Circle of Three

A blog dedicated to Isobel Bird's Wicca-themed Circle of Three series.

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I'm not going to call the grown man my son is living with his boyfriend. For the love of Mike, the two of them have been together longer than most married couples I know. He stopped being a boyfriend a long time ago. So until they come up with a better word, he's Dylan's special friend and that's that.

Mrs. McAllister, Circle of Three #10: Making the Saint, pg. 193

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As you all know by now, the form of witchcraft you've been learning here is only one of the ways the Craft is practiced. There are many other ways. Some of them are similar to ours with only a few differences. Others are very different. And witchcraft itself is part of the larger world of pagan religions, some of which are a lot like Wicca and a lot of which are completely unique.

Sophia, Circle of Three #10: Making the Saint, pg. 38

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"T.J., meet Jane,” Cooper said.

T.J. reached out and shook Jane’s hand. “So you’re the one who stole my girlfriend away from me,” he said jokingly.

“Hey,” Jane said. “Don’t blame me if you’re a lousy kisser.”

“Now I see why you two get along so well,” remarked T.J. to Cooper.

— Circle of Three #10: Making the Saint, pg. 3

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You call that music? I've heard better songs on an 'N SYNC album.

Cooper Rivers, Circle of Three #10: Making the Saint

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“Oh come on,” Cooper replied. “She’ll love it. It fits the whole Halloween thing, too. What do you think, Sasha?”

Sasha nodded. “I think it might be cool,” she said. “I mean, since we can’t get her into a strip club or anything.”

—Book #9: Through the Veil

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"Oh come on," Cooper replied. "She'll love it. It fits the whole Halloween thing, too. What do you think, Sasha?" Sasha nodded. "I think it might be cool," she said. "I mean, since we can't get her into a strip club or anything."

Book #9: Through the Veil

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“So what’s the movie?”

“Ah,” Cooper replied, pulling a tape out of the bag. I have chosen the perfect film. Creepy yet romantic. No subtitles or Leonardo. Plus, it has some witchy stuff in it. Not to mention Johnny Depp, which elevates it to instant classic.”

“Sleepy Hollow!” Annie, Kate, and Sasha said in unison.

—The Five Paths, pg 9

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'So, what's the movie?' 'Ah,' Cooper replied, pulling a tape out of the bag. 'I have chosen the perfect film. Creepy yet romantic. No subtitles or Leonardo. Plus, it has some witchy stuff in it. Not to mention Johnny Depp, which elevates it to instant classic.' 'Sleepy Hollow!' Annie, Kate, and Sasha said in unison.

The Five Paths, pg. 9

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Headcanon: Kate, Cooper, and Annie’s favorite Scooby-Doo movies are Zombie Island and The Witch’s Ghost.

Cooper will, on occasion, convince Jane to play “Hex Girl” and “Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air” when they’re doing a performance at one of the local clubs.

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There was something Kate had been confused about ever since doing her school paper on witchcraft. She raised her hand and waited for Rowan to acknowledge her. "I know witchcraft is really old," she said. "But did witches back then really do things the way people do them today? Did they worship a goddess and all of that?" "You've just asked the million-dollar question," Rowan said. "This is the thing that many, many people get hung up on—what exactly is witchcraft, and where did it come from? That's a long story, but I'll try to give you the short version. Many people will try to tell you that the witchcraft practiced today has been handed down from generation to generation, and that the rituals and chants and invocations we use today are ancient secrets practiced by our ancestors." "You mean they aren't?" Cooper said. Rowan shrugged. "Who's to say?" she answered. "Probably some of them have some basis in ancient rituals. But the truth is that what we call witchcraft today is a mixture of all kinds of things. Some of it comes from ancient fertility rites. Some of it is based on old myths and legends. And some of it we've just made up in the last fifty years." "Doesn't that mean that witchcraft isn't real?" said the old woman seated in one of the armchairs. "I mean, if it's all made up, what holds it together?" "Witchcraft is a religion," Rowan said. "But it isn't a religion centered around one particular book, like the Torah or the Koran, or around one particular figure, like Jesus or the Buddha. That's what confuses a lot of people. Witchcraft is a pagan religion, meaning that it doesn't focus on only one god or goddess. It's a religion based on rituals and festivals practiced by people who lived in close communion with nature. People bring to it the various rituals and beliefs of their respective cultures. Unlike Christianity and Judaism, which have established sets of rules and basic beliefs, witchcraft has very few set beliefs. Different witches practice it differently. Some do magic. Others don't. Some worship particular gods and goddesses. Others don't worship any at all."

