I think that the direction for circumambulation should be reversed, but why the change in attributions? This seems unnecessary: The difference is one of solar orientation; north is still north, etc.
Kevin L. Davis
--- On Wed, 5/9/12, D G Mattichak jr <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: D G Mattichak jr <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Is the direction of circumambulation affected by hemisphere?
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Wednesday, May 9, 2012, 12:25 AM
> Hi All;
>
> I am part of a Facebook group called Witches of Melbourne
> (http://www.facebook.com/groups/witchesofmelbourne/)
> which has been a forum for discussing Witchcraft, Paganism
> and magick and recently a conversation came up that
> concerned the direction of circumambulation while casting a
> circle and its connection to the path of the sun through the
> sky in the Southern Hemisphere. In Australia it is common
> for witches to swap the elements that are attributed to the
> southern and northern quarters to reflect the sun's northern
> declination in the Southern Hemisphere and so they reverse
> the circumambulation that they make when they cast a
> circle.. The debate that developed brought up the question
> of which direction would be correct to circumambulate when
> casting a circle in the tropics where the declination of the
> sun doesn't follow the same regular path. One member
> explained it well:
>
> "The issue with the 'apparent direction' of the Sun about
> the horizon becomes more prominent the further north of the
> Tropic of Capricorn you go. By the time the Equator is
> reached, the Sun spends half the time clockwise and half
> anticlockwise. Presumably one would need to cast the circle
> wither this way or that depending on the time of day and
> year, even though not much is really changing around you.
> This continues on into the northern hemisphere's tropical
> zone until you reach the Tropic of Cancer. There aren't a
> whole lot of Western European populations of the sort likley
> to be into Wicca, or neopaganism living in the northern
> tropics, but there may be an exception in Hawaii (just a
> couple of hundred kilometers south of the Tropic of Cancer),
> with its population of white Americans. Perhaps there are
> neopagans operating there. If so, they face the same issue
> our hypothetical practitioner just north of Rockhampton
> faces if they choose to celebrate the Summer Solstice at
> midday (except they'll have to switch from clockwise to
> counter-clockwise). If there are any neopagan groups there,
> perhaps we can ask them."
>
> So I am putting the question to the list here to see what
> they think (and because I thought that it might also
> interest you). Should invoking circumambulation follow the
> sun or should it follow the traditional clockwise direction?
> What opinions have you got about swapping the elements
> attributed to the north and the south for the Southern
> Hemisphere?
>
> David Mattichak
>
|