No-Rule Candle Burning
by Catherine Riggs-Bergeson, Ph.D.
One of the purposes of candle magic is to free you and your mind from limits. You are reading into a spirit realm. Earthly guidelines are artificial when you are merged with the feelings and abstractions you can experience during candle magic. Many of your magical efforts will be free-form. Magic is there to inspire the creative sides of us all. Through our creativity and self-expression, we can most purely reach the gods. Rigidity and fast rules are something to avoid in magic.
The only rules you need to worry about are ethical ones--not stylistic or superstitious ones. You are performing a procedure which will reach the gods--not be judged by a documentary film crew. The most important elements in worship and prayer are 1) approaching the ritual with the most knowledge you can about the god or procedure 2) performing it with respect and dignity, and 3) injecting it with your personal strength and style. In summary, magic requires that you know the rules first, and then where to bend them. Rigidity has no place in magical work.
1. YOU CAN'T PUT A MAGICAL CANDLE OUT.
You can put a candle out. It does not lose its strength. The only time I suggest burning a candle all at once is if the situation is an emergency (e.g, you need the rent in one week). This is important, because many people with children, animals, or fear of fire can undo the magic of the candle by worrying. If you feel you have to leave the candle burning, put it in a sink or tub with no curtains around it. When you put your candle out, thank God or whomever you believe in. When you relight it, re-envision what the candle is for.
2. YOU HAVE TO EXTINGUISH A CANDLE--YOU CANNOT BLOW IT OUT.
You can blow a candle out. There are many ways to think about this. Your breath is adding part of your essense to the candle. You are not blowing away the magic.
3. NEVER BURN A CANDLE TO ATTRACT OR BUILD SOMETHING DURING THE WANING MOON.
Timing is a fine point and a wonderful enhancement to magic. Nevertheless, our lives have certaind demands and some of them cannot wait until the proper moon phase or planetary hour of the day. It is desirable to be knowledgeable about moon phases, as well as planetary transist and hours, but not ruled by them. If you do no light your candle in the hour of Mars or the day of Venus, all is not lost. If you find that the moon is in the wrong phase for your work, change your meditation. If you are attracting money during a waning moon, use that power to banish away any obstacles to your financial security. If you are banishing fear during a waxing moon, use the moon's phase to build your self-confidence and strength.
Instead of worrying about the exact time, plan your magical workings around your available time. Choose an uninterrupted time during which you can relax and prepare youself with a salt bath. If you can also do this work at the your of Venus (or whatever planetary influence you need), all the better!
4. THE SPELL DIDN'T WORK BECAUSE I DID IT WRONG.
If you do a step differently or with different ingredients, it is not wrong. Many people feel a spell idnd't work because they made a mistake in the steps. The only mistake would be a lack of ethics or clarity in intent. Examine whether your request took into account what is the highest good for all involved. Candles are used to remove worry, not make you obsessed with the purpose. Since candles send out your requests, you are free to live without obsession. It is soothing to know that you have handed your problem over to a much more powerful (and less judgmental) force than yourself.
If you are comfortable with the first two items above, don't change your procedure. Just know that it wouldn't be wrong if you did these things differently. The way you are conducting your ritual is based on personal preference, not upon rules passed down by a god/goddess or judgmental spirit. Rigidity has no place in magic. Magic has structure, but no limits. Candle magic is a life-long tool which will teach you about the rules and structures which build freedom, as well as the rules we can shed.
Copyright 2006 Catherine Riggs-Bergeson, Ph.D.
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