Lesson #6

Casting a Circle & Invocations
part 2

How to Cast a Wiccan Circle

There are many ways to cast a Circle, or to create Sacred Space. Every religion has its own method.

In Wicca there is one method that is fairly universal.

There are other methods, such as the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram from ceremonial magick, the Hammer Ward from Ásatrú, and my own Three Worlds technique, for starters.

But here we'll learn the most common Wiccan Circle-Casting. Let's just jump right to the instructions:

Casting the Circle

Before you begin, determine as best you can where the Directions are. If you know where the Sun or Moon rises (East) or sets (West), or where they are at their highest point (South), that’s close enough. Otherwise, make your best guess, or use a compass if you have one (there are free compass apps for iPod/iPhone).

1. Stand facing North, in the centre of where you will cast your Circle. If you have an altar, stand beside it. Make sure your posture is well-aligned, as this aids the flow of energy (among other spiritual benefits).
2. Ground and Centre yourself, pulling the energy from Earth and Sky into yourself. In the grounding technique you’ve learnt, you bring Earth energy up and into you during every inhalation, and Sky energy flowing down and within you during every exhalation.
   Now you take this one step further: with every inhalation, the energy floods within you from both directions simultaneously. If this is difficult, just relax and allow it to flow. The energy wants to do this naturally; if you can step out of the way, it will happen effortlessly.
   With every exhalation the energy builds within you, filling and overflowing your Womb Centre and Spiritual Heart Centre, flowing down your arms and into your fingertips, in a continuous stream of energy.
   This is the energy that creates the Circle — it is the energy of the Divine, which you are channeling and forming to a specific purpose — creating Sacred Space.
3. When you feel fully charged, point the index finger of your dominant hand (in most people, that's the right hand) to the North.
   FEEL and/or SEE and/or IMAGINE this energy streaming through you, out your finger as an electric-blue laser light beam to the boundary of where you want your Circle to be.
   It's helpful to use your breath for this. You've filled with breath/energy already... now let it flow out down your arm and through your finger, out to the edge of your Circle, and draw the Pentacle with your breath/energy.
   With this beam of light, draw a Pentacle in the North. Make it as tall as you are, or even larger. Visualise it not at your fingertip, but out on what will be the "wall" of your Circle.
   Remember, you're not using your own energy for this, but the river of energy flowing through you from the Divine.
   Then with your beam of light, touch the centre of your Pentacle of light and let the Divine Energy flowing out seal and charge the Pentacle with Divine Energy.
   Make this declaration, firmly and powerfully, either as you draw the Pentacle or as you seal it:

   By the Earth that is Her body, and the Grove that is His home!

4. Then draw a line of light from there to the East (turning clockwise, which you’ll remember in magickal work is called deasil — towards your right shoulder).
5. Pause here for a moment, inhaling and making sure your posture is aligned and you're fully charging with energy, ready to flow. Draw another Pentacle, now in the East. Speak this phrase as you do so, or when you’re done:

   By the Air of Her sweet breath, and the Music of His song

   Again touch the centre of this Pentacle to seal it. Then continue your line of Light around to the South.
6. Again pause to check your connection to the energy flow. In the South, draw a Pentacle, this time saying:

   By the Fire of Her bright spirit, and the Spark of His passion

   Again touch to seal and charge it, then continue the line to the West.
7. Pause to affirm your connection to the Energy. Draw the Pentacle, and say:

   By the living Waters of Her womb, and the Dew that is His tears

   Touch to seal. Now continue the line around to the North again, completing and closing the Circle — this completion is most important. See/feel the Circle flow with energy as it becomes whole.
8. From the North, draw the line of light overhead, to the centre above you. (You’re drawing a circle vertically this time, as you drew it horizontally a moment ago.) Fill with energy, and draw and seal the Pentacle above, saying:

   By all that is Above...

