Concerning the Compass and Sacred Land

I have written often of the compass (or circle of art, whatever you want to call it) but I don’t think I have written of -why- one can make use of it. There are many different circles in magic and witchcraft and many different ways to use them.

In neo-pagan eclectic witchcraft a circle is used to hold in energies until they are released out into the world to bring about the results of the spell/ritual contained therein. This type of circle can also be used to trap entities in evocation. When this happens the circle is usually outside of another, bigger circle in order to protect the magician from harmful energies as the spirit manifests. It is rather Solomonic in this regard.

There are also circles of protection, which one might draw about an object, a house or building, or themselves to create a protective field against spirits, people, or what have you. Most circles have an element of protection within them as a foundation.

In the circle casting that I utilize I try to go “between” the space to reach the sacred landscape of the spirits and the gods. I do not physically go there, of course, but the actions and words I use take my mind there, and indeed my spirit. The word for this type of casting has been popularised as “compass” by many modern crafters. I call it that simply because it makes sense to call it that. To paraphrase another it “orients the witch on his or her path.” And this is perfectly true, much like a compass orients one when travelling on foot.

In laying down the compass I create a microcosm to the macrocosm of the universe. Lately I have been using an augmented invocation of the compass inspired by Gemma Gary in her book Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways. The line states:

“I conjure thee, O Compass Round.”

As if the witch is conjuring up a named compass. And indeed this is true. When I conjure the compass I know that I am conjuring the Circles of Circles, the Universe in Miniature, the Great Compass of the World which connects me to the Land and to the Spirits. It is as though I am plugging in to a separate reality, but that is always there. With the Stang/World Tree as the center I can go anywhere, and call upon any spirit that would like to assist me.

It focuses and empowers my calls and workings. It makes it easier to connect to spirits and communicate with them. The Land is sacred, but the compass, at least for me, acts as a megaphone to the Otherworlds. When I am within a compass I stand upon Sacred Land that is the Sacred Land of the All. I am within the Upperworld, the Middle World, and the Underworld all at once. I am between.

It is important to experience this, I think. I can almost physically feel the expansion of my mind when I am in a compass. It is thrilling and terrifying.

And is that not the point of being a witch? To be in many places, yet in one place. To walk between the worlds the way that others can not? To be Living and Dead, Beast and Man, Light and Shadow at once?

How do I know it’s working, I ask myself sometimes. Well, I do have one confirmation that at least one circle casting was very effective. I was out in the woods with some friends for a Lunar rite or some such and I had a cast a circle. After a while some woman came wandering by outside of the circle looking for someone. She was calling out a name (David or something). We had a fire, so we all thought she would come over here sooner or later. Which she did. She came within six feet of us and asked “Who’s there?” as though she could not see us.

I was staring right at her and my face was clearly illuminated, we all were! Yet she could only see the fire, seemingly, and would not get any closer.

One of the group finally spoke and the woman suddenly was able to see us.

It was truly fascinating and was an “oh, shit this works” moment.

To be within a properly cast circle is to be Between, where the Spirits lie. Which is the entire point of witchcraft.

Imbolc Ritual

Last Saturday I attended a belated Imbolc ritual. One could still feel that it was in the middle of Imbolc. Indeed, I still feel this now! It was a lovely ritual. I got to sit down and chat for a while with some pagans that I haven’t seen in a while and I also got to introduce a friend of mine to some witchcraft. The ritual in question was a bit ceremonial for my taste, but at the same time it was nice to have some ritualized structure. The most frightening part was meeting the Guardian of the Circle. Since I am not part of a formal coven, I have never experienced this before. A Guardian of the Circle is usually a masked or hooded initiate that holds a dagger to those entering into the ritual space and asks them how they enter. I was about fourth in line to get in (lawls, sounds like a ride! but seriously) and I saw the Guardian pointing at the throats of those entering. I did not see that he had a hidden dagger until it was at my throat. It was rather intense and frightening and challenging at the same time. After we had all been allowed into the circle we began.

We started with a banishing ritual that was related to Lesser Banishing Ritual with some eclectic witchcrafty elements. I also got to use the “Eko Eko Azarach” power words in ritual! I have never used them before because I never really knew where such things would be used (I read them first in Master Witchcraft). I was surprised about the power that these words ushered in. It nearly knocked me off my feet, to be honest! Seriously, I got really dizzy when I was intoning them. It was intense.

