How to Cast a Circle

A key component to all Wiccan rituals and works of magick is the Magick Circle. And although its presence is basic, the creation of a Magick Circle is not.

What makes it difficult to properly cast a Circle, is that it is entirely an energetic construct. The world in which we live is very much a physical one, where even emotions come second to tangible truth. So, learning to recognize our world as an energetic one and then to manipulate the varying energies as per our own will can be rather difficult.

As hinted above, there are two factors essential to being able to not only cast a Circle, but work magick of any kind (for, yes, truly, casting a Circle is a magickal act.) The first is being able to recognize energy, to feel it and, possibly, see it. The second is being able to manipulate that energy. 

Without being able to recognize energy, it is increasingly more difficult to work with energy, though not impossible (this is where that favorite maxim of the magickal world comes into play: fake it till you make it.) This is why many times when first learning to cast a Circle, you may not feel any change in your surroundings. This can be either because of not having learned how to feel the energy, or because the casting just simply didn’t happen. Either way, like all aspects magick and Witchcraft, it takes practice and isn’t always accomplished the first try (or the second, or third…)

Here is a relatively simple method for casting a Circle. It involves no tools.

Physically mark out your Circle. This can be done with flowers, stones or crystals, pinecones, or string or rope, for example. While it isn’t necessary to actually mark out the Circle, it can be helpful as it gives you a visible reference point to where you are going to lay the energy.

Stand at the North Quarter of your marked out Circle. Close your eyes; breathe slow and deep. Feel your connection to everything. Know that just as much as you are a part of all of Nature, it is a part of you, you are One.

Focus your attention inwards and with every in breath, concentrate on forming a glowing ball of light within you. Every in breath makes it larger, every out breath makes it stronger. Feel this energy swirling inside of you, filling you, waiting to be released. 

Open your eyes. Hold out one hand so that it touches the air above your marked out Circle. Walk clockwise now, toward the East, then South, then West, and finally back to North. As you walk, push this glowing ball of light down your arm and out through your hand. See it form a glowing line in the air above your marked out Circle. As you return to North, the line joins itself and becomes a circle, then stretches, forming a beautiful glowing sphere of energy around you, Above and Below.

The Circle is Cast.