The ‘wiccan rede’, a saying taken partially from Aleister Crowley but in full properly attributed to Doreen Valiente, is taken by most (including me) to be the highest law of wicca.Quote:
An harm thee none, do as thou wilt.
I would translate that into modern terminology as ‘If you harm no-one, do what you will.’ This doesn’t quite capture the spirit of the language Valiente used, which is why she used it, but it gets a person started.
People misread the rede (especially if they think there’s no purpose to using archaic terminology except obfuscation) to mean ‘do whatever you want.’ That’s not what it says. ‘Will’ is not ‘want’. ‘Will’ means ‘must’, or ‘according to your nature’. What you will do is what you will do.
‘Do as thou wilt’ means ‘do what you must do’ and ‘do as your soul commands.’ A witch who follows ‘do as thou wilt’ refuses to act against their conscience, nature, and needs. They will not starve or overwork themselves because someone else asks for it. They will not pretend they don’t have the sexuality, religion, body, preferences, or ethics that they do have for convenience or profit. They stand up for what they believe in and do not stay silent against injustice. They follow the dictates of their body as it tells them who to love and who to shun, what gender or shape they need to be, what they want to be doing at any time of day–eating, sleeping, working, dancing, making love, studying, resting, what treatment they will or will not accept.
‘Do as thou wilt’ does not command simple hedonism. It commands wisdom, that a person actually look inside their psyche, examine their impulses, understand what they truly want, and then follow that dictate once they do understand. One of the only universally accepted wiccan crimes is repression, of yourself or of others. As you do as you wilt, you cannot then make the mistake of assuming another’s will is exactly like yours. As you are not repressed you do not repress others, and as you are free so shall you not inhibit the freedom of others, even if you think it’s gross, or ugly. Don’t be a child.
‘An harm thee none’ adds the warning that sometimes, you do have to pause to think for a second before doing as thou wilt. Understanding one’s true will is hard. Sometimes you think it’s your true will to lash out at someone else, and you find later that that was the impulse of the moment, not your true desire. Even a witch must sometimes hold back, and even the wisest person sometimes mistakes their feeling.
Realistically, everyone does harm others, and you’re deluding yourself if you don’t accept that. It’s a dangerous delusion, too; if you refuse to recognize the harm you do to others you will not notice it as it grows, morphs, spreads. As you follow your will, do not forget ‘harm thee none’ as an aspiration to temper the fire of your will. Do not forget to ask on occasion whether what you do truly is your will or whether you are not enjoying it any longer or having to trample on others to do it.
The four holy actions give a witch guidance on how to handle their craft.
To Know–visions and feelings aren’t enough. You need to study, learn, analyze. You need to look inside and honestly confront the mysteries of your psyche and the parts of you which you do not like, or else you will be both an ineffectual witch and a repressed person. You must seek always to know more about yourself and the world around you.
To Dare–You must follow the stirrings of your heart and conscience, not keep silent against injustice, not permit others to tell you who you are or how you should act. One must dare to be a witch at all; to be a good one, one must boldly face the ugliness of both the world and the self without flinching and fight against it.
To Will–When one wills, one earnestly seeks power, over the self and the world. If you think this is dirty, evil, or a frightening thing to say, I suggest that you will harder. Why do you not want power over yourself and your world? To whom have you given that power? Do they deserve it?
To Keep Silent–As a complimentary opposite of daring, there are times one must keep the craft, its secrets, and one’s own secrets silent. Sometimes, others have not earned your innermost self, your fears, your explanations. Sometimes, the mystery will not be understood.
There are times where the four sacred actions would contradict each other, depending on which one you choose. Life has contradictions. Morality is situational. With practice in determining the right course of action for yourself you will become better attuned to intuiting which action to take.
To dig further into some wiccan ethics, I will reproduce a few passages from Valiente’s original Charge of the Goddess. (The full text I will include below.)
Whenever ye have need of anything, once in a month, and better it be when the Moon be full, then ye shall assemble in some secret place and adore the spirit of me, who am Queen of all Witcheries. There shall ye assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, yet have not yet won its deepest secrets: to these will I teach things that are yet unknown.
It is a value of wicca to gather. Many witches are solitary, practicing alone at home without fellows. If this is how you must practice because it is not safe for you otherwise, I feel your sorrow. It was once this way for me. I can tell you that having a circle, coven, or at least a partner is far better. And, though many do not want to hear this, in person is far better than online.
We gather in kind to support, learn, and enjoy each other. You are not wrong if you can’t do this, but it is good to do so.
When you do gather, however–hosting regular and seasonal gatherings has its values but in the modern world it is not always realistic. Don’t worry too hard about exact dates and focus more on spending frequent time in concert with other witches and the like-minded.
Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever toward it; let naught stop you or turn you aside.