Circle of Three: Merry Meet, Isobel Bird, Chapter 5, pg. 56-57

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Annie Crandall, defending Cooper in a mock "trial" in History class.

Annie: "...The purpose of school is to learn. But we don't just come here to learn about math and science and history. We come here to learn about each other. We have many different kinds of people at Beecher Falls High, people of different nationalities and backgrounds, people with different customs and beliefs. If we learn about these things, we learn about what makes people who they are.

"The symbol we're debating about today does represent something. It represents a way of thinking. If we try to 'protect' people from understanding what the pentagram means, we're basically saying that they're not smart enough to learn. You don't protect people by making choices for them. Sure, you might make them more comfortable, but you don't teach them anything. You don't give them the opportunity to grow." [turns to Cooper] "You're a vegetarian, right?"

Cooper: [nods] "Since I was twelve."

Annie: "How does it make you feel when you go through the lunch line and see hamburgers being served?"

Cooper: [shudders] "It's disgusting. The way those cows are raised and killed is horrible."

Annie: "But you've never asked to have meat taken off the menu?"

Cooper: "No. If people want to poison their bodies with that garbage and contribute to the enslavement of animals that's their business."

Annie: [nods, turns back to the class] "We have a lot of young women who attend Beecher Falls High. We walk through the halls every day. And sometimes when we do guys say stuff to us. They call us 'sweetie' or inform us that we 'look really hot.' Well, a lot of us don't like this. We also don't like looking at pictures of silicone-enhanced models that a lot of the guys tape to their locker doors.. Maybe we should ban those kinds of pictures." [boos and groans from male students] "Maybe we should make it an offense to call a girl 'honey' or 'gorgeous.' To many of us that kind of talk is offending and threatening.

"A lot of students are into sports. Many of you in this room are wearing clothes with team logos on them. Did you know that some people are trying to ban some of those logos because they are offensive? Think about it. The Washington Redskins. Native American groups are highly offended by that image. The Atlanta Braves and their so-called tomahawk chop. It's a horribly racist image. But have these things been banned? No."

Some guy: "But those are just fun. It's /sports/."

Annie: "To /you/ it's just sports. To other people they're images that perpetuate offensive stereotypes. So here's the question we need to answer: Why are some potentially offensive words and images protected while others aren't? Is it because they have to be offensive to the majority of people before they're considered really terrible? The necklace Cooper wears is being singled out simply because she's a minority. People don't understand what Wicca is. They don't want to take the time to understand it. So instead they try to get rid of it by banning its symbols. Is that right? I don't think so. We all have something that upsets us, whether it's seeing images of women portrayed as objects, hamburgers in the cafeteria, or necklaces that make us uneasy. If we banned everything that made people think, we'd be nothing but a school filled with mindless drones. So before you vote, think about this: Tomorrow something /you/ think is important might be the next target."