We then proceeded into the Meridian Dance. We first danced in a clockwise circle and were creating a vortex in the center by moving our hands in and out of the central circle. It reminded me of the term treading the mill used in some traditional witchcraft circles. In treading the mill one is “kicking” up energy from the ground and stirring the energy with the feet. Eventually one will have enough energy to work into a spell or into a ritual or to trance out. During this particular dance we switched directions, but before doing so we would stop and send the energy up the spine and then down and then up into our hearts. It created an interesting shape around the body. We would then send loving energy back into the Land and then dance in the opposite direction.

When we were finished the quarters were called in ceremonial fashion and then the circle was cast. And then we sat down to listen to a guided meditation. The meditation was very powerful and I made my own connections with ancestral stars and living within the Land to be birthed again. It was very relaxing and the speaker had the perfect voice for it. It was very refreshing.

To finish we sat around for cakes and a very delicious wine! It was not mead, but it was about as sweet as mead. It was very good. I set a bit aside for the spirits and we proceeded to share our experiences and talk about upcoming things. I do not normally do this within a circle, but in some traditions the circle is meant to be a temple. In some Gardnerian covens the circle is only to be used for ritual and speaking of Craft related topics. I was sort of reminded of this when we started swapping news and stories to “wind-down” as it were. Eventually we closed the ritual and went upstairs to eat something to further ground ourselves.

The stars never looked so beautiful that night.

Rowan Crosses and Hawthorn Necklaces

I finished my baths, and they were wonderful. I will probably take more because they are very relaxing. The friend who told me to take the baths also suggested that I make an amulet and then rededicate myself to the Land and to the Ancestors. Today I found my Rowan branches to make the Rowan cross that I am going to have as the center piece of the amulet. And it is going to be strung upon a necklace of Hawthorn berries upon a green thread (because I don’t have red thread, hehe). I will need to borrow some yarn from my neighbor and I will make the crosses on Thursday, which is a day traditional for protection and such. That and the Rowan branches need to dry a bit as I found them in some snow and they were a bit frozen.

I’m very excited to do this as Rowan is also the tree of Candlemas which will also soon be happening. I hope to make enough crosses to give some to my friends as well. I’m praying for a cloudy sky on that day, let me tell you! I’m tired of this winter cold in Montana! On Saturday I will be celebrating with the local coven here and reveling in the cold with dancing and hot cocoa. After I will probably have a private ritual to myself that will probably involve some egg sacrifices (the shells will be added to my sigil powder!) and some dancing of my own to waken the Serpent of the Land. My songs that I give on my walks will be turned to joyful ones instead of lullaby’s.

On the other hand if the sky is clear and sunny and bright, then I will be preparing for some colder days in the future. The Serpent will go further back in the hole and press the snooze button on Spring. But I will still make the offerings as a thank you for the head’s up! And, if the sky is clear, my walks will be a bit quieter for a while and my songs a little softer.

I am also very happy to have my stang back with me. I like to take it on my walks as it helps get the brush out of the way, and it better for tracing a circle. I have used the dagger since I have been back, and I am too tall to lean over so far. I also got my Trans-portation book back, so I will be working out of that for the next month or five.

Things are looking up!

 

Compass Round or Ring of Art

Throughout the years of magic a circle inscribed upon the floor of the working area has always been central to the work and lore of the magician. What is this circle for? Is it necessary? How is it constructed? There are many answers to these questions and each of them from different practitioners. I am going to tell you my way and formula for creating the compass round or ring of art.

First of all what is a compass round? The compass round is the brainchild of the late Robert Cochrane and truly I believe it to be his creation, or at least the wording. There is an article explaining why he uses this term but for the life of me I can not find it. In essence, however, one is laying down a compass of the world and the directions correspond to the lands of the gods. This is reminiscent of the magic circle used in ceremonial workings. But before this the circle of power (as I will call it) was really just sacred space used by the magician, shamans really, to have a place of focus whilst they worked their sorcery.

In the book [i]Way of the Weird[/i] the shaman-master is first seen in the novel exorcising a woman of an evil spirit which is causing her sickness. The monk who is assisting the shaman explains the circle of rods of wood that are tied to a ring of rope. This circle creates the shaman’s sacred space and the microcosm to the macrocosm. He becomes the axis mundi, the center of the world and from there he moves the world to his will. Of course, he is a bit more polite about it than many modern magicians.

The circle is the boundary that divides the world of the living from the world of the spirits, the gods, et cetera. Many say that a circle or sacred space is not necessary for all of nature is sacred, and I quite agree, but at the same time it is nice to know that the spirits in the area are aware of what you are doing. For the me the compass represents a little meeting place of souls and a separate place from the world of the living in which to communicate with those spirits and to work my magic and such things. For inside purposes this makes much more sense as it is nice to clear away stuff that is not necessary for the working at hand.

