Wicca: A comprehensive guide to the Old Religion in the modern world. Vivianne Crowley

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      Whether indoors or outdoors, the rites of Wicca always take place within a sacred and consecrated space called the circle. However, a Wiccan circle is not necessarily exactly circular. Outside, natural wooded clearings do not grow to such convenient shapes and, when working Wiccan rites indoors, the priestess will often cast the circle around the perimeter of the whole room so that the physical barriers of the walls and the psychic barrier of the circle coincide. Traditionally, the circle was nine feet in radius and one of the uses of the nine-foot cord in Wicca is to mark out the circumference of the circle. The nine-foot radius is a comfortable size for a coven of thirteen, but a circle can be made to any size that is appropriate for the group.

      The Wiccan circle differs from that of ritual magic. Readers of occult novels will be familiar with the preparations of the white magician. Considerable effort is expended in marking out a chalk circle on the floor of a room from which every speck of dust has been removed. The magician draws strange symbols around the circle and sometimes a barrier of salt is poured along the edge. Some Witches do create a physical barrier when they cast their circles. Alex Sanders had a portable wooden circle painted with esoteric symbols that could be neatly folded into quarters for easy transportation, but this was not used for the majority of rites. Sometimes Witches who cannot keep a separate room for a temple will paint a ritual circle on their floorboards and then cover this with a carpet when not in use. When working ritual outside, some Witches will draw a physical circle in the earth, but the usual custom is to draw the circle not upon the ground, but in the air. The circle is not a physical one, but a mental one.

      Why do Witches work within a circle? The circle is an archetypal symbol of wholeness that has been used for millennia as a sacred place of healing and refuge. In Wicca, the circle is said to exist between the worlds. It is poised between the world of men and the realms of the Mighty Ones, between humankind and the Gods, between the astral world and the physical, between the psychological and the spiritual, in a space where those who are in the physical body can meet with non-physical forces in a safe and harmonious way. It is like a clearing in the jungle of everyday life where we can rest from its clamour and demands. The circle is a place of peace where our sometimes warring conscious and unconscious minds can meet and work in harmony. By entering the sacred precincts of the circle, we are not only clearing a physical space (if we have to clear the living room of furniture), we are also clearing a space in our own minds. This is a space where something can happen and the disorganization of our psyches can be made whole.

       The altar

      Within the circle will be an altar. This is placed either in the north of the circle or at the centre facing north. Certain directions have always been considered more sacred than others. In Islam, which functions without an altar, this is not a set direction, but instead prayer is oriented to a sacred place, Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet. In Christianity, the sacred direction is east, the direction of the rising sun.

      In Wicca, the north is traditionally considered to be the home of the Gods and the most sacred direction. This is a reflection of the influence on Wicca of our European ancestors. The Pole Star in the north was considered particularly sacred in the mythology of Norse and German peoples. It was also the direction of the Spiral Castle of the Celtic Goddess Arianrhod, Caer Arianrhod, where the dead heroes of the Celts went to dwell. The north is also the direction through which the Sun passes at night and the point at which the Moon’s influence is strongest in relation to the Sun. The north therefore represents the deepest part of the unconscious mind. The differences in altar orientation between Wicca and Christianity reflect their Dionysian and Apollonian leanings: the religion of the night versus the religion of the day, of unconscious versus conscious.¹ The north is not necessarily used in the Southern hemisphere. In the Southern hemisphere, the Sun is in the north at Noon and in the south at midnight. A good case can therefore be made for placing the altar to the south, oriented towards the Southern pole.

      Regardless of whether we use north or south, having the altar on the north/south axis is significant in that it aligns the circle with the Earth’s magnetic currents. Traditionally, this has been considered important both in magic and in another important human activity – sleep! In the Northern hemisphere, in order to align the electro-magnetic field of the body with that of the Earth, traditionally we are told to always sleep with our heads to the north and our feet to the south. Mediums often used to sit with their backs to the north when giving clairvoyance in much the same way that a Wiccan Priestess will stand with her back to the north when the power of the Goddess is invoked upon her.

       The quarters and the Elements

      The four cardinal directions of the circle – East, South, West and North – are associated with the four Elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth. In the Northern hemisphere Air is placed to the East, Fire to the South, Water to the West, and Earth to the North. In addition, there is a fifth Element which cannot be perceived by the physical senses. This is called Ether (sometimes spelt Aether or Aethyr), Akasha or Spirit. Ether is associated with the centre of the circle.