No one fully becomes their ideal self in this world. Yet it is a requirement of wicca that you keep your impossible goal in mind and strive toward it nonetheless. This effort is not meant to hurt or to shame you, like holding imaginary ‘sins’ over the heads of imperfect people, but to enable and compel you, to keep you growing and progressing into the life and person you want to be. Witches admire and embody steady, slow, persistent growth, the walk that does not break the body but brings you every day closer and closer to your destination.
You will not become your perfect self, but wicca teaches the understanding of the self, the body, and its desires such that you may grow ever more comfortable with the body and ever more alike to your ideal self. Neither back-breaking effort nor a lack of effort are lauded; continual curiosity and slow progress are sacred.
Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth, for behold: all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. And therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honour and humility, mirth and reverence within you.
Up there with ‘do as thou wilt’, I consider ‘all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals’ one of the highest laws of wicca. Wiccans know that all actions which bring joy, comfort, and relief are holy acts. We consider pleasure good; we consider pleasure sacred. The goddess smiles on the joys of eating, having sex, sleeping, working, gathering, helping, making art, learning, fighting for justice; the pleasures of charity and self-satisfaction alike, of accomplishment and rest alike. All things which bring pleasure are the worship of our goddess. Just about the only way to be anti-wiccan is to act like someone else’s pleasure is dirty or gross and to shame them for it.
Obviously, pleasure which harms others is not right by wiccans either. Using your brain should have told you that; as I explained, ‘an harm thee none’ comes right before ‘do as thou wilt’, and ‘wilt’ means true will. Abuse is essentially never a person’s true will, which they would know if they used their brain. Every abusive person I have ever known was miserable and both liked and disliked what they were doing, enjoying only mixed and dissatisfactory pleasures instead of seeking true pleasure and facing the self-knowledge that that pursuit requires.
Consider the lists of virtues here too: “beauty and strength, power and compassion, honour and humility, mirth and reverence”. Notice also what ‘pious’ traits we do not include in the list.
And thou who thinkest to seek for [the goddess], know thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not, unless thou know this mystery: that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without thee.
A ‘mystery religion’ focuses its attention on the unsolvable questions of human life and the natural world. The mystery is not explained, but sought; never understood fully, but better grasped with time. This mystery, too, that you will never find outside what you do not seek inside, will be not explained by me but pursued by you.
Wicca recognizes an alternate calendar we call the 'Wheel of the Year'. It is a calendar based on solar and agricultural reality. Four of its 'spokes' are the solstices and equinoxes, the other four spokes are equidistant between, and each spoke has a corrosponding holiday.
It is a good idea to gather with others on all eight of the holidays to celebrate in ritual together. Eight times a year is not to many and regular observance will eventually have you feeling 'in tune' with the earth and the sun and the passing of seasons.
Wiccan holidays are anticipatory--seasons do not 'begin' when they are already strong, but just the moment you are beginning to see them. The winter solstice is the 'end' of the reign of the Holly King because his power wanes from that day forth, and so on.
The 'New Year' is the great Sabbat of Samhain, so we will begin there.
Then on to Samhain, and the circle starts and ends again.
No tools are necessary for the craft. Tools are useful for the craft. There are traditional tools for ritual craft, and I will be indicating use of them in my rituals. However, you can use hand gestures or common household items to substitute for any of them if you like. I have seen wooden spoons, sticks, canes, and pens all be ritual athames and wands, as well as two pointing fingers; I have seen yarn be a pentacle, a kerchief be an altar, apple juice in a solo cup be a sacred chalice and wine. I find that having designated tools helps convince the mind to enter ritual space with heightened feeling, but such solemnity is not the only way to work.
These are the tools that, even in solitary ritual, I will not do without. You could, of course. A ritual can be performed with absolutely nothing. These are the things I would personally feel vexed if I didn’t have.
Athame: The athame is also called the black-handled knife. The knife does not actually have to be black-handled, some color or material that appeals to you and which you associate with strength and/or ability is ideal. The athame is your tool for directing power, calling up guardians, giving commands. It should make you feel powerful and in-control. It should be a real knife, though whether it’s sharp is up to your feeling. Normally it is worn around waist or hip on a cincture.
Pentacle: The pentacle is a round disc with a pentagram on it. It can be a wood disc with the pentagram burned on, a ceramic disc with the pentagram painted on, a metal disc engraved, a paper written on, a desk drawn on with chalk. It should be easy to carry, steady, and large enough to place a small object on it (incense burner, card from a tarot deck, candle, ect.)
Chalice: A drinking glass to hold wine (or equivalent). Can appear any way you like. I’ve seen mead horns, crystal glasses, wooden steins, metal goblets.
Incense/incense burner: Incense is surely not necessary for a ritual, but if you do have the money to spend on tools, I suggest you spend it here. Having your senses engaged in ritual can exponentially heighten it. Picking scents that match your deity, tradition, or ritual purpose better sets the mood. Don’t worry about the ‘form’ of the incense; loose or cone incense in a metal dish or cauldron has a wonderful visual effect, but stick and resin incense do the job just as well. Incense is meant to evoke a feeling, to cue your brain into the fact that it is time for the ritual, or, in simple ceremonies, to be your offering to the deities you invoke. It is more important that it fits for you than that it is the ‘proper type’, but do be aware of any allergies or sensitivities in your group as well as of how much smoke you are making as you go.
