As we open the doors of Dark Goddess Collective, we begin by introducing a series on the Black Sacred Candle. We light it to honor and protect this space so our witch’s work may move forward. This is part two! Read it first as the final elements will be in part three. Missed Part 1? Find it here. ~ Kaycee
The Power to Create
The Black Sacred Candle is a working candle. I channel this into each one, that it will protect my work, my space, my Self, and my magic. That my work is abundant, joyous, focused, and coming with great clarity. The possibilities for creating this working candle are endless even when following the primordial pattern of creation to wholeness.
The Pattern and the Supplies:
- The Darkness from which all is created: Black Candle (yes, even a purchased one!)
- The Air that causes friction and the Fiery Spark: Cleansing and blessing the candle through sacred smoke or other ritual and chanting.
- The Water: The oil used to dress the candle
- The Earth: The plant allies used to dress the candle
- The Fire, the act of lighting it is the same as stating “as I will it, it becomes so” and is the flame of consciousness made manifest for your purpose during your work.
Air, To Cleanse and Bless
The way that one cleanses and blesses their tools is truly a personal preference and ritual. Many practitioners have created relationships with the plants utilized for this purpose or skillfully utilize different energetic forces to cleanse and bless.
Cleansing
Saining, using the smoke of cleansing herbs, like a rosemary and juniper bundle is my preferred method for cleansing my Black Sacred working candle. I have been in a bind where I ran out of my own harvested materials and chose to place the candle in a bag of salt for 3 days instead. The entire purpose for cleansing or purifying is to release any added energy from the candle that you have not skillfully woven into it yourself. Whatever the method, as long as you are directing the energy through your focused attention and understanding (or relating) to your chosen correspondences, you will have success.
A helpful tip on directing the energy:
I prefer to chant, even under my breath.
One that I have written in my own Book of Shadows for cleansing or purifying any object:
From this object, I strip away
Energy prior to this day
Banish from this object’s presence
Any force not of my essence
Blessing
Once the Black Sacred Candle has gone through a cleansing or purifying rite, we must consecrate or bless it with purpose. This is one of the most important parts, to be imbued and blessed with the intention for its use. I have a personal oil that I created specifically for this purpose. Likewise, I know numerous people who use olive oil on a finger and draw a specific sigil they have created or that is energetically aligned for the Black Sacred Candle. If the candle has been cleansed and blessed for its purpose, you can now move forward in the creation process.
A helpful tip on directing the energy:
While I typically place a drop of my personal oil on the top of the candle and swirl clockwise, then a drop on the bottom and swirl counterclockwise with a finger, I still chant. Here is one that I used recently that had so much power:
With this essence, you are whole
Protecting my space, my energy, my magic, my soul
Creating a power, summoning a force
To work my divine will, guided by source
The Water
In an alchemical and elemental model of creation, the water was created through heat and air, an essence of the nothingness to somethingness. I like to think of the creation of olive oil in this way, the entire process of growing olives and how that essence is pressed out from the olive. It is how we have olive oil.
I use it to dress or coat my candles, creating a womb-like encasement.
It is representative of the cycle, birth to death, creation to destruction and creation again, or even the ancient cave as described by Woodman and Dickson (1996) as being a part of a “womb-to-tomb” cycle. It is an essence of the life-giving and life-taking power of the Dark Goddess, the Goddess with many names across time and space. All the Goddesses, all the names, the same divine essence: the water, the blood. My Black Sacred Candle drips with the same waters, the same wetness that creates, sustains, and devours. She is wise, as am I, so too – you!
The Choice, an Intuitive Approach
Whether you have a specific oil or specific ritual for oil dressing your candles or not, I encourage you to dive deep into your own intuitive waters for what makes sense to you. It creates the foundation for the Earth element to be brought into form with your candle in the next step, by providing the right environment or stickiness to the candle. Some traditions rub the oil on the candles starting the top and going clockwise if they are calling forces in and if they are removing or banishing something with the candle, they rub the oil starting at the bottom and going counterclockwise. I personally take a different approach as I am utilizing the Black Sacred Candle as a working candle that has many jobs – including banishing anything that does not belong, providing a safe and protected space to work in, and of course to serve as a beacon for energetic forces which I may call to.
A helpful tip on directing the energy:
As you create the water element by dressing the candle in an oil of your choice, focus on the energy coming from your hands. Your hands craft and create, catch air kisses, heal through touch, are expressive of your nature (for some of us, especially while we are speaking!), your body is the form behind the force of creation and so is your Black Sacred Candle.
Try making your own chant for this one, it can be fun and does not have to rhyme!
This concludes part two, part three is available here.
A candle and key,
Kaycee
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Feature Image Credit: Bithin raj via Pexels
References
Woodman, M., & Dickson, E. (1996). Dancing in the flames. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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