When we think about magic circles, many of us envision these, which makes sense because they seem to be the origin of most circles used today. However, for many people the Abrahamic aspects of these can make them unusable.

The circles are made of two simple parts: sacred geometry and names of power. Names of power are the aspect from which the rest of the circle is derived. Traditionally, the names of power are taken, some say appropriated, from Jewish mysticism and filtered through a thin veneer of Catholicism. Truly, the question is what one calls upon to power the circle.

Reading the texts, we find that planets are important over and over again. You must select the day and the hour of the planet most appropriate for your work, according to the tomes. Each day of the week has one of seven planets ruling it, and we switch planets every hour. Keep in mind that this idea comes from a time and place where saying, “The earth rotates around the sun,” could get you placed under house arrest as a heretic. Now, you can use the small flat rock in your pocket to pull up a window to the stars.

Additionally, many of us are much more comfortable calling on the power of nature. Whether you view them as deities, large energetic bodies, or just ideas that have grown strong with the weight of human history: planets make a lot more sense for a general purpose circle than the Abrahamic God does.

Of all the heavenly bodies, the Sun is the easiest place to start. Even children can understand its movements once a few basic concepts are explained, and you can measure its efficacy by asking yourself how cold and dark it is outside.

So now we know what the names of power refer to, but what names will we use? The answer is math. One of the reasons why Hebrew is considered such a powerful language, aside from being the language of Genesis, is because each letter also has a numerical value. So instead of searching for or creating a replacement language, the power of numbers should suffice.

The number which best represents the relationship between the earth and the sun is 365. The property of this number which makes it unique and places it in the universe is that it can be described as the sum of consecutive squares not one, but twice. So we have two overlapping sets of numbers with which to describe the connection between earth and sun: {365, 10, 11, 12} and {365, 13, 14}.

The next thing to consider is sacred geometry. Ultimately, we want shapes inscribed on the circle. You can be very elaborate, but I prefer my tools to look simple. About 12 tries later, I get this:

Obviously, the timing and direction of the circle matter, but in a much more updated fashion. If you cannot see the sun due to nighttime or cloud cover, the circle will not be effective. In warmer seasons the circle will be more effective. In colder seasons, less. The point of the 365 should always point toward the sun. Sunrise is the best time; sunset should be avoided. Similarly, the transition from warm to cold season is a bad time for this circle. In the Northeast USA, the time between mid-fall and the winter solstice is an especially bad time.

In the old texts, any spirit listed was also ruled by a planet. Prescriptive lists of spirits are a thing of the past, but the pattern remains the same. If you power your circles with heavenly bodies, you should find the heavenly body most like the spirit you wish to summon to power the circle. You should then plan your work on a day when that body’s influence is strong. More likely, you would keep an eye on the skies, and work based on what heavenly bodies are strongest at the time you want to do the work.

Finally, you will need a pair of magic incantations to activate and deactivate the circle. I’ve got a personal favorite for activation and another for deactivating, but this is a bit of a personal touch, since incantation style varies so much from person to person. Also, my deactivating chant is particular to Goddess-centered spirituality and won’t work for everyone.

To summarize, a wide range of circles are easily designed if one understands the basic principles and applies them. Choose a power source, find some relevant mathematics, use the math to design some shapes, and test the circle rigorously to find weaknesses.

The next question, now that we have a circle, is materials and usage. A 9’ circle drawn with an engraved sword is expensive in terms of time, space, and materials. Not everyone has the ability to even perform such an act.

For a larger, quick method, you will need:

• Chalk
• A floor you can write on, wood seems to do best

To Cast

• Cleanse or banish your space.

• Draw the circle on the floor.
• Take a moment to empower the circle with the incantation you selected.
• Visualize a sphere arising from the drawing.

To Decast

• Make sure you have thanked and said goodbye to any powers you called while working.
• Pull in the energy in with with second incantation you selected.
• Erase the circle completely.
• Ground yourself.

The second method is firmer, slower, and designed specifically for spirit work.

You will need

• A 1 ½’ square of cloth, preferably canvas, with hemmed edges.
• Fabric paint
• A brush
• An item bearing the sigil of the spirit you want to work with
• Censer
• Charcoal
• Incense (frankincense is preferable)
• Tongs
• A fire extinguisher
• A lighter, preferably the long kind used for grilling
• A well ventilated area

To Prepare the Cloth

• Hem the edges
• Light the incense
• Pass the cloth through the smoke to cleanse it
• Recite the prayer/blessing of the sun over the paint and brush
• Paint the circle onto the cloth
• Dry according to paint directions

To Cast

• Cleanse or banish your space.
• Lay the cloth on a flat surface
• Lay the item bearing the sigil in the middle of the circle.
• Take a moment to empower the circle with the prayer you selected.
• Visualize a sphere arising from the drawing.
• Summon the spirit by your usual method.

