A magic circle is circle or sphere of space marked out by practitioners of many branches of ritual magic, either to contain energy and form a sacred space, or as a form of magical protection, or both. It may be marked physically, drawn in salt or chalk, for example, or merely visualised. Its spiritual significance is similar to that of mandala and yantra in some Eastern religions.

There are many published techniques for casting a circle, and many groups and individuals have their own unique methods. The common feature of these practices is that a boundary is traced around the working area. Some witchcraft traditions say that one must trace around the circle deosil three times. There is variation over which direction one should start in. In Wicca a circle is typically nine feet in diameter, though the size can vary depending on the purpose of the circle, and the preference of the caster.

Circles may or may not be physically marked out on the ground, and a variety of elaborate patterns for circle markings can be found in grimoires and magical manuals, often involving angelic and divine names. Such markings, or a simple unadorned circle, may be drawn in chalk or salt, or indicated by other means such as with a cord.

The four cardinal directions are often prominently marked, such as with four candles. In ceremonial magic traditions the four directions are commonly related to the four archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel or the four classical elements, and also have four associated names of God. Some varieties of Wicca use the common ceremonial colour attributions: yellow for Air in the east, red for Fire in the south, blue for Water in the west and green for Earth in the north, though these attributions differ according to geographical location and individual philosophy.

Crop circles are patterns created by the flattening of crops such as wheat, barley, rye, or corn. Since appearing in the media in the 1970s, crop circles have become the subject of various paranormal and fringe beliefs, ranging from the hypothesis that they are created by freak meteorological phenomena to the belief that they represent messages from extraterrestrials.

Other hypotheses, insufficient to explain myriad circles with clearly discernable images and complex geometric patterns, attribute them to atmospheric phenomena, such as freak tornadoes or ball lightning.

The location of many crop circles near ancient sites such as Stonehenge has led to many New Age belief systems incorporating crop circles, including the beliefs that they are formed in relation to ley lines and that they give off energy that can be detected through dowsing.

UFOs and other lights in the sky have been reported in connection with many crop-circle sites, leading to their becoming associated with UFOs and aliens. Some people claim to have seen images of UFOs forming crop circles or overflying them, though photographs have been dismissed by experts as being indistinct or clear hoaxes.

In 1991, two men from Southampton, England, announced that they had conceived the idea as a prank at a pub near Winchester, Hampshire, during an evening in 1976. Inspired by the 1966 Tully Saucer Nests, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley made their crop circles using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools. Using a four-foot-long plank attached to a rope, they easily created circles eight feet in diameter. The two men were able to make a 40-foot circle in 15 minutes.

Bower’s wife had become suspicious of him, noticing high levels of mileage in their car. Eventually, fearing that his wife suspected him of adultery, Bower confessed to her, and subsequently, he and Chorley informed a British national newspaper. Chorley died in 1996, and Doug Bower has made crop circles as recently as 2004. Bower has said that, had it not been for his wife’s suspicions, he would have taken the secret to his deathbed, never revealing that it was a hoax.

Agapism professes that love  should be the sole ultimate value and that all other values are derived from it, or that the sole moral imperative is to love. Theological agapism holds that our love of God is expressed by loving our fellow man. As the ethics of love, agapism indicates that we should do the most loving thing in each situation, letting love determine our obligation rather than rules. Alternatively, given a set of rules, agapism indicates to follow those rules which produce the most love.

The American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce used the word agapism for the view that creative love is operative in the cosmos. Drawing from the Swedenborgian ideas of Henry James, Peirce held that it involves a love which expresses itself in a devotion to cherishing and tending to people or things other than oneself, as a parent may do for offspring, and as God does especially for the unloving, whereby the loved ones may learn.

Peirce regarded this process as a mode of evolution of the cosmos and its parts, and he called it agapism, wherein: “The good result is here brought to pass, first, by the bestowal of spontaneous energy by the parent upon the offspring, and, second, by the disposition of the latter to catch the general idea of those about it and thus to subserve the general purpose.”

Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy using moxa, or mugwort herb. It plays an important role in the traditional medical systems of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, and Mongolia. Suppliers usually age the mugwort and grind it up to a fluff. Practitioners then burn the fluff or process it further into a stick that resembles a cigar. They can use it indirectly, with acupuncture needles, or sometimes burn it on a patient’s skin.

Practitioners use moxa to warm regions and acupuncture points with the intention of stimulating circulation through the points and inducing a smoother flow of blood and qi. Research has shown that mugwort acts as an emmenagogue, meaning that it stimulates blood-flow in the pelvic area and uterus. It is claimed that moxibustion militates against cold and dampness in the body.

Medical historians believe that moxibustion pre-dated acupuncture, and needling came to supplement moxa after the 2nd century BC. Different schools of acupuncture use moxa in varying degrees. For example a 5-elements acupuncturist will use moxa directly on the skin, whilst a TCM-style practitioner will use rolls of moxa and hold them over the point treated. It can also be burnt atop a fine slice of ginger root to prevent scarring.

Practitioners consider moxibustion to be especially effective in the treatment of chronic problems. Bian Que, one of the most famous doctors of Chinese antiquity and the first specialist in moxibustion, discussed the benefits of moxa over acupuncture in his classic work. He asserted that moxa could add new energy to the body and could treat both excess and deficient conditions. On the other hand, he advised against the use of acupuncture in an already weak patient, on the grounds that needle manipulation would leak too much energy.

In North and South America, indigenous peoples regard mugwort as a sacred plant of divination and spiritual healing. Mugwort amongst other herbs were often bound into smudge sticks. Europeans placed sprigs of mugwort under pillows to provoke dreams, and the herb had associations with the practice of magic in Anglo-Saxon times.

The Odic force is the name given in the mid-19th century to a hypothetical vital energy or life force by Baron Carl von Reichenbach. Von Reichenbach coined the name from that of the Norse god Odin in 1845.

As von Reichenbach was investigating the manner in which the human nervous system could be affected by various substances, he conceived the existence of a new force allied to electricity, magnetism, and heat, a force which he thought was radiated by most substances, and to the influence of which different persons are variously sensitive. He named this vitalist concept Odic force. Proponents say that Odic force permeates all plants, animals, and humans.

Believers in Odic force said that it is visible in total darkness as colored auras surrounding living things, crystals, and magnets, but that viewing it requires time first spent in total darkness, and that not everyone has the ability to see it. They also said that it resembles the eastern concepts prana and qi. However, they regarded the Odic force, not as associated with breath, like India’s prana and the qi of Eastern martial arts, but rather mainly with biological electromagnetic fields.

Von Reichenbach hoped to develop a scientific proof for a universal life force, however his experiments relied not on scientific instruments but on perceptions reported by individuals claimed to be psychically sensitive or psycho-kinetically adept. The “sensitives”, young women recruited from the poorer social classes, worked in total or near-total darkness, and were forerunners of the Spirit Mediums who appeared all over Europe 10 years later, in the 1850s.

The Odic force found no favor among mainstream scientists, and belief in it survives today as one among many concepts of spiritual energies associated with living things. The Odic force has been mentioned frequently in European books on dowsing, such as Reveal the Power of the Pendulum, by Karl Spiesberger.

Meditation has been defined as self regulation of attention, in the service of self-inquiry, in the here and now. The various techniques of meditation can be classified according to their focus. Some focus on the field or background perception and experience, often referred to as mindfulness. Others focus on a preselected specific object, and are called concentrative meditation. There are also techniques that shift between the field and the object.

In mindfulness meditation, the meditator sits comfortably and silently, centering attention by focusing awareness on an object or process such as the breath, a sound such as a mantra, or a koan or riddle-like question. The meditator is usually encouraged to maintain an open focus.

Concentration meditation is used in many religions and spiritual practices. Whereas in mindfulness meditation there is an open focus, in concentration meditation the meditator holds attention on a particular object such as a repetitive prayer, while minimizing distractions and bringing the mind back to concentrate on the chosen object.

