To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day (29 page)

own candles beyond putting your own energy into creating

them. I often come across spells instructing me to continue

meditating or chanting or at least continue sitting in front of a candle until it has burned completely down. This can be

impractical, to say the least, when using anything larger than

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a tea candle, and it can often be difficult to find tea candles in any color other than basic white.

Unless you make your own.

When making your own candles you also have com-

plete control over what goes into them. You control the exact

color. You control the scent, if any. Make a candle with a con-

tagious link to yourself or another person by cutting a little bit of that person’s hair (or your own) into tiny pieces and

mixing it with the wax. Make a protective candle by sprin-

kling a pinch of iron filings into the melted wax. (Magically

speaking, iron is a protective metal, which is one reason why

iron horseshoes are considered “lucky”.)

There are countless books and websites with instructions

for making all sorts of candles, plain or fancy, but the basic process is really quite simple. You will need the following

equipment and supplies to make candles. Depending on your

expertise and personal desires you may want a lot more, but

this is an essential list for making simple candles:

• A heat source. Usually a stove, but a hot plate will suf-

fice.

• A large, low pot for boiling water.

• A smaller pot that will easily fit into the large pot for a double boiler arrangement. For the small pot, check out

thrift stores. You will be melting wax in this, which will

likely ruin it for other purposes.

• Paraffin wax. You can buy the little boxes sold in gro-

cery stores for canning, but this is not the best variety

for making candles and the cost per pound of wax is rel-

atively high. Look at hobby shops or online for paraffin

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wax sold in 11 pound slabs. (If you keep bees, the wax

cappings removed from your honey frames can be melt-

ed to make beautiful beeswax candles.)

• Wicks. These sometimes come with a thin zinc or tin

“core” running through the wick to help keep it straight

while you are making candles. The metal core burns

away as the candle burns. Cored wick may be a little

easier for the novice to work with, but it is not essential

by any means.

• A container or mold to pour the wax into. Container

candles are by far the easiest candles to make when you

are first starting out. Small, ordinary jelly jars can be

used to make pretty container candles.

The first thing to do is to set you wick in the mold or con-

tainer. It is important that the wick be centered. Tie the top

of the wick around a small rod of some kind (I have even

used pencils to hold the wicks in place), clip the wick to the

depth of the container, and then lower the wick into the con-

tainer or mold until the rod rests on its rim. Shops that sell

candle making supplies often have clay or special tabs to hold

the bottom of the wick in place. These are not absolutely

necessary, but they can be helpful.

Put a couple inches of water in the large, low pot that will

serve as the bottom of your double boiler arrangement. Heat

this on the stove. Meanwhile, break chunks of wax from your

paraffin wax slab and put these into the smaller pot. When

the water on the stove (or hot plate) begins to boil, place this smaller pot into the large pot. Do NOT attempt to melt your

wax directly on a stove or hot plate. This is extremely dan-

gerous, as paraffin wax can burst into flame if it gets too hot.

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Always melt your wax with the double boiler arrangement.

The bottom pot of water ensures that your wax will not be

heated above 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the boiling point of

water.

When the paraffin wax melts it will become a crys-

tal clear liquid. At this time you can add color or fragrance

if you wish. This is also when you should add any magic

enhancements, such as the aforementioned hair or iron fil-

ings. Use only a minimal amount of these substances, as they

can affect how the candle burns, and not always in a good

way. Some substances can even be toxic when burned. Use

common sense and know what you are burning in your can-

dles!

Candle making supply shops sell both colors and fra-

grances embedded in small wax chips that can be added to

your melted paraffin. As an alternative, you can add color

simply by removing the paper wrap from a crayon and then

dropping the crayon, or a part of it, into the paraffin. The

advantage is the wider range of colors you can find in a

large box of crayons. The disadvantage is the clarity of color, which is often pale in comparison to the rich, deep colors

achieved with color chips.

If you do not want to use scent chips, using essential oils

is another way to add fragrance to your candles. An essential

oil is extracted directly from an herb or sometimes from an

animal gland (as with civet oil, for example). In contrast to

this, a fragrance oil is a synthetic product. Unlike true essential oils, fragrance oils do not always have the same scent

when burned, so I do not recommend them for candle mak-

ing. Using essential oils to add scent is trickier than using

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a crayon to add color. The problem is that the oils evapo-

rate and disperse quickly when heated. If you want to try

this technique, add some oil to your melted wax just before

you pour it into the container or mold. Soaking the wick in

the same essential oil before setting it into the mold will also help preserve the scent in your candle.

When the wax is melted and you have added any color

or fragrance you have chosen, you are ready to pour your

candle. Be very careful while doing this. The wax is hot! It

is unlikely that you will suffer any permanent injury if you

spill wax on yourself, but I guarantee it will not be a pleas-

ant experience. It is also a good idea to spread newspapers or

a tarp over any surface where you will be pouring wax. No

matter how careful you are, some of it will probably dribble,

and getting hardened wax out of carpeting is no picnic.