Candles (god/dess candles, quarter candles): Candles have always had a strong place in ritual setting. Many like to match the shape, color, even scent of their intention (be cautious with scent, though, if using incense or oils too). Most altars have two long, taper candles representing goddess and god, and many traditions light four candles for the quarters as well. I always place a third ‘unity’ candle between the two to represent the true genderless nature of divinity and from which to light the god/dess candles. Candles can be cheap, no need to get an expensive scented candle in a glass jar when you can buy some 50-cent tapers or 20-cent tea lights.
Wand: Most books have wands listed among the most essential tools, but honestly, I hardly use them. Some consider them the ‘gentler’ athame, tools that ask for power/assistance instead of demanding it. Some consider them to be tools with different purposes entirely, commanding a separate element from the athame (which is fire and which is air is a hot topic). Some use the athame strictly for building the circle and the wand for ‘casting magic.’ Getting both and seeing what feels right is an option before you. As for what your wand is, I suggest a scavenged tree-branch that you customize.
Salt Dish/Water Dish: Not tools per se, but will be found on the altar for a proper group ritual. They need only be nice dishes, pleasing to the eye, dedicated for the purpose, and clean. Similarly, if using ritual oil, have a designated container for that.
Altar-cloth: Again for aesthetic effect it is best to have designated, appropriately colored/patterned sheets or scarves that you set upon the altar as a backdrop. You could do without them, but once you try with them you won’t want to go back. I also use them for solo rituals, to turn any convenient space in the house into the altar.
God/dess statues: As discussed above, using taper candles to represent your deities is traditional. Many today use small statues of the deities, or both candles and statues. Lighting a small dark candle before an image of the Morrigan before you invoke her has a wonderful effect.
Sword: The sword is used to cast the circle in group settings. It is also used in some specific ritual actions which hearken back to the day when the coven was strictly secret and strictly defended. I think it creates a stirring effect sitting upon the altar, sheathed and waiting, but not everyone likes having it there. A staff (large tree branch) can be a sword for someone who doesn’t have sword money.
White-handled knife: If you prefer to only use your athame for directing power, a second, separate knife can be used for cutting (candlewicks, herbs, packaging, ect). I find that a small, sharp set of scissors works much better and does not sacrifice ritual feeling.
Cauldron: Not necessary and typically rather expensive, but don’t you want one? You can burn incense in it, keep your ritual wine in it, light a fire for ritual purpose in it, simply put it on the altar for aesthetics… while a full-sized, working cauldron outside is the dream, a small one that can fit on the altar is still a cauldron. Plastic and ceramic will both break under heat and pressure; you want copper, iron, or steel.
Flowers/Offerings: Many keep a space on their altar for fresh flowers or fruits to offer to the deities, or simply for decoration. Few Mabon altars are not decked out with autumn branches and harvest vegetables. As stated above, a pinch of incense often represents the offering, but having a real offering to give your guests is worth considering. Wiccan work is reciprocal; you and the deity should both be bringing something to the table.
Broom: As with the cauldron, it is not necessary, but don’t you want one? A wicker or straw broom looks the part. There aren’t many common ritual purposes for the broom, but I’ve known those that use a ritual broom to physically cleanse the sacred space before rituals, or who use it as a lighter scourge.
Scourge: The scourge is a classic tool which used to be a strict requirement. Read the old books and you will read how many considered it essential for initiations and invocations.
Bell: A bell can be visually pleasing, but what is important is having a sound that clears your head and lifts your heart. Bells are used to denote when a ritual switches purposes or for certain mental effects. A ritual done with them often has an extra meditative effect, though I admit I don’t use them often enough myself.
Cards: Oracle cards come in many forms. The most common form is the tarot card, and the most classic design is the Colman Smith-Waite. (You will hear it called the ‘Rider-Waite’ tarot. I dislike the name. Rider was the company that produced the cards, Waite was the idea guy, but Pamela Colman Smith actually drew the art.) It’s a good deck and I recommend a beginner start with the classic set to get a feel for them.
Tarot is not the only kind of oracle deck. Its popularity comes from how they present archetypal images in ways that tend to get people thinking insightfully. Any set of images that mean something to you could be used for the same insightful thinking when randomized.
Runes: ‘Runes’ usually refers to a set of Elder Futhark runes, a reconstructed ancient Norse alphabet. All of the rules of the Elder Futhark have been observed in carvings but it’s worthwhile to know that the cultures using these markings did not consider them an ‘alphabet’ in the same way (many were pre-literate or considered the letters as magical as they were practical) so anyone being a pedant about which runes go where and how exactly they should be drawn is being anachronistic at best. I encourage thorough reading on Norse runes before they are used as divination tools; their context in the ancient world is what makes them comprehensible.
