This wooden stick would be nothing extraordinary except that it was embossed with various patterns made by some wood eating insect or animal. Although entirely natural and chaotic, the patterns seem as if they were etched onto the wooden stick in some order. While looking this stick over I could not help but try to make some sense of these random patterns. After some time, I surrendered my search for a regular pattern, concluding that these patterns were indeed just random etchings placed there by nature.
To close this circle around themselves, the witches draw the imaginary circle around them in the air, clockwise. Once the circle is closed, no person may break it by running though it. Carol reports of cases where witches who have broken the circle to meet instant death, while others have been merely burned. Animals, however, seem exempt from this rule; they are a part of nature, so they may flow freely through it without harm.
The purpose of the circle is to protect the witch from unwanted energies as she calls upon nature's energies and selects the one she would like to augment and focus on. Unwelcomed spirits wait on the exterior of the circle to be let in. There may be, however, spirits inside of the circle when it is closed. In order to exorcise these spirits from the circle a particular chant must be recited, the ``change of the god'' prayer. More importantly, one must have faith in the prayer.
Carol recounts a time when she was practising with a coven, and the chant had not been recited. Being inexperienced at the time, she assumed that the priestess would eventually recite it. The priestess lit a charcoal block on fire and started with the rites, without reciting the chant. Moments later, the charcoal block exploded.
After the ceremonies are done, the witches recite a chant to ward off whatever spirits are waiting outside the circle and then reopen the circle in a counter-clockwise fashion.