Candles are a common item around the modern home. We use them for emergency lighting during a power cut. Or we light them to alter the mood during a romantic dinner or a pampering bath. They’re also synonymous with magic – think of wishing on your birthday cake or lighting candles for a spell!
Today we’re going to explore what superstitions feature these ancient household items. We’ll also look at the use of candles in magic. You can listen to
Bear in mind that candles are a huge topic, so in the interests of space, I’m focusing on just a small selection of superstitions and beliefs.
Candles and Magic
Banish the idea of an old crone lighting candles to cast spells in a dingy hovel. In earlier centuries, candles would be beyond the reach of most households.
You’d likely only find beeswax candles in churches who could afford them. ‘Ordinary’ people would use rushlights or tallow candles. The latter was made from animal fat so you can imagine the smell as they burned.
But that’s not to say candles don’t appear in magic!
Make a Wish
The birthday cake is an incredibly common site for magic candles. Using them cuts across countries, religions, cultures, and creeds. Blowing out candles on a cake is a familiar part of many celebrations. (And yes, it is a form of magic)
The number of candles on the cake varies; some traditions use the same number of candles as the age reached, others spell out the number using candles, and others use candles to denote groups of years (such as one candle for every five years).
They’re not just there for their aesthetic value, either. Jan Harold Brunvand points out that the typical ‘belief’ that the wish will only come true if all of the candles extinguish in a single puff (2006: 170).
The burning of candles in some spiritual faiths such as Wicca or witchcraft depends on the candle being ‘charged’ with a desire or wish. The burning of the candle then releases the wish or desire into the universe. The candle is a colour appropriate to the desire (so pink for love, or blue for healing for example), and may be inscribed with runes or symbols to help the wish on its way.
Find simple candle spells in The Magpie & The Wardrobe: A Curiosity of Folklore, Magic
Candles and the Church
Candles are a common sight in many churches too. According to this site, the origins of burning candles in Catholic churches may date back to the days of the Old Testament. Nowadays burning a candle represents Christ, the “Light of the world” (John 8:12). Alternatively, lighting a votive candle represents a prayer being offered.
Lighting candles also features in Diwali, the Indian festival of light celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, as well as other religious festivals.
Christmas Candles
An exchange in the correspondence section of the Folklore journal reveals an interesting custom involving Christmas candles. E. C. Blanchard wrote to the journal asking for information about “the custom of burning two candles on Christmas Eve” (1917: 106). The response explained that the custom was common in Cumberland, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and “probably” Northumberland, and involved only one candle.
The Christmas candle was around “half a yard in length”, and “usually a gift from the grocer to his customers” (1917: 107). The family lit it during supper on Christmas Eve when everyone had made it to the table. Lighting it too soon, or snuffing it out before the end of supper, brought bad luck. The family kept a piece of the candle until the following year.
The same article also explained a similar custom in Cornwall, where a member of the family painted designs on the candles. Colliers carried lit candles on a board near Oswestry as a way to ask for money.
Finding (and Repelling) Evil Spirits
Perhaps the most obvious reason to burn a candle is to keep the darkness away. If you hold the shadows back, you may also repel the sinister creatures lurking in them!
For some, placing a lit candle inside a jack o’lantern at Halloween holds evil spirits at bay. The burning candle acts as a protection device for your home. Yet the Celts originally believed that
But
A candle is the smallest and most portable means of having fire (relatively safely) in your house. Some believe that if the candle suddenly blows out, it means evil spirits are near.
I suppose they’re a supernatural Davy lamp, of sorts. I’ve also heard that if the flame burns blue, it means a ghost is present.
One superstition claims that looking into a mirror by candlelight revealed the ghosts in your home. Candlelight illuminates your home, as well as the shadow realm you can only see through a mirror.
Superstitions Involving Candles
If candles burn out entirely, robbers will come to your home. Though that’s possibly because it’s easier to commit crimes in the dark. It could also refer to the candles ‘created’ for the Hand of Glory.
Candle flames flicker and flare according to air patterns in your house. But if the flame suddenly jumps, then a neighbour has gossip to pass on.
If a bright spark shoots up from a nearby candle, you will receive a letter soon.
Some believe a candle should never be extinguished without the sign of the cross being made. I’ve also heard of Wiccans who won’t blow out a candle for fear of offending the fire elemental in the flame. They’ll only pinch or snuff out the candle.
A candle that burns until it goes out brings only bad luck. That superstition makes sense. In earlier centuries,
The humble candle was a bad thing indeed for sick people too. Carrying a lit candle into a sick room would also herald the death of the invalid. Even keeping the candle out of the room was no guarantee of safety. If the smoke turned towards the church, it meant the invalid would die soon (Daniels & Stevans 2003: 421).
Candles have a multitude of uses, from protection of the home, to sending wishes into the universe. If Neil Gaiman’s Stardust is to be believed, then candlelight is also the fastest way to travel! Want to try making your own scented candles at home? This guide is pretty useful and it should get you started.
