Magical circles and protection
The tradition that perhaps codified the image of the magical circle in the Western magical stratum is the Solomonic tradition, and in its context the more obvious use for it is protection. The theology the tradition emerges from dictates a need for insulating ourselves from the evoked in the same stroke that it sets the terms for the adversarial format of the operations. While recent developments should by now have enriched our world view sufficiently to dispel the belief that this is strictly necessary, there are, as usual, valuable insights to be garnered in the study of traditional ritual mechanics.
From what the texts say regarding outcomes, we can extrapolate a proposition that spirit manifestations are consciously visible to the naked eye, and that they present a real and immediate danger to the operator. That peril can be reasonably attributed to various specific aspects of any given system, less often recognised among those is the case of early formulae whose goal was obtaining a number of unknown spirits to manifest, all of which with unpredictable agendas. Or quite simply that in compelling a certain class of hostile spirits to appear, care will indeed be required.
This element of compelling is commonly done away with in modern systems, and the consequently subtler outcomes led its proponents to put in ink a conclusion that the sole purpose of the circle is to situate the magician at the centre of the magical universe. While that’s most definitely not the whole truth if taking into account recognitions aplenty of it acting as a protective device, there’s corroboration of its making entailing elaborate considerations such as the names of lower hierarchy, correct timing and more, and therefore it playing a more than passive role in ritual.
Andrew D. Chumbley in his Opuscula Magica Vol. I excellently ascertains the origins of names given to sorcerers translating to “the encircling ones”, alluding to the binding nature of the practice, and in subsequent paragraphs cites the observance of the cycles of the Moon and seasons providing the motif for the recognition of the geometrical symbol as meaning universe. Although he speaks primarily from the point of view of a distinct tradition, this is worth considering seeing as we can find the symbolism taken to length in the influential Peter de Abano’s Heptameron as well as the table of practice in Francis Barrett’s The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals.
Circles in Solomonic systems
The essentials of the designs seen in various Key of Solomon manuscripts and its predecessors remain more or less the same, with variations mainly around the magical names used on the boundaries. A distinct detail of these is that unlike late Latin formulae, they frequently feature an entryway into the circle that is to be sealed off once all participants step in.
Their exact diameter is the topic of heated forum debates, likely because most expect to be able to conduct the ritual at home and laying a nine foot circle indoors can be difficult for urban dwellers. Heeding the wording in early instructions, they almost never fail to account for the presence of other participants needing to fit in the space, which is certainly a factor of that suggestion. Though rather than looking at the measure as having a numeric significance paramount for the success of the operation, considering it has been more often not specified, I submit that the more interesting factor is the metaphysical implications behind these operations being experienced in groups apparently as a matter of course. I would also caution against assuming them needing to be conducted indoors, as several of the instructions we will see further ahead plainly advise otherwise.
Designs found in three of the manuscripts of the Hygromanteia feature a double circle with magical names written inset. The previously mentioned entrance is laid southside and shows the black handled knife pointing outwards, indicating it’s to be used for closing it. The use of the black handled knife is of summary importance. The blade is consecrated to Mars and it’s by its virtues that spirits are kept at bay. This knowledge is missing from ignorant analysis deriding the idea as if what it proposes is that a mere figure on the ground should be capable of so.
The circle for one of the evocation approaches in MS Atheniensis 12651:
The following, from a French Key of Solomon manuscript, MS Wellcome 46702:
Instructions in Harleianus 5596, another manuscript of the Hygromanteia, direct the magician to first burn incense and only then trace the circle, showing the process to be a form of ritual in itself.
In Atheniensis 1265 we find the following directions for procuring a location of the ritual3:
Go find a proper place to trace a circle. Let the place be at the peak of a mountain, in the woods, on a plain, in a cave, near the sea, in a garden, at a place where somebody was killed in old times and where neither the crow, nor a rooster, nor the voices of men can be heard, at a pure and trackless place, near a river, or near a meeting of three roads. It has to be far from people, where nobody can hear or see, and where the human voice cannot be heard, in order not to be obstructed by anybody.
The text emphasised above, conspicuously omitted from the same sentence in the later Atheniensis 115, carries huge practical implications best addressed in detail on a separate occasion, so I will only briefly note here that I believe these necromantic overtones are no accident, and in this communion lies a key to the practice of ceremonial magic. The dead will witness the ritual and their help is a possibility if honours and relief are offered.
