Lesson #6

Casting a Circle & Invocations
part 4

The Circle As A Magickal Shield

Because a Circle creates an energetic protective bubble, it works well as a magickal Shield.

We'll cover Shields more thoroughly in the lesson on magickal protection, but for now, what you need to know is that learning to Shield from external energies is an important Wiccan skill. (Especially because so many Wiccans are highly sensitive people, and strongly impacted by energies around them and the Energy Fields of the Earth.)

The basic idea of a Personal Circle is simple:

You Cast a Circle around yourself,
and leave it there (instead of Opening it).

Then you go about your day, with your Circle around you.

A Personal Circle is a great beginner's Shield because it's easy to do and you get a lot of practice at Casting so you get good at it quickly.

Also, a Circle only keeps out negative or harmful energies; it allows positive, Divine-aligned energies to flow right through, bringing you health and blessings of all kinds.

That's the ideal Shield!

How To Create Your Mobile Circle Shield

• Begin with the intention that you are creating a Personal Circle as a Shield.
• Ground and Centre, then Cast your Circle as usual, making it about 6 feet wide, with you in the middle: in other words, about as far as your fingertips can reach.
• It helps to put a stone or crystal in the Centre, in place of your altar. (A stone helps Hold the Circle for you, but it's not a requirement.)
• Invoke the Directions/Elements and the Divine for protection (or anything else you'd like to bring into yourself and your day).
• See/feel/visualise your Circle as clearly as you can, as a sphere of brilliant light around you. Not just as an empty bubble, but as a ball filled and glowing with light that you're standing inside, and the light fills you as well.
• See/feel/visualise this Circle anchored by a ribbon of light to the stone in the Centre.
• When it's clear to you, say (and feel!) "Blesséd Be!" (This works as a kind of magickal Seal, fastening it securely in place.)
• Then put the stone in your pocket and go about your day. The Circle will move with you.
  And every time you feel the stone, you’ll be reminded to check in with your Shield.



Refreshing Your Shield

You should refresh this Shield whenever you feel like it's fading or you've lost touch with it.
All Shields need to be refreshed, so this is not a flaw or failing. When you're just starting out in magick, it's natural that the Shield needs to be recharged more often, so don't feel bad if you need to refresh it every hour, or less.
Refreshing a Shield is simple: you simply re-create it. In this case, that means Casting another Personal Circle.
The minimum for best results is refreshing it 3 or 4 times a day: when you first get up in the morning, at midday, at supper, and before bed (this really helps you get a good night's sleep!).
But just doing one every morning will make a huge difference in your life! It's especially important when you're beginning your journey into magick and energy-work.
Even if you don't refresh it, know that it's still there, still working for 24 hours, even if a little less effectively than ideal.
Your internal connection with it and belief in it is largely what determines how long it lasts. So if you just check in regularly ("Where's my Shield? Can I feel it? Ah, there it is! Yup, still feeling strong. Awesome!" ),you’ll keep it active longer.



Shielding and Karma / Negative Energy

When you cast a Circle Shield, it runs interference with negative energies coming from your environment, to you.
It won't directly affect negative energies coming from inside you — which is to say, you can't protect yourself from your own negativity with this kind of Shield... although it will help to keep them from leaking out into your environment (which is great, because then people around you won't be reacting in negative ways to any negativity you might be having, and you can avoid the "magnifying" effect).
However… by Casting a Circle, you are connecting with Divine Energy and clearing — even if just a bit — your channel to the Divine.
Any time you come into greater resonance with Divine Essence, your Energy Field gets purified and uplifted — again, even if just a bit. This does affect what you energetically call to you, since you'll be sending out more positive energy vibes. In other words, you'll get less negatives and more positives back from the world around you. I've been asked whether Shielding in this way could block important karmic lessons. It will, over time, help heal your karmic debt, but it won't really block your karma. Anything that your soul needs in order to grow won't be affected by a Circle.
Think of this as well... There are two paths to evolution that we can choose:

We can learn through joy
or
We can learn through pain.

The way to learn through joy is to consciously, intentionally, actively work to heal our blocks, issues, traumas, programming, negativity, mistaken beliefs, etc.

The way to learn through pain is to, well, do nothing of the sort. That's the default position, the one that we get when ego and unconsciousness runs us.
It's easy to live unconsciously. We don't need to think, to pay attention, to challenge our thoughts, to grow. But there's a heavy penalty. Merely reacting to our environment without awareness and learning, we tend to send out negative energy, which means our lives attract unpleasant situations.
You could think of it as the Universe trying harder and harder to get our attention, wake us up, and have us step into our power. Or you could think of it merely as cause-and-effect... i.e., karma.
As we learn to work intentionally with our soul self and become more conscious, we clear out all the other gunk, so we send out more and more lovely energy. Thus our lives become smoother, more joyful, more fulfilling, and more love-filled!
Either way, we will learn what we have come here to learn. One way, we can maybe do it in one lifetime, or less. The other way, it may take a thousand lifetimes.
You can choose to learn your great breakthroughs from joy, if you want… you don't have to do it the hard way.
If you choose this, I recommend telling the Goddess in no uncertain terms that's your intention, and make sure She gets on board to help out.







Continue with Casting a
Circle & Invoking, part 5:

Invocation & How to Invoke










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