Pour the melted wax into your container or mold, reserv-

ing a portion of it for a second pouring. Do not overfill the

container. After pouring the wax, check to see that the wick

is still centered. If it is not, move the wick until it is centered again, being careful not to spill any hot wax on you.

Now let the wax slowly cool. As it cools, the wax will

contract, leaving a dimple in the center of the candle. In a

large candle this dimple can be quite deep. This is why you

have reserved some of your wax for a second pouring. After

the candle has fully cooled, reheat your reserve wax and pour

this into the dimple. You may even need a third pouring. This

is less important for candles poured into molds because the

dimple will be at the bottom of the candle where you can-

not see it. Nevertheless you may want to fill in a large dim-

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ple rather than have a molded candle with a gaping hollow in

the base.

After the second (or third) pouring, let the candle com-

pletely cool for several hours or even overnight. If you have

used a mold, be sure to wait until the wax is fully solid before attempting to remove the candle. It is disheartening to have

a candle come apart as you pull it from a mold because the

inner portion was still warm and soft.

The final step, whether you have used a mold or a con-

tainer, is to trim the wick to about ¼” in length. You now

have a candle suitable for use in a ritual or spell.

There is no reason why you cannot make just one can-

dle, but you will find that it is much more efficient to make

a larger number of candles at the same time. In fact you may

decide to make all of your annual ritual and magic candles at

Candlemas!

The complete control you have over your choice of col-

ors, sizes, scents, shapes and other factors might be over-

whelming when you first attempt to make candles. First

consider the purpose of the candles. Will they be used for

worship, or do you want candles primarily for casting spells?

Candles used for worship can be used again and again.

Repeated use can even imbue your ritual candles with deep-

er meaning. If you are making ritual candles for your altar or, if you are Wiccan, directional candles to place at the cardinal points of your circle, larger candles will last for months and possibly throughout the entire year.

Candles such as these can even be “eternal”. After a full

year’s use, most of the altar candle (or quarter candle) will

have melted away. Break up the remaining wax into chunks,

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being careful to remove any wicking, and then melt these

pieces while adding fresh wax to make up for the lost vol-

ume. You can then pour a renewed candle that contains the

essence of the previous year’s candle. If the candle was dyed

or scented you will of course want to add more color or

scent to the melted wax before pouring it.

If you are using beeswax—and a warm, burning bees-

wax candle is a sensory delight—it will be more difficult to

add color or scent because the wax already has its own natu-

ral color and aroma. Beeswax is best for ritual candles which

need no color or scent enhancement. Like paraffin ritual can-

dles, a large beeswax candle can last most or all of the year.

On the other hand, if the candles are intended for spell

casting then smaller candles usually make more sense. Most

sorcerers, Pagan or not, do not want to use candles that carry

a resonance from earlier spell work. For this reason, a can-

dle that is used for magic is usually a “one shot” item. There

is no point in pouring a tall, thick candle if you are going to throw it out after a single use. It even makes less sense if the spell requires you to be present until the candle completely

burns out.

Whether making candles for worship or for spell work,

consider your spiritual path when choosing colors and scents.

For myself and other Saxon Pagans, red is a color of power.

In the practice of magic, the Law of Sympathy states that

two things which resemble each other share similar proper-

ties. Red is the color of blood, and blood represents life and vitality; ergo the color red represents life and vitality. For this reason red objects are often used in Saxon and other Germanic magic. As you might expect, I always keep a supply of

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small red candles on hand for spell work. However if you fol-

low a Hellenic, Kemetic or Celtic path, your own tradition

may favor other colors.

Some tried and true spells require candles of particular

colors. Of course you can never anticipate all of your needs,

but if you know that you have a favorite spell requiring three

yellow candles then it makes sense to pour some small yel-

low candles for future use.

When designing your own spells, here are some colors

that tend to be associated with specific intentions:

•
Red
, as I have said, is a color of life and vitality because it is the color of blood. In magic it can be thought of as

the color of physical (animal) life and all things associ-

ated with that, such as strength and health. This is the

color for sex magic, although some people claim that

red-orange or pink candles are more effective. Pink is

essentially just a lighter shade of red.

•
Yellow
is often associated with knowledge, mental clarity and communication. Yellow candles can be used

in spells intended to help a person study and retain

knowledge. Yellow is also a color of friendship, per-

haps because good communication is essential between

friends.

•
Gold
candles are good for prosperity spells because (of course) they are the color of gold. This is another example of the Law of Sympathy.

•
Silver
candles, too, are good for prosperity, for the same reason as gold candles.

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•
Green
, being the color of chlorophyll, is the color of plant life. Green candles are useful for horticultural

spells. In the United States a green candle is just as likely

to be used in a prosperity spell, since green is the color

of American paper currency.

•
Blue
is a color of the emotions and the subconscious.

Blue candles can be used in spells directed towards spir-

ituality, emotional balance or developing psychic skills.

•
White
represents purity and cleanliness. Because of

these qualities white candles are often used in spells for

healing or protection.

These color associations are of course generalizations.

As always, consider your spiritual path. Kemetic Pagans, for