To Decast

• Banish or devoke the spirit you were working with.
• Take down the circle with the second incantation you selected.
• Ground yourself.

These methods can be applied to various circles, not just the one I designed here. It is entirely possible to construct the circle using only visualization. However, when doing something heavier, there is benefit in having tools to do some of the lifting. To speak metaphorically, even something as simple as a handcart can triple your carrying capacity.

More importantly, this is what magic looks like when you make room for people to have their own interpretations of it. The individual using this circle may believe in deity or not, may believe in energy or not, may have guardian spirits or not. There are very few wrong ways to use this. All that matters is that they do choose to bring their personal spin to the template. It is a construct that grows more powerful as it becomes personalized and adapted.

This is is the future of magic and paganism: an interfaith approach to techniques. It requires a constant study of the concept of accessibility, an admittance to constant imperfection. However, to do any less is irresponsible if you want to create a space that can be shared by a variety of people. Perhaps this is because I am queer, and queers can’t agree on anything, but as magic becomes popular with my peers I hate to see any of them left out due to a difference in personal beliefs, money, ability, time, or other constraints.

Magic circles are an important tool for magic practice and Neopagan worship. However, we only have two major models for how circles can be set up. First, we have the occultist’s circle, which tends to rely on the power of the Judeo-Christian God. Then, we have its derivative, the Wiccan circle, which has spread to many other branches of Neopagan practice. While the Wiccan circle is fine and dandy all on its own, it’s not optimal for all practices. Spirit work, for example, tends to need a circle with a stronger oomph, and it is good to consider standing outside the circle into which you summon a spirit for the first time.

That’s not to say that people haven’t been making other circles. Circle of Eight, for example, has people thinking about and altering the Wicca-based circles. There is a wide world of publishers out there beyond the reach of my paycheck. However, here in broke witch land, there doesn’t seem to be much interfaith discussion or trading of notes regarding this very central construct to our communities.

The following circle is meant to be lightweight, beginner-friendly, and available for people with a wide variety of faiths (or lack thereof) to use. You will only need to buy a rope, whipping, and some baking powder, so it’s fairly cheap as well. As always, you should have a basic understanding of grounding, cleansing, and visualization before starting to work with magic. You will also need to know where your magic comes from. Everyone has their own answer: God, other deities, the earth, other planets, your Will, etc. I will refer to this as your Source in the spirit of being as neutral as possible.

The Rope

Find your height, multiply by three, and get a rope of that length. For example, I am 5’ 4” tall, I need a rope 16’ long. The rope should be heavy enough not to be moved easily, ½” thick should do. Natural fiber is preferable; your local hardware store should have options.

Before consecrating, whip (option 2) or burn the end of your rope to keep from fraying. To consecrate, prepare a bucket of cold water with ⅓ cup of baking soda. Wash the rope in this as you repeat a prayer that you feel good about. The point is not to soak the rope or wash the physical item, but to cleanse the energy of the tool. Hang dry at room temperature.

Use of your ritual items for anything other than ritual will lessen their power, and you will have to re-consecrate or outright replace them before ritual use. Remember to care for your equipment properly.

The Circle

• Before casting, cleanse or banish your space.
• Lay the rope out in a circle and tie the ends together in a square knot.
• Take a moment to empower the circle with your source: prayer or invocation work well, but also make sure to visualize a sphere or cylinder of energy arising from the rope. It must be a closed, 3-dimensional shape.
• Do your work.
• Make sure you have thanked and said goodbye to any powers you called while working.
• Untie the knot.
• Make sure to wind your rope up for proper storage.
• Ground yourself.

Notes

I want to be completely clear that I did not invent the rope circle. It’s one of those techniques that appears here and there in the writing, and if I could remember where I originally found it I would put a link here. My work has been to cross the t’s, dot the i’s, provide links, and give a modular context for the technique.

Please feel free comment with any complaints you have about the circles you have seen, or with the variants you’ve created.

In Wicca, we generally recognize two deities: the Goddess and the God. According to legend, they have been with us since pre-history, changing names and faces slightly to stay with us through the years. The truth of the matter is far more complicated, but let us work with the legend for now.