Other meaningful symbols can easily be used as runes; there’s no reason you shouldn’t use the letters of another alphabet or iconic system if they mean something to you. I saw someone once read stones with astronomical runes on a map of the sky, and while I did not credit knowledge of the future to her, it was certainly an excellent show. I use the Tengwar, Tolkien’s ‘elvish’ alphabet, sometimes.
There are of course older ways to divine the future, such as reading signs in tossed bones, or in entrails, or in the actions of animals. I am not versed in any of these old methods.
One I have practiced is wax telling. It is simple–have a cold basin of water outside under moonlight. Set light to a candle before you begin the ritual. Once you have reached the proper point, drip the wax of the candle into the cold water, and the second it hardens, divine its shape. Consider what that shape means.
If you ever read anything or are ever told that a witch needs many kinds of crystals, many kinds of incense, every color of candle, every possible herb and tea, an expensive leather-bound ‘grimoire’ or a trunk full of silver jewelry inset with crystals to increase your ‘energy’, that person is a salesperson, not a witch, and they are lying. There is nothing you need for witchcraft. I listed the tools I find most useful above. When you decide what actions you want to do for wicca, you can find the tools that help you do those actions. Most older witches will happily give you hand-me-downs or new tools and gifts. Do not spend money you don’t have on crystal crap you don’t need. Only liars and tyrants demand you spend money you can’t spare on trinkets and refuse teaching until you buy them.
Designate a shelf or table or other space to be your altar, and keep it only for sacred purposes. Something that can carry extra tools inside/beneath it is best.
If you don’t have your own home or have to hide your craft from housemates, I recommend choosing an altarcloth and bundling the rest of your tools inside of it. Keep this in a hidden place, and whenever you untie it, place the altarcloth on a desk or the floor or another steady space and use the cloth itself as your altar. It is then easy to grab the cloth and scatter your tools if you must quickly hide your work.
How exactly you set up your home altar is a matter of personal preference. It can be fit to your needs and the ritual you have planned. Some are very spare, some very cluttered. Mine is like this:
Put an altar-cloth on the top. Place pentagram in the middle. If there is space, put a small cauldron upon it, or some sacred image or item of importance, or keep it as a space for offerings.
Behind the pentagram on either side place god/dess candles. If you have icons or statues, put them behind the candles. Between candles you can put a third candle, an icon, or nothing.
Though you will need a tool (matches, lighter, ect.) to light candles, it's best to keep it under the table, in the shelf, or nearby.
Before pentagram put an incense burner (if it is not on the pentagram).
Around the pentagram place any other tools necessary for your most common rituals. I don’t clutter mine with too many, just my favorites: athame and bell on one side, runes and chalice on the other.
This way, I have the tools I use most often ready, including a way to raise and direct power, something with which to make an offering, something to use as a focal point, representatives of the god/dess. Obviously, if there are any other tools you frequently use, like wand or scourge, display those as well.
Past these tools, I highly recommend decoration, as having the space look special and appropriately thematic helps the easily distracted human mind both focus on the task and believe in it. Use flowers, branches, shells, symbols, statues, objects to represent your gods, your pantheon, your ancestors, your beliefs, your goals.
It’s also good to change out what you have seasonally. I set up differently colored candles to match the season (black in autumn/for Samhain, red or green for yule, green or white in the spring, gold in the summer; or perhaps the traditional correspondence elements and colors of black/earth/north for winter, yellow/air/east for spring, red/fire/south for summer, blue/water/west for autumn) and for certain holidays redo everything with an aesthetic look to match. For example, for Samhain I tend to switch everything to a black or silver tool to fully feel and honor the dark season, and I may clutter up the altar a bit with flowers and stones and ribbons on Beltane.
An altar laid for a ritual for many people is likely to need more things. Here is a basic set-up:
Have in mind already the purpose of your ritual, the deities you will invoke, and the culture they’re embedded in. Choose aesthetics and items fitting to these things. It’s important the altar looks good over all, largely cohesive, not too cluttered.
At the front lay the sword, sheathed.
In the center place a large pentagram, and put the offering upon it–fresh-cut flowers, fruit, burning incense. This is separate from cakes and ale for the people, which can be stored under the altar or nearby on another table (or on the altar if it’s really big).
Behind the pentagram place candles for the deities, and statues or items representative of the deities by the candles. Know already which deities you invoke and select items, colors, symbols that will please them.
Between these you may place a unity/lighting candle, or, alternatively, an object that represents the purpose of the ritual (oracle card for a divination, cord for a handfasting, decorative jar of balm for a healing ritual). I’ve also seen objects that represent the bond between the Gods, often in a highly theoretical or mystical sense.
On one side place everything for purification: incense burner, loose incense, matches, a dish of water, a dish of salt or herbs, ritual oil. Often the chalice (for ale) goes here too though it may go on the other side.
