a solid container to hold the water until you're ready to use it.

Protection

The third biggest reason that we always work within a Circle is that it is a very effective protective shield.

The Circle is a barrier for energies.

Just as the Circle holds in the positive energy that you raise, it keeps out unwanted energies that could contaminate your work, or negativity affect you.

In the bucket analogy above, you can put the bucket on dirty ground, but the water stays clean because the bucket is a barrier between the water and the dirt.

When you are working magick, you are more open to subtle energy forces than usual. You have to be, in order to be able to manipulate energy for magickal purposes. So you want to keep yourself secure from random wandering energy fields and even negative energy that may be coming to you from others, intentionally or not.

A Circle is essentially made of Divine energy, which you channel into a sphere around you. This acts as a barrier to anything other than energy with the same vibrational charge as Divine energy — that is, positive, beneficial, life-enhancing.

This is a very important point, one that you need to keep remembering to be successful in magickal work —

It is not you who is doing the magick.
"You" are a physical mortal being.
"You" cannot do magick.

However, you can and do channel
Divine magickal energy into the world,
and guide it into the forms you choose.

You, as a human being, have been
specifically designed to do this!

Continue with Casting a
Circle & Invoking, part 2:

How to Cast a Wiccan Circle

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