Rose Ariadne's Chitchcraft Blog

Dear Friends,

Candle magick is an important part of spellwork, but there are specific types of candles that can help you get in tune with yourself, or help others around you. Astral candles are used to represent people on our altar. Most of the time it is a representation of yourself, but you can also represent your family members or others that you want to bless with your magick. Astral candles are also used at Esbats to link your subconscious to the group’s subconscious. The altar represents the subconscious mind and when you are doing spellwork alone, the altar is your own subconscious mind. The altar of a coven is the group mind, so in order to link yourself with the group, an astral candle representing you is lit and placed on the altar. In coven work, astral candles are representing the fact that all members are there of their own free will and that they are all going to participate fully in the coming ritual.Making an astral candle for that altar is relatively simple. There are two colors for every astrological sign, a primary color and a secondary color. In the following list, the primary color is first for each sign.

Aries: white, pink
Taurus-red, yellow
Gemini-red, blue
Cancer-green, brown
Leo-red, green
Virgo-gold, black
Libra-black, blue
Scorpio-brown, black
Sagittarius-gold, red
Capricorn-red, brown
Aquarius-blue, green
Pisces-white, green
Obtain a large candle in your primary color, and a smaller candle for your secondary color. In the larger candle, use your athame or a consecrated toothpick to carve your name, birthdate, personal symbol or sign into the wax. You can carve all of these into the candle if it is large enough. Include any symbol or phrase that is personal to you. You can add your craft name, a glyph representing you and your astrological sign as well.

Once you’re done carving, light the smaller candle and drip the colored wax onto the larger candle. Its best to do this over a paper towel (it gets a bit messy!). Drip the wax in a pattern if you like, using spirals, stripes, dots or another pattern. Give the wax time to harden.

Now you are going to breathe your essence onto the candle. This joins your spirit to the candle and adds more of your personal energy. Hold the candle in the palm of your hands, with it rest on your side by side pinkies. Start blowing from the base to the wick. Turn the candle 1/3 of the way, and then blow from base to wick again. Repeat this one more time so there are 3 turns to the candle and 3 breaths. Remember, 3 is a sacred number.

Next, you’ll want to dress your candle in an appropriate oil. Occult shops sell oils specific for astrological signs, and you’ll want to purchase one for your sun sign. Dress your candle by oiling your palms and rubbing them together. Start from the middle of the candle the wick and rub the candle up to the wick 3 times. Then turn the candle so the base is at the bottom and rub from the middle to the base 3 times. Finally, dress the candle from wick to base three times.

This candle now has a psychic link to you so you’ll want to treat it very carefully. Make sure not to give it away, lose it or break it. In fact, its best to make it as close to the time you will use it as possible.

Astral candles have many uses. Once you make the basic candle described above, you can add to it for specific spell purposes. If you are performing a ritual in which you want to gain more psychic power, use purple candle drips onto of your astral colors. Use color correspondence charts to choose the right color for your specific working.

The candle should be burned for at least 15 minutes to be effective. It can also be used for many rituals until they are burned away. After the last use, don’t discard your candle but let it burn completely away. This will ensure that all of your energies are directed out into the universe to bring you your desire.
Brightest Blessing,

Rose Ariadne, Your Warm And Caring “Resident Witch In Charge”