(Personal) Circle Summation

NeoWiccan religious rites are held in a unique kind of "Sacred Space": A metaphysically ‘roped off’ area within the world which acts as a temporary ‘Temple’, achieved via the casting of "Circles"; a barrier that is nonphysical and metaphysical in nature, which is used to magically separate the sacred from the mundane in order to create a space that is spiritually "between worlds".

These Circles, when created, are usually "Quartered" through various means. The Quartered Circle does several things.

First, it orients the practitioner in time and space through relation to the four directions- which themselves combine to create the additional liminal directions of ‘Above’ and ‘Below’.

Secondly, it fulfills the model of wholeness through the presence of, and relation to, the four basic, Universal Elements of Life.

These four elements are themselves connected to and oriented within the cardinal directions mentioned above, orienting each within a specific quarter of the circle by proxy. There are several ways of allocating the elements to the Cardinal directions, however.

In my own system, these associations follow thusly:

• North for Fire
• East for Water
• South for Earth
• West for Air

By properly Creating and Quartering the circle you are, essentially, bringing a portion of the greater cosmos down and manifesting it within the physical world. The Center of that space then becomes a place of magical wholeness and integration within the greater Cosmos. And it is the center of this space where all this comes into total unity and alignment; the Axis Mundi: Center of both the Greater and Recreated Cosmos.

Here is where we stand in ritual, in order to draw upon the Universal Powers in accordance with our needs during Spell Work, or to commune with The Divine during Ritual Worship.