Kitchen Witchery

Kitchen witchery

Practical Magic: Let's Talk Aboot Circles

This post is part of a series of animistic, spirit-oriented spellcasting for beginners. Go to the masterpost to see them all.

I can feel all of you veterans rolling your eyes into the back of your heads.

I know, I know.

But as this series is intended to lay out as many tools as possible on the Table Of Take What You Need, I'd be remiss to not talk about circles at least once.

Let's also maybe talk about why they're such a frikkin controversial AND ubiquitous issue!

Full disclosure: I use circles relatively often. The quick kind that takes 5 seconds to cast. I didn't do 'em when I was immobile though because yeah, standing up and turning in a circle whenever you want isn't a universal experience.

But let's get to it!

What the hell are magic circles, anyway?

Most discourse on Tumblr about magic circles is "do them!" or "you don't have to do them!" but it rarely actually gets, you know, discussed.

For the purposes of this series, a magic circle is a temporary circular energy barrier that can be "programmed" to do a variety of helpful ritual tasks.

This energy barrier is usually placed around the entire spellworking or ritual space, so that the practitioner and all the tools they use are inside of it.

Sometimes, this barrier is marked by a physical object, such as a rope or a line of flour. Often, especially in solitary practice, there is no physical boundary that corresponds to the circle.

When employed, the circle is usually raised as one of the very first ritual acts during a spell (sometimes, space clearing or prayers are done beforehand). Typically, the circle is lowered/removed as the very last step, or whenever the ritual space is no longer needed (sometimes the witch might then take spell remnants to be ritually released somewhere else, for example, and usually no circle is ever required for that part).

Magic circles are usually reserved for more lengthy, focused acts of magic. They are rarely employed by people who are like, visualizing a glamour in front of a mirror, or doing a charm to get out of traffic, or stuff like that.

(Actual steps for circle-casting will come in a later post in this series; check the masterpost)

Why are they problematic?

Because while Wicca did not invent the concept of magic circles, Wicca very much popularized a certain version of them in Western occultism.

And a lot (a lot) of Western practitioners, especially those very unaware that there are global magical practices that have nothing to do with Western Wicca or Western witchcraft, like to go around preaching that this particular aspect of their very specific cultural religious practice needs to be followed by everyone who does magic ever, seriously, even if your cultural tradition has been doing fine without them for the last four thousand years, because some British guys decided on the real rules eighty years ago.

And people very rightly push back against that, because circles are absolutely not 100% necessary for any working of magic.

In popular rhetoric, circles have also been largely reduced to being nothing more than temporary warding, used to keep evil spirits away from the shining diamond of your spell.

So when a lot of people believe that all a circle does is protect against "bad" energies and spirits, kind of a reverse justification happens: circles become necessary because bad energies and spirits are everywhere, and unless we use circles we're at risk of being preyed upon... and this promotes a feedback loop many of us have heard all our lives: that witchcraft is scary and dangerous, filled with evil things, and you need to be really really careful or else you're gunna get snatched up by a demon.

And then more people push back against this, because modern contemporary witchcraft has literally evolved to be some pretty safe shit, and no, you don't have to ward every iota of your heart out just to avoid bad stuff waiting to trip you at every turn.

What are magic circles good for?

Tons of stuff! And that's what makes them really useful tech!

Here's what we have to get on the table right away, though: an energy barrier is just an energy barrier until you ask it to do something different. You can construct circles that are purely protective and actively limit any magic or spirits from coming or leaving. You can construct circles that are basically a throne room for a sacred power to temporarily visit. You can construct them to create a liminal space that joins the physical world with the spirit worlds and makes it much easier for spirits and magics to flow back and forth.

No circle automatically does all the stuff I'm about to list, except the protection thing: you have to include what you want in the construction of the circle itself. (I'm pretty sure this is why people believe circles are only protective and even trap magic inside... yep, it does automatically, if you don't know what you're doing).

Depending on how you cast a circle, it can trance you out and help you reach a state of spiritual gnosis, and then stuff gets real wild in an awesome way.

If you've ever heard of people talking about "trancing" or entering a "magical headspace", this is one way to do it. Literally walking or dancing around in a big circle, focusing on higher powers, and chanting repetitive words can yeet you right out of normal modes of consciousness and into Big Spiritual Time. (Plus also, the more time and energy you spend on circles, the stronger and more powerful they become, so that's helpful).

Magic circles can connect the worlds.

"I don't want to connect to the spirit world!" Then get yee off my animistic, spirit-oriented spellcrafting series, where we're hella going to be talking to a buttload of spirits by the time all is said and done. In all seriousness though, if you're having trouble with spirit communication, casting a circle can help. It also just helps with gathering and accumulating various energies and powers, in general.

Magic circles raise power.

Raising power is an extremely vital component of spellcraft IMO, and it's so weird that people never talk about it? Like I'm either just missing a huge segment of magical discourse or y'all have found a sneaky new way to power your spells that I missed out on.

Anyway, circles are made of energy and casting them brings power into your immediate energetic space. Yeah, most of the power is bound into an energy barrier, but you're still probably going to have tapped into an energy source greater than what you use up (whether it be your own energy or that from an external source). By casting the circle, you get into the groove of calling and raising power.

I guess this is a pretty minor point, but it clicks nicely for me.

