Sleep Spell Oil

To Induce Sleep You will need:
1/2 oz carrier oil
12 drops bergamot
3 drops lavender
3 drops cypress

Directions:

In 1/2 oz of carrier oil (I used apricot kernel, sweet almond would also be good),
mix 12 drops of bergamot, 3 drops lavender and 3 drops cypress.

To increase the benefits of your sleep, apply a few drops behind your ears, spreading the excess out over your jawline. Do this immediately before bed.

This is a good oil blend for people who have trouble falling asleep at night,
or for people who sleep restlessly.

RHYMING INVOCATIONS TO THE ELEMENTS

East

Soft scented stillness that warns of the storm

Whisper of wisdom full living and warm

Breathe into us wonder at all we may know

Welcome, wise wind, from wherever you blow.

South

Bright spark of courage, blaze of desire

The passion for change is a wild, raging fire

Kindled by will, it burns in our veins

Welcome within us, our hearts are your flames

West

Power of water, power to feel

Rising within us, ancient and real

Soothed into softness or tossed to extremes

Welcome, wild waves from the depths of our dreams

North

Mother in waiting, child in the womb

Newly strung thread waits the night on the loom

Earth that we come from, Earth where we go

Welcome, as you welcomed us long ago.

The Witches Spell for December 3rd: Self Esteem Spell

Self Esteem Spell

(Author Unknown)

Tools Needed:

A Bath
7 Green Oak Leaves (Or Bay leaves if these are out of season)
Lavender Oil
A Purple Candle
A Yellow Candle
Jasmine Oil
Purple Thread

Instructions :

Run the bath to a depth and temperature of your liking. Put the lavender oil and oak leaves into it, swish it around, then light the candles and climb into the bath. Close your eyes (but don’t fall asleep). Begin to breathe, breathe in a warming Orange light of confidence, and breathe out murky coloured self-doubts.

Imagine a yellow light above your head, which slides down your body, touching every bit of you from top to the tips of your toes. Continue to breathe in slowly through your nose and out through your mouth.

Say out loud:

“I am gorgeous,
I am beautiful,
I am Goddess”

Repeat this six times in total.

When you leave the bath, snuff out the candles and thread the oak leaves on the purple thread. Then, whenever your self-esteem fails you, heat jasmine oil in an oil burner, light the candles, hold up the oak leaves and repeat the chant.

When the leaves eventually run out, begin again with new oak leaves and new candles.

The oak leaves may be carried with you (in a small box or envelope) in your handbag / bag on (all sorts) of important dates. When touching up your make – up, or getting ready just get out the oak leaves and repeat the mantra to spur you to greater things.

7 Ways to Make Your Living Space Smell Nice

by Megan, selected from Intent.com

Rather than spraying chemical-laden air fresheners, choose one of these seven natural ways to make your living space smell a little nicer.

1. Invest in houseplants. Have your favorite plants and herbs growing in your kitchen, living room and bathroom in small pots. The presence of green plants will help reduce indoor air pollution and keep clean air circulating in your space.

2. Save your citrus fruit skins. Save the peels of oranges, lemons, limes and other citrus- fruits. You can place them in boiling water to have a fresh scent in the kitchen, or run them in your garbage disposal with boiling water. Lastly, put some citrus skins in your vacuum bag the next time you vacuum your carpet.

3. Dilute essential oil with water in a spray bottle. You can spray your furniture and carpet to make the whole room smell a specific scent. To diversify, you can have different scents for different areas of your home. For example: lavender for the living room, sandalwood for your bedroom and peppermint for the bathroom.

4. Place bowls of white vinegar in corners of the room. The vinegar will neutralize and absorb any offending odors.

5. Place fabric softener in your shoes and closet. It will take away any stale clothing smells. For another closet air freshener, place a cedar block at the bottom of your closet. Use sandpaper for a new layer once a year.

6. Light soy candles instead of regular candles. Soy candles are longer-lasting, better for the environment and have a more robust smell. (They are also safer than carcinogen-emitting candles.)

7. Bake bread or cook your own meals. Few things are as welcoming as the smell of freshly baked bread or the herbs of a home-cooked dinner.

Start Making Scents

How to Make Incense for Magickal and Spiritual Intents

by Miriam Harline

Smell is the sense most hot-wired into our animal past. According to Diane Ackerman’s A Natural History of the Senses,we smell by means of olfactory bulbs at our nostrils’ upper tips that, when triggered directly, signal the limbic system — a brain region inherited from our mammalian ancestors, a player in lust and creativity. Smell is also our most permanent sense. Research says scents go straight into long-term memory, later to be retriggered with all the emotion of the time that laid the memories down. As Ackerman writes, “A smell can be overwhelmingly nostalgic be-cause it triggers powerful images and emotions before we have time to edit them.”

