I’m trying to write about casting a circle for the Wicca and Witchcraft newsletter at BackWash. But… I just can not remember the right term (or the standard term anyway, who says it’s right anyway!) for closing the circle. I know about drawing and casting it to begin with. Anyway, the funny thing is, I’m looking at websites about circle casting and such and NONE of them mention closing the circle. Not one single site in over 10 so far talks about ending the ritual by closing the circle. How incomplete of them. I’m surprised yet not astounded.
Still, makes me wonder how many people ignore this part of the ritual then? How many circles are cast but never closed. How much energy is spilled out into the universe due to sloppy rituals? If you build it you must close it too.
http://www.sibyllinewicca.org/rituals/rit_b_salt.htm
has a nice closure but I can’t remember the term either.
I also found this text cached on my computer:
The basic ritual practice of Casting a Circle is complemented by the act of Closing a Circle.
Just as the as the intent of a Circle casting is to allow for the containment and control of energies raised within its’ confines, so the closing (or dismantling) of a Circle dismisses those energies, right?? Wrong! The idea of complimenting the “casting” of a Circle with a “closing” of that Circle may not be a correct one in mathematical terms but Wicca is not mathematics and a more useful way of approaching the concept may be to characterize the process as an “Opening” of the Circle.
It is inescapable that the Circle cast must somehow be dealt with when the ritual is finished – but this does not mean that the Circle must be banished! Instead, the Circle is opened after the ritual to encompass the whole world. In this way, the greater good is served through a kind of benediction given by the Circle’s energies.
The end of the ritual also marks the return to the ordinary world we left behind when we cast the Circle, but just as we do not leave our beliefs behind us when we leave the sacred space, so is the Circle left “open but never broken”.
I love that. It’s how I see the closing too. I just didn’t write it as well.
Thank you 🙂 It may have missed the newsletter but I’ll save it for myself.
In our rituals here, we ALWAYS close the circle, saying something to the effect of, “The circle is open, but never broken, merry meet, merry part and merry meet again.”
We don’t have a special terms for closing the circle, though. We just simply call it “closing the circle.” *grin
that’s a really cool icon.
Thank you 😉
http://www.sibyllinewicca.org/rituals/rit_b_salt.htm
has a nice closure but I can’t remember the term either.
I also found this text cached on my computer:
The basic ritual practice of Casting a Circle is complemented by the act of Closing a Circle.
Just as the as the intent of a Circle casting is to allow for the containment and control of energies raised within its’ confines, so the closing (or dismantling) of a Circle dismisses those energies, right?? Wrong! The idea of complimenting the “casting” of a Circle with a “closing” of that Circle may not be a correct one in mathematical terms but Wicca is not mathematics and a more useful way of approaching the concept may be to characterize the process as an “Opening” of the Circle.
It is inescapable that the Circle cast must somehow be dealt with when the ritual is finished – but this does not mean that the Circle must be banished! Instead, the Circle is opened after the ritual to encompass the whole world. In this way, the greater good is served through a kind of benediction given by the Circle’s energies.
The end of the ritual also marks the return to the ordinary world we left behind when we cast the Circle, but just as we do not leave our beliefs behind us when we leave the sacred space, so is the Circle left “open but never broken”.
I love that. It’s how I see the closing too. I just didn’t write it as well.
Thank you 🙂 It may have missed the newsletter but I’ll save it for myself.
In our rituals here, we ALWAYS close the circle, saying something to the effect of, “The circle is open, but never broken, merry meet, merry part and merry meet again.”
We don’t have a special terms for closing the circle, though. We just simply call it “closing the circle.” *grin
that’s a really cool icon.
Thank you 😉