Why we use Sacred Space
When casting/opening our sacred space, we cast it with the intention of creating a safe and protective space, so only positive and beneficial energies may enter within. It also acts as a container for our personal energies as well as the healing energies we are conjuring up.
Within the circle this energy can be magnified and held until ready to be used in ritual or sent as healing to individuals, a specific project or place in the world. It also acts as a temple for us to develop our spiritual work and to contact spiritual beings.
Size
There are variations offered from many quarters on how big this circle should be, I suggest it be roughly the size of you standing in the centre with your arms outstretched either side of your body and a little extra to accommodate your wand, if you use one. It is helpful to find an uncluttered space which you can dedicate to this work. Obviously, this is not always appropriate or easily found. So, a quiet space where you can close the door on the outside world is encouraged. You might like to include an altar in the arrangement, maybe with candles, incense, chalice, cards, wands, etc…
Altar Space
An altar serves as a visual focus for your spiritual prayers, affirmations, healing work and energy. It helps us to ground ourselves and focus on our intentions within the session we are conducting. It can double up as a worktable and place for certain spell casting. It is also a place to put power objects in symbolic representations of your ancestors, allies, the elements, trees, crystals and whatever else takes your fancy.
You might add cuttings of branches, twigs, flowers, buds, leaves, bark, fruit, and nuts, for that time of the year, or if you are wanting to work with nature magic.
For the elements, you might use the following to represent them:
Air: Feather, incense, sage
Fire: Candle, essential oil burner with tea light
Water: Seashell, chalice with water in
Earth: Rock, crystal, potted plant, ceramic dish, tree part
Spirit: Symbol of a dragon, eagle etc
Candles: Colours and their potential uses
White: Protection, peace, purification, chastity, happiness, stopping gossip, spirituality
Green: Healing, money, prosperity, luck, fertility, beauty, employment, youth.
Brown: Healing animals, the home.
Pink: Emotional love, fidelity, friendships.
Red: Lust, strength, courage, power, sexual potency
Yellow: Divination, psychic powers, mental powers, wisdom, visions.
Purple: Power, exorcism, healing.
Blue: Healing, sleep, peace.
Orange: Legal matters, success.
Please note that you should never undertake any healing work for others without their permission. If in doubt, send to them with the instruction that this healing is for the highest good of all concerned…
Crystals
If using crystals, know what they represent and can be used for. The following is meant as a general indicator of what you can do with them.
To cleanse: You may leave it on your windowsill in natural light from dawn to dusk, about 12 hours, so it gets the benefit of both sunlight and moonlight. If undertaken at full moon, you will get some extra empowerment.
You might also use the rain to cleanse or soak in a bowl of salt water.
Sage with a sage stick or some palo santo…
Bury them underground for 24 hours.
Use a cleansing crystal.
For healing, by placing in a geometric grid pattern they can create a forcefield of energy that supercharges your healing stones to ramp up their power.
You might use meditation to connect with your crystals. Hold in either one or both hands, close your eyes and focus on your breath. Try to stand in natural light, you may feel your body sinking into the ground, this is ok, also a lightness around you. Say aloud, “I dedicate this crystal to the highest good of all concerned.” Then program the crystal for its specific use (what do you wish to use it for)
Starting Your Ritual
You will also find many variations in how you start a ritual. This is mine.
· It should be a quiet space, phones off, no interruptions.
· Work out where the four cardinal directions are.
· Prepare your altar, place the representations of the elements, tree parts/symbols etc…
Calling Spirit into your Circle
Lighting your central candle is a symbolic action of bringing spirit into your space.
Call in spirit and declare what your work is going to be for that session.
Example: “I call the light of spirit into this sacred circle and thank my allies, protectors, ancestors, teachers, angels, masters, ascended masters, star people for coming and empowering my healing work for John .../ Cambridge City/ myself here today.”
Creating your Circle of Power
Face the east and take three deep breaths. Tune into your heart chakra and see a bright white burst of energy come into life. Let it fill your body and surround you. This is you linking in with your higher mental soul self. Once completed, raise your lit candle and with your intention call in the direction east, see a bright white light from your heart, through your arm, out your candle shoot out and hit a point a few feet from the candle (or in large room at the appropriate distance from you)
Trace it round to the right, and face the south, and call it (direction of south) in, turn to the right, call in the west, trace round to right and call in the north. Trace the circle from the north to connect with the east. See yourself surrounded by a pulsating circle of vibrating white light. You are now safe within your own power circle.