Magic circles are a cauldron that collects energies into some nice spell stew.

Depending on how much power you raise, there can be way too much of it for you to singularly hold in your focus. Like if the extent of the energy you raise can be held in the palm of your hand, you don't need a big magical bucket to hold it for you - you've got it on your own. But if you raise so much energy that you're swimming in it like a dolphin in the deep end of the ocean, like to the point where you feel you might literally pass out and ascend to the next plane of existence, a circle is really going to help keep all that power together in one place for you. Or else it's going to get all over your house like glitter and you'll be cleaning little spell crumbs out of corners for the next ten months.

Magic circles are an ideal way to host visiting spiritual powers.

This hearkens back to the "calling the quarters" thing in Wicca. But basically, as you cast a magic circle, you can pause during (or after) you make it, and open special doorways in the circle to allow significant spirits to arrive and oversee your working. This works out well in a ritual format because since the circle is usually cast at the very beginning of a ritual, important spirits that need to be there for the whole thing can be called at the same time - and dismissed at the very end when the circle is closed. It just slots together nicely. In my way of working, calling special spirits to oversee an act of magic significantly increases its power and effectiveness.

Magic circles actually are a fantastic method of protection.

There's something magical about circles. The damn things are just nigh impossible for spirits to get through. That's why we're always summoning spirits inside of circles. Now, don't get me wrong, you're not likely to need protection for your average spell (especially if you already have home wards or personal wards set up). But there are situations in which even an average, everyday practitioner might seriously benefit from taking a little extra care:

If you're doing a ritual in an outdoors/wilderness space, it's going to be fucking chock-full of spirits and no, just because they're not malevolent, does not mean you want any random spirit getting sucked into your spell.

If you're doing divination for others, they can have icky stuff around them that follows you back (and unfortunately, I find this to be more common for people who dwell within occult circles).

If you have any concern that malefica or an unwanted spirit are on you, casting a circle will let you perform divination without any concern that your readings are being affected.

If you're doing a spell in an unfamiliar space (like a spell with a friend at their home), and you don't like the energy there, a quick circle will provide a temporary safe space to perform the ritual.

When to employ magic circles:

Whenever you want to. If you're open to suggestions, though:

As a ritual component to help you delineate when your spells begin and end,

When you intend to raise a very significant amount of energy,

When you intend to "open the roads" and invite certain spiritual powers to attend,

When you're in a space heavily populated by spirits that might choose to become involved in your working without being invited,

When you're uncomfortable with the energies in your environment,

and if you're troubleshooting success with your manifestation, so you're willing to give it a try just to see what's up.

This post is part of a series of animistic, spirit-oriented spellcasting for beginners. Go to the masterpost to see them all.

Storytelling Through Tarot

I’ve noticed that a lot of other witches also enjoy fiction and writing! Tarot itself tells a story, and you can do so much with using tarot to outline your story and characters! So here’s a 13 card spread that can be shortened down to six if you need to. The order in which you lay them really depends on if you’d rather do a six or thirteen card spread. 

1-6 are the main points of the story. 

Beginning - What are things like at the beginning of the narrative? Where do your characters start?

Climax of Act One - Something has drastically changed in your MC’s life. What is it? What do they need to do now?

Midpoint: big twist! - Need a plot twist? Someone is hiding a secret? Things aren’t going as planned? This is where something unexpected happens.

Climax of Act Two - It looks like the bad guy is winning, nothing is going right. What does the most intense part of your story look like?

Wrap up - What loose ends need tied up?

End - Where are things now at the end of the story?

Now, the other cards go in between those main six points. 

Beginning

Inciting Incident - What happens that shakes up the status quo?

Second Thoughts - What’s your character thinking now with these events looming on the horizon?

Climax of Act One

Obstacle - No one said this journey was easy

Obstacle - Yup, more things to keep your hero from meeting their goal

Midpoint

Obstacle - Getting frustrated? Good.

Disaster - The “oh shit” moment

Crisis - The “no no no no no this isn’t happening” moment

Climax of Act Two

Wrap up

End

And there you go! Hope this helps!

Cosmic Power (Pokemon Inspired)

A cosmic spell to prepare yourself before divination or astral projection.

You Will Need:

💫 Any Combination of: Jasper, Galaxite, Amethyst, Clear Quartz, Herkimer Diamond, Jet, Opal and/or Rainbow Obsidian 💫 Blue Candles 💫 Black Candles 💫 Purple Candles 💫 Sandlewood Incense 💫 Optional: Imagery of stars, the night sky and other space objects you associate with this situation (especially if you are like me and in a city with too much light pollution)

Other: Cast this at night time

Steps:

💫 Cleanse yourself and your space as you desire. Set up your space by placing your candles about the room where they can be safely placed. Light them once ready.

💫 Place your incense and light it as well making sure its in an area near you

💫 Place your crystals about you so you can feel their energy

💫 Place your imagery (if needed) near your where you can see and feel its energies as well

💫 Begin to meditate, feel the energies of the stars and crystals about you. Let them empower your own energy and feel yourself absorb what they have to offer

💫 Meditate as long as needed. End spell with “Cosmic Power, I can feel you, and I am ready” then proceed to your divination or astral projection as you wish to do it

A sigil to help reduce anxiety and promote a sense of calm and peacefulness.

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