Whether to decorate your altar or use in spellcasting and rituals, candles, crystals, and gemstones are favorite tools of the modern witch. They are powerful conduits for bringing energy into a spell or ritual with their own correspondences to colors, elements, days of the week, and Moon phases, but they also have properties that can soothe and calm anxiety, bring about a sense of well-being, and bring harmony and balance to chaotic situations.
Candles bring light. They bear the flame that cleanses and purifies. They represent the element of fire and transformation. When you light a candle and burn something over it, that object is transformed. The symbolism of candles is as old as time, with different colors representing different properties. Burning a candle in spellcasting is all about knowing which color candles to use and how to use the flame to transform a written or spoken spell into a manifested reality, a wish fulfilled.
Think of birthday candles on a cake. You light them and tell the birthday boy or girl to make a wish as he or she blows out the candles. That wish is then fulfilled. It’s a ritual that goes back hundreds of years and has become a part of our everyday lives to the point where we don’t even think about the fact that we are indeed casting a spell when we share a birthday celebration.
Candles are used in traditional churches of every kind to set a mood and create an atmosphere that is sacred and purified. Candles create a slightly altered state of consciousness and a setting of holiness. White candles are burned for healing and petitioning prayers for the sick in most churches. On the traditional holidays of Easter and Christmas, lighting candles is a part of the celebratory rituals involving the light of the Christ figure. Christmas trees of old were originally decorated with candles in candleholders on the branches to attract the return of the light, a pagan ritual that merged into the brightly decorative lights we now use on holiday tree displays. During vigils, people hold white or yellow votive candles to bring light to a dark situation and to symbolically guide the dead to the light. Even political marches involve candles to represent shining the light of truth.
Witches know that candles have the power to amplify a spell and set an intention out into the aether, where it will be made real. Witches understand that candles pick up vibrations and can directly affect the outcome of a spell or ritual when placed in certain patterns, as around a sacred circle, kept burning on an altar, or carried during a ceremony. They are not just for decoration. They have purpose and can represent the gods or goddesses as a form of symbolic or sympathetic magic, where an object takes on the characteristics and persona of a deity or the divine.
Candles burn at different rates. Here is a handy chart with duration times.
Birthday candles: 15–20 minutes Tea lights: 2–3 hours
Votives: 3–15 hours
Tapers: 8–10 hours
Pillars: 40–120 hours
Candles also mark the beginnings and endings of rituals and spells and are a tool for divination. Candle scrying involves staring into a candle flame and recording images or visions that arise. Candles allow humans to harness the incredible power of fire into something they can hold or carry that represents bringing light to darkness and warmth to the coldest of nights.
Candles come in every size, color, and shape. Some candles are formed into figures or objects, and others are simple. Votives are tapered, thick, and fancy candles. The idea is to find the candles that resonate with you and your desired intention. As a witch, you no doubt want to have a variety of colors and sizes on hand for spells and ritual work.
You should always use new candles each time you spellcast or perform any kind of ritual. You do not want to use an old candle with any negative energy attached or a candle that has been used in a ritual and now harbors unseen, bad vibes or is just plain unclean. Purify and cleanse your candles before use in whatever way you please either by smudging over them or anointing them with your favorite essential oils.
To dress or charge a candle, you take a natural oil like olive or grapeseed and begin at the top of the candle, rubbing the oil down to the middle. Then you start at the base of the candle and rub the oil up to the middle. Repeat this until the whole candle is coated with oil. Now you are ready to do your craft work.
Candles are often one part of a spell with many items and should always correspond accordingly. Candles can represent the element of fire in any rituals or spells, or they can work alone as a powerful reminder of the creative and generative properties of fire and light.
