Casting a Circle
Casting a circle is one of the most basic magickal acts that a Witch does. Circles are used for rituals and sometimes magickal workings. A circle does a number of things. Most importantly, it protects the practitioner(s) from spirits, negative energies, and other nasty things out there. With that in mind, please be sure to practice with extreme care and be sincere in what you are doing. Abide by the Wiccan Reed* and you should be fine. The circle also serves as a sacred place in which to do ritual workings like sabbat celebrations and certain spells. The circle keeps the energy in a contained area so that it can be concentrated and strengthened as much as possible before it goes out to do its job. So without “further ado” here is how...
Ok, first things first. Prepare your area. There are two ways to do this. One walk around the circumference of where the circle will be and sprinkle water to wash the area, or two, water mixed with salt for a stronger purification. Try doing both and stick with which ever works better for you.
Now you may cast. A circle is created with energy, and you are the director of that energy. Make sure you know where the boundaries will be before you cast it and have everything that you are going to use inside of this area because breaking the circle drains a lot of energy and is just not fun to do.
Start out by clearing your mind. Next, visualize the energy of nature and the universe mixing with your own, building up inside of you. Simply see yourself glowing a bright purple or blue. On the other hand, any other color if you feel more comfortable, do whatever you feel is the best way to do it.
Now, pick a quarter or cardinal point at which to start. I usually pick North because it is what I've always been taught, but some Celtic traditions start with East, I've heard. Point your athame, wand, finger, or whatever you use towards the ground and see the energy flowing out. Begin to walk clockwise (Towards your right) and walk the circumference of the circle. While you're doing this, be sure to imagine a circle forming. Don't see it as a circle on the ground, but as a giant sphere with you inside. Half of it is above the ground, you are walking on a plane through the diameter, and the other half is below the ground.
In The Outside Circle by Patti-LaBoucane-Benson, the main character, Pete, spends a significant amount of time as a criminal. Pete is affiliated with the gang Tribal Warriors. He engages in violence, crime, and has a bad character. Moreover, the cause of these actions are because of the fact that he is confused about his identity, comes from a broken family, and lives a rough life. A song that expresses this phase of Pete’s life is “People Like Us” by Kelly Clarkson. The lyrics “Here’s to the damned to the lost and forgotten, it’s hard to get high when you’re living on the bottom,” describes Pete’s situation. Young Indigenous men like Pete live “a hard life in the inner city...don’t know who they are… [and] [are] living in pain and confusion.”
The Native American culture revolved around a circle, or what Black Elk called the "sacred hoop". The flowering tree was the center of the hoop. The flowering tree was symbolic of growth and prosperity for all people in the tribe. It is equally shared between all members of the tribe. "Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round" (pg. 150). The flowering tree at the center of the circle was nourished by the seasons, which also occurred in a circular pattern. Black Elk also made references to the sky and the earth being round, the moon and the sun setting in a circle as well as both being round. "The wind blows in circular whirls. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood" (pg. 150).
In the play “Circle Mirror Transformation” by Annie Baker took place at an acting workshop in small town Vermont. Annie Baker presented the characters to the audiences by them getting to know each other in the almost uncomfortably intimate way. In the play, the characters underwent the emotional growth and the knowledge about each other personal issues. Although theater is only pretending yet the play suggested that it is the best way to get to the truth.
Witchcraft is the most illogical and despised practices involving the supernatural power. “It implies the ability to injure others. A witch usually acquires his power through an inherent physical factor or through the power of another witch. Witch possess a special organ called mangu, located somewhere behind the sternum or attached to the liver.”[11] Woman/man may become a witch through the influence of another witch or contact with another witch. Witches do not intend to do harm; they are as much the victims of witchcraft as those upon whom they practice it. They have innate power and often don’t know what they are doing. The belief in witchcraft helps people explain the causes of illness, death and misfortune experienced by a person or a group when no other explanations can be found. Most of the time when witches create injury and calamity, they were punished by death, sometimes by exile. They also were forced into admission of guilt by torture, fear, or the hope for lighter punishment. “Most witches work by night, are capable of covering long distances very rapidly, tem...
When TJ gets a trial, the Logan children are very happy because they think he will not be killed. Mama and Papa disagree because the jury will be entirely white. Mr. Jaminson does and excellent job defending TJ. He had experiments, such as putting a black stocking over his hand and showing it to Mrs. Barnett. He also had strong evidence that TJ did not commit the crime. At the end, TJ was found guilty, mostly because of the jury’s prejudice.