In the later Key of Solomon, the instructions principally emphasise the need for isolation4:
The places best fitted for exercising and accomplishing magical arts and operations are those which are concealed, removed, and separated from the habitations of men. Wherefore desolate and uninhabited regions are most appropriate, such as the borders of lakes, forests, dark and obscure places, old and deserted houses, whither rarely and scarce ever men do come, mountains, caves, caverns, grottos, gardens, orchards; but best of all are cross-roads, and where four roads meet, during the depth and silence of night
Though in the subsequent paragraph offers recognition of the previous point5:
These arts or operations should he carried out at the prescribed time, but if there be no time specially appointed it will be always better to perform them at night, which is the most fit and proper time for the operations of necromancy
As stated earlier, at times we see the use of names or sigils of spirits found in the lower hierarchy in a bid for representing their authority, for in turn compelling the evoked to manifest, but on the circle itself. In a manuscript omitted in Mathers’ version of the Key of Solomon, MS Aubrey 24, the names of four demon kings are seen written around the circle at their respective cardinal directions. This exact same idea is seen in late Latin manuscript of remark, MS Wellcome 2000. It shows on its frontispiece an ourobouros circle with sigils of its four cardinal kings displayed on the outside6:
Peter de Abano’s Heptameron offers extremely elaborate instructions for tracing the circle. I will quote it in full for an accurate impression7:
The form of Circles is not alwaies one and the same; but useth to be changed, according to the order of the Spirits that are to be called, their places, times, daies and hours. For in making a Circle, it ought to be considered in what time of the year, what day, and what hour, that you make the Circle; what Spirits you would call, to what Star and Region they do belong, and what functions they have. Therefore let there be made three Circles of the latitude of nine foot, and let them be distant one from another a hands breadth
1) and in the middle [i.e. inner] Circle, first, write the name of the hour wherein you do the work. 2) In the second place, Write the name of the Angel of the hour. 3) In the third place, The Sigil of the Angel of the hour. 4) Fourthly, The name of the Angel that ruleth that day wherein you do the work, and the names of his ministers. 5) In the fifth place, The name of the present time [i.e. season such as Spring]. 6) Sixthly, The name of the Spirits ruling in that part of time, and their Presidents. 7) Seventhly, The name of the head of the Signe ruling in that part of time [season] wherein you work. 8) Eighthly, The name of the earth, according to that part of time [season] wherein you work. 9) Ninthly, and for the compleating of the middle Circle, Write the name of the Sun and of the Moon, according to the said rule of time [season]; for as the time is changed, so the names are to be altered.
And in the outermost Circle, let there be drawn in the four Angles, the names of the presidential Angels of the Air, that day wherein you would do this work; to wit, the name of the King and his three Ministers
Notable among these cares is the laying of names and sigils of horary angels, an appeal to horary hierarchy imprinted in the circle itself. The Heptameron circle is likely the better example of a talismanic representation of the universe being fundamental for getting the attention of the evoked.
The following is Heptameron circle for the first hour of Sunday in the Spring8:
Similar instances of the observance of timing (and its conjoined hierarchy) can be found in the Sworn Book of Honorius, where the circles vary extensively with the class of spirit being evoked9:
Another application of this concept is found in The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals, albeit much more simplified, where the pedestal holding the scrying lapidary stands on a circle, around which the names of the planets, their ruling angels, and the names of four cardinal kings are depicted. In addition, the formula features a second protective circle design for the magician to stand on with usual names of God written on10:
A rather simple operation from Bononiensis 3632 (Hygromanteia) also makes use of a table of evocation. Interestingly, the protective circle is traced on the table itself and the spirit bound with a thrust of the knife at the centre of it. It’s unclear, however, where exactly the manifestation is to take place. It goes as follows11:
Lay a new tablecloth on a new table, and place an empty bowl upon it, together with two lit candles on candlesticks, one at each side. At the other sides of the table place another earthen bowl, a censer with lit charcoals and incense, and various peeled fruits. Then, take a knife with a black handle with your right hand, trace the circle three times around the table, and each time recite the following conjuration.
“I conjure you, Mortze, or human ghost, or haunting of this place, come to me now that I invoked you at this table that I prepared for you. Eat and drink from the food I prepared for you”
And when you see that he ate, conjure him this way:
“I conjure you, Mortze, do not defecate, do not urinate, until you tell me the whole truth in whatever I will ask you.”
