Liber ab Nomen (Book of Name)^37
Start the chant slowly and quietly, and then build in speed and volume. As the chant
grows, everyone in attendance visualizes the energy necessary to accomplish the goal
swelling up within them and then joining the swirling mass of energy created by the
other members of the Circle. That energy is seen as swirling around and up in the
shape of a cone. A drumbeat is vital here, and best there be no less than three drum-
mers in the center of the Circle. When the first person falls backwards, signaling they
just cannot keep up with the chanting, the drummer who sees that person fall stops his
or her beat immediately and indicates as much to the other drummers. When the drum
beat stops, everyone falls backwards, ends the chant, and launches the cone of power.
A far less safe, but infinitely more effective method for raising a cone of power is to
have three Circles, one within the other. The innermost circle is drummers facing out-
wards. The outermost circle is chanters facing inwards. Between the two Circles stand
dancers. In this situation, should a dancer simply tire they move to the outside Circle to
either join the chanters or take a break. Likewise, if a chanter decides to become a
dancer, he or she simply moves into the area where the dance takes place.
The dancers serve two purposes, the first being that they are themselves raising
energy. Their dance is the chant just as the drum beat is the chant, only without words.
The reason this method is more dangerous is simple: It is more likely to stress the limits
of a person’s physical ability. Should the rite be for a specific purpose, there should be
a sudden release of the energy. So the safety net here might protect the majority, but
there is some level of risk to the first person who drops because they are in such a
frenzied but controlled situation, the signal for everyone to release the energy at the
same time is the first dancer that hits the ground instead of joining the chant circle and
resting. When that person hits the ground, the drummers signal the stop and everyone
hits the ground, dancer and chanter alike. There they visualize the raised energy shoot-
ing to the intended target. Again, I warn that this is not the safest practice. While it is
the most effective, if you allow dancers to continue until someone drops out it is likely
that you will encounter epileptic, diabetic, and more serious medical conditions if your
guests are prone to those illnesses.
In a less structured or general rite, it is often unnecessary or impractical to raise the
cone of power as a synchronous group. As an example, in a public Samhain Rite where
each person is asked to remember and welcome their departed loved ones, one chant
simply won’t do; however, a group setting might. Here a dance can be led for the pur-
pose of raising energy with the idea that the dancers are showing their departed loved
ones that while they do miss them, they are happy to be alive and convey that message
by demonstrating that they feel the beat, that rhythm of life so strongly that they have
no choice but to dance to show them. In such situations, what will inevitably happen is
a few folk who have worked with groups will gather up others who have not and form a
Circle or Circles within Circles. As this is almost guaranteed, the drummers should be
cued to the same set of circumstances for safety precautions. One person drops to the
ground, the drumming stops. In this case, not for the benefit of simultaneous release of
energy but for the purpose of safety.g WB Chap 0.p65 37 7/11/2003, 5:47 PM