If you cast a circle, to create a defined, sacred space in which to work magick, celebrate a festival or perform any other kind of ritual; you will undoubtedly use some kind of system more often than not.

That is you will use some kind of coherent, generally pre-decided format to do this.

A circle, a series of four quarter invocations-references or similar- North, East, South and West, and possibly Up and Down as well. It's a system.

Something I've had mentioned to me a lot over the years by those new to ritual is the sheer number of systems and variations on systems that are available for this ritual activity- starting in the East, starting in the North, making actual invocations of words to call upon spirits, Angels, Archangels, deities various, Elemental Guardians, etc, etc, using one system of colours or another- even more etc, etc. Extremely baffling for those new to ritual.

So what's going on with this? Why are there so many variations?

Let's start from this:

1) System is as much a verb as a noun- it's something that humans being 'DO' as much as they have. 'To system' is to create and or work within a coherent framework of activity for specific ends let's say.

2) There is a general principle at work in all these systems.

We also have to answer a question here- Which is why do we humans want to system in the first place?

For that we can say that this springs out of who and what we are- directly out of our basic wiring-programming so to speak.

For starters we are creatures of space-time- that's hard wired into us: Left, right, front, back, up, down- these define where we are in space relative to everything around us. We can no more escape that all the time we're subject to gravity than we can escape breathing, eating and other functions all the time we remain human beings.

A circle: Stand on the spot, extend your arms out to the sides and define all the space you can immediately and comfortably control, and turn around on the spot- it's a circle. Orientate yourself within that space- four directions around you- left, right, front and back, and two to extend that- Up and down.

OK, from that we extend into ritually sanctifying and strengthening this space: We do that in order to make it special, to excite and energise the psychological and psychic potentials within ourselves, to extend that outwards into the world around us- to the edge of our circle; and to then call into that the highest potentials that we feel will further energise our ritual space.

Leaping slightly to one side for a minute: Consider a cutlery drawer in your Kitchen or dining room: Sure you could just put all your knives, carving knives, forks, spoons, can openers and other kitchen utensils all into the drawer without separating them, but consider how much easier it is if you have dividers in your drawer so as to organise these utensils by type.

Leap back now to ritual: Systems can and do make life easier-more ordered-more coherent in many ways...

Balance between those factors that are hard wired into us because of who, what and where we are in space, systeming generally, and then the psychological, spiritual, psychic and physics processes that proceed out from that and you can easily see where we are going with this.

Back to our cutlery drawer: Does it matter if you put the forks in the left hand compartment or the right hand one? If it does- why? Does it feel 'right' to have your cutlery arranged in a certain order? If so, you're manifesting an inner sense of rightness, and not something that's separate to you. Some folks will put the forks on the left, some in the middle, and some on the right- all ways are valid- each for that person.

Back to rituals: The exact same kinds of processes are at work in this: But there's a couple of other factors at work also. Which is that just as water takes the shape of the container into which you put it, so rituals also are defined and shaped through the system within which you contain them.

If you create a 'Celtic ritual pot', your ritual will take a Celtic shape, if you use an Egyptian 'pot' your ritual will be Egyptian shaped.

Consider it this way: Let's say that there are a huge number of mythic, mythological and archetypal 'programmes' residing in your mind. If you use the right kind of cues to start them running, they will run. Run a specific programme in the mind in this way and you start that programme running in the world around you.

Jump at this point to some physics:

if you wrap one coil of wire around another and then put electricity through just one coil, a flow of electricity will be induced in the other.

If you hang two pendulums from one bar and set one of them swinging, the other will also begin to move.

Take that principle and ..... leap with that to how rituals work- start the current flowing in your mind through ritual activity, and that will induce a current to flow in the world around you. Bear in mind that your 'magickal pendulum' may well be trying to swing against a head wind of 'reality' and you'll also see how magick and rituals work- at least in principle!

