Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Why I Still Cast Circles and Call Quarters

Why I Still Cast Circles and Call Quarters

Last updated on: October 10, 2017 at 3:00 am by John Beckett

Why I Still Cast Circles and Call Quarters 2017-10-07T08:28:33-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I recently had an e-mail from someone who performed the Weekly Ritual of Focus and Protection. They found it helpful, but they took out the circle casting and invocation of the elements and directions. They said that made the ritual feel “too Wiccan.”

First of all, that’s fine. My rituals are nothing if not flexible. If something doesn’t work for you, take it out and put something else in. Make sure you understand why you’re doing it and what it means to make that change (not everything in Paganism is plug and play) but if a change helps the ritual work better for you, change it.

Secondly, I understand the feeling behind the “too Wiccan” comment. It’s not a dig at Wicca. Rather, it’s a recognition that what many Pagans and polytheists do is something other than Wicca.

Druidry is split. OBOD (which is part of the Western Mystery Tradition) includes circle casting and quarter calls in their liturgy. ADF (which takes an Indo-European reconstructionist approach) does not. I can’t speak for the other Druid orders, though I know most of them are part of the Western Mystery Tradition.

Although my Druid training is with OBOD, I’ve always felt more at home with ADF’s religious approach. My soul yearns for connections to the beliefs and practices of my ancient ancestors. The Western Mystery Tradition has some of those connections, but they’re filtered through over a millennia of Christianity. I had to make a clean break with that tradition. My own practice focuses on devotion to the Gods, to my ancestors, and to the other spiritual beings with whom we share this world.

But I still cast circles and call quarters.

Casting circles

There’s a section on circles in The Path of Paganism, but it mainly deals with why we gather in circles and why that’s not always a good idea (if you have more than about 30 people, it gets hard for everyone to hear and see what’s going on).

The most common reason people give for casting circles is “for protection.” There’s a place for that, but in my experience most rituals – particularly most seasonal celebrations – don’t need protection. Those that do need more than a quick walk around the perimeter.

Our tradition of circle casting originated with the ancient Greeks, who would draw a circle around their ritual area before performing a sacrifice. We don’t know exactly why they did that, but it is likely they wanted to draw a clear boundary between the profane (i.e. – ordinary) world at the edges and the sacred rites taking place at the center.

This is why I still cast circles. Not because the ancient Greeks did it, but because it’s helpful to create a boundary for our sacred work. There is nothing wrong with the entire rest of the universe – it’s not dirty or dangerous and it’s certainly not “fallen.” But for the duration of the ritual, our focus needs to be completely on the work in front of us. Whatever else it may or may not do, casting a circle reduces distractions and tells the participants to focus on what’s in here, not what’s out there.

This is also why I uncast a circle at the conclusion of a ritual. If our focus is always inwardly directed, we miss out on the wider world, all its inhabitants, and our relationships with them.

Calling the directions

One of the purposes of preliminary ritual (i.e. – all the stuff we do before the main working) is orienting ourselves in the cosmos. There are many ways to do this, but one of the oldest and most intuitive is recognizing the four directions.

Why are there four directions? Why not three or eight or 360? Our intuition tells us there are four: what’s in front of me, what’s behind me, what’s to my left, and what’s to my right. Yes, this is two-dimensional thinking, and some traditions also recognize up and down. But going down (digging) or going up (climbing) requires extraordinary effort.

I recognize the third axis by the invocation of center, which I invoke not as a fifth element but as its own entity.

Recognizing East, South, West, and North grounds the ritual in the natural world. For all that my religion focuses on Gods, ancestors, and other spiritual beings, it is still very much a Nature religion.

Calling the spirits of the elements

Like circle casting, the four elements are also of Greek origin. But they were not part of ancient Greek religion – they were part of ancient Greek science and philosophy. Whether the ancient Greeks would have seen a categorical difference between religion, science, and philosophy is another matter for another time. But while a Greek sacrifice included drawing a circle, it did not include prayers or offerings to the four elements.

As with the directions, calling the spirits of the elements help ground the ritual in this world. While science has moved on and we know air, fire, water, and earth are not elemental substances, they help us remember that Nature is not one thing. Rather, Nature is atoms forming molecules, molecules forming cells, cells forming organisms, organisms forming ecosystems, and ecosystems forming a world… and we are a part of it all.

We could argue all day about the many elemental correspondences, their origins, and their meanings. Some of them I find helpful and others I find a distraction. I particularly dislike the attempt by some Pagans to explain everything and everyone in elemental terms. The elements are a ritual building block – lay your foundation and then move on. But as ritual building blocks, they are very useful.

In 2014 I did a series of meditations on the four elements. You may find them helpful:

A Meditation on Air

A Meditation on Fire

A Meditation on Water

A Meditation on Earth

Make decisions on purpose

When I led the Cernunnos Ritual at the Beyond the Gates retreat in August, I removed the elemental invocations from the script. Beyond the Gates is an ADF gathering (in fact if not officially) and ADF doesn’t call quarters. If I had insisted on leaving them in I’m sure my hosts would have agreed, but it would have been a distraction for most of the participants. I didn’t want anything distracting anyone from the primary purpose of the ritual: honoring and experiencing Cernunnos.

If your religion is focused on reconstructing the practices of our Indo-European ancestors, you probably don’t want to cast circles and call quarters. That’s fine – there are many ways to be a Pagan or a polytheist, and many ways to orient and ground yourself in the world.

But I learned my Paganism with circle casting and quarter calls. They’re still helpful in my attempts to build a Paganism for here and now, and so I’ve kept them in my rituals.

You do what works for you. This is what works for me, and why.

Ritual

calling quarters

casting circles

elemental invocations

Pagan

Paganism

ritual

Previous Post

October 8, 2017

The Courage to Follow Your Intuition

Next Post

October 12, 2017 Pray For The Dead: The Blasphemy of “It’s Too Late”

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to 1 John, what is God?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Word Spirit Light Perfect