Ash Snake

  Southern Hemisphere Circle Casting: Which Way? by Jenwytch (This article appears in  AXIS MUNDI Vol 3 Issue 7 – SPRING, September 2010 ) Confusion sometimes arises about the direction in which a sacred circle should be cast in the southern hemisphere. It is now generally accepted by the Pagan communities of Australia that the seasonal festivals be adjusted by 6mths in comparison with the northern hemisphere -- eg. our Spring Equinox and associated festivals occur in September as opposed to March in the northern hemisphere -- so it makes sense that we might also adjust our circle casting accordingly, to suit local conditions. The act of casting a circle mimics the sun ( not  the clock) which is why circle casting generally starts in the East where the sun rises and continues to follow its direction through the sky. Until more recent times the majority of books, websites and general instruction in Witchcraft were based on northern hemisphere teachings where the words  sunwise  and  clo