Over to you! What superstitions do you follow around candles?
References
Blanchard, E.C. (1971), ‘Christmas Candles’, Folklore 28 (1), pp. 106-107.
Brunvand, Jan Harold (2006), American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, New York: Garland.
Daniels, Cora Linn and C. M. Stevans (eds) (2003 [1903]), Encyclopedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific.
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Love this. I adore candles, I did a lot of reading on magic and spells etc as a teen and learnt all about colour candle magic just done some more research for a story so this is quite timely 😀 thanks my lovely.
You’re more than welcome!
I regularly practice ritual candle magick. One of my favorites is to anoint a green candle with prosperity or money draw oil. Then I sprinkle a shredded dollar bill on it, Then I sprinkle finely shredded printer’s gold on it. Next I prepare my alter and light the candle. If it burns slowly, it means that whatever financial thing I asked the gods will slowly come to pass, if it all. If it burns quickly, it means I’ll have little resistance to my financial request and it will come to pass soon. Great post Icy!
Do you find that it works?
Well sometime back about a year ago exactly today, someone knocked at 9:11 pm and left a candle lit. I walked past it to see who was around which is easy cause only one way in and out the culvasac. No one! I called down my roommate cause I had bad feeling and she picked up the candle and goes omg ot has your name on it. It was specifically the white guardian angel prayer candle that said angel de la guarde and my name was creepily duct taped upside down over the angel and since it was lit we can smell it and it was dead smell and looked like the candle has something dripped on it. One of my roommates was Wiccan so I went to show her and she freaked out and said to get it out of the house and not to blow it out but pinch it. I have pics of it as well. Let’s say since that night my life has changed for the very worst and people stay away from me. My email is amy26362@yahoo.com plz any help would be appreciated greatly
I can’t help, but I know someone who might be able to! I highly recommend Asphodelo Stregganio in these matters: he’s got this article about reversal magic on his blog (click here), or you can hire him to help you break anything especially strong. Good luck!
Yes. That is one of the most effective candle rituals I have. I have seen a candle that’s supposed to last hours get consumed in minutes. A few days later, I received a very generous raise and a promotion. On the other hand, I have seen identical candles burn all night and not get what I want. The faster the burn the more likely it is that I’ll get what I want.
That’s amazing!!
A candle superstition I read was that if you light mulberry candles between Christmas & New Year’s, it’ll grant you a wish. I plan to try it out next month, so wish me luck!
Oh do let me know if that works!
I dream of my late cousin few years ago. He said on my dream that he’s been dead long time and he cannot escape the “jail” because he was helpless. Then in my dream that “jail” he was saying was a dark place and all the children cries were only be heard there. My cousin also told me that the only way he can feel our (the living) world was an AM radio station. He then told me, the place is too dark that if I and my relatives light a candle for him, that’s the only time he would able to go outside of the “jail”.
Then I woke up and realized that my cousin is maybe trapped in a limbo. He died anyway from a suicide. It is true that candles are portals to the spirits and it also serve as their light, and perhaps a light going to a more peaceful place. Thanks for the article.
I’m glad you found it useful!
Sorry to hear about your cousin. Our culture believes that suicide is also the same thing as taking a life and therefore the individual will still have to repent their sin staying locked up til they were meant to pass on in the real life so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s in a limbo. Hope that he’s found peace now. When a decease comes to thoughts, you can always light a white candle to keep your thoughts safe and secure.
Why when I burn a white candle to clear negative energy , do things go seriously wrong in my home ? My husband , not the most tolerant man gets irritated . I try to calm things but the mood changes for the rest of the day .
We are trying to sell our house , it’s stressing me out it’s not happening , thought it might help
Hm, that’s strange. Perhaps you could try a different method to clear negative energy. Buying a new broom and visualising it being ‘swept’ out of the door is a famous one (but don’t take it with you when you move). It’s also less likely to annoy your husband! Then you have less magical things, like baking things when you know people are coming to view your house because the lovely smell makes people view it as a home 🙂 Good luck!
I have a question. Is it bad luck to receive a used candle? One of my friends gifted me 2 scented candles she used once but ahí ve she has so many candles she gifted me 2, however she had used them before. Is there any bad luck in using a candle that was used by someone else before?
I’ve never heard of that being bad luck!
Hi, I received a lucky candle as a present and it seemingly did bring me good luck both in love and finances. However now the candle is nearly finished and my luck feels like it’s changing. I’m not usually superstitious but I’m wondering what I should do to avoid bad luck. It is in a tall glass vase, thinking I could maybe smash this or should I burn the wax out until it’s finished?
Have you heard mentioned in folklore that a new candle displayed without a flame or lit at least once is bad luck?
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Someone once said that the way the candle had burnt out in their house meant there would be a death before the year was out, and there was but I don’t know what way the candle had burnt. Has anyone heard of this before
I haven’t heard of that one, but it sounds like it may involve wax divination, when you look at the way the wax melts to get signs.