Angels-CIRCLE

In many religious traditions considerable attention is given to the
place in which worship and other religious activities occur, and circular
forms often have symbolic significance with regard to such locations.
Circles can, for example, represent the earth and the mother
principle.
Hinduism and Buddhism employ the creation of mandalas,
which are circular meditation diagrams. According to the South
Asian tradition, meditating on mandalas allows access to different
realms of consciousness. In a roughly parallel manner, magic circles
are viewed as doorways to alternate realities. In ceremonial magic,
magicians cast (create) a circle around themselves as protection.
Circles keep out negative energies and entities, whether they be
demons or angels. The utilization of circles for protection is actually
quite old. During the Medieval period in the West, for example, circles
would be drawn on the floor around the seriously ill or around
newborns and their mothers to protect them from demonic forces.
Circles are also cast to contain the energies that are created within the circle during a given ritual. They become
invisible boundaries that one cannot cross
without disrupting the energy.
There are several ways of conceiving the
circle as a kind of energy containment field.
With respect to such activities as casting a spell,
for example, the circle allows energy to build up
without leaking out into the surrounding area
until the proper moment comes when the energy
is projected outward in a concentrated burst.
More generally, the circle provides an arena
within which the “vibrations” of a group’s energy
can be altered so as to draw the participants
nearer to the Other World.
In most religious traditions there is a belief
that the normally unseen spiritual world coexists
in the same time and space as the physical
world in what might be referred to as a different
dimension. What separates them is
their differing “rates of vibration” (understood
literally or metaphorically). Thus, in order to
enter into a rapport with the Other World,
one needs to create a space—in this case, the
circle—within which the rate of vibration can
be modified.
In occult traditions, the other dimensions are understood as constituting
a series of different realms, or “planes,” arranged according to
rate of vibration. It is the subtle energies found in these other realms
that one manipulates during magical operations. In occult literature,
the plane closest to the physical world is referred to as the etheric
plane, so the subtle energies of this realm are often termed “etheric
energies.” Etheric energies are subdivided into four categories according
to the four classical elements of Greek philosophy: earth, air, fire,
and water. Hence, they are sometimes also referred to as elemental
energies. It is from these etheric energies that the magician constructs
the circle.
As consecrated space in the physical realm—yet space that has
also been “etherialized” by being raised in vibration—the interior of
the circle is, in a sense, between the worlds. From this energized
space—a physical/etheric temple floating between the worlds—it is
easy for participants to extend their imagination into the other realms
and facilitate magical operations. By the same token, it is easy for spiritual
entities and other powers to be drawn near the participants.