On the opposite side, place any ritual tools you will need for this specific ritual. If none, good options are laying down wands, a bell, a broom (if small), a cauldron, or more items from the culture you are honoring. I’ve seen Bride’s crosses, hammers representing mjolnir, or, in Hellenic circles, the wine for cakes and ale placed on the altar. A Saxon ritual may be piled with gold jewelry, an Egyptian altar with carefully placed royal regalia.
This may not seem like too much, but you’ll be surprised how things build up!
Some things that are not on the table are your athames. They should be belted at your side. (A white-handled knife or additional athame for specific purpose may be on the altar; if you are gifting an athame or inducting with another, for instance.) If you use a full-size broom, stand it on a tree or the wall once done. Usually cakes and ale are held at another table, as are musical instruments if you bring them. If you use a hidden phone or computer for anything, do not put it on the altar if you can put it beneath or nearby instead. For fire-starters, I’ll keep matches on the table but hide cigarette lighters away.
I have seen theatrical circles require costume changes. Obviously, bulky cloaks should be hidden somewhere, but putting the Queen of Heaven’s circlet on the altar to be taken off and placed on her head, along with other regalia or jewelry, may have a nice effect.
The time to gather should be slow. Set a time, but the hosts (priest and priestess, or priestess alone) should come an hour early. In this time, set up the space and the altar. Let others come early too if they wish to talk and prepare. Pagans are notoriously late, so starting the ritual five minutes after the stated start time is prudent, but don’t let people start pushing that into fifteen or twenty minutes, that’s disrespectful to those who came on time and planned accordingly.
Sit everyone in a circle. The altar can be part of the circle, at a cardinal point (I shift these by seasons and put the altar in the direction of the first quarter I hail; north for winter, east for spring, south for summer, west for autumn) or may be inside the circle. Priest and priestess should sit or stand either on either side of the altar (priest clockwise/deosil before altar and priestess deosil after it) or both deosil right before it.
Sometimes it is necessary to explain the ritual here, if you have an open circle and welcome new guests. Be brief. Touch on the major points of what holiday it is, of the wheel of the year, of the deities or traditions being invoked. Do not speak for more than a few minutes, and do not give into the urge to explain the ritual ahead of time. Over-explaining kills mystery. This is a mystery religion.
First, encourage breathing. Stomach breathing, meditative, tan tien breathing. The easy method: tell everyone you will count four by four, slowly. For the first count, they breathe in. For the second, they hold their breath in. The third, they let it out, all of it, trying to keep the exhale steady for the four counts. The fourth, they hold still (moment of death). Repeat twelve times or until everyone looks relaxed.
As a note, I have seen this breathing practice in wiccan rituals but learned it in yoga practice; when I learned it in yoga practice, I noted that it was almost identical to the way I was taught to breathe for choir practice. Basic meditative breathing is universal, though I encourage the study of more specialized styles.
Grounding is the point of the breathing exercise above. Breathing can be the only grounding exercise you do in a ritual, but you also have the option to do further or more specific exercises after you have started everyone with meditative breathing.
The most basic grounding is to simply ask people (during breathing exercise) to be aware of how they are seated (or standing), to relax their body, be comfortable, feel how their feet (or spine, or seat) rests on the earth. As such breathing and grounding can be one exercise, or they can be purposefully separated for something more methodical and mindful.
The priest who taught me often did the ‘four centers of power’ meditation during our grounding, I will explain this grounding exercise elsewhere.
The priestess picks up the dish of water (element of water). She uses her athame to pick up some salt from a tray (element of earth). She stirs the salt into the water with the tip of the athame, saying,
May the salt of the earth admonish the waters to bear the virtues of the great sea. Mother, be thou adored. So mote it be.
All respond ‘so mote it be’ (here and every time it is said). Priestess puts down the athame on the altar, or cleans and resheaths it. Then, she walks deosil around the inside of the circle with the water and sprinkles it on the head of each participant. Because he was on the other side of the altar, the priest should be last, and then the priestess purifies herself the same way. Once she has purified each, she returns to the altar and replaces the incense. Once done, she returns the dish of water to the altar.
From the altar the priestess picks up the incense (air) and means to light the incense (fire). She lights the incense, and doing so, says
May the fire and smoke make sweet the air. Father, be thou adored. So mote it be.
All respond ‘so mote it be.’ Then, carrying incense, the priestess walks around the circle. She approaches each person with the incense and stands before them a few seconds so they may enjoy the scent. Most lean forward and direct smoke to their faces. As before, priest second to last and priestess last. The priestess returns the incense to the altar where it continues to burn.
You may stop here if you like, or, do a third purification. This one is with scented oil, a scent befitting the time of year or gods invoked that ritual. This should not be done with uninitiated/new guests.
Priestess picks up the oil and says
May the spirit of the goddess come into the bodies of these her worshippers. Be all thou adored. So mote it be.
