Creating Personal Sacred Space
As you work through the course, you will find that I open a lot of the discussions with questions, and this is no exception. So, what is sacred space? First, let's ok back to the dictionary:
- Sacred: Dedicated to or set apart for the worship of a deity
- Space: A blank or empty area (many different definitions for space but we'll go with this one)
Simply put, scared space is an area that you make sacred and then use to carry out anything within it that you wish. If you want to worship deity, that's cool, if you want to meditate, that's cool too, if you just want to sit and play guitar, then great. You see, circle casting and creating sacred space are another one of the white elephants that "those in the know" love to put a cloud of mystery over. I have met people almost too afraid to create scared space or cast a circle because it is "so complicated and very dangerous to get wrong". B-u-l-l-s-h-i-t. Sure to cast a circle really well and contain the energies you raise takes practice, but let me let you into on of the great secrets of the occult - anyone can do it! And you don't need to worry about containing those energies until you know who to manifest them. So time to sit back and enjoy yourself.
How many times have you heard someone say, or said yourself, that they/you need space? What we normally mean by this is that we need somewhere to retreat too. A place to rest and renew ourselves. This is a simple human need. Whether we use a room in our house, somewhere outside or even go on a retreat, we all need somewhere to feel and safe secure. Somewhere where we can just be ourselves, and feel safe just being. No hassles, no-one to disturb us. Just enjoying being who we are with no outside pressures.
That too is the purpose of sacred space. You are creating somewhere you feel safe to carry out whatever magikcal operation you wish to carry out. Or maybe somewhere you feel that you can 'let go' when meditating.
Remember, you yourself are the centre of your sacred space. That space rests within you, within your awareness. It is something that you do not even have to manifest in this world. Many people talk about themselves as being a temple. They mean their bodies of course. All that they mean is that they think of their body as a sacred space, in which they dwell. But that, like any manifest place, can be violated. True sacred space cannot, it exists in your awareness, that is its root, not in the physical.
You will find many books or articles tell you to find a time when you can be undisturbed, and this is no exception. When practicing creating your own sacred space, as with any work, make sure everyone in the house knows that you are not to be disturbed. You will probably feel a little self-conscious about this at first; telling people not to disturb you then, having locked yourself in your room, thinking about everyone waiting for you to emerge, maybe having grown a brand new pair of horns! Not to worry as the more you do it, the more accepting people will be and the more natural it will feel to you.
If you live on your own, then the procure is pretty much the same; put the phone on silent, unplug, or take the batteries out of the door bell and just relax. No, you are not going to miss a vital phone call - if it's important they will call back. It doesn't matter if you miss an unannounced visitor; supposing you were at the shops or out somewhere else?
Now it's time for the first exercise of this lesson, creating a very simple sacred space of your own.
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Lesson 3 - Exercise 1 Sit quietly in a place of your choosing (the surroundings do not need to be quiet, only you do. You can even do this on the bus, but not while driving yourself please!) Imagine coming out from you a ball of blue light. Imaging a paintbrush or pencil drawing the blue light can sometimes be helpful. Now without moving use this blue light to draw a circle around yourself, imagine it encompassing you. This circle can be any size you want to make it. Remember that whatever you put into the circle will be part of your scared space, so if you do not want the man sat next to you on the bus in your circle, don't draw it to big. When you have drawn your circle of light, including everything you want in your space, imagine your circle becoming a sphere around you. This is your sacred space. Spend a few minutes thinking about why you want this space, what is your intention? Reinforce the sphere with that intention: to recharge, to feel safe, to get away. When you are ready to come back to the real world unspin your sphere and absorb your blue light circle into yourself, after all it came out of you. If you forget to do this, the circle will fade away in time, but it will not help with your social life! Since it may well make you appear socially invisible |
You can use this as a very simple method of protection if you and feel threatened by someone.
Casting a Circle
After you have practiced creating your own sacred space and can really feel its presence, its time to move on to casting a circle. This is just one step on from what you have just done. The sphere that you created around you is the same as the one you will cast in a circle, only bigger. You don't need any fancy tools, so no need to worry about forging a blade for your athame - but all well and good if you want too!
All a circle does is to create sacred space. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. The circle is the place for your magickal operation. It is where you do it, although it does have other purposes. As for formal ways of casting a circle, they are very useful to groups, as they let everyone know what is going on, but that is what ritual is for.