Which brings us back to all these variations you've undoubtedly encountered. Many of them are just personally flavoured variations- some people favour Celtic frameworks, some favour Norse, some those devised by magickal orders such as the Golden Dawn (Some special cases arise here that we'll return to), etc, etc.

Many of them though are specifically designed to serve specific intents. Some of those are based on a form of personal politics- This years politically correct 'flavour'. Some are designed to 'run specific programmes', and some are designed to run specific programmes which bring in another important factor.

Which is also a matter of where we are in space- geography: Consider the possibility that 'things can store information'. Many people will be familiar with this principle through such as ghosts being attached to specific locations, or that items such as crystals can be programmed with specific intents, or that such as Talismans can be programmed with magickal intentions to bring about defined ends. (See previous articles above)

Extend that principle out to the thinking that though most myths have local forms in different parts of the world, those are simply local variations- a human being is a human being whether they live in the Arctic or New York, the Danube valley or an African rift valley. On the other hand there are often subtle but highly important differences between various myths that have been shaped by their locales, and which will bring different magickal 'programmes' into action if you work with the myths of a land other than the one in which you live.

Take that principle back into ritual and you'll also see why there are so many variations in ritual systems around the world- if you make invocations to Egyptian guardians to energise the four-square quarters of your ritual space-circle you will make your ritual take an Egyptian shape. Which is all well and good if the Egyptian pantheons offer you some kind of subtlely shaped or 'flavoured' energy that's not available from a local pantheon, but that would work far better if you performed your ritual in Egypt so that you can then also 'run the programme' of the local Egyptian energies as imprinted into the local geography. In Britain it makes sense to call upon Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Norse or even older deities, spirits, guardians and similar- whose energies are stored in your local rocks?

So.. there you have it:

For me as a Wiccan I'm generally more interested in working with the spirits of the land in which I live- whether those spirits have objective reality outside of my mind, whether they're programmes/energies of some kind which I can induce into activity, or whether both of those explanations are small scale models of a multi-dimensional reality for which I don't yet have the appropriate capacity to fully understand.

Because of that I personally aim more often than not to attune my rituals with those energies that have resonated through Britain from the very earliest times.

Spontaneity: This comes into it all for me as to what else fits in with whatever form of ritual I'm doing- bearing in mind that I often work with a Coven and so need to have established systems of ritual which everyone working with me can also know- there's a balance potential there- sufficient system to ensure all work well together, but not so much system that it stifles all creative-intuitive flow.

From this you should clearly see the principles at work within such as creating sacred space- circle casting as it's generally named.

I picked circle casting to illustrate this for two reasons:

It is the single most often used ritual in one form or another in all active-ritual paths, and it is a very important ritual in many ways.

Largely because... well if we shift back to our analogy of inducing electricity to flow, it's simply not a good idea to induce a flow of energy in anything that isn't well insulated. Any kind of well formulated circle casting acts as a kind of psychological insulator- when magickal energies flow they do so through the person causing the flow. That person needs to be grounded, balanced and connected in order to avoid that flow causing any imbalances or psychic or psychological disturbances.

Invoking the balancing forces of the circle- Left, right, South, West... and then fixing and raising the energy of those into resonance with higher-deeper spiritual forces such as Elemental-devic or Angelic forces ensures that everything you do within your ritual circle is insulated, grounded and balanced. A Fulcrum that stands on a point of balance can shift a mighty weight. Stand at the right fulcrum point and you can move the world.

There is a powerful principle at work within this also: Which is that you get back in the Craft in direct response to what you put in. Put in a little and you'll get back in proportion, put in a lot and..

For example the working of a simple spell may flow directly out of how you feel at the time- a few herbs smoldering on the coals of a fire, a finger pointed, words spoken straight from the heart..

or else: Wind blowing, the trees shaking, a Gibbous Moon riding high in the sky, and calling upon the Old Ones to bless and inspire you while you dance naked and wild upon a lonely hill top.

