Different Directions: 3 Experiments for your Circle-Casting

As you may have figured out already, I like to experiment.  Experimenting means not becoming stagnant in my spiritual practice.  It means learning more, going deeper, taking my connection to Deity one step higher.

Here are 3 ideas for experimenting with the standard “Four Directions” to see if you get a better result, a closer connection with the energies, etc. You will probably find that the energy is mildly to radically different in each experiment and that you want to alter your usual procedures for healing rituals vs protection rituals vs prosperity rituals, for example.

1. Begin your circle in a different direction.  If you normally begin in the North, as i do, try it in the South or West.  If you begin in the East, try the North.  Because each direction has a different meaning and different “feel” to me, I find that the entire feel of the circle and ritual is different if I begin, for example, in the South, which I associate with passion and creativity or the West, which I associate with healing and emotion.

2. Include not four but seven directions.  For me, this has been a very grounding and beautiful experiment that has become a mainstay.  Instead of North, East, South, and West, I will add Above, Below, and Within. The four directions may make a perfect circle for me but they’ve come to feel somewhat …external.   When I add three more directions, my circle feels more like a sphere, with me including in it in a significant way. Very different energy and more powerful to me.
3. Consider the local elements in what you associate with the different directions.  I was taught North=Earth, East=Air, South=Fire, and West=Water.  But what if the local lay of the land doesn’t match those directions?  For me, it would be Earth in the North (where I associate the mountains many hours away as well as the farm where I grew up), the South would be water (I’m less than 5 miles from the Gulf of Mexico), the West would be Fire (I associate it with the sun and trips to the desert for my employer),  and East….. Hmmm.   When I think of the East, I already think of light and airy mornings, the owls in the pines just east of my home, and the smell of roses, so I suppose the East already equals air to me.  The most prominent physical feature where I live is the nearby Gulf and the Bay that is an 8-minute walk from my back yard, so there is plenty of water energy here.   I could, depending on where I cast my circle, base the directions on the features of my backyard–the little fish pond or fountain for water, for example, could be in any direction depending on which sacred area of my back yard I choose to stand.

So give these ideas a try.  You don’t have to report back to me, of course, but I’d love to hear different experiences with your experiment.