Question when doing a ritual and casting any spell.. confused

[Tranquility]

I am just confused about the whole mechanics of casting and closing a circle, and the invoking and banishing pentagram, how to do them and what they mean and how they work... I was reading on how to do the circle and it says, ( In simplified text ), set the alter, place the 4 element candles on the alter, then it says, To begin the actualy circle casting, the circle is sealed by retracting the line in the air with the athame or sword... what does that mean? Then it says the circle is blessed and cleanses with the salt and water and so on... also it says, finally the circle should be ritually broken with the dagger or sword.. how do you break it? thanks!

[Tammy Sullivan]

well here is my take on it....BTW what book are you using?
I set my altar, and I place my candles at the cardinal points of the circle, not the altar, but that is my choice. Then I send out energy through my athame and trace the circle. I visualize it blasting into the ground.
I do not "break" my circle, I close it and draw the energy back into my athame. You may of course use your finger or wand. That is my easiest way.

[Haedis]

yup I do it much the same way as Greta, but for more detailed info on it there are a bunch of threads on circle casting here if you use the "search" function.

[Flar's Freyja]

I sometimes think that there are as many ways of casting circle as there are pagans! I cast circle in much the same way as Greta does, but I imagine a blue light surrounding the circle and I rarely use my athame or wand.

I'll try to bump up a few threads for you :)

[Tranquility]

Im reading, wicca, the complete craft by DJ conway, its a huge book, its really awesome, has sooo much stuff.. anyway im still confused because what do you mean? "and I place my candles at the cardinal points of the circle, not the altar" what do you mean the circle, not the alter? which circle.. and how do you "close YOUR circle?"

[Tranquility]

So tell me if this is the basic concept, i read around and realize there is no right way, but there is a way to actually cast the circle... do you visualize a circle going around you clockwise or counterclockwise, and while your at each direction and element invite in what you want?
Please tell me if im gettin the jiff of it

[Pan]

When you cast a circle, you call upon the energies of the
North
South
East
West

You call upon the 4 cardinal directions to cast a circle. Most use an athame (ritual dagger) or a wand (glorified stick ;)) in order to cast the circle. They walk in a clockwise way to create it, and a counterclockwise way to release it. A circle is NEVER broken.

When I cast a circle, I put candles 3 feet inward of where I want the boundary of the circle to be, RATHER than putting it on the altar. This is just a personal preference.

When I call upon the Quarters (north, south, east, west) I light the corresponding candle for that direction. When I take down the circle, I snuff the candles in the opposite direction that I called them.

That, in a nutshell, is how I cast circle.

[Tranquility]

Thanks!
That helps a LOT!

[Pan]

I'm glad I could help! Keep the questions comin'. I need something to do at work. ;) Besides, I love answering questions. :D

[Flar's Freyja]

Bumped a couple of threads for you, Tranquility. Hope they don't confuse you even more :lol:

[Raevyn]

First you want to ground and center. When you do this visualize yourself drawing energy up from the ground and universe (imagine white light coming up from the ground and down from the sky into you), and imagine centering the flow of it inside your body, probably around your waist (since that's where one of your major chakras is). Visualize that white light shooting out of your wand/athame/finger/whatever, and with the tool you're using you can shoot that energy out in the shape of a circle around you (by simply pointing from where you stand, or by walking around with it and pointing at the ground). You also want to visualize the energy of the circle growing up above you and below you, like a sphere, so nothing can get in or out of it without your permission. You go clockwise most of the time, but counterclockwise if you want to banish something in the work you plan to do (some people do vice versa of this if they live on the southern hemisphere).

Some people use salt to draw the circle as well, and some people do a cleansing and blessing of the inside of the circle, and some use a besom (broom) to sweep out energy from the physical space that'll be your circle before you draw it out. The threads bumped should help you out, and Silver RavenWolf has a lot of interesting stuff about ways to cast circles in To Stir a Magic Cauldron.

After you draw up the circle then you invite the elemental energies of each direction, or whoever you want to invite. This is also explained in more detail in that book I mentioned.

When you're done, at the end of whatever ritual or spell you did, you thank each energy or entity you invited in *opposite* order. For instance most people do East, South, West, North, and then invite the God and Goddess. So when you're done you thank and say goodbye to the Goddess, God, North, West, South, and East. When you thank and say goodbye to the elemental energies and so on, you might snuff the candle used to represent each one. Then you can imagine the light that makes up the circle going back into your wand or athame or whatever, or you can imagine it going POOF into the universe, or you can imagine it grounding into the ground, or whatever. Then you want to ground again, and let any excess energy go out for healing the earth or send it out to accomplish whatever spell you did. Then it's a good idea to have a food and drink, which will help you kind of ground down back to mundane life (very important).