She circles the room a third time, at each person dipping her finger in the oil and drawing the pentagram on the forehead of each person. Be cautious to be light-handed with the oil, you don’t want frankincense dripping into someone’s eyes (hospital). As before, priest is second to last; whether the priestess draws her own pentagram or the priest does it for her is personal preference.
She returns the oil to the altar.
The priestess may simply say,
Now (priest) will cast the circle.
Alternatively, poetry or ritual script may be said. She returns to the circle, the priest steps forward and selects a tool from the altar. The sword is traditional. An athame may also be used, or a wand, if appropriate for the ritual. So too I have seen spears, arrows, or special tools be used for special rituals (a spear for Lugh, an arrow for Artemis, ect).
There are several ways of casting the circle properly. The priest may stand in the center and turn in a circle, with the tool held above his head or in front of him, three times. Or, he may walk around the circle physically three times. I cast all my circles clockwise/deosil, excepting only Samhain, which I cast widdershins. You will find alternative opinions about how to do these things but personally, at this point, I don’t believe I can change.
Whether the priest is walking around the circle or staying in the center, all stand still and attentive. Have hands crossed over chest (mystery pose), reaching out to give energy, or composed respectfully.
While priest circles, he recites:
I conjure thee, o circle of power. By my will and word I do conjure thee. Beest thou a meeting place between the strange and powerful world of the gods and the familiar and mundane world of mankind. Beest thou a place held sacred to those who we will invoke and worship within thee tonight. Beest thou a bastion and preserver of the power that we will raise within thee tonight. Beest though a defender against all forces malign, harmful, and maligning. Beest thou a place of finite and infinite, of known and unknown, of masculine and feminine, of visible and invisible, of the human and the inhuman. As to the left, so to the right. As within, so without. As before, so behind, and as above, so below. By my will and world I do conjure thee. So mote it be.
As the priest finishes this third round he suddenly directs the tool to the ground, ‘finishing’ the third circle with a point, or drawing a pentagram. After he finishes all respond ‘so mote it be.’ Then the priest returns to his place beside the altar, or stays in the center if calling the quarters.
The quarters can be called by the priest or priestess, but it’s best if two or four members of the circle have agreed to call the quarters ahead of time. This is a good task to give to a new witch you think may be able to become a leader one day.
If one person is calling quarters, they stand in the center. If multiple, have them stay in the circle. The priestess announces that it is time to call the quarters, and everyone draws their athames. If a regular attendee of your rituals has no athame, get them one. Using a wand is also acceptable, or, pointing two fingers together to indicate the proper direction.
Call the quarters in the same direction (either deosil or widdershins) that you cast your circle. In my circle, we follow the practice of calling the proper element for the season first, north in winter, east in spring, south in summer, west in autumn; others always start in a particular direction.
It should be noted that there is disagreement about which directions, seasons, and elements should be aligned with each other. Some circles use geographic quarters, that is, they align the element/season to the point on the compass that feels natural for the place they live in. ‘Water’ might be the direction of a large body of water nearby, ‘fire’ may change depending on where the equator lies in your hemisphere.
Don’t worry about sticking to them if there is something that works better for your area and practice, but I’ll list the most traditional correspondences here:
First: North, Earth, Winter, Black, Pentacle.
Second: East, Air, Spring, Yellow, Wand.
Third: South, Fire, Summer, Red, Athame.
Fourth: West, Water, Autumn, Blue, Chalice.
‘Winter’ is listed first and begins the year because the Wiccan calendar begins with Samhain, Oct.31/Nov. 1, the last day of autumn and first day of winter. There exists a heart-felt discussion about whether north or east should be air, and about whether fire is associated with the wand or athame, which I will not get into here.
In any case, have everyone draw athames and face the first quarter you will call (I will start with north here to illustrate). The person calling the quarter draws a pentagram in the air as they recite a welcome. Here is a standard welcome:
Blessed spirits of the North, spirits of Earth, of solidity and stability, I welcome you to our circle. Grant us your protection and empower our rites this eve. Hail and Welcome!
All respond ‘Hail and Welcome.’ Then they bring their athames to their hearts, then back out. Then they turn to the next direction and repeat.
Blessed spirits of the East, spirits of Air, of inspiration and ecstasy, I welcome you to our circle. Grant us your protection and empower our rites this eve. Hail and Welcome!
Blessed spirits of the South, spirits of Fire, of passion and creativity, I welcome you to our circle. Grant us your protection and empower our rites this eve. Hail and Welcome!
Blessed spirits of the West, spirits of Water, of acceptance and openness, I welcome you to our circle. Grant us your protection and empower our rites this eve. Hail and Welcome!
For the poetic language of the older scripts, try:
I summon, call, and stir thee up, oh Guardian of the North. Be welcomed into this place and grant your solidity and stability to this our rite. Preserve and defend us against all forces malign, harmful, and maligning and bring to us the power and clarity of your wisdom. So mote it be.