Smell thus proves one of our bodies’ best gifts to the magician, ritualist and spiritual seeker. To speak to the emotions, to the animal spirit, to the part of us that believes in and works magick, use scent. Burn incense.

If ease is a priority, you can buy your magickal incenses. I’d recommend Wortcunning and Nu Essence brands. You can find Wortcunning incenses, by local incense master Leon Reed, at Travelers (501 E. Pine in Seattle) or directly through Wortcunning (P. O. Box 9785, Seattle, WA 98109). Wortcunning incense is one of the reasons I moved to Seattle. On a visit here, I picked up some Pan incense, which when I ran out of self-igniting charcoal in mid-Missouri I burned on the stove: great before going out dancing. I figured any place with incense so magickal had to be worth returning to.

However, if you want incense imbued with your specific magickal or spiritual purpose and your energy, make it from scratch. Once you have supplies, it needn’t take a long time, maybe an hour per scent. It’s fun. And there’s something special about burning a mixture that smells heavenly (or noxious, as the intention may be) and saying, “Hey, I made that.”

Following I’ve set down wisdom from my teachers and my forays into the craft and recommended books to take you further. But, as with cooking, you learn incense making by doing. Find a recipe you like, study it till you understand how it works, then improvise based on your tastes and ingredients. As with any practice, trust your instincts. If you want to reproduce the exact incense in a seventeenth century grimoire or Egyptian papyrus, you’ll follow that recipe to the letter (if you can find the ingredients). Otherwise, experiment. Play.

I describe here how to make loose incense, to be burned on self-igniting charcoal briquettes. You can buy such charcoal most any place that sells incense herbs. You can also make stick and cone incenses, which the books I recommend describe. Stick and cone incenses look more impressive for presents and are easier to burn. But they’re more complicated to make, and the different forms don’t make your intentions’ results more sure.

Getting Started

To make incense, you’ll first gather some ingredients and tools:

Herbs and oils
Eyedropper (preferably several)
Base oil
Mortar and pestle (preferably two)
Coffee grinder (optional)
Ziplock baggies, in gallon and sandwich size
Small bottles or tins (optional)
Small spoon or spoons (optional)
Astrological calendar
Book or books of recipes

If you want to make just one incense, get just the herbs and oils you need. However, if you plan to make incense as an ongoing hobby, round up some basic incense makings. Some elementary herbs and resins, arranged by how often I use them:

Sandalwood
Myrrh
Frankincense
Benzoin
Pine resin
Orris root
Lavender
Rose petals
Cedar
Cinnamon
Copal
Rosemary
Mace
Nutmeg
Bay
Lemongrass Some of the above list will look pretty familiar. Rosemary? Nutmeg? Got it, in the spice cabinet. If you want to start cheap, you can make many incenses from common kitchen spices.Of the nonspices listed above, orris root (iris root) deserves special mention. It’s a good idea to add one part orris root as a preservative and fixative to most incense recipes, especially those that don’t include resins. (Resins are gums formed by solidifying plant juices, for example frankincense, myrrh and amber.) Get your orris root preground if you don’t feel like spending an afternoon worrying a tuber.
In general, you’ll want to get woods and tough roots in powdered form. For anything grindable, however, get leaves or chunks, and grind the ingredient when you need it. That way, it will stay fresher.

For oils, I tend to buy those specific to the recipe I’m doing. After making a few incenses, you’ll have a large library. These are the ones I use most:
- Patchouli
- Jasmine
- Cypress
- Eucalyptus
- Peppermint
- Rose
Use essential oils, rather than perfume oils. An essential oil will generally announce itself on the bottle. And watch out for patchouli oil. It’s intense; a few drops will do.

You can locate herbs and oils at pagan and herbal supply shops. To buy herbs, I tend to go to Travelers or Tenzing Momo (93 Pike Street in Seattle). You can order from Tenzing Momo by phone, at (206) 623-9837. I wouldn’t recommend a phone order for a novice incense maker, though; you’ll want to see what you’re buying. Many herbs and resins are very light, ounces not pounds. Some are very expensive, though most are not. The fresher you get something the better — beware a very dusty herb bottle.

