Magick in the Circle
Many books you will find on the Craft talk about 'raising the cone of power' during the magickal working portion of the Circle. However, finding technical information about how to do this is less common. Let's go through some suggested techniques.
Personal Foundations
If at all possible, before you offer to work with a group, have your own personal ground and center techniques at least somewhat solidified. A centered person is much easier to work with. Also, have a good sense of your personal energy-field, and how best you sense the energy of yourself and other people. Again, this can be in whatever inner sensing method you are most comfortable with, be that hearing, seeing, or feeling. Know your own personal energy, both in general and in terms of how you feel at the moment - are you charged, vibrant, ready to go, or are you flagging, tired, stressed? Some groups ask you to sit out if you are having a bad day; others will use it as a chance to help you feel better. Either way, it is essential that you know how you feel, and polite to notify the Priestess or whoever is in charge of the working so that they can adjust their directing of the working accordingly.
Structure of a Cone
Once you are grounded and centered, and you have a sense of your own energy, take a small portion of your own energy and form it into a sphere outside yourself. Usually, I 'float' a small ball just in front of me, at chest level. Make sure that this is a finite portion of your energy, so that the building of the cone doesn't drain you - don't throw your whole self into it, just that portion which you wish to use at the moment. Also, if you use a technique for grounding and centering like the Tree of Life, you should be able to replenish your own personal energy from the flow going through you from your connection with the Earth. And again remember, don't worry if you can't see the ball. Just know it is there, and sense it with your best sense - hear a ringing tone outside you, or feel a small extension ahead of you. The goal is to be able to sense this with vision, hearing, and feel, but begin with what works best for you and work on the others as you can.
Now, take the ball, and extend a tendril or ribbon from it to a point above your head, in the center of the circle. It is the Priestess's job to provide the point on which you hang this, or whoever is leading the working - rather like the staff for an umbrella frame, or a Maypole. Do I have to say by now to sense this however is best for you? *grin* Either hear the beginning of your 'instrument', or feel the beginning of the vibration, or see the ribbons starting slowly to weave. At this point, if you have not been before, also sense the energy of the others around you. Don't take any of it into you; don't merge into what you're building, but sense that if you are green the person next to you might be red, and the group as a whole looks like a rainbow. Or you sound like a saxaphone and the person next to you sounds like a blues guitar. Or you feel placid but strong, and your neighbor feels vibrant and thrumming. As you use whatever method of raising power your group is using, sense the power both building and coming into harmony, focus, for the specific purpose of the cone. The Priestess or leader will be responsible for making sure it stays focused, rather like the director of an orchestra guides the instruments into a cohesive whole - but it's up to you to play your instrument well. As it continues, you will have the sense of change - if you've been hearing individual instruments, they will sound less like a group of musicians warming up and more like a powerful chord. If you feel, the tension will be building, like winding a spring or like the buildup towards a sexual climax. If you see, the ribbons will be weaving themselves into a complex cone, pointed towards the stars, growing steadily brighter. When the power is both raised and focused, there will be a clear indication of release - the chord hits, the tension climaxes, the woven cone flares. Release the ball you had in front of you into the structure, and make sure you let go!
The last step is to ground the excess energy into the Earth - or, for some rare people who are very strongly attuned to an element other than Earth, into that element. Most people, though, feel best when they simply sink down to the ground, usually literally, and let the overload flow into the Mother, back to Her core. If you don't ground, you are very likely to feel irritable, restless, and frustrated - and your magick will be much less effective.
Methods of Raising Power
The above was the basic infrastructure of a cone. There are a multitude of techniques by which you build power and come into harmony with each other. Some of those include the following:
Movement
This is the Spiral Dance of tradition. It can be as simple as running around in a circle like children playing Ring Around A Rosy, or as complex as a grapevine step spiraling into the center, turning, and facing each other as you spiral back out, kissing along the way. No matter how complex or simple, though, physical movement makes the expenditure of energy fairly self-evident, as slow movements become faster and faster, building the power.
Sound
Chanting can be either musical or non, using words or wordless. A wordless musical chant is called a tonal and can be an incredible method for raising power; it's also practical in a small space, or where physical limitations diallow movement. Start with a low, quiet vowel sound - "ah", "om", something like that. As the power builds, increase volume and raise pitch. It can stay simple, or people can weave complex melodies through it. A worded chant can be a song, changing from quiet singing to loud, either the same words or as a round. A verbal chant can be a single word over and over, building in volume, or diverse phrases chanted in rhythm and counterpoint with each other. In any of these cases, usually as the cone peaks it either resolves into a single note again or a chord, or calling one word as the signal to release the cone.
Drumming
Drumming is another obvious method to bring people into rhythm with each other and raise power. Start with a single, quiet, slow beat, and build in speed, volume, and complexity. As with chanting, often the complexity resolves into a single beat or 'drum line' as the cone peaks.
Any of the above can be adapted to solitary use by remembering that you have to be both the one building the power and the one directing it into the focused cone ready to release.
