Candle Magick for Beginners

Candle Magick is a type of magick that is practiced using one or more candles. The candles serve both as a point of focus for the magickian and also as tangible symbols for the outcome which the magickian is seeking. Candle magick is one of the simplest forms of ritual magick, making it an ideal form of magick for beginners, and can be found in a wide variety of occult, spiritual and magickal traditions. It can also be observed in mainstream society, as you will realise if you think about all the people who have ever made a wish whilst blowing out the candles on a birthday cake.

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The process of a candle magick working is something that can be adapted to the tastes, needs and desires of each individual magickian, but a basic working can be said to comprise six simple steps, as follows:

Step 1 – Establish Your Magickal Intent
The first thing you need to do is to establish your intent by defining exactly what you want your candle magick working to achieve. You might want to attract a soul mate, bring back a former lover, improve an existing relationship, get a promotion at work, find a new job, achieve success in your own business, demonstrate greater abundance in your life, improve your levels of health and fitness, and so on. Whatever the case, your intention should be written down in simple terms (no more than three or four words) on a notepad for the time being. For example: Promotion at Work, Better Sex Life, More Prosperity, etc.

Step 2 – Identify the Magickal Correspondence
Whilst you can perform candle magick with almost any candle if pushed for time, the best results usually come when you obtain a candle in a colour which corresponds with your intended outcome. Some magickians like to identify their own correspondences, but many adopt the following fairly simple palette of candle magick colours for their workings:

WHITE CANDLES symbolise purity, spirituality, peace and tranquillity. They can also be used, if necessary, for almost any ritual, as white can be thought of as containing all of the other colours.

BLACK CANDLES symbolise protection from curses, getting rid of unwanted traits and habits, reversal of misfortune and developing greater self-reliance.

RED CANDLES symbolise passion, lust, sex and power.

ORANGE CANDLES symbolise joy, energy, happiness, creativity, positivity and success.

YELLOW CANDLES symbolise confidence, success, optimism, happiness and charisma.

GREEN CANDLES symbolise prosperity, growth, abundance, money and luck.

BLUE CANDLES symbolise peace of mind, health and positive development in the spiritual, mental and emotional areas of life.

PURPLE CANDLES symbolise business success, social advancement and power.

PINK candles symbolise love in all its forms, family life and compassion.

(NOTE: These are just some of the most common candle magic color correspondences. For a more in-depth guide to what various colours mean in a magickal sense, and how to use them, you would do well to study Buckland’s Practical Color Magick by Raymond Buckland.)

Having seen what these various colours mean, identify the colour which most closely corresponds to your established intent. For example, if you wanted to demonstrate greater levels of prosperity and abundance in your life, you would probably choose to use a green candle, and if you wanted to improve your sex life you might choose to use a red candle.

Step #3 – Obtain the Required Materials
To practice candle magick safely and effectively, you will need a candle in the colour which corresponds with your established intention, and a suitable candle holder. You will also need something with which to light your candle and, optionally, a candle snuffer in case you want to extinguish the flame before the candle has burned all the way down.

You should obtain all of the required items before proceeding, and also make sure that you have a safe and suitable location to put the candle whilst it is in use. In other words, make sure that the candle is out of the reach of children and that the flame will not cause anything other than the candle to burn. These may be obvious points but they are always worth bearing in mind.

Step #4 – Inscribe the Magickal Intent
When you come to carry out the candle magick working, start by inscribing the intent on the side of the candle with a sharp but relatively safe object, such as a ritual knife, nail or toothpick. All you need to do here is ‘write’ the intention that you made note of earlier into the side of the candle. You don’t need to carve the intention at all deeply – a simple scratching of the words is perfectly sufficient. Indeed, a simple pencil can be used if that approach would suit you best.

As you inscribe the intent, focus your mind on the idea that burning the inscribed candle will result in the manifestation or realisation of your desire. This effectively consecrates your candle for magickal purposes.

Step #5 – Burn the Candle
Next, set the candle securely into its holder, put it in your chosen safe location, and light the flame. Watch the flame for a minute or two and, as you do so, imagine that the burning candle is radiating your magickal intention out into the universe at large.

Some magickians like to allow the candle to burn down completely in one session, but that is not always possible. It is also perfectly acceptable to snuff out the candle and to relight it again at another time. The latter approach obviously means that it will take longer for you to burn through the whole candle, but the effectiveness of the candle magick ritual will not be affected by this in any way.

Step #6 – Note the Results
You should expect your candle magick to start working from the moment you first light it. Unfortunately, some magickians fail to fully appreciate the success that they achieve with candle magick unless they make a conscious effort to look out for changes in their situation in the hours, days and weeks following a candle magick working. It is therefore a very good idea to keep your eyes open for signs that the magick is working, and to note down your observations and ultimate results on a daily basis in your magickal notebook. This record of successes will also serve to inspire you to set even more ambitious magickal intentions in the future.

ADVANCED CANDLE MAGICK

This simple guide to candle magick for beginners can help you to bring about changes in almost any area of your life, but the subject can also be studied in a lot more depth, and your candle magick rituals can be made more elaborate by dressing your candles in corresponding oils, and so on. To those of you who wish to take your study further and begin practicing advanced candle magick, we highly recommend the book Practical Candleburning Rituals: Spells and Rituals for Every Purpose by Raymond Buckland.