Once a type and color of candle is chosen and the candle has been properly dressed or charged, you can use it for just about any kind of spell or ritual. To create a sacred circle when working with a coven or alone, you can place candles at all four directional corners and one in the center (usually white to represent truth). If working at your altar, have your candle or candles placed on small saucers if you don’t want to deal with dripping wax on your altar cloth. Be sure to keep lit candles away from any curtains, drapes, or flammable items, and also, keep them well out of reach of children and pets if you are keeping them lit overnight or for several hours. Most spells involve blowing out the candle at the end, but many call for allowing the candle to burn down naturally, and it’s never a good idea to just walk away from a burning candle without taking precautions.
Candle colors can be used alone or mixed together to achieve your spell and ritual goals.
Red—Love, lust, sexuality, passion, creativity, assertiveness, courage, defense, power, protection, vitality, virility
Pink—Love, affection, friendship, kindness, compassion, morality, helping children and animals, beauty
Purple—Wisdom, insight, energy, vitality, ambition, power, confidence, intellect, mental clarity, meditation, psychic abilities
Blue—Calm, peace, centering, wisdom, intelligence, spirituality, sky, water, patience, flexibility, healing
Light blue—Wisdom, spirit world, harmony, inner light, calm, peace, serenity
Green—Finances, money, abundance, growth, fertility, luck, fortune, joy, nature
Gold—Money, success, job and career, business endeavors, solar energy, masculine/god
Silver—Intuition, prophecy, dreams, wisdom, Moon energy, feminine/goddess
Brown—Earth, nature, groundedness, balance, steadfastness, strength, endurance
Orange—Vitality, attraction, confidence, joy, happiness, health, stimulation, success, legal issues
Yellow—Sun energy, clarity of vision, joyfulness, travel, attractiveness, happiness, protection, confidence
Black—Death or transformation of something or someone, renewal, the end of something, release, letting go, banishing, protection and self-defense
White—Purity, cleansing, angels and guides, truth, divinity, higher knowledge, divination, reflection
Gray—Neutrality, balance, compromise, collaboration, invisibility, wisdom
The simplest candle spells involve writing down the desired goal or outcome on a piece of paper, then lighting a corresponding color candle and saying the spell as you burn the paper. For love, you can use a red candle or a combination of red and pink. For success, a green or gold candle or maybe both. As you burn the spell, you should also say the spell, for words spoken out loud amplify the power and effectiveness of the written words. Let the paper burn and end the spell with “so mote it be.” You can then blow out the candle.
To manifest money, carve a dollar sign into a green or gold candle. Place the candle on top of a dollar bill and light the candle. Let it burn down almost to the bottom and take the dollar bill and tip a waiter or waitress with it to watch it grow.
Other spells call for placing the written spell beneath the candle and letting the candle burn down on its own. Once it burns down, you can clean up the rest and know that the spell has been “set.” Again, only do this if you can guarantee that keeping a lit candle around won’t set your house on fire!
Pretty rocks are nice to look at. Some people even collect them. To a witch, they are powerful energy conduits for healing and spellcasting. The use of crystals and gemstones in rituals and rites goes back to our ancient ancestors and has proliferated in all civilizations, such as the Egyptians, who believed that the ruby was the “stone of love” and used it in jewelry and adornments. They also used the lapis lazuli in adornments to represent their Sun god, Ra. Crystals have long been used by many Native American tribes as healing and power stones. Beads made of rose quartz have been dated back seven thousand years and were used by Mesopotamians to represent love and beauty. Jewelry using crystals has been discovered in the Queen Pu-Abi tomb at Ur in Sumeria that dates back to the third millennium B.C.E. Our human instinct to associate characteristics to even inanimate objects has become a kind of fetishism where we worship those objects, but to the modern witch, they are tools for increasing enchantment and magic.
Quartz crystals are piezoelectric. This doesn’t mean they conduct electricity; rather, it means that if subjected to pressure they generate electricity. This property makes quartz crystals valuable in electronics, and witches believe they can channel other energies as well.