Part of the act of circle casting involves calling the elements (also known as watchtowers - confusing all this different terminology isn't it!). Although we will be covering the four tangible elements (air, fire, water and earth) later in the course, it might help if did some research of your own on them now.
So, casting a circle is a very old magickal act, and a great deal of fuss is made about it by witches in covens and some other occult groups, who have lengthy speeches and a love of waving swords and wands about and so on. But if you think about it, the ancient Shaman or Village Wisewoman would not have dared keep their kitchens full of 'magickal knives' and carved wands or pentacles, kept specially for working magick. Each individual would probably have had some special, natural objects which were imbued with magickal power, like polished stones, strangely shaped wood or corn dollies, but these would not be noticed in the event of a witch finder choosing to search the place.
The oldest and simplest way of creating a circle is by setting up 'wards'. These are four objects, which can be as simple twigs cut from a bush and stuck into the ground, at the four points of the compass, or they might be four items which represent the elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This act as useful markers for the boundary of your circle. If you are indoors these could easily be a stone or piece of wood for Earth, a candle for fire (but make sure it can't catch anything alight) a glass dish of water, and incense or a few sweet-scented flowers for Air. I used to use different coloured crystals which corresponded in colour to each of the elements. Most pagans attribute Earth with North, Air with East, Fire with South and Water with the West. The main object of the four wards (watchtowers or whatever) is that they help purify the atmosphere and cut out distractions by being the edges of a circle around you and the work you are doing. This is only a temporary defence, though it is necessary to banish the power of these at the completion of the work or you will become mentally and physically isolated, because you banish all feelings, communications from people and energies too.
Now, to begin casting the circle, stand facing North. Hold your athame (magick knife) if you have one, or simply point with your index finger if you don't. Walk slowly around the circle's perimeter clockwise, charging it with your words and energy. Create the circle - through your visualisation - with the power flowing out from your knife's blade or finger tip. This is exactly the same as the blue energy you used when creating your sacred space in the earlier part of this lesson. As you walk, stretch the energy until it forms a complete sphere around the working area, half above the ground, half below. As you do so, charge (see and feel) the energy with protection and love.
Now you need to place the elemental wards and there are two ways of doing so depending on how much space you have. If you are out of doors, there should be no problem. It is best to start from the elements Earth as it is the safest, most solid basis for any sort of magick. Take your stone (or whatever else you use to represent Earth) and hold it up towards the north and ask the Lady or Earth (or Angel or Elemental) to bless the symbol and bring you security and protection while you are working. You should then walk clockwise (Deosil) around the circle until you arrive in the East. Light the charcoal or incense or lift the flowers and ask the Lord of the East to breathe through you the power of Air, and sustain your work both day and night. Then you walk clockwise to the South. Pick up the matches and light the candle, then raise it to the sky and ask that the Lord of Flame illuminates and purify your efforts. Go to the West where you take the cup of water and ask the Lady of Water to cleanse and sanctify you and your working space.
You can then walk round to wherever you are going to sit or stand during your working and get on with it, perhaps first calling the Goddess and God using whatever words seem fit to you. If you don't feel ready to do this yet, don't worry it isn't essential at this stage of your training.
At the end of the spell or divination, you should always allow a few minutes of silent meditation so that if the Gods and Goddess you are working with wish to speak to you, or teach you anything, there is an opportunity for them to do so. It is always important to say a fervent Thank You, even if you have seen or felt nothing.
You may now eat and drink something, first asking the Lord and Lady to bless it. This is important so that you ground yourself and close down your psychic centres. This part of a ritual is often referred to as Cakes and Ale - and I can't think of anything more fitting to use!
Now walk clockwise back to the North and thank the Lady or Earth, Mother Nature, and give her thanks for providing your home, base and food throughout your life. Walk to the East, say 'Lord of the East, thank you for your light and power. Please be in my heart always'. Go to the south and thank the Lord of Fire in a similar way. Finally to the Lady of the West, thanking her for her inspiration and purity.
Finally cut the circle by standing in the North and placing your athame blade or finger tip near the floor and cut through the energy by sharply bringing your athame blade (or finger tip) up as high as you can (but watch the ceiling if you are working indoors). See the energy fly out into the Universe and be used for the greater good.
Congratulations, you have just cast your first circle - easy wasn't it!