C is for Candle Magic

Posting number 6 for the Pagan Blog Project!  This one might be one that is a pretty "common" type topic, but it's one of my favorite ways to do a magical working.  I've included two examples of candle gardens:  one for winter and one for spring since we are rather in between those two seasons right now.

A Winter Themed Candle Garden

Magic for me means working with a combination of tools at one time.  And with a candle garden, so very many tools can be incorporated.  If it exists, it can be used in a candle garden.  Popular items to use for candle gardens are flowers, crystals, mirrors/glass, colored and/or scented candles, tarot cards, pictures, elemental associations, and deity representations.  The options for candle gardens are just endless from the simple to the complex.  Candle gardens are an excellent tool for use in group magics, as well, because each person can contribute some thing or things.  The task of organizing your collective things creates a bond with the group members boosting the power of the candle garden.

Often in magic we are told each item used should have a specific purpose towards the working.  But, in my opinion, at least, the objects chosen for a candle garden don't have to relate directly to your working.  I call these accessory items boosters.  They are there for beauty and effect, which boosts your energy and connection to the working.  Besides being for a specific magical working, candle gardens can be used as devotional tools, made in honor of a particular deity or season or in celebration of some special event.  As such the items you choose are most likely based on their ascetic or emotional value, not their magical value.

A Spring Themed Candle Garden

Candle gardens speak to and for us on many levels.  The most obvious, of course, is sight.  Looking at a completed candle garden is a beautiful thing.  (Unless you were going for something different, I suppose.)    Another subtle way they speak to us can be through smell, if one uses scented candles or incorporates incense.  A large enough candle garden can emit enough heat to be felt.  Giving your candle garden a musical accompaniment can give it a voice to be heard.  The fire light, the colors, any scents, the objects themselves, as well as how they all fit together speaks to and feeds our spirits.