Magic Circles - study group?

[earthair]

And I also just found this rather spectacular crop circle
*standing ovation*

The crop circles on cropcircleconnector.com are well worth a look!
The one on April 9th Barbury Hill looks like what happens if you invoke a spirit into the holding area and then it decides to escape

 

[Tanga]

And I also just found this rather spectacular crop circle
*standing ovation*

The crop circles on cropcircleconnector.com are well worth a look!
The one on April 9th Barbury Hill looks like what happens if you invoke a spirit into the holding area and then it decides to escape

OH Man! That's a fabulous crop circle! Thanks for posting
(complete with Unicursal hexagram)

 

[ravenest]

lol I'll take all necessary precautions!

I don't think I have anything more to fear than manifesting my own brain- which is mostly fluff with the odd tune going around

Maybe not in the brain .... but this will open your MIND and the mind is the vast inside of the 'Tardis' that is the little 'brain organ' on the 'outside' (physical).

Thanks for the link, I've been trying to skim through AC's Magick again and failing to find anything about actually casting circles.

Try this http://hermetic.com/crowley/book-4/chap13.html also other chapters relate to aspects needed to be understood. The basics before this, I think he assumes one should comprehend from the previous reading he recommended .... the old grimoires, Agrippa, etc. A lot of this may seem unfamiliar to some because of the modern intrusions of Wicca, if so, there is a bit on their practice of circle casting written.

Interesting that he goes anticlockwise- does he say why anywhere?

Its standard to go 'widdershins' for banishing, 'deosil' for invoking ..... I dont use clockwise as a term as nowadays ... as it is now realised that there ARE people living 'down here' that are not 'ignorant savages' ( takes a shot at racist post Victorian occultists )

Reading this "Let him at each of these 24 banishings make three circumambulations widdershins" reminded me of the time I experimented with casting upward spiral circles- I ended up a bit dizzy and thought I'd best stop now because if I faint and hit my head on the TV, I really don't want to explain to paramedics why I have passed out and hit my head in a circle of candles and then set fire to the house .

and also explain to me why you have a tv in your temple

The whole part 1 of Yod takes ages . Just this part " banish the planets in their actual positions in the sky..... have fun working that one out ! One is supposed to spin out - in a way (at the end, where the last vestige of light and highest point at Kether, is cursed, its name burnt and the candle stomped out .... falling onto one of the tiles of negative existence .... then into and through it (I didnt expect that bit ! )

 

[ravenest]

(Hopefully) this is the circle ravenest is referring to.

Yes, it was based on that.

Now, in this diagram , where is the altar ? .... if that set up is used where does all the other stuff needed go ... on the floor ? Do those squares have height , etc.

My solution was to make each square the top of an altar representing each sephiroth, each one had the appropriate colour in a satin covering and each tool needed in an evocation rite can be seen to be associated with each sephiroth, so its place is in on that altar . The effect was rather stunning, especially in the light of the fire from the brazier. AS I said, there are a full set of photos posted in the old ' what's your temple like ' thread here.

Also , traditionally an altar should be a double cube the height up to one's hips, that means a specific area for the top and that means a specific area for the whole size of the T . which makes the circle quiet large. In my case, fine as I had a large temple, but it took up nearly all the space. Make the circle smaller, not enough space, make the dimensions of the altar smaller, not enough room for the equipment ... make the equipment smaller ? Then you end up commanding spirits with a Sword of Authority the size of a little letter opener .

Now, for LIber Yod 1. you dont need all that . You eventually get to the stage where the sephiroth are banished, the ritual suggests cursing, vibrating the name of the God backwards and burning the written name. Now the squares can be coloured paper on the floor flat, the name can be written on the square, so as each is banished, the square is burnt, burning the, name and progressively the T shape is disappearing . If the 'square / sephiroth, is supposed to be banished .... why have its symbol in the circle afterwards ?

Here, the squares didnt need to be as big, due to their different function.

... stuff like that .

 

[ravenest]

And I also just found this rather spectacular crop circle
*standing ovation*

The crop circles on cropcircleconnector.com are well worth a look!
The one on April 9th Barbury Hill looks like what happens if you invoke a spirit into the holding area and then it decides to escape

Oh ..... LAM definitely made that one !


http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/cienciareal/cienciareal07.htm

 

[Tanga]

... Make the circle smaller, not enough space, make the dimensions of the altar smaller, not enough room for the equipment ... make the equipment smaller ? Then you end up commanding spirits with a Sword of Authority the size of a little letter opener

Nnnoooo - can't possibly look swashbuckling with that...

Oh ..... LAM definitely made that one !
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/cienciareal/cienciareal07.htm

Oh oh - perhaps I'd better watch out for the people from the Pleiades after all
(psychic reader wisdom bestowed upon me).
I happen to rather like 7s.

 

[earthair]

Yes there is a definite issue of space v clutter in many set ups. (The 3 stooges image will stay with me for a while )
In the end, I personally have decluttered to such an extent that I have nothing in the circle except me, which means everything is done in the realms of the imagination and space isn't an issue. My circles are now TARDIS like in order to fit the average miserly size of today's houses. If I really have the urge to wave implements about, I just grab a candle of whatever the circle is made of/being decorated by and use that, light-saber style

If magicians of yester year had lived in our houses which modern architects now call 'deceptively spacious'(... i.e. cramped) I wonder if they would have spent more time dealing with casting circles in the mental realm where space isn't an issue?

Which brings me on to the circles we do purely in our heads where nothing is impossible. Does anyone have any imaginative head-space circles they'd like to share?

I have a lovely meditation circle space in my head which is in a woodland in summer- in a clearing with pretty flowers around the edge of the circle. And it's very very quiet, except for a few birds singing. Bliss.

 

[ravenest]

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

 

[ravenest]

BTW , Its perfectly valid IMO to adapt with what you have . Even an RC priest can do ceremonies , in the field with his 'travelling kit'. I have also seen small scale renditions of Buddhist tools, and versions of them gigantic, outside temples and on special sites.

What I was referring to was following a ritual as set out .

So much can be learned from the 'long route' though; one can even purchase a magical dagger that is sufficient for one's use, but to make one is a learning process about many things and conditions 'of nature' ... sometimes, the best part of getting to a destination is the journey.

 

[Tanga]

Does anyone have any imaginative head-space circles they'd like to share?

I have a lovely meditation circle space in my head which is in a woodland in summer - in a clearing with pretty flowers around the edge of the circle. And it's very very quiet, except for a few birds singing. Bliss.

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. ).

BTW, Its perfectly valid IMO to adapt with what you have.
Even an RC priest can do ceremonies, in the field with his 'travelling kit'. I have also seen small scale renditions of Buddhist tools...

Yes. I have some.

So much can be learned from the 'long route' though; one can even purchase a magical dagger that is sufficient for one's use, but to make one is a learning process about many things and conditions 'of nature' ... sometimes, the best part of getting to a destination is the journey.

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.