Candle Magick Tips: Size Matters

       

When doing spell work do you let the candle burn out or do you snuff it out for safety? I see this question about once a month on Facebook or via a private email to this blog. This answer relates to spells that you do over the course of an evening.  Those that take days to unfold often have the practitioner snuff the candle to be relit later. The same “How To’s” apply in both cases.

I have tried both letting candles burn out and snuffing them.  I have found that letting the spell candle burn itself out is the most effective for my magick. I encourage you to experiment and figure out what is best for you. That said letting them burn while you sleep is a hazard. That hazard can be eliminated.

First of all, why do we use candles at all?

The flame is primal and more then represents the safety of light and heat. There is a comfort and feel to candlelight that cannot be matched. Being comfortable with your magick is a necessity. Secondly, a flame is a beacon on the astral. Electric light is just not the same either to our eyes or to astral perceptions. Candles are also great at transmuting energy from one form to another, as well as moving it on the course we want the energy to move. Magickally, we want our energy to move from our mundane earthy selves up to the astral plane and create a form that descends back into the mundane causing an effect. Physically, this process is mimicked. The flame heats the air around the candle. That air rises until it cools and comes back down closer to the earth.  Lastly, candles are easy to work with.  

The mage can write her spell directly on the candle. “Attract Love”, “Protect me”, and similar core purposes of a working can be written on the smallest of candles. Six to eight words can easily fit on a tiny spell candle. She can then generate whatever energy she wants and massage it into the candle as it is oiled.

My formula is simple. I take whatever emotion I happen to be feeling at the time and allow myself to feel how that impacts every body part. I then work to push that feeling down from the top of my head until my head does not feel like it did moments before. Then I do the same at the neck level and all the way down. Eventually, I’ve pushed all that emotional energy to my feet. I bring it up in a compact ball up to my heart and push it out to my hands. At this point, I feel nothing of the original emotion. The energy ball is now just that, clear energy. I simply tell the ball of energy what I need it to do. I then put some oil on my fingers and anoint the candle as I let the ball of energy transfer into the candle. I light the candle and just let it work.

After pushing all the energy down to the feet, it is important to do an internal check. If you feel any of the emotion you did before in any part of your body, redo the process until it is gone. Secondly, you should feel the ball of energy in your hands become completely absorbed into the candle. Astrally speaking, look, listen and feel to confirm the process is complete. Taking your time does not dissipate the energy but enhances it.

If you are not feeling particularly emotional for that working or on that day, it doesn’t matter. Simply think of anything that generates emotion. This can be the moment you first made love to your mate or that time in kindergarten where someone dumped Tempura paint on your head or the last time your boss pissed you off. Heck, think of puppies play. As long as it generates emotion the thought is fair game.  It can even be sexual energy assuming you don’t make yourself happy but instead pour ALL of that energy into the candle. Remember, you should not feel the original emotional energy at all when you are done with the first step. That is what makes it clean, clear and useable without fear of corruption or cross purposes.

That process can be done with a huge candle but why bother? If you do that, you have to worry about it burning while you are asleep. That is a real fire hazard! That worry also impacts the spell negatively. A small spell candle will burn out in an hour or two. If you can’t dedicate an hour or two make sure your house is not going to burn down, you should not be doing the spell. That means you don’t want the result badly enough to put in a little effort.

Candle magick can be done very safely with small candles.

So what if you feel that your spell needs the symbolism of an extended working. For instance, you are trying to instill yourself with determination? You can do this with a huge candle that you burn every day for a prescribed period of time and then snuff out. Or, you can infuse ten small candles on that first day and then burn one a day. If those don’t work for you, you can do the same spell over and over for ten days. All of these options can be done safely.

Do you know the real trick? Stop reading about this stuff and go do it! Your magick will never work unless you actually do it.