Wicca is a spiritual path, a way of seeing the world and Divinity, and our relationship to it. They believe that Goddess is imminent in the world around us. Goddess permeates every living thing, and most of them define rocks, soil, water, air, fire, and the plant herself as living things. "The God of Wicca is the Horned God, the ancient God of Fertility: the God of the forest, flock, and field and also of the hunt." He is Lord of Life, and the Giver of Life, yet he is also Lord of Death and Resurrection. http://www.interlog.com/~spawn/gods.html
The controversies that surround Wicca start with its exact origin. There are some who believe that it has its origins in Witchcraft due to the similarities between the two. Witchcraft itself is a Pagan practice [polytheistic and non-Christian, Muslim and Jewish in origin] that began with the Celts around 700 B.C. As the movie The Burning Times depicts, the region during this time period was primarily a rural culture so the Celtic traditions were based completely on Nature. Their months were even named after trees and their festivals revolved around the solstices and equinoxes (Steiger). A polytheistic religion, they worshiped a host of female and male deities and are most notably associated with the concept of Goddess worship, a strong belief in the divinity of the female (Burning Times). These paganistic beliefs and rituals gradually over the centuries combined with other European religious practices, such as magic, potions, and ointments for healing, to form what we call in modern times Witchcraft. Groups who did not hav...
This line of the Wiccan Rede refers to casting a circle. When we cast a circle we are creating an energy field for protection, this keeps any unwanted energies from interfering with our magic.
In Descartes’s meditations, people point out that Cartesian Circle exists. However, although the argument for Cartesian Circle seems to be true, I believe this not to be the case. In this essay, I am going to first introduce the Cartesian Circle in Descartes’s argument, and then try to show why the circular reasoning is actually not what it appears to be.
Rene Descartes meditations on the existence of God are very profound, thought-provoking, and engaging. From the meditations focused specifically on the existence of God, Descartes uses the argument that based on his clear and distinct perception that cannot be treated with doubt, God does exist. In the beginning of the third meditation, Descartes proclaims that he is certain he is a thinking thing based on his clear and distinct perception, and he couldn’t be certain unless all clear and distinct perceptions are true. Before diving into the existence of God, Descartes introduces smaller arguments to prove the existence of God. For example, Descartes introduces in his argument that there are ideas in which he possess that exists outside of him. Utilizing the objective versus formal reality, Descartes states “If the objective reality of any of my ideas turns out to be so great that I am sure the same reality does not reside in me, either formally or eminently, and hence that I myself cannot be its cause, it will necessarily follow that I am not alone in the world, but that some other thing which is the cause of this idea exists” (29). In other words, the ideas of objective reality that resides in Descartes can potentially only come from a supreme being, which is God; God possess more objective reality than he does formal reality. We as humans, as Descartes states, are finite substance, and God is the only infinite substance. The only way for us as a finite substance to think of an infinite substance is possible if, and only if, there is an infinite substance that grants us the idea of substance in first place. After these smaller arguments, Descartes states that while we can doubt the existence of many things, due to the fact that ...
Steps for concentrative meditation, (1) find a quiet place, (2) sit in a comfortable position upright, (3) find an object to dwell on, for example your breathing, or on a particular word that is repeated, (4) a passive attitude, meaning do not get upset when distracting thoughts
Ground yourself, by imangining your feet sinking into the earth. Imagine sunlight comeing down through you, around you and into the earth. Hold this idea for a couple of minutes.
For my experience I chose the Breathing Clouds Visualization exercise. I tried to do this exercise while I was home alone so that anyone could not distract me. Frist I chose a very comfortable spot in my room. I sat there and try to relax all my muscles. I slowly close my eyes, and try to concentrate on my breathing. I follow the instruction as mention in the book. I inhale through my nose slowly and imagine that the air is clean like an inflated cloud. I can feel the air disperse through my
The Magic Circle The Magic Circle, by Donna Jo Napoli, dealt with three main characters. In the story, a woman named The Ugly One possesses the power to heal. The woman has a beautiful daughter named Asa. The Ugly one is a sorcerer who also helps sick people who are possessed by demons. The Ugly one becomes a witch after biting the finger off a deformed baby child and desiring an exquisite golden ring.
Blue: This is a kinda cool color. Using light shades of blue energizes the people. Dark shades are used to represent trustworthiness.