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The next afternoon, after returning from church with her parents, Kate went over to Annie’s. Cooper hadn’t arrived yet, so she had a few minutes to talk to Annie alone in her bedroom. “Do you go to church?” she asked. “No,” said Annie. “My parents weren’t really into religion, and neither is my aunt. She practices Buddhist meditation, but she doesn’t call herself a Buddhist. She also does yoga and all kinds of other things. She says she likes to explore different spiritualities.” “What about you?” Kate said. “What do you consider yourself?” “Nothing, I guess,” Annie answered. “I’ve never really gone to any one church or been part of any group. Why do you ask?” “I was just thinking about what Sophia said yesterday about Wicca being a religion. The Goddess religion, is what she called it. I’d never thought of it as a religion before.” Annie picked up one of the books that Sophia had suggested to them. “I read some of this last night,” Annie said. “It’s really interesting. The woman who wrote it got into witchcraft after studying it for a class she took in college. She was raised Jewish, but after learning about Wicca she became a witch.” “But who is the Goddess?” Kate asked. “That’s kind of hard to explain,” Annie said. “I think basically she’s the force that created nature and everything in it.” “And what does all of this have to do with magic and spells?” Kate asked. “Remember what Sophia said about magic being energy?” Annie said. Kate nodded. “You said something about that when we cast a circle,” she said. “Right,” said Annie. “Well, witches believe that energy comes from the natural world, and from within themselves, and that magic is learning how to use that energy to change things.” “Why do you have to worship this Goddess to be able to do that?” said Kate. “I don’t think you do,” Annie said. “I mean, you and I both cast spells and neither of us worships the Goddess.” “But our spells didn’t work right,” Kate said. “Maybe it’s because we aren’t Wiccans.” “What are you two talking about?” asked Cooper, entering the room. As she took off her coat she added, “Your aunt let me in, Annie, in case you thought I snuck in through a window or something.” “We were talking about whether or not you have to be Wiccan to really do magic,” said Annie. “Lots of religions have magic,” said Cooper. “Not just witchcraft.” “Like what?” asked Kate. “I’ve never heard of any.” “What do you call prayer?” said Cooper. “Prayer is talking to God,” Kate answered. “It’s not magic.” “I know you don’t call it that,” said Cooper. “But think about it. What do you do when you pray? You ask God to make things happen, right?” “Sometimes,” said Kate. “Or what about when people say prayers to the saints?” Cooper went on. “You know, like when you lose something and you pray to Saint Anthony to help you find it.” “That’s not the same thing,” said Kate. “Maybe not exactly the same,” said Cooper. “But it’s the same principle. Isn’t praying the same thing as sending your intentions out into the universe?” “I guess doing a spell to get a better grade on a test is sort of like asking God to help out a little,” said Kate doubtfully. “And people do that every day in schools across the world,” Cooper said. “But they would freak out if you told them they might be trying to do magic.”

Circle of Three: Book #1: So Mote It Be

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“We’re kind of new to all of this, and we’re just looking for some basic information.” “Well, then, I can suggest a few things,” Sophia said. “This one here is one of the most familiar books about the Goddess religion,” she said as she held up a book with a blue-spiral cover. “Religion?” said Kate. “Witchcraft is a religion?” Sophia nodded. “Yes, absolutely,” she said. She pulled a book from the shelf and handed it to Kate. “Here’s one that has some solid background information. It’s a great place to begin. I might also recommend this one over here as well. They both give good, but different, perspectives on how some people practice.” “What about spells?” Cooper said, speaking up. “What spell books do you recommend?” “I don’t recommend any spell books to people who are just starting out,” Sophia said kindly. “Magic isn’t something you should just leap into. You need to understand the basics first.” Kate hoped she didn’t look as embarrassed as she felt. She’d had no idea that there was so much to know about witchcraft. She hadn’t even known there were different kinds, or that it was a religion. It had all just seemed like something to do. She felt even more over her head than she had before she walked in. “What if you’ve already sort of tried some spells?” Annie said hesitantly. Sophia looked thoughtfully at them. “I guess that would depend on what kind of spells they were and how well they turned out.” “Suppose they didn’t turn out all that well,” Annie said. “Or too well,” Kate added. “Say, for example, you wanted to sort of take back a spell that was doing more than you wanted it to.” “That’s a hard one,” Sophia said. “Magic is really just a kind of energy. When you do a spell, you’re sending that energy out into the world.” “Like when you cast a circle,” Annie said. Sophia nodded. “Right,” she said. “That’s one kind of energy. Spells involved another kind of energy that we call intention. When you cast a spell, you focus your attention on a specific goal.” “Like getting someone to fall in love with you,” Kate suggested, hoping she wasn’t giving away too much. “You could do that,” Sophia said. “But I wouldn’t recommend it. There are spells for helping you find love, but actually getting someone to fall in love with you is another thing. That kind of magic is manipulative. You’re trying to get someone to do something he or she might not do otherwise. That’s asking for trouble.” “What kind of trouble?” asked Kate, not at all sure she really wanted to hear the answer. “Witches believe in what we call the Law of Three,” Sophia explained. “We believe that whatever kind of energy you send out into the universe will come back to you three times as strong. For example, if you do a spell to help heal someone, we believe that eventually you will receive healing energy of some sort yourself, and that it will be three times as strong as the energy you sent out.” “And if you do a love spell?” said Kate. Sophia smiled. “You never know,” she said. “Sometimes you find that too many people fall in love with you. Other times you get what you want, but you pay a price for it. A very dear price.”

