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Candle Magic

If you learn one kind of spellcraft, learn this one. It needs a candle, a match and an intention. It has worked for every culture that ever had wax, and it works because it is so simple that there is nothing between you and what you mean.

Why candles

A candle is all four elements in one small object: wax from the earth, melted by fire, into liquid that feeds a flame which rises as smoke into the air. Lighting one marks the start of something; watching it burn down marks the time it takes; the moment it goes out marks the release. It is a complete ritual in a tube. And a flame is the one thing in the room that is unmistakably alive without being an animal, which is why every religion on earth lights them.

Choosing the candle

Small is good. A spell candle should burn out completely in one sitting, which means a chime candle, a taper cut short, or a tealight. Choose the colour by intention from the table below, or use white for everything, which is traditional and entirely effective. Beeswax if you can; plain paraffin if you cannot. Never a scented candle from a gift shop; the scent is someone else's intention.

Timing

Work for increase, attraction and growth on the waxing moon; for release, banishing and healing-by-removal on the waning. The full moon is for anything that needs power; the dark for rest and protection. The day of the week adds a planetary flavour, which the correspondence tables give in full. None of this is essential. If you need to work tonight, work tonight.

Dressing the candle

Dressing means anointing the candle with oil while charging it with your intention. Olive oil is fine; a drop of an appropriate essential oil in it is better. To draw something toward you, rub from the ends toward the middle; to send something away, from the middle toward the ends. As you rub, say what the candle is for, out loud, in the present tense, as though it were already true. You may carve a word, a name, a sigil or a rune into the wax with a pin first. Roll the oiled candle in a pinch of crushed herb if you like: rosemary for protection, basil for prosperity, lavender for peace. Not too much; it flares.

The working

1. Ground and centre. Cast a circle if you wish; many candle workings are done without one, at the kitchen table.
2. Set the dressed candle in a holder on a heatproof dish, on a surface that cannot burn, away from anything that can.
3. Hold the candle or your hands around it. Fill your mind with the intention, not as a wish but as a picture of the thing done. Breathe it into the wax.
4. Light it. Say the intention a final time, as plainly as you can: This flame burns, and as it burns, my fear burns with it.
5. Watch it for as long as you can hold the intention cleanly, then let it burn out on its own. If you must leave, snuff it (do not blow) and relight it the next night, repeating the intention.
6. When it is gone, thank it. Dispose of the remains: bury them for growth workings, bin them for banishing, keep a little in a charm bag if the working is to continue.

Reading the flame

The old witches read candles the way others read tea leaves. A tall steady flame says the work is going well. A flickering, dancing flame means energy and some resistance. A flame that sputters or hisses says something is arguing with you. A candle that goes out by itself has said no, or has finished. A great deal of soot on the glass is a sign of obstacles. A candle that burns clean and fast with nothing left is the best sign of all. Take it all lightly; drafts exist.