Laying the Compass for Spirit Flight, Trance-Work and Divination

Like the Threshold Rite, the Compass serves to delineate magical space. However, the Compass aims to create a space that lends itself more directly to spirit flight and workings that require closer proximity to the Spirit World. The rite written here is an adaptation of forms found in formal Traditional Witchcraft, appearing in writings by Robert Cochrane. The core of the rite (the laying of three concentric rings) is retained, but reinterpreted to reflect my own symbolic landscape of initiation and the witch’s journey through witch flight, death journey, and communion with the Spirit Realm.

Tools and Materials

• A marker for delineating ritual area (black cord, chalk, or finger drawn in dirt, salt, or ash)

• Small offerings or tokens to mark the four cardinal points (stones, feathers, candles, coins, etc.). These are optional; the points of the Compass can also be suitably marked with symbols drawn with chalk or into the earth. 

• Materials for the construction of the Three Rings (see below)

The Three Rings of the Compass

As described in Cochrane’s tradition, the Compass is formed by three concentric rings created around a fixed central point. This point can be marked with a bowl of water, a candle, or a cauldron of burning herbs depending on the working. Each ring traditionally represents a stage in the cycle of life. In my own practice, the rings are reimagined as representing phases of the Witch’s Initiation, Death Journey, and Flight to the Realm of Spirit.

The rings are constructed from the outer ring inward, moving symbolically toward the Spirit World:

• Outer Ring – Initiation
  This ring represents the witch’s induction into the craft. In my magical worldview, this the point at which the practitioner is “made witch by no authority but their own”. The physical representation of the ring is made by laying a ring of earth, or powdered botanicals. Some of my favorites are cedar, rosemary, and mugwort.

• Middle Ring – The Death Journey
  This ring marks the death journey, a process that appears in folklore and myth cycles as well as magical practice as a means of transformation through trial. For this ring, lay a ring of ash made from rosemary, graveyard dirt, and oak. Alternatively, you can draw this ring using the end of a burnt oak twig or charcoal stick.

• Inner Ring – The Realm of Spirit
  This ring marks the veil between the mundane world and the Spirit Realm, symbolizing the river or other water place that appears often in European folklore as the boundary between the living and spirit realms. Dip your fingers in water, and trace this final ring with your Witching Fingers (the pointer and middle fingers of your dominant hand).

Laying the Compass

1. Stand in the center of your working space and take a moment to ground and still yourself.

2. Lay the three rings from the outermost inward, as described above. Move clockwise as you construct the Compass. As each ring is laid, focus on the purpose and symbolism of the specific ring you’re making.

3. Mark the four directions around the Compass using tokens or symbols that represent North, South, East, and West for you. As you place each, speak the directional invocation:

To the North:
By the frost and the stone, by the winds and the dark,
I call on the spirits where earth leaves its mark.

To the South:
By the fire’s light and the flame’s gentle kiss,
I open the path where the shadows twist.

To the East:
By the breath of dawn and the rising light,
I call on the spirits to aid in my flight.

To the West:
Through the mist and the dusk, where ancestors roam,
I call on the spirits far from home.

1. Return to the center of the Compass. Take a moment to settle into the space. When you are ready speak the final incantation to bind and activate the Compass:

Ye Crossed Paths of Spirit, I call thee to my side.
Between the worlds, where planes collide.
By ghostly throng and wild night’s air,
I open this Compass with power and care.

The Compass is now laid. Use it for communion, flight, conjuration, or spirit work. When your working is complete, the Compass should be formally released and the space dismantled.

Undoing the Witches’ Compass

This rite is used to dismantle the Witch’s Compass and return the ritual space to a neutral state. It symbolizes the reverse of the journey taken when laying the compass, moving out of the Spirit Realm and closing the way between worlds.

Begin at the Center

To begin, stand quietly at the heart of the Compass area, once again straddling the cross you’ve made on the ground. Bring your awareness fully into your body; shake off any post-ritual haze and ground yourself. One oft-suggested method of doing this is thinking of your feet, focusing all of your attention on the sensory experience of your feet planted firmly on the ground.

Retrace the Three Rings in Reverse

Move anticlockwise as you undo the rings, beginning at the innermost circle and working outward. As each ring is unmade, its associated element or material may be swept aside, gathered up, or symbolically dissolved (e.g., pressing earth over water lines, covering ash with soil, breaking the lines with the Witching Fingers, or brushing away chalk). As you work, focus on making the symbolic journey back from the Spirit Realm, experiencing a journey of rebirth, and rooting yourself back in the mundane.

Release the Cardinal Points

Turn counterclockwise around the Compass and extinguish or remove each quarter marker as you go. Speak (or think) a dismissal appropriate to each direction. For example:

• To the West:
  By the setting mist and the quiet sky,
  I bid farewell; the spirits must fly.

• To the East:
  By the waning light and the stilling breath,
  I close the gate where I passed to death.

• To the South:
  By the fire’s dimming and the fading flame,
  I release the path, no spirit to claim.

• To the North:
  By frost’s retreat and the fading wind,
  I thank the spirits, and the journey ends.

Final Severing Gesture

At the center, use your fingers to make a final counterclockwise sweep, as though slashing with a blade.

Speak:

The crossroads fade, the thread unspun,
By wit and will, the work is done.
With ash and breath, the spirits fly,
The path is shut, the night drifts by.

Grounding and Return

Close with a symbolic grounding act. Touch the earth, place your hands on the floor, pick up your tools, or extinguish the final candle. You may choose to speak a final simple phrase such as:

So I stand, in flesh and bone.
This work is done. I part alone.