Herbs originate in gardens and the wild, of course, and if you have access, jump at the chance to harvest when the herb’s ready. Don’t wildcraft too much; take no more than a quarter of what you find, and never take more than you can use. Pagans will want to ask the plant’s permission before clipping; a gift in exchange, such as water, returns energy to the herb.

There is such a thing as too fresh, though. If you just cut your herb, you can’t use it today. I’ve tried quick-drying herbs at 200 degrees in the oven, and it doesn’t work. Ideally, you should harvest herbs on a dry day at the peak of their maturity, when active ingredients have reached the highest concentration — an herbal will tell you when. Hang the plants upside down in a dry, airy place between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit; they should take about a week to dry. Don’t store them still damp; they’ll mold. Store herbs in air-tight containers, ideally glass or pottery. This process should occur beforeyou try making incense.

When working with oils, an eye-dropper proves useful. If you don’t employ one, at some point I guarantee you’ll screw up an incense recipe by, say, pouring in a half-ounce of patchouli. Get several to avoid cleaning droppers between oils. Look for eyedroppers at your local drugstore. In addition to scent oils, you’ll add a base oil to incense to activate some of the esters (scent chemicals) in dried herbs, to make the incense mixture hang together better and to help preserve it. I tend to use safflower oil because it has a very light scent, but I’ve been told it goes rancid more quickly than others. People I trust have recommended jojoba oil and sesame oil. The strong scent of sesame oil disappears as the mixture dries.

To grind your herbs and resins, you’ll want at least one mortar and pestle. It’s a good idea to get two and powder herbs in one, resins in another — this because resins tend to stick and stain and may never come out of a coarse mortar and pestle. Mortars and pestles can be found at kitchen supply stores. If you do a lot of grinding, you’ll want a coffee grinder. Buy one secondhand, and devote it to incense only — you don’t want mugwort-flavored coffee.

Ziplock baggies are good for incense mixing and for temporary and less pretty incense storage. More pretty incense storage is the domain of cute, colored, cork-topped glass bottles and cunning little tins. The Soap Box used to carry such bottles, and I’ve seen them at kitchen supply stores. You can also store incense in film canisters or pill containers, anything airtight. Small spoons prove helpful when doling out incense samples to burn, something you’ll do a lot while concocting scents.

An astrological calendar aids in making incense just as it does in any magickal or ritual activity, to align with the energies of the universe. The subject of associations is endless and personal, and I’ll only touch on it here. In general, create incenses under a waxing or full moon for intentions involving growth and waxing energy, under a waning moon for intentions involving shrinking or ending. If you’re making an incense for Aphrodite or to draw love, Venus should probably be favorably aspected; to get a job, Jupiter should probably be favorably aspected. You get the idea.

You’ll want recipe books. I list some recipes at the end of the article; chances are none of them will suit your exact magickal or spiritual purpose. The books I rely on are Scott Cunningham’s The Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Brews and Wylundt’s Book of Incense. The latter includes many recipes based on kitchen spices, if you can’t afford much in the way of supplies. Both also explain how to make stick and cone incenses.

Substitutions

Suppose you have a recipe you like, for an intention you’re interested in. It calls for peppermint, bay, frankincense and gum bdellium. The first three the herb shop has. On the last one, the cashier shakes her head. “Never heard of it.” You try pronouncing it again — same effect. Even if an herb, gum or oil is theoretically obtainable, you may run into a situation when you want the incense now and can’t find the odd ingredient.

Don’t give up. Substitute.

You can substitute in several ways. First, if the recipe calls for the herb or resin and you can only find the oil, use the oil, or vice versa. For example, oak moss itself is hard to find, but you can locate oak moss oil fairly easily.

If you can’t track something down in solid or liquid form, The Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Brews has a lovely table suggesting one-for-one substitutions for many ingredients. You can also substitute according to intention or elemental or planetary rulership. Both The Complete Book and Wylundt’s list ingredients aligned to different intentions, elements and planets. For example, “love” has a list of suggested ingredients, as do “water” and “Venus.” Many Wicca and Magick 101 books offer similar tables of correspondence. If you poke through the tables, you’ll find a substitute for your herb or oil, often a whole list to choose from. In a pinch, as Cunningham writes, rosemary can safely be substituted for any other herb, rose for any flower and frankincense or copal for any gum resin.

