Magic Circles - study group?

earthair

ravenest said:
Ahhhh .... the 'inner sanctum' ! Mine is in outer space - fantastic views !

Interesting! On a planet/star or floating about the Earth?
I think the challenge of mental circles is creating something where I feel 'safe'. In space I would be worried about asteroid collisions, not having any oxygen and being ungrounded so unlikely that I would ever stop worrying enough to relax :bugeyed:

How did you protect yourself?

earthair

Tanga said:
This is what I immediately think of on the topic:
http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/view.cfm?recordid=111
A favourite.

For myself, I have 3:

1) 'Simba Kuja'. The rolling green hills on the south side of Mt. Kenya (that I have camped on. Up one side and down the other of the mountain). Samba Kuja means "the lion comes".
No sound but the high winds and occasional bird call, high overhead.
Crested cranes make a magical sound - a bit like creaking hinges in the deep-tibetan-bowl range. Or a hawk.
Here - I can meet a riding companion. A giant Lammergeier/bearded vulture.

2) 'Karen'. The back garden that I grew up in. (Karen is a suburb of Nairobi in Kenya, named after Karen Blixen the writer).
The garden was 11 acres, half of it wild. And there were 16 varieties of Eucalyptus in there (might have changed now with the new owners).
When I think of it, I'm there with the sounds of the Eastern Savannah (shame there isn't as "sounds of nature" CD from this particular corner of the world), and I also sometimes hear that song by Wendy Rule "Follow me, I will lead you to your life under the trees - I am Artemis of the Eucalypts...".
Then - when I think of that song, I think of 2 Tarot cards. The Moon from both The Tarot of the Night, and Secret Tarot - link below.

3) My Temple has no name, and can move about Tardis-like (outer space is fun ).
It has 7 floors decorated in 7 specific colours (7 etc.significance).
The ground floor wood-carved-doors have a cipher lock, (I've decided the wood is Ebony - now rare in Africa) in the shape of the tattoo on my right shoulder. And that tattoo - is the centre of the mandala that I painted in contemplation of my patron Deity.
It has a basement of growing crystals, like this one in Mexico:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Crystals
(I can also blame the influence of Kal-El/Superman for dreams about crystal caves. ).

Yes. I have some.

It's the journey that makes us.

For a sword. I have a suitable belly dancing scimitar.
(I belly danced for a long while - fantasy/fusion. Until my knees decided they didn't like it anymore.)
A friend of mine once offered me the ritual sword her deceased husband had made - it was beautiful - but it was huge.
Too uncomfortable for me to wield. It didn't "fit". He was Wiccan, she was Shamanic.

Which decks are those cards from? :cool2:

Regarding swords- we haven't really discussed the effects of using wands/fingers/swords/light sabers/candles/other things for casting the circle.
I don't use swords - they feel too sharp for me, like damaging the circle instead of creating it? I can see the point *pardon the pun* if you are cutting a doorway to temporarily exit, but I think if I have to exit, I'd be better off closing, and recasting after a decent break, or plan better to not forget stuff

My favourite thing to use now is one of my fake candles!
Hands feel softer, creative and very hands on- perfect for healing and meditation and quiet time.
Wands feel very alive and dynamic.

Tanga

earthair said:
Which decks are those cards from?

As I said in 2) - they are from: The Tarot of the Night, and Secret Tarot respectively.

earthair said:
Regarding swords- we haven't really discussed the effects of using wands/fingers/swords/light sabers/candles/other things for casting the circle.
I don't use swords - they feel too sharp for me, like damaging the circle instead of creating it? I can see the point *pardon the pun* if you are cutting a doorway to temporarily exit, but I think if I have to exit, I'd be better off closing, and recasting after a decent break, or plan better to not forget stuff
My favourite thing to use now is one of my fake candles!
Hands feel softer, creative and very hands on- perfect for healing and meditation and quiet time.
Wands feel very alive and dynamic.

"Temporary exit" is the stuff that happens in groups very occasionally - or if it's an open circle (i.e. a circle open to the public, so all manner of people are there unprepared). And - there wouldn't be time to close and re-cast the circle in these instances.
Plus - doing that tends to "fluff up"/disturb the energy and mood that's been created.
It doesn't work.
Usually if one is on ones own - it's likely one has factored in NOT having a loo break right in the middle of the ritual. Or having left out some stuff - as there has been preparation time, during which all these things have been contemplated.

