One of the things that a lot of beginning wiccans want to know the most is how to cast a circle. In this lesson we are going to talk about several ways to do this.
First, for those who want to do the full ritual version of casting a circle like for your Sabbat Rituals, go to my personal wicca site for detailed instructions on doing this. I am not going to cover it in detail here since I have already done this there.
Instead, I am going to tell you how to do more simplified versions that you would use for things like spells or quick protection.
To do a simple circle casting to perform a specific spell, you need very little in the way of tools. In fact, you can just use your projective hand (the one you write with) instead of an athame or wand. Have your materials for your spell set up wherever you plan to perform it. This could be the kitchen table or a cardboard box in the middle of the living room floor. It could also simply be on a large rock outdoors if you have the opportunity to perform it there. Once you are set up, start at the North or East point and walk deosil (clockwise) around your space with your projective hand outstretched at waist level as you would do if you had an athame. Go around 3 times saying a few words like only love shall enter and only love shall leave this circle of light...... seal and protect my sacred space..... whatever you feel you want to say for this. As you are going around and saying your words, visualize a circle of light energy forming around you in the shape of a sphere. You are completely encircled in this light energy. As you practice more, you will come to see the energy surround you without having to visualize it in your mind. This takes time so don't feel bad if you don't just see it the first time. After you have gone around 3 times, go to the North or East point depending on where you decided to initially start your circle. Raise your projective hand out and upward this time over the North point. Now ask the elemental spirit guardian to join your circle as follows going in a deosil direction.
North- Earth spirit- Green
East- Air spirit- Yellow
South- Fire spirit- Red
West- Water spirit- Blue
Just ask in a respectful way and visualize the spirit joining you in the appropriate colored mist or in a way that would represent that spirit to you. Now call upon the Lord and Lady with a simple invocation of your own words. Once you have done this, you are ready to cast your spell or meditate.....whatever you wanted to do within a cast circle. After you finish, thank the Lord and Lady, go around again as you invited them and thank the elemental spirits asking them to go in peace, and finally go around 3 times again with your hand at waist level except drawing the energy of the circle back into your hand this time. Say a few words of closing as you do this. Once this is done, your circle has been released.
If you just want a quick circle for protection or a immediate need, just visualize a circle of light going around you in a clockwise direction and surrounding you in the sphere of light. Let yourself feel the energy surround you. A projected focused thought is a very powerful thing and a circle of this nature doesn't require you to move at all especially under circumstances where you may not want anyone to know you've cast the circle around you. As you practice this form of circle casting, you will begin to see and feel it more easily. It will also get easier to do. This kind of circle casting is a step towards being able to cast simple spells at will for an immediate need. For example, you suddenly have a persistent pain that you can't seem to get rid of otherwise. You can learn to use light energy to help yourself and other people heal. If you felt afraid and in danger of something, you can easily cast this kind of circle around you to help protect yourself. I usually will also visualize a blue light pentagram in the cirçle with me since this is a symbol of protection.
There are many ways to cast a circle and other people may do it different from the ways that I've explained to you in this lesson. I encourage you to do a little research on circle casting and see what you can find from other sources as well.
Your assignment is to practice all three kinds of circles that I've listed here. You can save the ritual circle casting for a Sabbat or Full Moon if you want. After you have done all or even part of the casting, come to the class club and tell us about your experience..... ask questions if you have any. You are also welcome to just write directly to me if you prefer not to share with the class. This is a lesson that lets you do some real practicing so have fun with it and I hope it helps you understand how this works a little better.
Brightest Blessings,
Arianna Moonlightshadow
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