Place the lit candle upon your altar.
Personal Grove
We might wish to create a sacred space in spirit known as a grove. It is here we can journey to and meet with those in spirit and have spiritual experiences/ healings/ create magic that we will then pull through into the physical world as manifestations of what we desire.
A grove is a circular space surrounded by trees. Within this area you may have an altar to represent the ancestors in the north-west. There might be an open fire in the centre of your space. It is usual to have a gate to enter and this gate is controlled by your guardian of the grove. A spiritual being there to work with you.
It is within this space that you are completely safe and can empower yourself in rites and ritual. You can call your allies to make themselves known to you here and even call in the ancestors, gods, goddesses, angels, star people, whoever you choose to work with.
It is a sacred space to explore, and you will meet all manner of beings and energies.
It is a place for you to grow and grow in.
What you will find within is as tall and wide as your creativity.
Working with the Elements
Once you have created your circle, and your grove to work in, you might like to call upon the elements to empower your grove and circle. There are the tradition symbolic animals that represent the elements, I use dragons. You can use whatever symbolic representation calls true for you.
Air: Hawk
Fire: Stag
Water: Salmon
Earth: Bear
Spirit: Eagle
Bringing in the Elements
Face the east and call in the great (hawk) air dragon, ‘Fathross the Yellow, Fathross the Yellow, Fathross the Yellow, welcome to my sacred space, sacred grove and sacred healing.’
In your mind’s eye, witness a large yellow dragon entering your sacred space. See if you can feel it also respond within your physical body. Spend a few moments sitting in its energy…
Now turn to your right, face the south, and call in the great (stag) fire dragon, ‘Idreth the Red, Idreth the Red, Idreth the Red, welcome to my sacred space, sacred grove and sacred healing.’
In your mind’s eye, witness a large red dragon entering your sacred space. See if you can feel it also respond within your physical body. Spend a few moments sitting in its energy…
Now turn to your right, face the west, and call in the great (salmon) water dragon, ‘Icress the
Blue, Icress the Blue, Icress the Blue, welcome to my sacred space, sacred grove and sacred
healing.’
In your mind’s eye, witness a large blue dragon entering your sacred space. See if you can feel it also respond within your physical body. Spend a few moments sitting in its energy…
Now turn to your right, face the north, and call in the great (bear) earth dragon, ‘Mordreth the Green, Mordreth the Green, Mordreth the Green, welcome to my sacred space, sacred grove and sacred healing.’
In your mind’s eye, witness a large green dragon entering your sacred space. See if you can feel it also respond within your physical body. Spend a few moments sitting in its energy…
Look to the ground and call in Pachamama Earth Goddess, “Earth Mother, Pachamama, Pachamama, Pachamama, welcome to my sacred space, sacred grove, sacred healing.’
In your mind’s eye, witness the earth Goddess Pachamama in whatever form springs to mind, appear and support your sacred space from below. See if you can feel it also respond within your physical body. Spend a few moments sitting in her energy…
Look to the heavens and call in Cosmic Sky Father, “I call in Cosmic Sky Father, Cosmic Sky Father, Cosmic Sky Father, welcome to my sacred space, sacred grove, sacred healing.’ In your mind’s eye, witness this Sun God energy entering your sacred space and supporting it from above. See if you can feel it also respond within your physical body. Spend a few moments sitting in his energy…
Now look around your space and call in the great (eagle) spirit dragon, ‘Dwyfer the Black, Dwyfer the Black, Dwyfer the Black, welcome to my sacred space, sacred grove and sacred healing.’
In your mind’s eye, witness a large black dragon entering your sacred space between the ground and the heavens. See if you can feel it also respond within your physical body. Spend a few moments sitting in its energy…
This is your sacred space/ sacred circle, your energy, your manifestation point. Feel the energy within, without, between, betwixt, above, and below…
· Call in Ancestors:
“Ancestor, ancestors, ancestors, ancients, ancients, ancients, elders, elders, elders,
grandmothers, grandmothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, grandfathers, grandfathers, welcome to this sacred space.”
· Call in your allies,
I call in my power animals (name them x3 – see them and place them around your body)
· I call in my protectors (If you know them – name and place them)
· I call in my teachers (if you know them name and place them)
· I call in the gods and goddesses, masters, ascended masters, angels and archangels, star people… (place them)
· See them in your mind’s eye, feel the energy rising and know that they are there.
Do not be afraid if you feel a raise in temperature, a sense of power around you or see them. They are here to help. You have asked and they have responded.
