Laying the Witch’s Compass

Like the Threshold Rite, the Compass serves to delineate magical space. However, the Compass brings a greater sense of structure and symbol to the work. The version of this rite previously taught within the Hagstone Tradition 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 our own symbolic landscape of initiation and the witch’s journey through witch flight, death journey, and communion with the Realm of the Uncanny.

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 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. In the Hagstone Tradition, 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 Hagstone Witchery, the rings are reimagined as representing phases of the Witch’s Initiation, Death Journey, and Flight to the Realm of the Uncanny.

The rings are constructed from the outer ring inward, moving symbolically toward the world of the Uncanny:

• Outer Ring – Initiation
  This ring represents the witch’s induction into the craft. In our tradition’s initiation customs, this the point at which the practitioner is “made witch by no authority but their own”. It is made by laying a ring of earth, or powdered botanicals. In Hagstone Witchery, cedar, rosemary, and mugwort are favored here.

• Middle Ring – The Death Journey
  This ring marks the death journey, a process that appears in folklore 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 the Uncanny
  This ring marks the veil between the mundane world and the Uncanny, 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, one of the “body tools” of the Hagstone Tradition).

Laying the Compass

1. Stand in the center of your working space. 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, pause and reflect on its purpose—initiation, death journey, and flight into the Uncanny.

3. Mark the four cardinal directions around the Compass using tokens or symbols that represent North, South, East, and West. 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 may twist.

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