Hi occulties,
In continuing on with our series, another old false chestnut I am so sick of seeing, hearing, or reading:
Misconception: Only newbies and untalented people use candle magic! A talented practitioner doesn’t need candles so wouldn’t use them!
Reality: The only part you have correct is that someone with talent doesn’t need candles. 😑 I don’t even require tools but I use them. My first husband is a carpenter and can build you a house with hand tools too but he prefers to use modern power tools and a nail gun, just… he could probably do everything with practically zero tools at all, which because first Mr NinjaCat isn’t an insufferable hipster douche, he doesn’t have to prove that in such a method for people to believe he’s an amazingly skilled carpenter. I can fuck your life up or bless it with zero tools or even just a drop of ritual oil. A single drop. But I don’t need to work that way because I’m only an insufferable douche incredibly rarely and almost always when you’re not paying attention.
Candles, like herbs, oils, roots, minerals, rocks/crystals, metals, incense, dirts, and even animal parts and biological witness samples are all some of the many ingredients and tools you may find in spellwork. The meatball waving around a lovely crafted wand and saying abracadabra (it’s a pointing tool, actually, to focus energy and send through the wand, and as a hoodoo, I might argue your hand can be used in place of it, much to the annoyance of my Solomonic brethren,) and complaining it “didn’t work” (no, you just do not understand how it is used,) is the same person who is generally dictating what real magic is, whilst also not knowing what a wand is for. Candle magic is popular because it works so well. There are legions of other methods for spellcasting, but having an affinity for candle work does not make for less of a spell or even a more simplistic spell. A few of you have seen my complicated set ups and realized “shit, she isn’t just burning a chime candle in a bowl, and this is wild.”
Hoodoo has a tradition called “setting a light.” This is literally burning a candle, it’s a single candle spell. And, while it’s not the route I’d recommend for very complex issues, - at least not by itself, but certainly it’s recommended in conjunction with other work, - it’s very effective! I think my first “go to” for myself is just setting a light, and I’ve been spellcasting for over thirty years. So it’s not just for newbies, and yet it’s also a fairly good method to try for your first spells, too. I mean, I’ve been crocheting a long time and knowing how to do a single crochet and half double crochet (and the full double,) - none of these are hard stitches. Beginners use them and experts do, too. Every skill a beginner learns is a fundamental skill, and therefore experts use it frequently.
Furthermore, depending on your paradigm (loosely, the type of spellwork being utilized,) candles may be present in a working to represent the element of fire, which, in certain traditions, is essential.
And keep in mind west I said above - just because one CAN work without tools, that does not make it the most effective manner of working, nor the most expedient…just like anyone skilled in many things, you probably can accomplish the same task without tools - just like I can do arithmetic without a calculator, - but you will do the task faster with tools.
This means candles may very well not be required or used in many many spells. But it also means that their inclusion of candles and candle magic are not in any way suggestive that someone lacks skills as a spellcaster. If you or your caster only know candle spells, then yes, you are likely a novice. Of course if you only know how to work magic in one way…you’re a novice.
This douchebag hating on candle magic needs to stop though. It’s like looking down on someone for enjoying scrambled eggs when you like yours hard boiled and assuming they can’t poach an egg or male it over easy or devil it because they prefer the damn egg scrambled and that’s “beginner shit” ever since you just barely learned how to poach an egg and can’t cook an egg 50 different ways. To say candle magic is only for novices in fact reveals that you are not an expert and are putting on airs having probably recently learned how to do some singular spell thst isn’t a candle spell. So stop showing your ass by saying it.
Candles have a place in many spells and novices and adepts use candle magic.
~Cat
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