Welcome to the first instalment of our Candle Magick Series, where we look at what candle magick is, where it comes from and how it works.
Introduction
Did you ever make a wish before blowing out your Birthday candles? If you did, then you’ve already practised candle magic in its simplest form!
Candle magick – lighting a candle with intention – can be practised by any faith or religion, by anyone at any time. It is simple to understand, easy to do, requires little more than a candle and a match, and your clear intention.
Where Does Candle Magick Come From?
Candle magic has been around since time immemorial. Humans have always connected fire, the flame, with magic and prayer.
Before candles were invented, people used small oil lamps to make prayers and offerings. This practice continues today in India, for example, where they light diya pots, and other lamps and candles at different times for different religious meanings. They also have a practice of eye gazing called ‘Taratakam’, which involves meditating on the candle’s flame.
Beeswax candles have been found to have been in use in Egypt and Crete from at least 3,000 BCE as vehicles for prayer and offerings.
Burning lamps and candles is also practised in Christianity and Judaism, where the oil in the lamp represents the spiritual fuel of the person to shine a light for God. Candles are also commonly lit in churches as prayers.
How Does Candle Magick Work?
When we say a prayer, or make a wish, or state an intention, we are trying to change or affect the physical world. Whether that be to bring goodwill to others, for healing, or a shiny red bicycle, we are sending out a message to the unseen and hoping for an answer in our favour.
The candle, when used with intention, becomes our message delivery system, carrying our wish from our solid known world across the veil.
THE ALCHEMY…
A burning candle is a transcending vessel of light like a direct line to the Divine or Otherworlds, pure Aether. A solid wax (Earth) transforms to light (Air) and heat (Fire) and flowing wax (Water) – an alchemical process. Aether is the fifth element, the unknown energy of everything – life force, magick, transformation, infinite energetic possibility.
THE MAGICK…
From a magickal point of view, you are sending out a pattern of energy to ripple in the Aether sea.
The energy pattern is what you want to manifest in this reality, to transform and bring across into the physical – a wish made real. This is the core of all magick.
- If you believe in God, a Creator/Creatrix being, and/or spiritual allies like angels, ancestors or spirit guides in the beyond, the candle helps send and strengthen your prayers to reach them.
- Or if you believe in the power of manifestation (a la ‘Law Of Attraction’) – that what we put out we get back, that we create our own reality, and that shaping our will can affect change in our lives – then the candle helps you strengthen and make clear your will to the Universe to make manifest.
How Do You Do It?
To perform candle magick, all you need to do is light a candle while holding your intention in your mind. In magick, an intentional energetic act like this is called performing a working.
Magick’s effectiveness is largely based on how strongly and clearly you can energetically communicate what you want, how much energy you can send into the Aether to bring back the physical change you’re aiming for.
Or, if you prefer, how strongly and clearly you can imprint your message onto your message delivery system to send to the Universe/Divinity. For this reason, over the ages there have been many practices developed to help magick practitioners (shamans, druids, witches, medicine people, priest/esses) boost their energetic message.
The most common of these is called “Sympathetic Magick”, which involves using a system of correspondences. In our next post, you can learn about HOW TO DRESS A CANDLE using this system of correspondences.
Read Next:
HOW TO DRESS A CANDLE
In part two of our series on Candle Magick, learn about correspondences, what dressing a candle means and how to dress a candle.