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Casting a Circle
 Casting a circle It is believed that the practice of casting a circle is to give a barrier of energy in a circle around your ceremonial area. Be it your alter or a picture you may have drawn on the floor or ground. Energy is built up during the ritual or ceremony and is kept within. Another belief is that it "keeps out" whatever is summoned during the ritual. It is a protective barrier between you on the inside and whatever is on the other side. Once again, there are so many ways and variations to casting a circle I can only generalize and give you an idea to help get you started. For a coven the circle is nine feet in diameter. If you are working alone, your circle need only be five feet in diameter. This is not hard set. You can have whatever size is suitable for your purpose. If you wish, you may physically mark the boundary of the circle. Use anything you wish. Twine, ribbon, chalk, paint, stones, or scratching the circle in the ground. Mark your four cardinal points with some object. Candles are a good choice. You could use all white candles or colored. The colors should represent the elements.
You could walk around the circle three times. Always going to the right, (north, east, south, west) start at one of the four cardinal points. An incantation is recite. This is just something stating the purpose of th circle. That should do it. Your ready for the ceremony.
You should keep in mind, never, never under any circumstances, break the circle. Well, if it truly is an emergency you can walk through the circle. You will need to perform another ritual to repair the break. Never cast a new circle without first performing the repair. For one reason or another, it my be impossible for you to perform the repair in the same location. For this, you may do it at some other area. But if possible, do it in the same location.
To do this, use your athame, "cut" an invisible a doorway shape in the energy of the circle. You should say something to the effect, "I take my athame to open a temporary doorway through my circle." Keep in mind, anything may pass through the circle as long as it is open. Don't forget to close the doorway once you have returned. Just go through the same ritual you used to open the door, only backward. At the end of the ceremony, close the circle. You may do this in any fashion you chose. Be it elaborate or just a simple closing. Normally, taking down is just done in reverse of casting the circle. If you cast clockwise, take down counter clockwise. Simply do everything in reverse of what you did earlier. Instead of calling in, do a "thanking". Experiment with this to find what works best for you. Or of course, if you are in a coven or have some traditions already set, by all means, do it in the way of your faith.
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