Raising Energy Within Your Circle
You might also wish to move within your circle, as in dancing round in a clockwise direction,
all the time holding your intention to build and bring in positive power.
Drumming and chanting/ singing is another powerful way of building the energy within your circle.
Another sure-fire way of raising energy is to walk the lemniscate (infinity) symbol. A sideways figure 8, walk within your circle with the intention of raising universal life force energy to work with. Place a stone/ crystal at its centre where the lines cross. It is amazing how much energy can be raised this way. You can also use your wand by drawing the symbol in your circle with strong intention.
Calling in Healing Energy
You raise the healing energy by asking for healing energy to be manifested within you, or to be brought down through your crown chakra to your heart and out of your hands, eyes, mind’s eye to its intended target. Intention will steer the whole process.
Sending Energy
If you are working on yourself within the circle, the energy is being sent and received at the
same time. Or if working on another person, as in distant magic/ healing, you might use a surrogate in the form of a poppet, doll, or teddy (others use names on paper, or a mental image of the person). By bringing their energy into this surrogate, it is as if they are there in front of you. I draw the lemniscate symbol over the teddy whilst calling in the energy of that person. I am told by spirit when it has connected.
When you are conducting the healing, the energy is being sent directly to the recipient via the portal of the substitute. Or beam it as a ray from your eyes or heart into the recipient.
This can be as simple as sending healing love energy to a place in the world, a person, animal, tree etc. You might use a photograph, a name on a piece of paper, a visual image in your mind’s eye.
If sending energy out of your circle into the world, use the wand by pointing upwards into the universe and see the energy moving to its target and successfully linking in with it.
There are times as in healing, you might have a chair in your circle, and take some time to visualize the person sitting there. If you can do this, then you can send the energy to wherever it is needed within that person. Know that the work is done.
Journeying
You might want to use this session for divination or journey work. Be clear which you want. If you are journeying in shamanic terms, then have the intention clear to which world you wish to journey to and why. Also are you drumming, or listening to a recording?
“My intention is to journey to the Lower World to meet with my protection power animal...”
Go through the process you have been taught and go, have your experience, come back on the return drum beat and write up your notes.
If you are simply asking spirit for an answer to a question, do that. But make sure your questions are open and not closed. You won’t get much detail with a yes/no answer. Better to ask something along the lines of, “What is the benefit of me marrying Jane?”
Closing your Circle (Uncasting)
After your work you might wish to sit in silent contemplation to enjoy the spiritual energy at play. Once finished, close your circle down, giving thanks to all directions and elements, your guardian of the grove and any other allies, deities that you have met. You do this by reversing your casting, from the east to the north, west, south, and back around to the east, seeing the light going out behind you as you move round.
Any positive energy remaining in the space I send into the universe to be used as healing energy. Blow out your candles and sit in silence, as the energy you have raised is released into the universe, let it go and know that the healing will come about/ has come about.
Then take time to refocus your personal energy and make notes.
General Notes
Please note that you can do all the above, in your mind’s eye if stuck in a tight spot. Meaning, if you are on a crowded train and don’t have access to your altar or work room.
The more you practice, the easier and quicker it gets. Conducting a ritual is powerful business and charging it up helps make you a better practitioner.
Keep a record of your experience, the names of the spirits and deities that have come to work with you. It is important to start relationships that can grow and develop, so try to do your work regularly, if possible, at the same time each week.
Remember also to eat a little something or do some light exercises to help ground yourself back into physical reality. For the next few days, be aware of what is happening to you, how you feel, what changes have come about and note them down. Your workbook (book of shadows) will become a very important part of your development, containing your work, and building an energy of its own.
You need to use these positive spiritual energies with the utmost respect. Understand that you are working as a team and if you wish to work with the highest powers around then you must be coming from the right place. In shamanic work it is said that if you use the spirits for negative reasons, they will not want to work with you. They are compassionate, powerful, and knowledgeable. If they leave you, then power is lost and may not return.
Working with the spiritual realms brings its own rewards and dangers. Do not attempt to do anything if you are ill, depressed, or trying to get back at anyone. You need to use these energies with the utmost respect, you work as a team and if you wish to work with the best and highest powers around then you must be coming from the right place.
In shamanic work the spirits come and give of their knowledge and spiritual healing energies so that when merged they have access to the energies of the physical. An understanding is in place, if you use for negative reasons, the link is broken as they will not want to work with you. Then power is lost and may not return.