Ivo Dominguez - Casting Sacred Space: The Core of All Magickal Work

It would be easy to say that any book on casting sacred space is just a beginners' book. This is anything but! It is the most in-depth book on this subject to date, not just covering the basics of circle casting, but the more intricate understanding behind it. It is a must for anyone who wants to go to the next stage of understanding the craft of magick.

Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, authors of A Witches' Bible, The Witches' Goddess, Spells and How They Work, The Healing Craft, and Progressive Witchcraft

Any well-trained practitioner of magick will be fully aware of the importance of cleansing, clearing, and energizing their working space. Ignoring this first step is tantamount to disaster. However, no two people do it in the same way, with the same preparation, or even with (surprisingly) a clear intent. This is where Ivo Dominguez's book comes into its own. You have in your hands a concise, well-written, informative, wide-ranging in method, and most importantly RELIABLE book of instruction. This is a book I will wholeheartedly recommend to my students.

Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, Director of Studies, Servants of the Light School of Occult Science

This is a brilliant book, practical and pragmatic in its explanations of the whys and hows of circle casting. The writing is clear and inspiring, offering the reader amazing amounts of information. Casting Sacred Space is a book that beginners will find amazingly illuminating in their understanding of why the casting of a circle is the foundation of magickal and psychic work. Experienced practitioners will want to have this tome in their personal librariesthe chapters on the various advanced ways to cast a circle are fantastic. Down to earth while reaching for the stars, Casting Sacred Space is a book that teachers of the craft of magick will find to be a rich resource for themselves as well as their students. Highly recommended!

Karen Harrison, author of The Herbal Alchemist's Handbook

In Casting Sacred Space, Ivo Dominguez has written the most complete teaching on setting up zones of sacred space that I have seen in print. The book manages to be dense with information yet easily understandable, and includes something for people at all levels. The information on circle casting will be a boon to beginners and the unique non-circular castings at the end will have a lot to offer more experienced practitioners. This should be on the shelf of every witch, magician, and anyone else who practices the magickal arts.

Jason Miller, author of Protection and Reversal Magick

Ivo Dominguez is a deeply respected Wiccan elder who has made many good contributions to the Pagan Renaissance. One of these is his latest book, Casting Sacred Space. Very few contemporary Pagans have access to permanently consecrated temples. Instead, we worship in our living rooms, backyards, public parks, wherever we canconsecrating the space for use and then returning it to secular use when our rites are completed. This book explores both the why and the how of preparing our spaceand ourselvesfor ritual. The many exercises included in the book are effective and useful. As so often before, Ivo has earned thanks and praise from the Pagan community.

Rev. Judy Harrow

Drawing from a wealth of experience and observation, Dominguez articulates with discernment and wisdom a series of sacred technologies useful to any practitioner. To open this book is to open a treasure trove. Pagans can rejoice in having such an invaluable resource.

M. Macha NightMare, co-author, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying

The circle casting is the most fundamental and ubiquitous practice in the Pagan community, and Ivo Dominguez has long been one of its most advanced and inspiring exponents. In Casting Sacred Space, we have a work that shows the power and spiritual depth to be developed in the circle casting, available to anyone who does the work to access it. Dominguez roots the castings in clearly expressed theory and demonstrates a wide array of approaches to these spacial invocations in a gently progressive format that supports the student's development. His explanations of the results to be expected, and the tips for learning and use, show the depth of his understanding in their simplicity and clarity. The insights he shares on designing and running large group rituals are rare and precious. These practices are the work of a master of this ancient art and a brilliant teacher.

Sam Webster, M. div, Mage, founder of Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn and author of Tantric Thelema

Ivo Dominguez Jr. is a masterful engineer of psychic space. His precision and depth of practice, combined with a clear, engaging writing style, make this book an invaluable resource for all practitioners of ritual and ceremony. As always with Ivo's books, I found many insightful gems to enhance my own practice, and the first few chapters can stand alone as a study guide for cultivating a centered, grounded presence.

Anne Hill, D. Min., Dream Talk Radio host, co-author of Circle Round: Raising Children in Goddess Traditions, and faculty member of Cherry Hill Seminary

First published in 2012 by Weiser Books

Red Wheel / Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

665 Third Street, Suite 400

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2012 by Ivo Dominguez Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel / Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dominguez, Ivo, 1958

Casting sacred space: the core of all magickal work / Ivo Dominguez, Jr.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 978-1-57863-499-6 (alk. paper)

1. Magic. 2. Sacred space. I. Title.

BF1621.D66 2011

133.4'3--dc23

2011040966

Cover design by Jim Warner

Cover photograph Design Pics / SuperStock

Interior by Kathryn Sky-Peck

Typeset in Bembo

Printed in the United States of America

QG

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

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This book is dedicated to my beloved James Conrad Welch; to James Eric Dickinson, Michael Glen Smith, and Nancy Gail Stewart, my fellows at Seelie Court; and to all my kith and kin in the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel. I would like to thank them for their support, encouragements, and intellectual stimulation. Their openness to experimentation and to the refinement of vision into manifestation is without peer. I would also like to acknowledge the influence in my life of the teachings and deeds of Scott Cunningham, the Farrars, Dion Fortune, Murry Hope, Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, and Shakmah Winddrum.

The stability of a casting, like the stability of the clay on the wheel, is to a great degree dependent upon your own still center point. The whirl of subtle energies called forth by a casting cannot hold a coherent pattern for long without you. Aside from concerns related to the stability and the effectiveness of a casting, the question of clarity of intent and the karma resulting from magickal actions is directly related to centering. The outcomes of actions also matter, and there is where the question of will arises. Centering places us in closer alignment with our true will