Crystals are especially sacred because of their ability to channel energy and reflect it back. They are important to many spiritual and religious traditions but truly represent the power of the natural world due to certain crystals, such as quartz crystal, being piezoelectric. This means that they generate an electrical charge when compressed or struck by something like mechanical stress. If you run an electrical current through a crystal, it can bend and change shape slightly (depending on the size and shape of the crystal) and then snap back, which releases a jolt of electricity, and it makes them useful for many applications, such as clocks, timers, and acoustics. Piezoelectric crystals and gemstones include analcime, boracite, celadonite, dravite, neptunite, quartz, rhodizite, tourmaline, topaz, tugtupite, and many others.
Always cleanse and purify your crystals and gemstones before using each time, as they tend to trap energies. To cleanse, you can pass them through sage smoke or incense smoke or soak them overnight in Moon water or rainwater. You can also bury them in brown rice or sand for 24 hours. Leave them in direct moonlight for several hours or pass them through a white candle flame as you say a cleansing spell. Never put the following crystals in water, as it can damage the structure of the crystal: calcite, hematite, labradorite, mica, selenite, italite, pirite, malachite, obsidian, and turquoise. Store your crystals in a soft cloth bag or cloth-lined box, separated to keep them from getting scratched, or keep them on display on your altar or bookshelves.
Want to recharge your own energy? Take two rose quartz crystals of the same size and shape. Try to find two that have one pointed end and one flat end, like an arrowhead. Hold one in your dominant hand with the point facing upward and hold the other in your nondominant hand with the pointed end facing downward (as in pointing up to your fingers or down to your wrist). Hold them for a few moments and close your eyes, allowing the energy to flow between your palms in a circle or loop. Imagine positive energy being absorbed through your dominant hand and negative energy exiting your nondominant hand.
See Appendix B for a list of gemstones and crystals and their powers. One word of caution: collecting crystals and gemstones can become addicting, according to many a witch on social networking. They are colorful, pretty, fun, and powerful and a favored tool for practicing the craft.
Some crystals cannot be exposed to the elements, and some crystals are dangerous, too.
Water-soluble crystals will erode when kept in water for too long. The ones that will erode the quickest include sulfur, selenite, pyrite, malachite, magnetite, gypsum, fluorite, celestite, calcite, and hematite. Cleanse these with a damp cloth, and dry well before using.
Crystals that can absorb too much sunlight or heat and should not be kept in direct sunlight on a windowsill or outdoors. These include amber, amethyst, azurite, celestite, fluorite, kunzite, morganite, opal, pearl, sulfur, topaz, vanadinite, and zircon. Keep these in a darker, cooler place.
• Want more love in your life? Carry these crystals on you or work with them in spellcasting: garnet, rose quartz, Moonstone, sodalite, selenite, or rhodochrosite.
• Want to calm anxiety? Look for blue lace agate, sodalite, lepidolite, amazonite, amethyst, rhodonite, or black tourmaline. Carry one in your pocket or keep on your altar.
• Want to lift your vibration? Look for clear quartz, tourmaline, amethyst, rose quartz, or citrine.
• Want to develop your intuition? Use selenite, Moonstone, calcite, opal, angelite, aquamarine, or lapis lazuli.
• Need a better night’s sleep? Work with amethyst, angelite, blue lace agate, celestite, or rose quartz.
Avoid making crystal water or powders with unidentified crystals, fibrous crystals, metal ore, and any metal except gold, platinum, and titanium. Never put the following crystals in your mouth or consume in water or any other form, as these many contain toxins, such as arsenic, mercury, excess copper, and lead: adamite, amazonite, azurite, brochanite, chalcanthite, cinnabar, cuprite, dioptase, galena, malachite, marcasite, pyrite, realgar, serpentine, sulfur, turquoise, vanadinite, and wulfenite. In general, never swallow a crystal, and do not ingest crushed or powered crystals in any form.
If you desire to make an elixir or potion with crystals, please do your homework and research the toxicity of ingesting it. Just because they have amazing healing properties doesn’t mean that some crystals can’t harm you. You can use plenty of safe stones in an elixir that won’t break down and poison you or someone else.