How to Draw a Magic Circle

When drawing a magic circle (such as a pentagram), it is important to get the figure right. Drawing a pentagram freehand makes the circle sloppy and inaccurate (so don't do it like in this Youtube video!).

Traditionally circles were drawn using two leather straps or cords, using a method I'll describe below. The method is really simple, but the trick is getting the straps the correct length.

The first strap is called the Radius, and it is very simply the radius of the circle you wish to draw. Traditionally the circle should be as wide as your height. Which means the Radius needs to be half as long as you are tall. The Radius is therefore fairly easy to create: you take a piece of string and measure it out to your full height (lie down and get a friend to measure this out). Then fold the string in half and use this length to cut your strap to the correct length.

The second strap is called the Apothegm (a-PO-thuh-gum: with the PO as in pot, not poke). It is much more difficult to get the right length. Before the availability of tables of trigonometry, a practitioner needed to perform a complex geometrical construction using many straight lines and straps of different lengths*. When the construction was complete, the practitioner could directly measure the length needed for their Apothegm. Contrary to popular belief, this complex construction was not done for each circle the practitioner required (it takes far too long, is too prone to error, and leaves many construction lines that pollute the desired shape), but was carried out beforehand to establish the correct length of the Apothegm.

Fortunately we now can calculate the length of the Apothegm quickly and easily, removing the need for the complicated preparation.

* I won't go into the methods of constructing these shapes here, although I have to confess they can be quite fun to try. This Youtube video shows one occult order constructing a pentagram. I include this for illustration only: theirs isn't a great way to do it, as they don't base the size on the Radius. Wikipedia has an animation of the right way, again for a pentagram. These approaches get far more difficult for shapes such as the 7-pointed star. Often the knowledge of how to construct the Apothegm was passed on as mystical knowledge, along with the rituals that used the final circle. Fortunately we don't have to go through these steps now.

Strap Calculator

Given a length for the Radius, we can calculate the length of the Apothegm*. Normally the Radius should be the same length as half your height (so if you are 5ft 4in, the Radius will be 2ft 8in long) but it can be longer, particularly if you intend to have more than one practitioner in the circle. Enter the length of the Radius strap here:
ft in

The Apothegm also depends on the number of points in the star you are drawing. If you want to draw several different figures (a square and a triangle, for example), you will need more than one Apothegm, simply repeat this process. Choose the number of points you want here:
**

Waiting for calculation (if this message stays visible for more than a second or two, it could mean you have Javascript turned off in your browser).

* For the more mathematically minded, the Apothegm length is: 2r sin(π/n), where r is the length of the Radius, and n is the number of points in the figure.

** There is no option for a 6 pointed star here (the Star of David or Seal of Solomon, for example). For a 6-pointed figure the Apothegm would always be the same length as the Radius, so there is no need to make a separate Apothegm, simply use the Radius for all steps.

Drawing the Circle with The Two Straps

Once you have your straps, it is simple and quick to draw a magic circle. In fact, even with considerable care and attention, it can be carried out in a couple of minutes.

  1. The Radius is used to draw the circle: anchor one end (using another person to hold it, or attach a ring to the end and pass it over a twig or other pivot) and mark the sweep of the other end to create your circle. You can use charcoal or chalk to mark a firm surface. Outdoors it is often sufficient to scrape the ground.
  2. Choose any point on the outside of your circle as your starting point. Often you'll want one point of the star to face in a particular direction. Choose this point, and use it as your starting point.
  3. Take the Apothegm and anchor one end at the start point. Keeping the strap taut, rotate it so that the un-anchored end touches the edge of the circle. Mark this point. That is another point on the star.
  4. Repeat the previous step around the circle until you get back to your starting point.
  5. Finally, draw lines between the points you have marked to form the edges of your star, according to the kind of star you want to create. There are two types of seven pointed star, for example, but both of them use exactly the same length straps and the same process: you just connect the marked points differently.

Making Your Straps

Traditionally the straps were made of leather cord, or 'thonging'. Rings of brass could be added at the ends to pass over a pivot at the anchor end and admit chalk or charcoal at the marking end.

Leather cord is still the best material, but you can use any kind of thick cord that isn't too elastic. It is even possible to use good quality string, such as Hemp or Sisal. But like any tool, you will gain more pleasure from having good quality materials.

Brass end rings (often chrome plated) are affordable, but can be tricky to find. Be careful not to use the common stainless steel rings (which are 90% iron) if you are drawing your circle for Faery magic. It is pretty insulting to use iron tools to draw a Faery star!

Whatever you make your straps from, it is critically important to label them! Particularly if you want to make different Apothegms for different numbers of points. The sizes of the two straps for a seven pointed star are quite similar, so it is better to be clear which is which. This was traditionally done with a symbol tooled into the leather strap: a circle for the Radius, and a five-pointed star for the Apothegm (just the star, no surrounding circle). This symbolic labelling makes it very easy to create a set of Apothegms and easily see which is for 5 points, which for 7, and so on.