To set a standard for online rituals, we need a consistent and inclusive practice for Circle cast and quarter calls.
Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary is the teaching arm of the ATC. The mission of WSTS is to train clergy, i.e., High Priests and High Priestesses. Trained clergy will, in the future, as in the past, perform most of their rituals in offline settings with the participants present in the same space. For the students of WSTS to get the experience needed to run ritual in a physical space, the Circle cast and Quarter calls performed in virtual space need to be performed the same way as they are in physical space.
We wish to give ritual participants new to Wicca a correct expectation of face-to-face ritual experience. The participants should be encouraged to face the quarter being called and, if they are students at WSTS and know the gestures, to follow along. The virtual ritual experience needs to place the participants inside the Circle rather than on the outside looking in.
To meet these requirements, we follow the standards listed below when performing rituals in virtual space:
We cast the Circle at the arm's height and above the camera when we pass just in front of it. Casting Circle this way includes the members of the audience in the Circle.
When calling quarters, we invite all attendees to turn to the direction of the quarter we are calling, e.g., "Please, everyone now please face East."
We use a physical backdrop rather than a virtual one to avoid strange artifacts like 'disappearing' when turning to call the quarter.
We set up an altar to the quarter we are calling. We take care to ensure that the audience is not outside of the Circle. Therefore, the altar is behind us when we face the camera, and we turn towards the altar when calling the quarter. This way, the camera is behind the quarter caller during the call, and the audience is inside the Circle, not outside.
We draw pentagrams to the standards taught in the Seminary – shoulder to hip.
We use bells for calling the elements. We ring the bell three times after each quarter call.
We use standard incantations. Our incantation does not have a 'Hail and Welcome' when calling the quarters.
We do not circle the banishing pentagram.
We do not ring bells when releasing the elements.
We do Cakes and Ale facing the camera, with the presenter offering the cakes/drink to disappear under the camera as if passing them to the participants while saying, "May you never Hunger/Thirst."