A Druid's Handbook to the Spiritual Power of Plants: Spagyrics in Magical and Sexual Rituals - Jon G. Hughes 2014

Casting the Circle
Workings and Rituals

Every Druidic ritual is conducted within a protective Circle, and the drawing or casting of this Circle is one of the most significant responsibilities of the Druidic priest or priestess. The purpose of the Circle is to protect those participants within it from any potentially intrusive or harmful energies on the outside, to focus the energies of the participants on the ritual, and to contain the Gathering’s generated energy until the time of projection, preventing it from dispersing. It also denotes the boundaries of the ritual activities; those within are included, and those outside are not.

There are a number of ways to cast a Circle. We shall concentrate on just one of these, the triple-cast Circle, as it best suits the sex magic ritual. It is also the strongest form of the cast Circles and offers the greatest protection to those inside it.

As the name suggests, the triple-cast Circle is cast three times, each time using the attributes of one of the basic elements, air, water, and fire. The fourth basic element is the earth upon which the Circle is cast, so once the Circle is complete, its occupants have the attributes of all four basic elements for their protection.

The word circle is slightly misleading. Druidic lore, being fundamentally based in nature, is not very keen on symmetry. The Circle is never really a perfect one. More often it is a line connecting the bases of a ring of trees or a crudely drawn approximation of a circle. It would never be drawn in a perfect geometric fashion as achieved when using a central peg and a length of string to describe the circumference.

The principles governing the casting of a Circle are as follows:

· It is always cast from the inside.

· Although never a precise circle, it must not have any sharp curves or corners.

· The Circle must always present a visible boundary for the participants of the Gathering to respect.

· The Circle will always have a center point marker and a marker indicating the cardinal points of the compass.

· The working stone will always be located at the northern cardinal point of the Circle and lie in the west/east orientation.

· The convocation stone will always be in a south/north orientation, with the center point of the Circle falling on the surface of the convocation stone just where the head of the Principal Conduit will lie.

· The Circle will always have an entrance portal in its circumference, with candles or small fires at each side of the portal. The portal will always be in the southern side of the circumference so that as the participants enter they are facing north, toward the working stone.

· The Circle will be of a size to accommodate the number of the Gathering.

· Other than these basic factors the Circle may take whatever form the person casting it wishes.

A typical cast Circle with its relative working spaces is shown on the facing page.