What I cast the circle with - depends on my mood and The Theme.
Am I feeling floating and wandy? Pointy and sharp and wanting to "put my foot down"?
- or wish to quickly draw with my fingers? - etc... And which of these "fits" for the theme?
(Some structures have the wand to cast - and the Athame to banish/cut doors/cut ties that bind etc. Using the energy/mood of the tools differently.)
And - I love my Athame and Sword - so... excuses to use them? YES! :joke:

(Mind you - Sword for me - is more the domain of the group circle).

Milfoil

What is the objective of the circle? Why is it being worked; what ceremony, ritual, healing, sanctuary etc? These questions should inform where you start, who you honour, what you ask and everything else. Sometimes tradition doesn't fit with necessity because nothing is static, time brings new challenges and so the Spirits inform us how to change and adapt.

Tanga

Milfoil said:
What is the objective of the circle? Why is it being worked; what ceremony, ritual, healing, sanctuary etc? These questions should inform where you start, who you honour, what you ask and everything else. Sometimes tradition doesn't fit with necessity because nothing is static, time brings new challenges and so the Spirits inform us how to change and adapt.

Exactly

Make your own "tradition". Use what "fits" in that time and that place. Build your ritual "organically".
~***~

Tanga

earthair @ ravenest:

earthair said:
Interesting! On a planet/star or floating about the Earth?
I think the challenge of mental circles is creating something where I feel 'safe'. In space I would be worried about asteroid collisions, not having any oxygen and being ungrounded so unlikely that I would ever stop worrying enough to relax How did you protect yourself?

The sanctuary created is to your personal specifications. You decide in-you-minds-eye if and how, it can magically have oxygen in space - and avoid asteroids...
You decide how you can be "grounded" without your metaphorical feet touching the ground.

For this idea, I found the imagery of the Qabalistic Cross from the LBRP (which by-the-way I learned in a workshop run by a GD member - I didn't read it anywhere) - where one sees oneself growing large enough to fill the universe, and then being energetically "connected to everything" via the the 3 main axes of the body - useful. i.e. one is "plugging into the universal power".
...Followed by banishing the quarters of existing debris, and then invoking quarter guardians into the clean space.

I also see a bit of this pattern (IMO - they, who taught me, might not agree

) in a favourite therapy meditation where one imagines extending a ray of energy from the crown "up into the heavens/universe where all souls meet" and also extending a ray of energy "down into mother earth, stoping at a place of meaningful connection". All whilst sitting inside of a giant protective pyramid...
It creates the vision of being suspended like a bead/star between heaven and earth - and interface between the two... (well that's how my mind works anyway! :joke:

).
*This is from a Zero Balancing meditation*.
Don't know if that helps.

You just need a vision of protecting yourself in space - that YOU believe in.
You could ask your guides if you have some...

earthair

The very concept of magic circles in space, either real or imaginary is fascinating!

Purely in my head I've been trying various things from doing a George Clooney in Gravity (problematic what with the floating about and needing a sphere not a circle), to being a spiral galaxy... which seems the most fun because hey, you ARE already a big circular energy thing anyway

Or a Hadit/Nuit inspired circle? But in that case no need to be in space because anywhere will do.

earthair

Taking inspiration from nature, specifically NGC 1232 :cool2:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120107.html , this should give us clues as the best place to start for maximum oooomph...the centre working outwards? Have centuries of magical students missed a trick by starting at the outside? :joke:

How about using the Reiki Cho Ku Rei normally ...and in reverse to cast circles?

Tanga

earthair said:
...How about using the Reiki Cho Ku Rei normally ...and in reverse to cast circles?

Gorgeous galaxy

Hmm - Cho Ku Rei... I think I couldn't quite dissect it off from the healing context in which I learned it.
So, no - I wouldn't use it unless the circle is specifically for healing maybe...I'd add it in, rather than use instead of.

earthair

I was thinking of the using the power symbol more in 3D? So spiral first from ground up in a cone towards a middle point high above the centre of the circle then bring it down through the centre. Or Galaxy style start high, in centre, bring first stroke down into centre of circle, then spiral outwards.

I'm going to experiment with this!

The power symbol is a 2D representation of vortexes found in nature in water, hurricanes etc, so it would produce power for healing, magic or whatever else too I think :livelong: