The Practical Magic of Candles

Nowadays, the popularity of candles has reached an all-time high. Candles are used by folks of all walks of life for relaxation, meditation, and aromatherapy. 

This simple yet profound tool can make powerful magic. Notice how candlelight transforms a dark room and fills the air with the energy of magical light. Suddenly the potential for magic is evident.

Candles contain all four of the elemental energies:

Air—Oxygen feeds and fans the candle flame.

Earth—The solid wax forms the candle.

Water—Melted wax is the fluid elemental state.

Fire—The flame sparks and blazes.

How to Charge a Candle:

“Charging” a candle means instilling it with magical intent. A candle that has been charged carries that intention through all four elements and up to the heavens. It fills the very air with your magic. Ritual candles are chosen for their correspondences, carved, and “dressed,” or anointed, with the energy of an essential oil.

Candle Color Correspondences

Black: banishing, absorbing, expulsion of the negative, healing serious disease, attracting money

Brown: home, animal wisdom, grounding, healing

Dark Blue: change, flexibility, the unconscious, psychic powers, healing

Gold: Solar magic, money, attraction, the astral plane

Gray: neutrality, impasse, cancellation

Green: money, prosperity, growth, luck, jobs, gardening, youth, beauty, fertility

Light Blue: patience happiness, triumph over depression, calm understanding

Orange: attraction, success with legal issues, mutability, stimulation, support, encouragement

Pink: love, faithfulness, friendships, goodness, affection

Purple: healing, ambition, business success, stress relief, power

Red: strength, protection, vitality, sexuality, passion, courage, power, love, good health

White: purification, peace, protection, truth, binding, sincerity, serenity, chastity, happiness, spirit

Yellow: mental power and vision, intelligence, clear thinking, study, self-assurance, prosperity, abundance, divination, psychism, powers of persuasion, wisdom, charisma, sound sleep

Once you clarify your intention, cleanse your candles by passing them through the purifying smoke of sage or incense. Further charge your candle by carving a symbol or sigil into the wax. You can warm the tip of your ritual knife using a lit match and carve your full intention into the candle wax. As you engrave the appropriate magical words onto the candle, you are charging it with energy and intention