Items Needed:

• Chalice with fresh water in it
• A dish of salt
• Altar pentacle
• Sword and/or athame
• Wand
• Incense burner
• Incense
• Four elemental(point) candles
• Lighter
• Bell (optional)

  First, have your altar set up, and the boundaries drawn. The point candles should be in their proper places. Everything you need for your spellwork or ceremony should be within the circle's boundaries. The first time you perform the circle casting, don't do it on any special day. Just practice the circle casting ritual itself and be comfortable with it. Sit inside its protective boundaries for awhile. This ritual is an important part of Paganism, so you should familiarize yourself with it.

  1. Take a few deep breaths to center yourself and to get into the right state of mind. Take the tool you will use to concentrate power in your power (dominant) hand (athame, sword, wand) or just use the index finger of your power hand. Visualize glowing, protective energies flowing from it in one long stream. Draw this magickal boundary along the physical one you have created, walking clockwise and starting in whatever directional quarter you wish (normally North or East). When you get back to the direction you started from after drawing the circle, be sure to overlap the ends.

  2. Stand before your altar and say:
     This is a time that is not a time, in a place that is not a place, on a day that is not a day. I stand at the threshold between the worlds, before the Veil of the Mysteries. May the Ancient Ones help and protect me on my magickal journey.

  3. Put the water chalice on the altar pentacle. Point your dagger at it and say:
     Great Mother, bless this creature of Water to your service. May I always remember the cauldron waters of rebirth.

  4. Point the dagger at the salt and say:
     Great Mother, bless this creature of Earth to your service. May I always remember the blessed Earth, its many forms and beings.

     Sprinkle a little salt into the water; hold the chalice up and say:

     Great Mother, I give you honor!

     Beginning in the direction you began in to cast the circle and moving clockwise, sprinkle the salt water around the edges of the circle. Then put the chalic back on the altar.

  5. Point your athame at the incense and say:
     Great Father, bless this creature of Air to your service. May I always listen to the spirit winds that bring me the voices of the Ancient Ones.

  6. Light the lighter, point your dagger at the flame and say:
     Great Father, bless this creature of Fire to your service. May I always remember the sacred Fire that dances within the form of every creation.

     Light the incense; pick up the censer, touch it to the altar pentacle, then raise it up and say:

     Great Father, I give you honor!

  7. Starting in the direction you began in to cast the circle, carry the burning incense clockwise around the circle. Return it to the altar.

  8. Go to the direction you first started with, holding your lighter and wand. Light the directional candle and say:
     I call upon you, O powers of (corresponding element), to witness this rite and to guard this circle.

  9. Repeat this step with the last three candles, making sure to move clockwise.

  10. Stand before the altar. Say:

      This circle is bound, with power all around. Between the worlds I stand, with protection at hand.

      You've casted a circle! COOL! Now, if you're doing a spell or ritual, do it. When you're done, you've got to close the circle. Not a big deal. Simply go to the direction candle you first started at, extinguish it, and release the element. For example, if you started in the East, you could say:

      Depart in peace, O powers of Air, my thanks and blessings.

      Repeat this with the other three candles, making sure to go in a clockwise fashion and thank each corresponding element. When you're done, stand in front of the altar and say:

      To all beings and powers of the visible and invisible, depart in peace. May there always be harmony between us. My thanks and blessings.

      Now, go to an edge of the circle with your athame, and cut it with a backwards motion (remember what you weren't supposed to do? Now do it!). Say:

      This circle is open, yet it ever remains a circle. Around and through me always flows its magical power.

      Things to Remember:

      • Always move in a clockwise fashion. Moving counterclockwise is a banishing motion which will bring negativity and/or release the circle.
      • Don't go outside the boundaries of the circle until after you've released it, or bump into the edge. This will send out the power prematurely.
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