Quick and Clean: Tealight Magic

(NB: This is going to be a very pic-heavy post.  I got carried away, what can I say?  As always, click to enlarge.)


Ilyssa and I were talking a while back about our preferences in spell candles and I thought this would make a good topic for discussion.  I'm going to talk about my favorite type of candle to use and I'm hoping Ilyssa and Amanda (and anyone else who joins us later) will also share theirs.

I can't remember when I started preferring tealights for both spells and devotional candles, but it's been some years now.  I'll still use other types--I prefer figure candles for healing, for example, and sometimes small pillar or even larger pull-out candles are necessary if I want to inscribe more than a word or two and need the space--but tealights are my go-to candles.  It's not just because they're quick, it's because I like how self-contained they are: all your magic goes into one little candle cup.

So I was telling Ilyssa that I'd do a post on this the next time I made up a spell candle.  Well, I ended up needing to do not a spell candle but a devotional candle.  I light a devotional candle for Hekate every night and, since I use tealights, have to replace it every two to four weeks.  I had to make up a new one last night, so I figured I'd take some step-by-step photos to post, showing how versatile my favorite "one-cup magic" candles are.

Here's everything I need, all lined up: a beeswax tealight candle*, a bottle of Ambrosia oil from Conjured Cardea, my "overflow jar" of lavender (I've got so much that it couldn't all fit into the pretty purple jar I normally use for it), and my candle-carving tool (which is actually from a wood-carving set and works beautifully):

The first thing I do is lay down a tissue or paper towel to catch the little bits of wax.  Then I pull the tealight out of its cup and carve whatever I need to carve into the bottom.  For this, I carved Hekate's name (in English, since I've yet to memorize how to do it in Greek) and a symbol I use for her.  When I'm using a tealight for a spell, I carve whatever word(s) and symbol(s) are appropriate.  Space is a challenge, though, and sometimes I've carved all around the side and top of the candle, too.

Next, I add whatever herbs I've chosen for my purpose. For Hekate, I normally use a special herbal blend that I concocted to honor Her, but since I ran out of one of the components (willow bark) I've just been using lavender, one of the herbs sacred to Her, until I can get more.  This, by the way, is probably the main reason I love using tealights so much for magic--it's the quickest, cleanest, easiest way to load a candle.

Next, I anoint the candle with the oil (or whatever I'm using) on the bottom, around the side, and on the top.  I usually use cypress (also sacred to Hekate) oil for Hekate's candle, but I recently bought this Ambrosia oil because it was created specifically as an offering to the Hellenic deities, and my gods are Hellenic and pre-Hellenic so it's perfect.  It smells, appropriately enough, divine.

After that, I pop the candle back into its cup and trim the wick (you can do that at any point, I just usually forget until now).  Then, back into the votive cup it goes.

Of course, you don't have to use a fancy votive holder for every tealight candle you use for a spell (though you should definitely have something heat-proof to set it on), but I bought this glass votive holder for Hekate's candle because it's pretty, and because when the candle is lit and the lights are off, it casts a beautiful star pattern on the wall behind it.  Fitting for the Daughter of the Stars.  (Hekate's parents, at least by some accounts, were the Titans, Perses and Asteria.)

And done!  As I said, this tealight will last anywhere from two to four weeks, depending on how long I leave it lit each night.  If you're using one for a spell, though, you can expect it to burn anywhere from two to six hours.  Anyone who's lit a spell candle in the middle of the day and ended up staying awake half the night to babysit it because they didn't want to put it out but also didn't want to leave it burning while they slept will appreciate this.



*After being stuck with several tealights that smelled, mysteriously and worryingly, like fried chicken, I decided to buy only soy or beeswax tealights if possible.  Soy candles are more expensive, and beeswax ones are more expensive still, but they sure do smell better!  Beeswax smells heavenly, so rich and evocative, it's just a magical smell in and of itself, even before you add oils or herbs.  Since I'm not made of money, I've only been using the beeswax candles for devotional purposes and am going to buy some soy ones for spellwork.