Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for All ... - reading...

42 Creating Circles & Ceremonies
3. Calling the Quarters
T he Four Directions
By Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
After the Circle is cast, the next step in a ritual is “Calling
the Quarters.” In the HOME Tradition, any member of the Circle
may be asked or volunteer to call one of the Quarters, and this is
one place where our kids (and newcomers) often take important parts.
The Magick Circle, like a clock face, is also a map of time and space. As such, it has four
cardinal points of the compass: North, South, East and West. Each of these points has special
associations, or correspondences, which we call upon to remind us of where and when we are.
Each of the Directions is associated with one of the four Elements: East=Air, South=Fire,
West=Water, and North=Earth. The words of the callings (which may be in the form of chants
and songs) are based on these correspondences, so familiarize yourself with them (see facing).
T he Elements
By Oberon
The four Elements of magick are not the same as the 100-plus atomic elements of chemistry.
The Elements of magick are Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, known to non-magickal people
as solid, liquid, plasma, and gas. All matter in the universe exists only in those four states,
which were first identified as the basis of all life and being by the 5 th -century BCE Sicilian
philosopher Empedocles. This concept was an essential teaching of Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
and the Pythagorean Mysteries of ancient Greece, and has formed the basis of many systems
of magick, such as those from the Middle East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as Hermetics,
Alchemy, modern occultism, Ceremonial Magick, Witchcraft, and Wizardry. It is the most
widely used conceptual model in the world, and is the foundation of the Enochian magickal
system, the Tarot, astrology, the seasons, and the Magick Circle.
The ubiquity of this concept means that the most magickal tool you can have is a simple
candle: the hard wax candle itself is solid, or Earth; the flame is plasma, or Fire; the melted
wax is liquid, or Water; and the smoke is gas, or Air. Many powerful spells need nothing but
a candle and your Will to make them work.
Furthermore, each Element is imbued, as is everything in the universe, with the non-physical
essence of the Divine, which we generally call Spirit. Just as each person is a unique manifestation
of the Divine, so is every animal, every plant, every ecosystem. So Spirit is often considered
to be the fifth Element—distinguishing living beings from dead or inanimate objects.
Energy, of course, is neither an Element nor a state of matter, but matter and energy can
be converted into each other, as Einstein pointed out in his famous equation: E=Mc 2 . We’ll
talk more about energy when we get to the section on “Raising the Power.”
There are also magickal creatures or spirits associated with each Element. These are
called Elementals. The Air Elementals are Sylphs, and they look like winged fairies. Fire
Elementals are Salamanders, and they can take any shape and size, but mostly they appear as
flaming lizards or dragons. Water Elementals are Undines, and they look like mermaids. And
Earth Elementals are Gnomes, which are stout, wrinkled little people who live underground.
You may visualize these Elementals as you call their respective Quarters.
There are also animals, both mundane and magickal, as well as Archangels, associated with
the Quarters. In recent years, however, dragons of different colors and attributes have become