BASIC CIRCLE ETIQUETTE

• Please let someone know if you need to leave the Circle.  Cut yourself a gate as you leave and reenter, or let someone else do it for you.  This helps to keep the energy in the Circle intact.

• Unless someone instructs you to do otherwise, please move deosil (clockwise) inside the Circle.

• Please ask before handling or picking up someone else’s ritual tools or power objects.  A good rule of thumb: if it looks unusual, ask first.  For some people, these are extremely personal items, and they prefer that nobody else touch them.

• Speak up if you aren’t sure what’s going on.  We will try to tell you what to expect beforehand, but let us know if something isn’t clear.

• Speak up if you are uncomfortable with something that is happening.  Don’t just keep quiet.  We meet in perfect love and perfect trust, and clear communication is a necessity.  We all have the freedom to voice our concerns in a constructive manner.  If you are irritated with another person but don’t believe that they are doing something that immediately threatens you or the group, please try to wait until the ritual is over to discuss it.

• Feel free to leave the Circle if you become uncomfortable or begin to have a problem.  If possible, try to wait for a pause in the ritual, but, by all means, just go if you have an immediate need!  Also feel free to abstain from doing or saying anything that offends you; if it is your turn to speak or act alone, you can let us know to pass you with a vigorous nod of the head or by saying, "Pass".  We will respect your choice.

• Use common sense:  don’t use tobacco or alcohol recreationally within the Circle.  It detracts from the purpose of the meeting and distracts everyone involved.

• What happens in the Circle stays in the Circle.  Our rituals are not secret, but they are private.  Unless you have the person’s specific consent, please remember the 12-step saying, "Who you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here."

• On the flip side, what happens outside the Circle stays outside the Circle.  It’s difficult to stress this part enough.  When you’re preparing for ritual, leave all your everyday troubles outside the Circle.  The Circle is a place that is not a place, between the worlds—it is a space of respite, concentration, and celebration.  Unresolved daily worries truly detract from the whole group’s experience, not to mention your own.  This is not to say that having problems is bad!  If do you have one that you can’t deal with by grounding it or putting it on hold for a while, please let the group know.  We can discuss it and try to help you with it.  If you are extremely upset and can’t discuss it, feel free to sit that ritual out.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Never use what you learn or do in Circle to manipulate or compel any other person, or diminish anyone’s dignity and free will.

• Do treat everyone present with courtesy and respect, never with malice or ill-will.

• Whatever you plan to do in one of our meetings, don’t do it if you don’t have the express permission of everyone who is directly involved.  This includes fiddling with other people’s energy and shields, and using group energy or the ritual space to your own unspoken end.  There will be no tolerance of this sort of boorish behavior.  If you want to perform nonconsentual magic in our space or with the group’s help, please bring it up; very occasionally an exception can be made for certain healings or bindings under group consideration.

• As a group, we consider the Wiccan Rede sound advice.  Even if it is not a foundation of your personal path, we expect you to follow it while you are working with us.

Note:  This document was inspired by, and in a couple of places paraphrased from, sets of guidelines developed by other groups.  If you recognize something of yours here uncredited, we apologize.  Please let us know.

Credit should be given to Raven (raven@solaria.sol.net) for our partial use of his proposed Rules of the Circle.  He has graciously given full and free permission to anyone who wants to use, reprint, distribute, or adapt them as needed.