HearthBeats: Notes from a Kitchen Witch
Candles, Magick and everyday.
We do not often think about candles when we light them. Well we do if we are lighting them for Ritual or for a spell. But what about outside of that? Candles are one of just a few links that we have with out ancestors. We do not think about the fact that candle have no race, religion or creed. Candles have meaning in just about every life, religion, race. We light candles for the magick of ritual, whatever the religion. We light then for the magick of romance. We light them for the magick of a simple birthday wish. We light them when we are happy and when we are sad. How many of you can remain untouched by seeing a candle light vigil or a midnight mass. What about the first birthday candle.. Or the 100th.
We not only use for birthdays but for anniversaries, or to remember a loved one passed on. We use one candle or many candles to help us make a connection to the Divine, whatever face we see.
But for Pagans, Wiccan and Witches candles are used more often. We use them in our everyday. One single tealight lit for a sick pet, friend, loved one. 4, 6 or more, lit to invoke the elements, Deity, archangels, ancestors. Anointed candles used for healing, love, a new job, prosperity. We have different colors for different uses, oils to add to it.
No longer are candles just animal fat used to light our way in the dark. They are a large part of our everyday. How many household have no candles in them. Many are highly scented so we use them to refresh our home, or to bring back great memories of years gone by. History relived by a single flame.
You can find much about the history of candles, but only if you want to know. I will not run on about it, even if I do find it fascinating. There are many great sites to help you get good tips on making your own candles. But honestly, in this day and age, you need only make the candles if you have a special reason or ritual. You can get great colored, scented or plain candles at the local grocery or corner store. And some specialty places like Partylite.
I will add a chart for candle colors and uses. These are not universal as many do not always agree. Remember that it is your intention more than any candle color that makes your rite or ritual.
White:
White candles are universal, they are like white light which has all of the colors, they are used in protective, consecration and cleansing rituals, for healing the whole person, for spiritual matters, and for contact with one’s higher self and angels or spirit guides. White is a good color for rites-of-passage work, especially for birth, marriage and welcoming rituals. White candles can also be substituted for any other color. Like silver, white is associated with female energies, lunar rituals and with the goddess and the moon.
Silver:
Silver is the color of the moon and the moon goddess. It is potent for all forms of divination, telepathic abilities, for astral projection, and for rituals to invoke female power, intuition. Silver candles can remove negativity and promote inner stability.
Gold:
Gold is the color of the sun. Golden candles are potent for wealth and recognition, as well as long life. Use them for ambitious schemes and money-making rituals that require an instant or substantial return. Gold is also the color of male power, energy and change.
Pink:
Pink is the color associated with Venus, the goddess of love, so pink candle are excellent for matters involving the gentler aspects of love, romance, affection and friendship, the healing of wounded emotions, for quiet sleep and for the mending of quarrels. They can also be used for all family matters, for the rekindling of trust and for new relationships.
Yellow:
Yellow is the color associated with Mercury. Yellow candles therefore encourage activity of all kinds, but especially mental exercise. Use them in rituals where you wish to gain another person’s confidence and approval, or to win someone around in business or intellectual matters; to sharpen logic and for good luck on a journey. Yellow is also for careers in business, communications or the media.
Orange:
Orange is another solar color, a color of fertility, both physical and mental, of creativity and growth, for self-esteem and confidence, abundance of all kinds and independence. Above all, orange candle are for joy and for the successful integration of all aspects of the personality into a harmonious whole.
Red:
Red is the color of Mars, and is the color of courage, determination, action, energy, sexual passion and potency. Red candles are burned to increase the life force, for survival, physical health, strength, pleasure, will power, and to overcome injustice and bring about change. This is therefore a very powerful color and should be lit for worthy aims only and when you are in a positive frame of mind.
Purple:
Purple is associated with Jupiter. It represents the wise teacher. In magic, purple candles provide a link with higher dimensions and can bring happiness to all who yearn for something beyond the material plane. Purple candles aid meditation, past-life work, candle and mirror scrying, divination, astral travel, and are good for psychic protection and for the prevention of nightmares.
Blue:
Blue is the healing color and is associated with Jupiter and other father/sky gods in their role as law-givers and powerful rulers. blue candles can expand the boundaries of possibility and create confidence and power mingled with altruism and idealism. Blue candles can be lit for the expansion of mental horizons, for success and the increase of possibility. They also represent the expansion of physical horizons and travel. As well as offering protection and calm in the midst of times of crisis and turmoil.
Green:
Green is the color of Mother Earth and so is potent for healing, for rites involving the natural world, herbs, gardening and tree magic, for growth and, by association, the growth of money in prosperity rituals. When green candles are used in rituals for wealth, they tend to encourage a gradual increase in profits or resources.
Brown:
Brown candles can be used in rituals to locate lost objects and for anything to do with the home, older people, practical matters and pets. As brown is another color of Mother Earth, brown candles can act as grounding, balance and protection, bringing success through hard work, and for money or material and financial security. Brown is a nurturing color and is the natural focus of maternal matters, instincts, and acceptance of others with faults and weaknesses. .
Black:
Black candles can be potent in all forms of banishing magic, for leaving behind old sorrows and redundant relationships, for acknowledging grief and for rituals of parting. Black is also the color of acceptance, as well as the color of forgiveness. Black is another earth color, containing both male and female energies.
Much of this information has been gather from the internet, books and emails that have been used or shared with me. I do not have the exact author/s of this information. And take little credit for how it has been written or adapted her.
Until next time
Blessed Home and Hearth
The Hearthkeeper