Or then again: A group of people working together to Initiate a new Witch: A full scale circle casting- balancing all the people, putting everything we can into the ritual, raising the maximum power possible, calling in all the support, help and energy we can from the primary Craft power sources- the Elemental powers and our Deities, in a place that has been ritually cleansed and sacralised, to bring the Candidate in among the incredible atmosphere that has been raised- and contained- 'can be mind blowing.

Many people think that a magickal circle is based on the same thinking as expressed in medieval grimoires and similar treatises. For those seeking to conjure demons, most certainly a powerfully excluding circle is needed, but for all other purposes- both celebratory and with magickal intent; a Witches circle is intended to do 4 things.

1) Define sacred space.

2) Balance the consciousness of the participants- the elemental balance.

3) Shift their consciousness into a magickal state

4) "Preserve and contain all the power that we shall raise within you".

Other issues: A lot of people do believe that the Witches circle is about protection from outside forces- quite simply it isn't- it's about as at 1-4 above. Even the Temple erecting/Circle casting of much ritual magick isn't about protection- that's also about as 1-4 above.

If you need protecting through ritual it's protection from the imbalances that can be caused by running those programmes I mentioned above.

I would strongly advise anyone who works any magick or ritual worth carrying those labels to make a specific beginning for and end to any ritual you perform.

All magick works through and upon the consciousness of the participants. If you're performing an act of worship- "The Lady and the Lord are in each of us and therefore understand why we do or do not do something, they do not judge us by the book." Well fine, you're not going to be tinkering with your consciousness much if at all.

If you invoke the Goddess/Horned God into yourself, and do so without using ritual to balance that, or you make entry into one of the deeper elemental or other Otherworld realms- do let me know how you get on if you haven't cleared defined between magickal consciousness and everyday-working consciousness, and are not balanced so as to not become obsessed by what you encounter.

OK, from there let's look again at Principles.

There is often confusion between the necessities of ritual as Witch-magick-doings, and being a Witch as a 'Child of the Old ones' and living that in resonance with the Universe in our daily lives.

Spiritual observance, resonance and living in the spirit are one thing- they can and should be fluid, flexible, personal and richly meaningful through ways which are very much an expression of your own relationship with the sacred.

Magick- ritual and it's requirements are another thing entirely.

For many Witches there is no differentiation within this, and many seek simple ways of observance, very personal ways of approaching magick, etc. And that's fine- 100% fine for Solitary Witches. Work with another person and the requirements change.

So, no you don't always have to cast a circle to perform magick, to celebrate a Full Moon, or anything else. You don't have to. Unless you're on the hill top- Gibbous Moon, wind, etc, you will find that if you understand the principles at work- what you're doing, why and what it's all intended to achieve, then doing so in one way or another will enrich and enhance the experience. If you're just doing it because you read somewhere that you should but you don't know why, then it probably won't make any difference either way.

On the other hand: Move beyond simple spells and spiritual observance, and raise some real power and then yes you really should be much more focused in what you do and use all the resources you can to ensure you do have a rich, empowering experience.

A simple rule of thumb is this: Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler- beyond simple is simplistic- childish perhaps, or can't be bothered maybe, "I'll do what I want and won't be told otherwise" even. Each individual knows for themselves when/if they're shifting beyond simple into simplistic.

Another way of looking at this: Think of going into the sea.

The tide's out, the water's shallow. You wade in.. You find all manner of flotsam and jetsam around the shallows. You enjoy the feel of the water, watch the little fishes darting around your legs. A spiritual experience.

When you've had enough of the flotsam and jetsam, when you want to catch bigger fish or find greater treasures, or have deeper experiences within this sea, you'd best be either a very, very good swimmer if you're going to venture deeper, or you'll be needing a boat. Well structured and focused ritual is both good swimming skills and boat.

And that's it in a nutshell- there is a huge difference between a Magicians circle and a Witches circle, and there is a huge amount of confusion about this and related issues.

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