For others the circle represents a place in which to store energy so it can fly out unto the universe in one great burst. I disagree with this and for me I create a circle around that which I wish to protect. For some a compass does not have to have circumambulations. I have known some to simply tap the ground a few times and say something to the affect of calling up the spirits and that is their compass rite. I myself, when I just want to give a simple offering, will sing or hum whilst making internal invocations to the spirits.

However many practitioners have a longer version of the compass rite. Mine is as follows and it is simply in five steps, because I like the number five.

1. Declaration of Intent
2. Create the Crooked Path to Elphame
3. Cleanse the Body and the Spirit
4. Create the Portal and the River of Souls
5. Declaration of Arrival

To begin I have a few objects that I would always have with me and these are my Stang or a rod of wood; I have heard that the left foot can also be used in a pinch. A bottle of water or cauldron of water. And finally an open flame or a heat source of some sort. I will usually also have a lantern to light my way as I usually practice at night when the living are asleep and spiritual activity is heightened.

So I begin. I come to my working area with a pile of wood or an unlit candle in front of me and a cauldron of water to my left. In my left hand is my stang and in my right my lit lantern. I center myself and connect to the source of All, that dark place within me which echos in all things. Then I make my Statement of Intent which might to the effect of this: “Master of Sorcery, Goat-Footed Angel with the Staring Eye. Queen Elfin of the Hollow Hills, Flaming Mistress of Creation. I ask that you open the way to the Unseen. Open the way to Elphame in your names, Devil and Dame! Open the Door to the Unseen!”

I begin to walk counterclockwise, dragging my stang behind me to make a furrow in the ground. My goal is go around at least three times, but sometimes I will go more if I need to focus more. These are words that I might say: “I create a furrow in the Land reaching into the Deepest Depths. I build a Hedge reaching to the highest heavens. I create a Crooked Path to Elphame. I take this Crooked Path going down and in around around, taking this hellish road to Elphame. I forsake Heaven for Hell and arrive upon a crooked path in Elphame!”

I plant my stang before me and turn now to the water. “Creature of the Waters!” I say “From you I purge all that is unclean. I remove from you all evil and purify you with the Word. By the Master’s Name! Be you prepared!” I would then wash myself in the Devil’s name by cleansing my hands, face and the back of my neck. I turn to the unlit fire and light it with the lantern’s flame. “Creature of the mortal Flame!” I intone “From you I purge all that is unclean. I remove from you all evil and purify you with the Word. By the Lady’s Name! Be you prepared!” and then I will cleanse my spirit by taking the warmth and breathing it inward in the Lady’s name.

I take up the cauldron and take it around the rim of the compass and lay down a path of water. At each cardinal point I lay down a “road” for which spirits to come by. I instruct the water to become a medium of spirits and spell work, to become the River of Souls in the Master’s name! Then I would return to the flame and instruct it to become a doorway, a window into the unseen to become a kindly light and a welcoming light for spirits and gods. So shall it be.

I would rise and stare determinedly at the stang, which has become the axis mundi, the center of all things, the world tree. Then I would say something to this effect: “Master! Mistress! I have reversed myself! I stand here by a seat of Flame, surrounded by the River of Souls! The ground is consecrated by your most Holy names! I have gone down and within and have come to Elphame. I come before you as a servant! So Shall it Be!” And then I go into my working.

By doing this I have made myself aware of the spirits and have connected into the Land. I have reversed myself and turned away from what is mundane and have opened a way to the ancestral lands and the undying lands of the gods. I have come TO the gods rather than calling them forth. If I wished to go deeper I would “tread the mill” by going around the stand and focus upon it and focus on bringing myself deeper into the Unseen. Also by now I am in a good altered state of consciousness which is oh so helpful so good spellwork.

The compass does not need steps three and four, indeed I have done it without them to great effect when I was hiking and decided to have a meal with the Land spirits in the area. I had gone hiking for this purpose so I did have my stang as well as some bread and wine. It did beautifully.

This is, of course, my way of creating the compass. It is greatly inspired by the works of Robin Artisson whose writings I use as a skeleton for my own poetry. I took out a lot of the symbolism that he uses for my own symbolism and it still works. Witchcraft is a personal practice, so always do your own thing in the name of the gods and spirits that you adore.

Invocation and Evocation