Substitutions are essential for many obscure and poisonous ingredients recommended by old magickal tomes. In case you need to be told, do not use aconite (wolfsbane), belladonna, hemlock, henbane, mistletoe, nightshade or other poisonous substances in your incense! It’s not worth the hassle. Some substances are sufficiently toxic that merely handling them is dangerous. You can replace any poisonous herb in incense with tobacco, as Cunningham suggests.

Likewise, be careful with ingredients that cause smoke that’s very foul-smelling or liable to produce an allergic reaction, such as asafoetida, mace, pepper and rue. Some incenses are best burned outdoors.

Making Incense

Ingredients, tools, moon phase and aspects all lined up, it’s time to start. I generally lay out everything on a clean, smooth surface, then put up a circle and call the elements, deities and fey to witness. You can be as formal or informal as you like about your working, but stating and concentrat-ing on your intention as you assemble ingredients will help imbue the incense with that intention.

Now dig out your gallon Ziplock baggie. This will be your mixing bowl.

Reread your recipe. Incense recipes are often listed in terms of “parts.” What constitutes a part is your decision. I often use for a part as much as I can hold in the palm of my hand. You can also use a teaspoon or a half-cup or any other measure as a part, as long as you keep the part measure consistent through the recipe. If your incense recipe is listed in terms of weight (ounces, grams), however, use weight measurements throughout — don’t mix parts, which are measure-ments by volume, with measurements by weight, or the result will make no sense. Whatever the form of measurement, measure any ingredient that requires grinding in its final, powdered state.

I often find I have a limited quantity of one ingredient. In this case, I usually grind that first and let the resulting measurement dictate how much incense to make. For example, if the recipe calls for two parts lavender, and I only have two teaspoons of it, my part will be one teaspoon.

Another factor in pulverization order is your tools. If you have two mortars, you can grind herbs and gums separately. If not, start with herbs as they’ll stick up the mortar less.

If your ingredients and tools are sufficient to the task, grind herbs and resins in order of smell. Incense, like perfume, is considered to have top, middle and base notes. Top notes are the lightest and generally what you smell first. Floral scents are often top notes, for example neroli (orange flowers). Base notes are the bottom of the spectrum, the strongest, darkest scents. Animal odors, such as musk, and heavy woods, such as patchouli, usually form base notes. Some strong herbs, such as lavender, are also bases. Vanilla and rose are examples of middle notes — strong, but not as overpowering as patchouli. Use less of the base and middle notes when creating an incense, more of the top notes, to create a balance. In the absence of other concerns, start creating your incense with the base note. This rule especially applies if you’re creating or revising a recipe.

To get to know each ingredient, burn a small ground sample. Your own associations and emotions for each scent are important. For me, benzoin smells fey; eucalyptus is cool and sensual. Everyone senses subtly different affinities. If you find your nose burning out, sniff coffee beans to clear your sense of smell.

Grinding takes a while. Have faith. Some herbs are surprisingly tough to work with — lemongrass, for example, grinds away to nothing, so you’ll be working a long time. Bay doesn’t pulverize well; use scissors to cut it as fine as possible. Your final powder grains need not be infinitesimally small; however, the smaller you grind, the more thoroughly your ingredients can mix to create the unique smell of the final incense.

As you finish each ingredient, add it to the gallon Ziplock baggie, close it and shake thoroughly.

Once you have all the dry ingredients in, add scent oils. If you’re adding an oil where the recipe calls for an herb, or vice versa, keep in mind that an oil comes across much more strongly than the matching herb. A few drops of most oils will suffice, unless you’re making mountains of incense. Again, with your oils, start with the base note and use little, then move on to the middle and top. Mix your oils with the dry ingredients thoroughly, rubbing out dark spots and balls.

Herbs, resins and scent oils mixed, burn the result. What do you think?

You’re wrinkling your nose. That’s okay — you can fix it.

Suppose your incense smells like just one of your ingredients — cinnamon and nothing else. There’s a couple of ways of dealing with this. You can add a little more of everything else. Or you can decide which of the other ingredients would help balance the strong scent. Cinnamon’s a middle to base note — another middle to base note would balance it, for example lavender, assuming your recipe includes lavender. Oil is the easiest way to add balance because it’s so strong.

Sometimes incense will come out smelling like next to nothing. Too much balance! Here, you’ll want to emphasize one or two ingredients, whichever seem most appropriate. For example, if I were creating a moon incense with oil of jasmine that came out smelling bland, I might tap in a few more drops of oil, as jasmine is an ingredient that I like and that feels very moon to me.

Once you’ve got your incense smelling as you want it, it’s time to add the base oil. Add it in small amounts — you don’t want the incense wet. Add till you get a sticky or tacky feel, till the powder sticks a little to your hand.