Here is my legend: That the duo is really a trinity. That there has been a third deity erased from history, the Godden. That xe has been Loki, Agdistis, Aphroditus, Amun, Dionysus, Baphomet, and others. If the Goddess is the moon and the God is the sun; xe is the stars. If the Goddess is the source of all creation and the God is the face of death; xe is decay. The body is always aging, dying, preparing to become something different. Xe is the compost, the rotting log growing mushrooms, and the mold that makes penicillin. Xe is the chaos that balances the order, that which always escapes categorization, a loophole in every contract, an exception to every rule, and that which cracks the foundation.

Symbols of the Godden

• that which defies classification (platypi)
• that which changes shape (butterflies/moths)
• that which thrives on or aids decay (scavengers, fungi, some insects, mold, ivy in some cases)
• glitter

Sample Invocation of the Godden

Godden, you who cannot be contained, you of the forever shifting names and forms, guardian of transformations, you who craft beauty from decay and waste, we invite you to this gathering.  Hail and be welcome!

The Wheel of the Year and the Godden: Notable Days

Midspring (aka Beltane or School End)

Midspring is the time of the year where Godden, Goddess, and God all come together. Plants, animals, and other forms of life are all blossoming. People celebrate a sort of carnal togetherness in their own way. Most people have sex. Many choose instead to feast or dance together, both ways that help people feel an important, body-centered togetherness.

Plants need three things to grow: soil, sunlight, and rain. The Goddess is the soil, the fertile creativity that is the origin of all things. The God is the Sun, the eternal warmth that asks for nothing in return. The Godden is the rain: fluid, coming when the wind changes, and a harbinger of mushrooms.

In “ye olden dayes”, legend has it that folks liked to dress up a giant Maypole as a phallic symbol. While it isn’t for everyone, decorative genitals can be great fun. “Feminine” phalluses can be sacred to the Goddess or Godden. Similarly, “Masculine” vulvas can be sacred to the God or Godden. Dildos and doorways provide a great way to decorate indoors or on a tight budget. Make sure to hang a clit-symbol at the top of a yonic anything; that’s where most of the fun is.

For people who have reasons to avoid genitals, flowers do just fine. Another thing that can be done is to focus on symbols for dirt, sunlight, and rain.

Summerfirst (aka Litha, Midsummer)

June is pride month in the US. We honor the Stonewall riots from the summer of 1969 by holding parades and political demonstrations. We honor the ancestors and elders who worked so hard for our liberation: Marsha P Johnson, Sylvia Riveira, Jackie Hormona, Zazu Nova Queen of Sex, Miss Major, Storme DeLarverie, and countless others. It is a time to donate to LGBTQ charities, to remember to loosen our expectations of gender. It really is okay for men to wear nailpolish and makeup. I promise the world will not end. In fact, we all might have a little more fun and laughter.

As such, Summerfirst is for the Godden, for all those whose gender cannot be contained in the words man or woman, for the words that have shifted over the last 50 years because no word will ever hold us for long. It is not a time for comical cross-dressing, but for earnest gender exploration. Even if you are cisgendered and heterosexual, ask yourself: is there any gender stereotype I wish I could break loose from? Well, try it out!

Midfall (aka Samhain, Hunter’s Harvest, Red Harvest, Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, or Witches’ New Year.)

This is a time when the God and Godden are in sync. Everyone knows this as the day where the veil is thinnest, especially between the living and the dead. Since it is a harvest holiday and very tied to the dead, it is sacred to the God. It is sacred to the Godden, because boundaries are thinning, a year is changing over, and costumes abound.

There are as many ways to celebrate Midfall as there are witches, but my personal favorite is to get a bottle of liquor and sit around telling stories about the ancestors.

Conclusion

Wicca is a young religion, and our legends are exactly that: legends. What our history shows, however, is that it is possible to consciously create new ways of connecting to the divine. I don’t know if deities are created or if they change names or they are eternal and simply waiting for us to call to them. I suspect all are true. What I do know, however, is that divinity shifts its face as human culture shifts, and I see no reason why I should be exempt from the flow of human history. I see no reason why, as my agender body writes itself into existence, there would be no divine force reaching out to me.

Please do not imagine me as a mathematician following formulas, but as a poet in twilight feeling my way along the walls of an alleyway. The Godden has been whispering to me in the form of UPG for some time now, and here I have collected what I heard.