continued.....

Now that you have found the directions for the elements, Mark out your circle and place your objects in the correct directions. You should have any necessary items needed for your ritual.

Whilst within the circles perimeter, Say " I conjure thee O' Circle of Art, that you will be for me a barrier between the mundane and spirit world, I call upon the protectors of the North, South, East and West to aid me in the construction of this Circle "

With your Athame, Dagger, Sword, Finger, or Incense burner trace around the Circles perimeter in the appropriate direction (Clockwise for Northern Hemisphere, Anti Clockwise for Southern) thrice (three times) imagining that you are creating a force field between the two worlds. When finished say " The Circle is now sealed! "

Next call the Quarters. People use different things when calling quarters here is a simple list;

* Elements	Earth	Air	Fire	Water
* Angels	Uriel	Raphael	Michael	Gabriel
* Elementals	Gnomes	Sylphs	Salamanders	Undines

* Other Witches and Magicians call the Watchtowers, Mighty Ones and other deities which have a connection with that direction or element.

* Not sure what to call? Do a little more study first and always be careful what you call.

Calling the Quarters

Once you have decided what you are going to call within your circle start at North and say something like "I call upon the guardian of the Watchtowers of the "North" and the warming element of "Fire", I summon stir and call you now to witness this rite and guard this circle". Pick up your Wand and trace a invoking pentagram in the air (see below).

Continue by facing West and repeating your first invocation replacing the appropriate words  "I call upon the guardian of the Watchtowers of the "West" and the cooling element of "Air", I summon stir and call you now to witness this rite and guard this circle" Trace invoking pentagram.

Face South and say  "I call upon the guardian of the Watchtowers of the "South" and the solid foundation of the element of "Earth", I summon stir and call you now to witness this rite and guard this circle" Trace invoking pentagram.

Face East and say  "I call upon the guardian of the Watchtowers of the "East" and the fluid element of "Water", I summon stir and call you now to witness this rite and guard this circle" Trace invoking pentagram.

Note: This version of calling the quarters is appropriate for where I live, make the correct adjustments for your part of the world.

Body of the Ritual

If you wish to invite any deities into your circle to assist you in your magic you should do so now. 

For example: " I call upon thee Aphrodite, the Goddess of love I invite thee into thy circle that you may assist me in my quest to draw to me the most compatible of partners."

At this moment I actually stand with my arms and legs outstretched at 45 degree angles with my palms facing up and my feet flat on the ground. I try to imagine the deities power filling my body. After this you should perform your spell or your visualisation. If you are celebrating a festival you would invoke a deity appropriate to that date and perform a little symbolic re-enactment of that celebration.

After my activity I then meditate and really sink into the ritual concentrating on my desire or celebration. I then go on to make a toast to the Gods with my Cup and if you like you may have something to eat such as a muffin or cake. Wiccans call this the ceremony of cakes and ale. But really it is a recharging of the energy you used in the ritual.

Following this I stand up and thank any deities that I invoked in the ritual and dismiss them. Assuming the same position when invoking.

Now in the same order as I invoked the four elements I now again pick up my Wand and dismiss each quarter saying: "I now dismiss the Watchtowers of  the "North" and the powers of "Fire" and thank them for witnessing this rite guarding this circle." Now trace a banishing pentagram. * See below.

Repeat for each direction as in the elemental invocation.

When finished say "This circle is now open. So it is done".

Ritual Outline

A good idea so not to get lost in a ritual is a small card with a ritual outline on it such as this:

1. Gather tools and other necessary items. 2. Find directions and place candles, draw outline of circle, etc. 3. Place tools and items within the circle. 4. Call the quarters 5. Invoke deity (if needed) 6. State the purpose of the ritual (spell, celebration)

7. Perform spell, ritual, visualization, celebration etc. 8. Meditation and Focus 9. Thank deities 10. Dismiss quarters 11. Close circle 12. Clean up

Good luck!

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Murray Byfield © 2000-2002