Or, for more modern poetics,
Hail, Spirits of the wintry north! I call upon thee to attend to our circle today. Bring to us your chilling solidity, your cold certainty, your comforting stillness. Hail and Welcome!
There is room for creativity here. My high priestess would write quarter invocations appropriate to the season or holiday, such as Samhain invocations that listed the ways each element could snuff out life and then begged them for their kindness. Realistically, there is room for creativity with every script I provide here, but I recommend trying out the traditional versions for a while to feel what they do.
After all quarters are invoked, you must turn to the first quarter you invoked a second time. Salute that first quarter a second time (“Final salute North”) to complete the circle. Then, everyone sheathes their athames and turns to the center.
Most often, a female goddess and male god are welcomed to the circle. Alternatively, one can welcome one deity, or three, or a pantheon. I was taught a wicca in which a paired priest and priestess officiate together and each invokes one deity, which is what I will teach here. Any accusations of gender essentialism can be sent to my transmasculine and nonbinary priest.
A god/dess pair should come from the same pantheon/culture and be two that make sense together. Married/partner gods are the lost logical and traditional choice but far from the only one. Odhinn and Frigg, as a married couple, make obvious sense, but so do Freyr and Freya as paired siblings, Freya and Odhinn as gods with overlapping domains. Aphrodite could be meaningly paired with Ares, Hephestus, Hermes, or Dionysus for different purposes. Consider the time of year and the purpose of your ritual. Call Hekate with Hades on Samhain since the underworld is their domain, of Dionysos and Ariadne, but call Hades and Persephone in the spring, or just Persephone for a personal ritual of rejuvenation. Use your head.
Here is a typical practice for welcoming a god/dess pair:
The priestess approaches the altar. She raises her hands, palms-up to the ceiling (heavenly goddess) or palms-down to the floor (earthly or chthonic goddess). Others mimic her pose or reach out to her. After quickly centering herself, she begins to invoke the goddess, calling her name(s) and listing her attributes/accomplishments. Perhaps she recites a hymn or poem to the goddess. Her voice starts quiet, and grows louder. Once at the peak of her invocation, she turns to the altar, grabs a match or an already lit candle, and lights the goddess candle with the lit unity candle. After the candle is lit, she finishes with
The goddess is here! Hail and Welcome!
Which the people repeat. She returns to the circle.
The priest approaches the altar. In the same fashion he lifts or lowers his hands and the people as well. After centering himself, he calls to the god, listing names, attributes, praise. When it comes time to light the candle, he too lights it with the unity candle (both god and goddess from same cross-gender source). Priest says
The god is here! Hail and Welcom
All repeat. He returns to the circle.
ALT: Drawing Down the Moon
If one is invoking the Goddess Herself, instead of a pair of deities, this is a good time to Drawn Down the Moon and/or recite the Charge of the Goddess. This is more traditional than the pair version that I typically practice, but if you are only invoking one deity, going through the extra steps is worth the time.
If you wish to Draw Down the Moon, the priest gives the priestess the Five-Fold Kiss (see below) or anoint yourself with sacred oil five times as you perform the Kiss on yourself with your hands. Then once the goddess is present, either recite the Charge of the Goddess (again below) or let the Goddess speak through if you/she are so inspired.
This is often combined with the invocation or sometimes omitted. Usually done by the priestess. If the incense you are burning or the flowers/fruit on your altar are the offering, lift them up to the lit god/dess candles and declare them to be an offering:
Accept the gifts of your worshippers today. Blessed be.
Or a more elaborate speech if appropriate. If offering incense, burn more. If a fruit, cut it open and lay it back down before the candles/idols. The offering is brief but can be important psychologically. Being hospitable to the gods (giving offerings) is what convinces them to be hospitable (give blessings) in return, and seeing this will create a firmer connection to the divinities in the mind.
Now that deities have been invoked and the purpose of the ritual is clear, perform a song or a chant. If just leading up to the ritual it can be a narrative song. If it will be part of the ritual, it should be a chant that can build and that the circle can pick up quickly. My high priestess would often use this as a time for dance, either free dance or group dances, which is wonderful if you have a group that will do it.
After the god/desses are present, the priest or priestess (as they will) should acclaim them. This could come in several forms. For an old god/dess you could recite a hymn or poem of praise, entirely through one person or giving everyone a copy of the poem and reciting lines in a round. I’ve read a passage from the Descent of Inanna for her, read from the Orphic Hymns for four or five Greek deities through the course of a circle, and had the whole circle read a passage from Bran mac Feabhail for Manannan in a round. For god/desses with many names, one could recite or explain their names.
This is the best time to tell a myth all through, especially if the ritual will involve the myth. If for example everyone will be performing divination tonight you could tell the tale of divination in the culture of your god/desses. I always recited the tale of Lugh and Balor at Lughnasadh, I’ve seen the legend of the birth of Bast recited here before a Midsummer dancing ritual.