The base oil gives your incense a longer life, but it makes the mixture produce a heavy, burnt-smelling smoke in the short term. If you must burn the incense right away, leave out the base oil. After you add the oil, incense takes a week to ten days to set, and it’s not till after that period that you’ll be rid of excess smokiness. Check your incense while it’s setting — if the smoke continues heavy, you can leave the container open to let the in-cense breathe a bit.

When I’m done adding base oil to an incense, I raise energy and consecrate the incense to the purpose for which I devised it. This step is essential if yours is to be a magickal incense.

Now, sit back! You’ve made incense. Be proud of yourself. You have a new ritual tool that will heighten your every working. And you’ve brought some scents into the world.

Special thanks to Sylvana SilverWitch and her incense classes, from which I learned much of the preceding.

Sample Recipes

Full Moon incense

2 parts frankincense 2 parts myrrh 2 parts sandalwood 1/ 2 part rose petals Jasmine oil

The smell is powdery and sweet, very moony and watery.

Hecate incense

4 parts sandalwood 2 parts peppermint 2 parts myrrh Cypress oil

As you might guess, the sandalwood is very forward in this recipe. Wortcunning also makes a stellar Hecate incense based on information in ancient magickal texts. However, that incense strikes me as better burned outdoors. Use the preceding to gently honor Her in your hermetically sealed ritual room.

Hermes incense

1 part cinnamon 1 part frankincense 1 part lavender

This is not my own recipe; I’m afraid I forget where I got it. But it’s great! Use it also for spells of communication, travel protection and the like — anything ruled by Hermes.

Lammas incense

2 parts frankincense 2 parts sandalwood 1 part pine resin 1/ 2 part bay 1/ 2 part cinnamon 1/ 2 part coriander 1/ 2 part meadowsweet 1/ 2 part oregano 1/ 2 part rosemary A few drops rose oil Slightly less oak moss oil Very little patchouli oil (start with one drop)

Meditation and divination incense

2 parts benzoin 2 parts lavender 2 parts myrrh 2 parts sandalwood 1 part orange peel 1/ 2 part mugwort

Equal amounts eucalyptus, patchouli oils This mixture is very floaty and psychically oriented. If you have trouble grounding, ground before you burn. The sandalwood and eucalyptus come to the fore.

Calendar of the Moon for June 8th

8 Huath/Thargelion

Thargelia Day II: Festival of the First Fruits

Color: Green

Element: Earth

Altar: Upon a green cloth lay five stones of different colors, an urn of white wine, and a basket of the first produce of the year.

Offerings: The first fruits from the garden, some of which should be shared with outsiders.

Daily Meal: Vegan. Barley. Figs. Dates.

Demeter’s Thargelia Invocation

The road to which our feet are set
Is in a harvest way,
For to the fair-robed Demeter
Our comrades bring today
The first fruits of their harvesting
She on the threshing place
Great store of barley grain outpoured
For guardian of Her Grace.
O great earth-bound Demeter
Whose daughter is the spring,
Whose hands bring forth the golden grain,
These gifts to you we bring:
Our hands, our hearts, our bellies
Once empty and now filled,
The greening of the garden,
The flour of the mill,
We thank you for our sustenance
The bounty of field and hill,
Your touch upon the barren land
Will make it more fertile still.

Chant:
Demeter Demeter Mother of the Grain
Fruit of the Harvest come with the rain

(The produce is brought forward to the altar and laid in baskets, one at a time, kneeling. Afterwards it is shared with others brought in from outside, for generosity begets abundance. The wine is poured out as a libation for Demeter.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

SPELL TO ATTRACT THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE

you will need: A sampler size of your favorite scent A pink candle
First carve a heart in your candle with a tack or toothpick. Light the candle
in a window where it will receive moonlight (full moon light is best).
Put the scent container in front of the candle and say:
Venus, grant me the love that I lack;
Through this scent, my mate attract!
Let the candle burn out naturally, then carry the scent with you,
spraying on a little whenever you are out or may be meeting people.
Increase the power of the magic by repeating the invocation as you put on the scent!

Light a Candle, Cast a Spell

by Melanie Fire Salamander

In Northern European societies, Imbolc or Candlemas traditionally fell at a time when, with the end of winter in sight, families used the animal fat saved over the cold season to make candles. I don’t butcher stock, and I’m not planning to render meat fat to make candles, but I like connecting with the past through candle-making. And though the days are longer now than at solstice, they’re still short enough that a few candles help.

