A Little About Candle Magick

There is something mystical about candles. We have always practiced primitive candle magick from the time that we were children and blew out our first candles on our birthday cake and made a wish.

A BIT OF HISTORY

The earliest candles were actually oil lamps made of pottery, with a reed or a piece of twine used as a wick. The oil was usually animal oil of some sort. Later they used hardened fat (have you ever drained the fat from bacon and watched it harden?). Still later (in the 1700s and 1800s) the poor mixed fat with a small amount of wax to create (foul-smelling) candles. The wealthy, who could afford beeswax or bayberry candles, had candles that were smokeless and pleasant to smell. Just as we give our workers benefits if we wish to keep them, the better households also offered benefits to their servants. For instance, all servants got one day out a week. Many also were allowed to take any left-over candle stubs for their own use.

CANDLE MAGICK

Candle magick has been observed for thousands of years. For instance, historians say that the Catholic church initially began the tradition of burning candles for the dead, or for favors, because many of their parishioners came from pagan backgrounds and used candles for the same reasons. The Catholic church was notorious for compromise in order to strengthen their numbers (my apologies to my Catholic friends; this is not a slam on Catholicism by any means).

Practioners of Hoodoo, Voodoo, Wicca, Satanism, New Age, and other faiths use candles ritualistically. (Note: I'm not necessarily endorsing any of these faiths, I'm just reciting facts). The Jews also use candles in traditional ceremonies (the Menorah, for instance) but they don't use them in a magickal context (i.e. to create or get something). Instead, they use them for symbolism.

In the 1800s, many slaves brought certain traditions and beliefs to America with them. This involved the belief that certain colors were effective when asking the spirits or God(s) for certain favors. Black was used either for evil or to repel evil, white for purity or as a substitute for any other color, orange for money or strength of purpose, green for success, money, or nature (such as success in growing crops), brown to win court cases or improve a pet's health, red was used for evil or to create passion or to work healing, pink for romance, blue for fidelity and health, yellow for happiness or attraction, and purple for domination. Figural candles also enhanced the spell. Some figural candles used are (and were) of cats, people, genitalia, celestial signs, and more. Each one serves a symbolic purpose and not always in the way someone would guess.

MAKE YOUR OWN

Why make your own? Because you can and it increases the power when you put the sacrifice of time and energy into what you burn. And it's so very easy to do, as you will see in following posts.