About Circle

Adapted from Religions of the World, vol. 1
edited by J. Gordon Melton & Martin Baumann, 2002 (ABC-Clio)

Circle Sanctuary, also known as Circle, is an international Wiccan church with a worldwide Ecospirituality ministry that includes publishing and providing contacts and other networking support to Pagans of many paths as well as to practitioners of Nature Spirituality paths rooted in Celtic Christianity, Unitarian Universalism, and other religious traditions.

Founded in 1974 by senior minister Rev. Selena Fox and others, Circle Sanctuary is one of the first Wiccan churches and Pagan centers in the USA to become legally established and developed as a religious institution with full time ministers and other professional staff. Through its Lady Liberty League, Circle Sanctuary continues to be in the forefront of religious freedom endeavors on behalf of many forms of the Wiccan religion, contemporary Paganism, and Nature religions. In addition, throughout its history, Circle Sanctuary has been active in international interfaith work. It has participated in projects, networks, and conferences, including those sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the United Religions Initiative, and the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. In 1999, Rev. Selena Fox became the first head of a Wiccan denomination to become part of the Assembly of Religious and Spiritual Leaders associated with the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Circle Sanctuary also engages in academic research across a variety of disciplines, and nurtures the Nature Religions Scholars Network associated with the American Academy of Religion. Circle Sanctuary consists both of the Circle Sanctuary Community which convenes at events and assists with ministry services, and Circle Network consisting of thousands of practitioners and groups throughout the United States and more than thirty other countries around the world. Circle Sanctuary is headquartered on a 200 acre sacred Nature preserve in the forested hills near the village of Mt. Horeb in south central Wisconsin, USA, and, combining scientific and spiritual practices, is engaged in prairie restoration, forest and wetland preservation, and other environmental work.

The spiritual foundation of Circle Sanctuary is the Circle Craft tradition, a Wiccan denomination that is a blend of old European Pagan folkways, multicultural shamanism, and transpersonal psychology. Spiritual education services of Circle Sanctuary include producing a variety of spiritual publications and recordings, maintaining a family of websites (www.circlesanctuary.org), and sponsoring workshops, courses, leadership institutes, and other training throughout the year. Circle Sanctuary publishes a variety of periodicals, including two which are among the oldest and largest serving Pagans worldwide: the quarterly CIRCLE Magazine, and the annual sourcebook, Circle Guide to Pagan Groups. Seasonal celebrations, rites of passage, Full and New Moon circles, Nature meditations, study groups, and other activities are held at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve, and at other locations throughout the year.

Circle Sanctuary festivals include Samhain (late October), Yule (mid-December), Imbolc (early February), Spring Equinox (mid-March), Earth Day (mid-April), Beltane (early May), Summer Solstice (June), Lughnassad (early August), and Fall Equinox (mid-September). Circle Sanctuary’s annual conference and international grand gathering is the Pagan Spirit Gathering, held during Summer Solstice week at a campground in southeastern Ohio. Circle Sanctuary ministries also include spiritual healing and counseling and maintaining one of America’s most extensive library and archives of Wiccan and Pagan materials.