Magic Circle, 1992

An intriguing find as I pack up the Wonderella Library of Art & Arcana: a journal entry from 2 May, 1992, when I was 17 years old, describing the construction of my first magic circle...

Today I constructed a magic circle in the woods. I had looked in some books for instructions on how to set up a permanent natural circle but couldn't find any. The only instructions I could find had to do with casting the circle -- I wanted to build a permanent place. I kind of had an idea where, but I wasn't sure. I wanted someplace deep enough in the woods where I couldn't be seen from the house or the neighbors', but still on the property. I kind of had an idea how, too, but again I wasn't sure. I left the house with a bag containing five old cow bones I got last spring in Missouri, a rock from a mountain range in Colorado, an arrow-shaped rock from school, some wind-chimes from India, and my bolline. From the garage I took a rake and a spade. Into the woods...

I found a spot that met most of my criteria. It was visible from both houses, but someone looking from either house would only see a person standing out there, not the circle. The sunlight shone through the treetops on a patch of violets and I knew that had to be the spot. The summer foliage will further conceal the circle. It was only until I was about halfway through construction (it took about an hour and a half) that I recognized the circle from a dream a few nights ago.

Construction went like this...

1. Find center point and rake outwards 4 1/2 to 5 feet, moving around center to create a 9 to 10 foot diameter circle.

2. Uproot foliage inside circle. This might have been a mistake, because of the destruction. But it can also be looked at as a process of transformation, and it gets you tuning in on the earth.

3. Locate the cardinal points. Stand in the center and face away from the sun. Since I did this in the afternoon my shadow cut the circle through the eastern cardinal point. From this point you should eyeball the other three directions.

4. Place cardinal markers. In this case, three bones and three stones. I buried the bones pointing up and down. They'll make good candle holders. The stones I pounded into a triangle formation facing north. I also laid a bone on the northernmost stone.

5. Empower cardinal points. Beginning in the east and moving clockwise, I held a long rib bone over my head in my right hand and invoked the elements through gesture. To finalize the empowering the rib was thrown on the ground and left to rest. I should probably do this more thoroughly sometime soon.

I was going to use the chimes in a sort of swinging censer type way, but thought not to because of the noise. Leaving the circle for home, I touched my bolline's tip to the center point and cast a simple protection spell: Magic circle of mud and bone, protect yourself while I am home.