Occasionally, I will read someone claiming that magical practices aren’t old. The claim is that they only date back to the Order of the Golden Dawn or to medieval grimoires but no further.
However, that’s not entirely true. Many of our practices have ancient roots. One of these ancient practices still used today is drawing a circle around the practitioner during a ritual. This practice has roots in the ancient Near East.
Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia by Jeremy Black and Anthony Green is a classic resource for Mesopotamian practices. According to the authors, the Sumerians and other Mesopotamians would draw magic circles of flour around the sick. The purpose of the circle was to protect those suffering from demons.
Magic circles were also used in ancient Egypt. Stephen Skinner is the author of Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic. According to Skinner, the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) includes an Egyptian practice of magicians drawing a circle clockwise, starting at the east, around themselves at the start of a magical ritual. As the magician drew the circle, they invoked the four cardinal points. For example, the magician was directed to say, “I call on you as the east,” along with chanting certain vowels as seed words.
When you practice your magic, remember that you are the heir to ancient and noble traditions.
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