9. Draw the line in an arc overhead to the South and down underground to the centre again, below you. Draw the Pentacle and seal there, saying:

   ...and all that is Below

10. Complete this vertical circle by drawing the line back up to the North Pentacle, again finishing where you began ... and as you touch and seal there, it's important to conclude the process by feeling/seeing/imagining that the Circle flares into a shimmering bubble of charged energy all around you.
    You have literally created a sphere of energy that you might experience (or imagine) as light, sound, tingling, sensations of spaciousness, or other impressions.
11. Contain your energy flow within you, now, no longer letting it pour out of your finger. Some of the energy will continue to feed the Circle, though, until you finish.
    You may want it to collect the still-incoming energy in your Heart Centre or Womb Centre for later use, or if it feels overwhelming you can reduce the amount flowing into you.
12. In the Centre of your circle, state with power:

    The Circle is Cast; I am between the Worlds! ¹
    And what happens between the Worlds changes all the worlds!
    Blessed Be!

Congratulations, you have Cast your first magickal Circle!

Invoking Into The Circle

Technically, that's all that goes into a Circle Casting. However, in standard usage, when we say Casting a Circle, we often mean the whole process of preparation that goes on before a ritual. In other words, we Cast a Circle, and then we invoke the Elements and the Deities into it.

We'll look at Invocations later in this lesson. For now, just be aware that at this point of the process, you'd invoke Elements and then Deities.

Similarly, when Opening the Circle, the first thing you do is devoke or release the Deities, and then the Elements (working in reverse order to how you Cast). Only after that will you devoke the Circle itself.

Opening the Circle

Now let’s “Open” the Circle — this is what we call it when we undo the Circle, dismantling the energy structure we created when we Cast the Circle. (We don't usually call it un-Casting, though everyone would understand it if we did.)

Here's why we call it that: when we're Casting, we make sure to close the Circle and complete it. That's why we bring our blue-light line back to the North, our starting point, at the end... so there are no gaps or breaks in it, and we've completely closed off that space from the outside world.

And now we're removing that separation, and opening that space up again to the outside world. It’ll make more sense once you experience it.

For opening the Circle, you do the same things as for Casting the Circle, except in reverse order... and instead of sending energy out through your finger, you are going to draw the energy back into you. It's as if you're sucking in the energy through a straw.

So now let's go through the process of Opening the Circle:

1. Stand in the Centre again, make sure you're grounded and centred and connected with the energy.
2. Bring your finger (or athame) pointing to North. Retrace the arc down beneath you to Centre, and as you do so, draw the energy in that line back within you.
3. Retrace the Pentacle there, “erasing” the energy lines with your finger as the energy returns to you, and speaking the Devocation of the Circle, piece by piece:

   By all that is Below...

4. From there, retrace the energy line arc up to South and, from there, overhead at Centre. Retrace that Pentacle, drawing the energy back within you, and say:

   ...and all that is Above

5. Retrace the energy line, erasing, back to North.
6. From North, turn counterclockwise (Widdershins) to the West, drawing in the energy line as you go.
7. Retrace the Pentacle in the West, saying:

   By the living Waters of Her womb, and the Dew that is His tears

8. Continue Widdershins to the South, and retrace that Pentacle, as you absorb the energy, this time saying:

   By the Fire of Her bright spirit, and the Spark of His passion

9. Retrace and soak up the energy line to the East, and absorb that Pentacle, saying:

   By the Air of Her sweet breath, and the Music of His song

10. Retrace the line to the North, and absorb that Pentacle, saying:

    By the Earth that is Her body, and the Grove that is His home

11. Draw the energy from the North back within you, so that the whole Circle is, in a way, inside of you.
12. Then state with strength:

    "The Circle is Open, but never broken.
    May the peace of the Goddess go with us in our hearts.
    Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again!

13. You can sing the Circle Opening song if you like (I always do):

The Circle is Open
But it's never broken
Merry meet and merry part
And merry meet again

Continue with Casting a
Circle & Invoking, part 3:

Fine Tuning Your Circle Casting

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