Charging Your Candle

      You'll need oil to anoint the candle. This is called "dressing" the candle and it's a very crucial part of every candle spell.  Please do not use scented or pre dressed candles.  Dressing your own candle assures that you are attuning the candle to your intentions, personalizing it, enlisting it as your ally.

     What kind of oil?. Some are attuned (through the herbs they contain) to certain colors. Select these oils based on color and/or purpose, and pick a scent you find pleasing. A small vial will suffice for starters: you can gradually collect a variety of oils for different candle occasions.  You can also make your own oils, using specific herbs, essential or perfume oils and small amounts of any mild-scented vegetable oil, such as grapeseed or almond.  Refer to the Incense and Oils Lesson 14 for more help.

Anointing Directions

     Inviting Stroke: When calling something to you.  Apply the oil first around the top of the candle (in a clockwise motion, looking down at the wick), the bottom (again, clockwise, with the candle upside down), and then center (that is, around the candle's "waist", clockwise as you hold the candle upright). Then rub more oil from the top in toward the candle's center and from the bottom up to the candle's center. As you do this, hold a clear mental image of drawing good things to you.

     Banishing Stroke: When you want to remove stuff from your life. Apply oil in a counter-clockwise motion to top, bottom, and center, then rub out and away from the candle's center, keeping a clear picture of things departing as you do so.

     For Novenas (tall candles in glass): These candles can be burned for days, but if left unattended place in a tub or sink.     To write directly on the candle, reach down with your tool and scratch the words into the wax around the wick.  Apply your oil around the wick and on the glass around the bottom only, working clockwise to draw to you, counter-clockwise to send away. With novena candles, petitions can be fastened directly around the glass jar itself, so the light of the candle's flame will shine through the paper as the candle burns.  Do what feels right for you and be consistent with your intention.