Donna Darkwolf's Big Book of Spells - Part 4. Sacred Circle Casting Ritual

Sacred Circle Casting in the Southern Hemisphere

The Circle will always be Cast in the air, with the aid of a wand, athame or sword, or you could simply use your finger. The idea is to create a sacred space by cutting through the etheric energy around the space in which you have determined to work.

Traditionally, the Sacred Circle  is Cast three times, either for cleansing, or in honour of the Triple Goddess. Some feel that Casting once is sufficient; others walk around as many times as they feel necessary.
The Circle- Caster, and the participants in the Circle, should all visualise a sphere of energy forming around them. How and what one visualises will vary.

For example, one can visualise golden, silver, white or blue light, emanating from the sword as it is drawn around the Circle. Or perhaps you will want to visualise a wall being built around you, or a grove of thick trees veiling you. It is important to remember that this is a magickal act, and its completion should be endorsed by a signal or verbal response.

No one should leave the Circle once it is Cast.  However, it may be necessary at times, so an opening or doorway is symbolically ‘cut’.
It is closed immediately and re-opened should the individual return.

The next question is: in which direction do you Cast the Circle?  The rule of thumb is sunwise. In the northern hemisphere, the sun rises in the east, moves to the south, sinks in the west and settles in the north.

So, the sun moves through the southern sky from left to right. This makes it seem as though it moves in a clockwise direction. In the southern hemisphere, the sun rises in the east, moves to the north, sinks in the west and settles in the south.
Here the sun passes through the northern sky from right to left and appears to move in an anti-clockwise direction.

In both cases, east and west remain the same, and north and south are swapped around. This means that in South Africa we appear to Cast the Circle  widdershins (anti-clockwise), moving from east to north to west to south.

In the northern hemisphere the Circle is Cast  'deosil' (clockwise), moving from east to south to west to north. However, some start from north and end in north. In other words, Wiccans work with the natural Earth energy of the sun.

There are many misconceptions about the terms ‘deosil’ and ‘widdershins’. They don’t correspond precisely to ‘clockwise’ and ‘anti-clockwise’. They do, however, correspond accurately with the movement of the sun.

In the southern hemisphere the Earth tilts, and the sun moves from east to west across the north. Thus, the sun moves in an anti-clockwise direction between sunrise and sunset.

As mentioned, the Casting of a Circle should work with the power and strength of natural energies; therefore, deosil in the southern hemisphere refers to an anti-clockwise direction.

Extracted from “Dancing Under an African Moon” by Donna Darkwolf Vos.
Published 2002. By Zebra Press. Cape Town.

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