•9•

Creating and Walking
a Moon Circle

A Moon circle is a place to receive messages about your future. You can build one for yourself or with others. It is a circle created by the use of shells, rocks, stones, bricks, pinecones, or anything you choose. The reason a circle is used is that the energy comes up faster within a circle and continues to turn, creating a vibration that will allow you to tap into your future more readily. The circle is divided into the four major compass directions, each one having specific meanings and insights.

The Moon circle provides a place sincere people can resolve problems and come to a better understanding of situations, as well as foreseeing future events. With a Moon circle, you can draw from the universal life force energy to receive messages and to prevent disharmony from coming into your life. It is like a magick mirror that looks into the future.

Native American traditions show us the use of a medicine wheel, which has some basic similarities but is far different. I have great respect for the medicine wheel and feel it is a powerful tool for healing and balance. However, the two should not be confused—the medicine wheel is more complex and requires much more understanding of Native American beliefs.

How to Make a Moon Circle

You can style a temporary circle or assemble a permanent one if you live on a piece of land that is spacious. If you have the capability to make your circle outside among nature, you will receive that extra-earth connection. However, if you do not have that opportunity, you can create one in your living room or another appropriate indoor space.

Choose the spot where you will create your circle. It can be an area that just “feels good” to you. You will mark off the four compass points—north, south, east, and west—with some type of stone or indicator. Next, make a second small circle in the center that will surround your crystal, stone, etc. The center circle is the energy point. You may opt to create a third, and largest, circle that encompasses the two inner circles. This provides a walkway around the inner circle, keeping the energy contained. As indicated in the illustration on page 47, remember to leave a gateway or opening from the east through which you enter and one in the west through which you exit.

If forming the minimum temporary-style Moon circle, you will need five stones, crystals, shells, bricks, or whatever you have available to mark the spot.

First place a stone at each compass point and one in the center. Although this may look like a cross, you must visualize an etheric circle connecting the outer stones.

Keep in mind the size of your circle. If you will be working your magick alone, a small circle will do. If you intend to work with someone else or others, you will have to make the circle large enough to accommodate all those involved. Also consider how you will sit. Not all of us are able to bend or move freely. Be practical by placing chairs, stools, or pillows to sit on within the circle before you start your ceremony, if necessary. I use large logs on occasion when outdoors.

How to Walk the Moon Circle

Once your circle is in place, enter the circle from the east, as this is where the Sun rises and is the direction that opens all passages. You will exit through the west, where the Sun sets. If using a three-circle layout, you will have already created an entry point to pass through.

Next you should cleanse yourself and the circle. You may want to use a smudge stick of white sage as a form of purification. You can buy a stick of white sage at most health food stores or New Age gift stores. Light the sage stick and let it smother. When it starts to smoke, pass it back and forth in front of and around your own body as a form of purging. You are bathing yourself in smoke. If others are involved, smudge them as well, passing the smoke around them.

Some people use loose sage and light it in a seashell, using a feather to spread the smoke. However, the sage stick is usually the easiest, as it requires no other tools. Next, smudge the circle in the same manner, spreading smoke throughout the circle to release negativity.

If you do not have sage or prefer not to smudge, simply pass your hand in a sweeping motion over the circle and visualize any remaining negativity leaving the circle. To cleanse yourself, shake your hands in front of yourself as if shooing the negativity away and out of your body. This is the quick and simple way. I do recommend using the smudge stick if possible.

Now you are ready to walk the circle. Start from the east and walk around clockwise at least three times. It will take a cycle of three to bring up the energy of the circle, as three is a number of multiplication. If, after three walks, you do not feel the energy in the circle shifting, continue to walk until you feel it is time to stop.

If others are with you, they should follow. When you stop, stop in the direction you are led to and sit in that section of the circle.

When working with others, they may not choose the same direction to stop or they may want to continue to walk until they are led to their special place. Someone may choose to sit in the same direction with you, as this is where they are led, and others may sit in an opposite place. There is no right or wrong. Sharing a space with someone will not take away energy from you or deplete the messages you are receiving.

You may sit with your hands in a receiving position with palms up, or you may decide to cross your hands and concentrate in a contained manner. Some people feel when meditating or becoming in tune with the universal forces, it is not good to cross hands or legs. I have done both and think that your comfort is the most important issue because you need to be relaxed and comfortable for this particular ritual.

Always sit facing inward, toward the center power point. In other words, you may be in the section that is considered north, but once in the north area, you are actually turned and facing south. The message you pick up will be of a southern nature with crossovers of energy from the north. It is not necessary to know what direction you have ended up in, as you can determine that later.

Once you are seated in your direction or message point, calm your mind and relax. Allow the message to come to you. Ask silent questions if you like, and see what answers you intuit. Once you feel you have received your messages or answers from the collective consciousness, take your time and slowly rise.

Give thanks to the energy of the circle by saying something to yourself or out loud such as, “I give thanks to the earth and the life force for guidance.” Make up what you like. You may just say a simple thank-you with a bow of the head. Acknowledge the power from above that has visited to help and guide you. Leave the circle from the west, where the Sun goes down, as this gives closure to the ceremony.

Meanings of the Four Directions

North

From the north springs forth wisdom and completion. It is a time of delivery and freedom from things that may have been a challenge in our lives. It is a call for balance in all things. Its message is to find answers here and now using practical solutions and common sense.

As we travel upward, moving in a northerly direction, our journey may become more difficult as we are nearing the end of a cycle. It is this direction that instructs us that this is not the time to give up when we are so close to completion. This direction can have difficulties attached to it, but the trip will be well worth the result.

Here is where things are concluded and you may feel the most equalized. North represents power, organizing, insight, and justice. Whenever in doubt, turn north.

South

Everything emotional comes from the south. Symbolically, south is a time for preparing for the future. It is a place of emotion and affairs of the heart. This point represents passion and fullness and reminds us to learn to control our bodies. Here we learn self-control of our emotional selves and how to express feelings without hurting others. It is in the south that we also learn to release feelings of hurt and anger.

Creativity stems from the south as well, and we can make the connection to artistic pursuits and issues dealing with imagination and inventiveness.

East

The day begins in the east. It is renewal, birth, and rebirth. It is with this direction that we find spontaneity, innocence, hope, and trust. The first light enters from the east, providing leadership and guidance. We learn many lessons from the messages of the east. We learn to believe in what we cannot see, feel, or touch. We learn to be more open-minded to things we do not understand. This is a place where a new venture or a different path through life may be awakened.

It is also from this direction we must recognize that in order to proceed into the future, we must accept and deal with the present. Once we have accomplished this, we can move in a different direction. This is the conception of all things, including love, career, health, spirituality, and balance. You may have already been through many of life’s tests. But when spirit moves you to try yet again or venture out to do something new, you will find yourself in the direction of the east.

West

The Sun sets in the west and brings in the night, mystery, and dreams; it is the gateway to the unknown. The direction west signifies completion of a situation or goal.

It can suggest to you that it is time to complete something you have been procrastinating about. Power and strength generate in the west. This compass point prescribes determination and development. The west tells us to go within ourselves for guidance where the energy is calmer and your level of tension sets like the Sun. We find acceptance of who we are; and if we don’t like what we find, we must change it.

If you are not looking for a specific message or answer within a Moon circle but feel you need the connection to a specific direction, walk your circle and intentionally sit in the direction from which you feel you need to draw guidance and absorb its energy through meditation. Example: If you do not know whether to interview for a new job, sit in the direction east and concentrate.

Be careful of meditating too much in the northern compass point, because like the winter, you may lose your warmth. Use all directions in moderation.