Circle of Three: Book #1: So Mote It Be by Isobel Bird

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Why couldn't people understand that her [Cooper's] wearing a pentacle was a sign of how proud she was to be studying witchcraft? Why did it have to mean something sinister? Just because a bunch of stupid people who wanted to think they were into something weird misused the sign of the pentagram was no reason why she should have to give it up. It wasn't her fault that heavy metal bands scrawled pentagrams on their album covers and people who didn't know any better drew them on stuff to try to scare people or to try to look cool.

Circle of Three Book #8: The Five Paths, pg, 63-64

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She [Cooper] realized that she was playing with her necklace, holding it in her hand and pulling on it as she thought. Had she done that before? Is that why people had noticed it? It wasn't like she flashed it around or anything. People would have to look pretty hard to even see what she was wearing. Usually, it was tucked under the collar of whatever shirt she was wearing. She tucked it inside, hiding it from view. She didn't want to give anyone any reason to complain that she was showing it off or anything. Now she could feel it against her skin, the metal warm from being in her hand. Was it really such a big deal for her to be able to wear it? She asked herself this, as well as other questions, as she waited for class to end. Why was she wearing the pentacle? True, it had been part of the ritual she'd done with her friends. That was one reason. But would she have worn it if it didn't have that meaning to her? What did wearing the necklace really mean to her? Was she wearing it to shock people? She had to admit that part of her like the idea that people would see it and wonder why she had it on. But was that a good enough reason to insist on keeping it on? Or was there another reason, one that went deeper than just making a statement? She looked down and discovered that she had been drawing pentagrams in her notebook. The page was filled with five-pointed stars. Cooper looked at them. In a child's drawing they would have just been stars. But they meant much more than that. To her they represented one of the fundamental principles of Wicca—the fact that everything in life is connected. Each of the lines joining the arms to one another was like an electrical wire. Energy flowed through them, allowing the powers of the elements represented by the five points to combine. Earth. Air. Fire. Water. She named each arm as she drew another pentagram. And then the fifth point, representing Spirit, the unseen element uniting all things. She drew the final line and looked at the design. It was so simple and so perfect. How could anyone see anything malicious in it? To her it was absolutely beautiful—five paths joined into one. It was a symbol both of what she believed and of what she was trying to do with her life, unite the different energies within and around her to create something powerful and magical. Yes, she decided, it was important to her to be able to wear her pentacle.

Circle of Three: Book #8: The Five Paths, pg. 64-65

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"Do you guys really think that everything happens for a reason?" Annie asked. "I mean, is there really some big plan that we only get to see in little bits and pieces, or do we just tell ourselves that because it makes things easier?" "I don't think you can look at it that way," Cooper told her. "One thing leads into another, but it's not like we're all just acting out some big play that somebody else wrote." "How do you know that for sure?" asked Annie. "We can think anything we want to, but how do we know? How do we know our lives aren't already planned out for us?" "By who?" Kate asked her. Annie shrugged. "I don't know. The Fates. The Goddess. Whoever." "I don't buy that," Cooper said. "I think we're given a path to walk, but I think that path has lots of different side paths. We choose the ones we want to go down." "Maybe," Annie said.

Circle of Three Book #12: Written in the Stars by Isobel Bird, 

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"When I did my year and a day and had to do this assignment I picked Sufi mysticism," Archer said. "At first I wasn't sure about it, but the more I read and the more I read and the more I met people who were into it, the more I fell in love with it. I still am." "But you stayed with Wicca," Kate said. "Yes," said Archer. "When it comes down to it, I'm at home in the Craft. I appreciate bits and pieces of many different paths, but they aren't my paths. Witchcraft is. One of my big breakthroughs during that year was realizing that it was okay to take pieces from other traditions and use them if they work for you. You just have to do it with respect for the tradition, otherwise it's just kind of stealing."

Circle of Three Book #10: Making the Saint by Isobel Bird, pg. 183