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

44 Creating Circles & Ceremonies
increasingly popular as guardians of the four Directions. Exquisite figurines of these are becoming
widely available, and many Wizards are procuring a set for their Quarter altars.
It is customary to have an object representing each of the Elements on your altar. Many
people just use their magickal tools, which have their own Elemental associations. But you may
also use a feather, bell, or incense for Air; a candle for Fire; a cup of water or seashell for Water;
and a crystal, stone, geode, or bowl of salt for Earth. In the HOME Tradition, we often set up
small altars at each of the four Quarters on the outer edge of the Circle area, which are then
decorated with appropriate symbols and colors. At nighttime rituals these usually include votive
candles in colored glass holders—yellow for Air, red for Fire, blue for Water, and green for Earth.
Invoking the Quarters
By Oberon
If there are enough people in the Circle, we will ask a different person to call each Quarter,
but if the Circle is very small (or solitary) one person (or the whole group together) may call all
four. As I have said before, in the Northern Hemisphere we generally begin in the East, where the
sun rises, and go deosil—except at Samhain and Walpurgisnacht (May Eve), when we begin in
the West and go widdershins. In the Southern Hemisphere, most correspondences of North and
South are obviously reversed, but east and west are a bit more complicated. Since the Elemental
system of Western magick evolved in Europe, where the Atlantic Ocean was the great western
sea, it made perfect sense to associate the Element of Water with the West. This is also true in
West Africa, the western half of the Americas, and West Australia. But in those lands where the
ocean is to the east, such as the eastern Americas, Asia, and eastern Australia, this association
seems incongruous. Therefore, many magickal practitioners and ritualists in these places quite
reasonably attribute the traditional correspondences of Water to the East. But this doesn’t work
for all directional correspondences, because the sun still rises in the east no matter where you
are, and the aspects of the Quarters that correlate with the turning Earth have to be separated
out from those that correlate with the Elements. Admirably, Australian practitioners have done
this, and should be consulted in such workings south of the equator.
Also, some ritualists may, on various occasions, call additional Directions such as Up
(“The Great Above”), Down (“The Great Below”), or Center. We suggest that you start with
the standard four, and then you may add others when you feel comfortable enough in your
ritual work to understand the additional complexity of such symbolism.
In the HOME Tradition, we have special gestures, or mudras, in which we hold our
arms at each Quarter to identify with the essence of each Element. The powers of each
Element are invoked, or called in, at this time. This kind of prayer is thus called an invocation,
or calling-in. For small Circles, the person doing the calling stands in that direction and
faces outward. But for larger Circles, the caller will stand opposite the direction, facing
across the Circle, so everyone can see and hear him or her. This is known as “cross-calling.”
Invocation and the Power of Sound (1)
By Ruth Barrett
In any ritual where the Elemental powers are invoked, it is vital to identify the specific
aspect or aspects of each Element you wish to call upon that align with the ritual’s theme and
purpose. Within each Element there exist a wide range of aspects. For example, in working
with the element of Air, do you wish to invoke hurricane force winds or gentle spring breezes?
Consider the range of aspects that may be called upon from the various Elemental powers,
and what gifts or blessings might be requested for the specific occasion.
Within your personal memories, you have many paths that can lead you to a deepening
relationship with each of the Elements. Discovering and exploring those pathways will make