Meditation can be practiced while walking or doing simple repetitive tasks. Walking meditation helps break down habitual automatic mental categories, thus regaining the primary nature of perceptions and events, focusing attention on the process while disregarding its purpose or final outcome. In a form of meditation using visualization, such as Chinese Qi Gong, the practitioner concentrates on flows of energy in the body, starting in the abdomen and then circulating through the body, until dispersed. Some meditative traditions, such as yoga or tantra, are common to several religions.

Thought Field Therapy, or TFT, is a fringe psychological treatment developed by an American psychologist, Roger Callahan. Its proponents say that it can heal a variety of mental and physical ailments through specialized tapping with the fingers at meridian points on the upper body and hands. 

Callahan gave his treatment the name Thought Field Therapy because he theorizes that when we think about an experience or thought associated with an emotional problem, we are tuning into a thought field, which he describes as the most fundamental concept in the TFT system and which creates an imaginary, though quite real scaffold, upon which we may erect our explanatory notions.

Perturbations are said to be precisely encoded information contained in the thought field, which become activated whenever a person thinks about a problem. Callahan maintains that these perturbations are the root cause of negative emotions and that each perturbation corresponds to a meridian point on the body. In order to eliminate the emotional upset, Callahan says that a precise sequence of meridian points must be tapped on. He theorizes that tapping unblocks or balances the flow of Qi.

Callahan states that the process can relieve a wide variety of problems including psychological trauma, phobias, anxiety, panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, addictive urges, and depression, by treating the blockage in the energy flow created by a disturbing thought pattern. He has also said in a 2006 interview on National Public Radio that TFT can successfully treat physical illnesses such as Malaria in as little as 15 minutes. In an article on his website, Callahan has also stated that TFT can successfully prevent heart problems that may lead to sudden death, and that TFT has successfully stopped atrial fibrillation. In 1985, in his first book on TFT, he said that specific phobias could be cured in as little as five minutes.

Callahan also asserts that his most advanced level, Voice Technology (VT) can be performed over the phone using an undisclosed technology. Training for the advanced VT is provided by Callahan. The fee listed on Callahan’s website for this training is $100,000. Trainees must sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose the trade secret behind VT.

Polarity therapy is a synthesis of ancient Eastern and alternative medicine health care ideas, centered on the concept of a human energy field. Using touch, verbal interaction, exercise, nutrition and other methods, practitioners of polarity therapy seek to balance and restore the natural flow of energy which, it is claimed, flows from the universe and into the body through the chakras. The aim is to re-establish “balance”. In addition to polarity bodywork, specific polarity yoga exercises, counseling/positive thinking, and nutritional recommendations are claimed to enhance vitality.

Advocates and practitioners of PT claim that a subtle, invisible and intangible energetic system is the substrate for all phenomena. According to proponents, if the energetic flow is corrected and restored to its original design, the form will follow. Further, they claim that blockages in the flow of energy lead to pain and disease (directly contradicting the germ theory of disease), or be experienced as stuck emotions and lack of vitality. They claim that this is similar to the measurable and quantifiable electromagnetic bond between electron and proton that forms atoms, a claim which is not scientific, but pseudoscience. There is no scientific basis for this belief, nor any reproducible measurements of this system.

Polarity therapists claim to work with the reciprocal, complementary or “polarized” forces, which they describe with the traditional Chinese words yin and yang. Although the concept of polarity implies two forces in opposition, these dualities are said by some to be mediated by a subtle third neutral factor, leading to the idea that phenomena are essentially triune in nature. In Ayurveda, the three factors are known as Rajas, Tamas, and Satva.

Polarity therapy is often connected with other forms of alternative medicine, such as Oriental medicine, Ayurveda, craniosacral therapy and osteopathy, which all claim to explore the subtle energetic factors in health conditions from their particular cultural viewpoints. Polarity therapy has four distinct areas of technique, by which proponents believe life force energy can be influenced: touch (massage, acupuncture), stretching and exercise, diet, and mental-emotional process. Polarity practitioners registered with the American Polarity Therapy Association should be knowledgeable in all four areas. However, although most current APTA trainings cover the standard curriculum, some practitioners have different interpretations.