Do this three times with the knife, around the table. And when you finish the three circles, thrust the knife into the table and recite the following: I nail you here, Mortze, or haunting of this place.
Though this is phrased as if the binding is based on keeping the spirit constrained in bowel discomfort, the element of feeding spirits is common enough both in the genre to warrant suggesting there’s likely a system of evocation in this formula. An illustration of the table described above12:
In my own approach I utilise a design quite similar to the one in MS Wellcome 2000. The sigils of the four cardinal kings are traced and honoured with incense along with a conjuration recited, so to interest them in facilitating access to their deputies. Rituals take place at an isolated grove at night. A replica of it is kept in my home temple for the occasional rite undertaken indoors. The complete formula may be published sometime in the near future:
Alternative means of protection
In traditions in and out of the Western current, examples can be found of protection provided via implements such as lamens worn by the operator or allegiances formed with superior or intermediary spirits. While this is assessed by some as a head-on approach, technically, protection is not being foregone altogether, but simply obtained through a different avenue.
In one of the more complete evocation systems found in the Greek Magical Papyri, PGM IV 154-285, the operator is directed to wear a philactery inscribed with various magical names during the course of contacting the gods the operation aims to put the magician in contact with. This formula interestingly begins with an initiation ritual for obtaining an alliance with Helios (Sun), it then providing the power for conducting the ritual13:
In Quimbanda14, the role of the Exú rei (king Exú) is to both protect the Quimbandeiro and mediate contact with “hotter” types of Exús. Through his agency the Quimbandeiro is equipped to act without the need for protective regalia when working directly with these spirits. Tempting as it is to draw a line between it and Scirlin from the Grimorium Verum, note that the Verum nevertheless advises the use of a circle and does not forego with the usual precautions. There seems to be less distance between it and the Paredros from the Greek Magical Papyri, or the spirit animal in some forms of shamanism, when looking strictly at roles fulfilled.
In certain lineages of European witchcraft, it’s the alliance obtained during initiation, or the “taking” of the witch by a spirit that provides both the power and safety for working other spirits reliably. This in turn can be understood as something similar to what is seen in Palo Mayombe, where the pact with the nganga is what ensures that the palero remains protected in the course of the work15. My personal approach relies on devotional work conducted with a charged statue of Lucifer, who commands the pantheon and is considered a gatekeeper to the mysteries kept by it. From this work an artefact is confectioned which carries his authority and imparts protection.
In conclusion, how necessary a circle is varies with relationships, alternative methods of protection, or the depth to which the procedure takes the matter of spirit manifestation to. It’s a lot less problematic not using it once certain pacts are in place, at which point it has presumably been employed a few times.
With gratitude to Tomas Beaujean for reviews and various helpful pointers.
Ioannis Marathakis. The Magical Treatise of Solomon, or Hygromanteia. (Golden Hoard, 2012). p. 278. ↩
Stephen Skinner. Techniques of Solomonic Magic. (Golden Hoard, 2015). p. 161. ↩
Ioannis Marathakis. The Magical Treatise of Solomon, or Hygromanteia. (Golden Hoard, 2012). p. 277. ↩
S. Liddell MacGregor Mathers. The Key of Solomon. (http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol2.htm) ↩
Stephen Skinner. Techniques of Solomonic Magic. (Golden Hoard, 2015). p. 153. ↩
Peter de Abano. Heptameron, or Magical Elements. (http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/heptamer.htm#part1). ↩
Stephen Skinner. Techniques of Solomonic Magic. (Golden Hoard, 2015). p. xxx. ↩
Joseph Peterson. The Sworn Book of Honorius. (Ibis Press, 2016). ↩
Outstanding craftwork by Ruth Hutchinson. ↩
Ioannis Marathakis. The Magical Treatise of Solomon, or Hygromanteia. (Golden Hoard, 2012). p. 119. ↩
Leonardo Drakon. PGV IV 154-265: Phylactery of 100 Letters. (http://voces-magicae.com/2015/01/27/pgm-iv-154-285-phylactery-of-100-letters/). The gorgeous philactery is his own artwork. ↩
Personal correspondence with Jesse Hathaway Diaz, from Wolf & Goat. ↩
Personal correspondence with Christopher Bradford. ↩
