The magic circle holds a very sacred and a significant place and meaning in different branches of magic. It is considered to be a sacred space that is created for performing magic rituals and ceremonies by the practitioners. This sacred space is a believed to be a form of magical protection and a divine space. It is within this magic circle that a magician can transcend into a spiritual and divine world and carry the mind into a much deeper and higher abyss of the consciousness.
The magic circle and its powers cannot be underestimated. This ritual of drawing a magic circle has been practiced and carried down through the centuries. By marking out a circle, the magicians are basically raising the level of energy of the designated space. It is believed that, within this circle, the practitioner gets the power for conjuring up any desired being or summoning the divine power.
This magic circle needs to be cleansed and consecrated from time to time to make it as sacred and into a protection barrier. Even the magic circles differ with time and type of magic. Circles are generally seen to have various symbols and names of God inscribed on the inside of the circle. It is these symbols and inscriptions that create the protection barrier.
A magic circle is marked out physically using chalk or salt or could even be simply visualized by the magician. The practice of creating a magic circle is known as casting a circle or circle casting. Each individual or each group develops its own techniques and unique methods for casting a magic circle. No wonder then that magic circles of different magicians or ethnic groups are characterized by unique patterns or circle markings, symbols and divine names.
A circle is most often cast for containing the raised levels of energy by the magician. This magic circle is very sensitive in that once it is marked out; passing through this barrier would weaken the protection property and the energy levels to the extent of nullifying the effects of magic rituals performed. This is called as “circle breaking”. A magician is not supposed to exit the circle unless it is inevitable. The Wiccans follow the practice of “cutting the circle” using a sword or a knife that was used to mark the magic circle. By doing this, a doorway is created through which anything can pass, without affecting the power and the sanctity of the circle. A magic circle is not sealed or closed until all the required energy is drawn into it. Closing of the circle is also often referred to as “releasing” the circle.
Most of the pagans create a magic circle, mainly for protection from any outside source or forces. A circle need not necessarily be marked out to perform magic. It is mainly a way of raising the energy of a given space, demarcating it as sacred, also called “creating a cone of power”. If you are conjuring up an image of a two-dimensional circle in your mind, then you are wrong. It is essentially a sphere encompassing the space above as well as below the cast circle. Not all magicians need to physically mark the circle. Some can simply visualize it, and that is enough to make the respective space sacred for performing magic.
Never undermine the power of this sacred circle. The fact that this ritual has endured through the centuries just proves the power of a magic circle. It is a deeply integral part of the whole magic ritual for almost all practitioners of magic, though in their own distinct way.