Circle flexibility

I am a circle caster. For most rituals I like to cast a circle of one variety or another. I have several pre-made ways of casting a circle, some of which were someone else's creation that I just fell in love with and some of which are of my own creation. I am just as likely to wing it and use whatever words, gestures, body postures of imagery moves me at the moment.

I've read some very interesting articles on the placement of elements in the circle. I tend towards the air-east, fire-south, water-west, earth-north alignment, although I'm not opposed to trying other things. I have found some of the explanations for other elemental assignations quite compelling, but for me this one works. The same goes for tools, I associate the wand with air and the blade with fire, though I have known quite a few who switch them.

I almost always cast in a sphere, which may or may not fit in the confines of the room I am casting in. I have had lovely discussions with other practitioners about the shape of a 'circle', and am not opposed to magical squares, triangles or other shapes. Intellectually, there is something very compelling about casting a protective pentacle.

I typically orient my circles to the north, and if I am going to set an altar within the circle, this is where I try to place it. If I am not going to set an altar, I still often face north for the meat of a ritual. In the case of a more permanent altar, I like it to be in the north, but sometimes rooms just don't work out well. Right now my altar is in the east of my room. From what I have read, north and east seem to be the most common orientations for circles and altars.

I was reading about rune magic, and came across a statement about how early Germanic custom was to orient east for earthly matters and north for otherworldly matters. And it got me thinking about my tendency to keep my orientation fixed even though often many of the other parts of my circle casting is very flexible.

I think I have the tendency to go with what I first learned, which was to orient north if possible, although east was an acceptable alternative. The basic explanations were fairly logical. North was earth, which was the grounding aspect, east is where I start to cast my circle. Both make solid arguments for being heart of a working. But there is no reason not to orient in other directions, and actually depending on the nature of the working it might gain from an altered construction.

I try to not become too ritualistic in my ritual. That is to say, I believe that rituals should be motivated by meaning and not process. When the actions become rote, they loose a part of their substance. I am constantly trying to find ways to challenge myself, to push myself to think of new ways of approaching the things I already do, of adding new layers to old practices. I think that the more we grow, the deeper we can touch things, and the more meaning we can gain from the simplest of tasks.

I like the idea of turning a ritual about, of facing an emotional charged or water centric ritual so that it faces west. Starting or ending the circle cast in the west would also, in my opinion, subtly alter the focus of the casting. Depending on the intent you have for your circle, you can also tailor the circle to accent instead of mirror your primary purpose. If you are casting to banish an unconscious habit, you might orient to the south but cast your circle from the east, to build up your mental will (so that your conscious mind would overpower the unconscious) or cast from the west to ward off the emotional trigger that was causing the habit.