No one likes to hear me say it, but this is also the best time in your ritual for a ‘sermon’ if you are running it for beginners. If it is Mabon and you want to explain the historical context of the harvest festival so everyone is in the right mindset for the ritual, the time is now.
But, on the other hand, if you have a ritual that speaks for itself, it is also good to not speak here at all and move right from the chant to the ritual to keep an active energy flowing forward. After the gods are present, the bulk of the ceremony can be altered to suit your needs. Typically, on Samhain, when I want strong ritual energy, I forgo the myth-telling step entirely and go from inviting the deities to perhaps a short chant or recitation and then into the List of Names. Whether or not it’s worth it to pause to recite a myth or explain concepts before the ritual depends on the ritual. Sometimes context heightens the feeling, sometimes it kills the energy.
No matter what, cut yourself off here at five-ten minutes unless you are doing an engaging, dramatic presentation of myth. Do not let yourself ramble on.
Now is the time for your ritual. Theater, divination, spell-casting, maenad rioting, and praise are all options. Everything before this point has been designed to put people into the right state of mind for this practice. I will list some full rituals elsewhere but highly recommend you design your own rituals, whether creating something new., adapting another witch’s work, or adjusting an ancient ritual to be performed in modern times (as modern productions of the Mysteries of Eleusis or modern Norse Blots do).
End the ritual with the ‘cone of power’, bringing the heightened energy of dance or song or chant to a high moment where you shout to the gods the intention of your ritual and then let all drop to the earth and feel. No matter what the ritual, even with sedate divination or meditation, do not waste that final ‘con of power’ moment where everyone is focused all together on your effort: declare your intent again, beseech the gods, and then let the energy cool down.
Once the ritual is over, wait a few moments for everyone to breathe, relax. Then, priestess says a few words to transition. Usually these are words of thanks to the deities for their role in the ritual (though they are not dismissed yet), such as:
Freyr and Freyja have blessed us with their gifts of courage, passion, and mirth. Freyja the battle-mistress has renewed our will to fight for ourselves. Freyr the skillful lover has reawakened our love for ourselves. We are now full of the power we sought when we came to this circle. The good Vanir have imparted that power to us. Let us eat and drink in their names.
It is also a good time to call back to a particular line of the charge of the Goddess, “all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.” The cakes and ale stand in for a proper Great Rite, and as such the blessings of the dishes include a symbolic great rite. As such though this leads to an informal section of the ritual, performing the blessing with due focus and gravitas is important.
The priestess picks up the plate of cakes (or cookies, candies, fruits, so on). She places both hands under the plate and lifts it up to the priest. He forms a sign of blessing with his hands over the cakes (not touching). He says:
Brightest Blessings be upon thee, of gifts of earth formed by human hands. As your form goes on to nourish our body so let your spirit go on to nourish our souls. So mote it be.
All repeat so mote it be. The priestess places the cakes back onto the altar and then lifts up the chalice with her non-dominant hand. She picks up also the wine (or juice, water, tea, so on) and pours some into the chalice. She places the wine onto the altar and holds the chalice up to the priest. He draws his athame and with his dominant hand holds it some inches above the chalice. The priestess uses her dominant hand to also hold the athame, so that the priest and priestess’ hands overlap. The priest says,
As the athame is to the lover,
The priestess continues without pause,
So the chalice is to the beloved.
Then, as one, they begin lowering the athame into the chalice so that at least the tip is immersed in the wine. As they lower it, together they say,
And know that neither is greater or lesser than the other. Together they become as one. So mote it be!
All repeat ‘So mote it be’. The athame is removed and the priest cleans it before resheathing. The priestess pours the consecrated wine back into the bottle that holds the rest of the wine, so that it mingles and all is consecrated.
Then they are free to pass out cups and plates to the people, or the people may approach the altar and take, whatever works best. If one wanted to do a ceremonial ‘communion’ where all drink from the chalice at the altar, that is possible. Personally I prefer to let the ceremonial feeling decrease at this point and allow some unwinding from the ritual.
As the people eat, they converse. They should converse as a group, not private conversations, and they should speak about the ritual, the gods, and matters of local interest. My circle would use this time to talk about wiccan or pagan events in the area and plan other meetings and rituals. Do not let the talk become sour or moody, and guide everyone away from discussions of topics like work, politics, and current events. This should be a time of joy and togetherness, and it is still a time of ritual, dedicated to the gods. You are still in their presence, and there are certain things that don’t belong in that presence, even with a more relaxed atmosphere. (Have the meeting to plan the protest after or on another day.) If the conversation drifts too much or time has worn on, it is time to close the ritual.
Alternatively one can do toasts during cakes and ale; during Norse rituals we would do the traditional three rounds of toast. First, everyone in the circle would individually toast a god/dess. When that circle finished, everyone would toast an ancestor or a pagan figure of old (beloved dead). Third, everyone would toast themselves and acclaim one of their own recent accomplishments. Afterwards there may be time to chat or the energy may have mellowed enough that it is time to close.