To further your magickal purposes, you can make a spell candle for Imbolc — a candle into which you imbue a particular magickal purpose. Once you’ve made and charged your spell candle, you burn it over time to further your intention. I find spell candles particularly good for goals that require a period of continued energy to manifest, for example a new job, and for things I desire recurrently, for example peace and harmony for myself and the people around me.

Also, Imbolc is traditionally a time of initiations, of divination and of all things sacred to the goddess Bride, including smithcraft, poetry and healing. To align with the season, consider making spell candles dedicated to these ends.

You can make two kinds of candle, dipped and molded. For spell candles, I’d recommend molded candles, so you can include herbs and other ingredients that wouldn’t mix evenly with dipping wax.

Things you need

Cylindrical glass container or containers
Paraffin-based candle wax
Double boiler or other large pot in which to melt the wax
Wick
Scissors to cut the wick
Popsicle sticks (tongue depressors), one per candle
Metal tab to anchor the bottom of each wick (a heavy paper clip will do)
Crayons, old candles or candle coloring for color, if desired
Small objects appropriate to your spell
Herbs appropriate to your spell
Scent appropriate to your spell

For your molding container, the best thing is the used glass from a seven-day candle. You can find seven-day candles all over, including at Larry’s Market. The Edge of the Circle Books has them, or check your local pagan store.

You can also use glass tumblers, jelly jars and the like. The larger the container, the bigger the possible candle and the longer it will burn. Seven-day candle containers have the advantage of having a good candle shape, so that the flame easily melts the wax at the sides of the glass. To accomplish your purpose, ideally you’ll burn the entire candle, leaving no stub, which is easiest to do in a container shaped like a seven-day candle’s. Make sure also that the glass of your container is fairly thick.

If you do use a seven-day candle, you’ll need to clean out any remaining wax. To do so, heat the glass in a pot of water to melt the wax. Be sure to heat the glass with the water, rather than introducing cold glass into boiling water, which might break the glass. You’ll need a bottle brush, detergent and some concentration, but it is possible to clean these containers.

Candle wax can be found at candle-supply stores and craft stores. It comes in blocks of two pounds each; the smallest amount you can buy is more than enough for several candles. For wick, again you’ll need a candle-supply or craft store. Lead-based wick, which has a thin thread of metal covered with cotton, is easiest to work with, but you can also use pure cotton wick. The popsicle stick, a craft store or drugstore item, is used to anchor the wick at the top of the candle.

If you do use a seven-day candle container, and the tin tab at the bottom hasn’t disappeared, save it. Such a tab anchors the wick to the bottom of the glass, making sure the wick lasts the length of the candle. If you haven’t saved the tab, you can use a heavy paperclip or buy the real thing at a candle-supply or craft store.

The remaining ingredients depend on the intention of your spell and should have associations appropriate to that intention. None of these ingredients is required — you can make a spell candle by simply making and charging it, or by charging an ordinary candle. However, as with any charm, the more energy you put into in its creation and enchantment, the stronger the spell. I give some ideas for ingredients following; for a full list of associations, check your favorite table of magickal correspondences, or see The Spiral Dance, by Starhawk; Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, by Scott Cunningham; or Aleister Crowley’s 777.

The easiest way to color candles is to melt crayons or old candles with your wax. To get a strong color, use more colored wax. Don’t mix colors, or you’ll end up with a muddy brown. You can also purchase candle coloring at a candle-supply or craft store. For color symbolism, check tables of correspondences; as always, your personal associations and preferences are the strongest and most resonant. Some common associations follow:

Red: Lust, passion, health, animal vitality, courage, strength
Pink: Love, affection, friendship, kindness
Orange: Sexual energy, earth energy, adaptability, stimulation
Brown: Earth energy, animals
Yellow: Intellect, mental energy, concentration
Green: Finances, money, prosperity, fertility, growth
Blue: Calm, healing, patience, peace, clairvoyance
Purple: Spirituality, the fey, meditation, divination
Black: Waning moon, release, banishing, absorbing and destroying negativity, healing
White: Waxing or full moon, pro-tection, purification, peace, awareness; good for most workings

Probably the most common small object to add to a spell candle is a written expression of intention. Candle makers often add semiprecious stones; you can add a stone appropriate to your intention, for example sacred to a deity who rules that area of life, or personally connected to you, say a birthstone. Depending on your spell, other small objects might suit. If you’re doing a spell to invoke the peace of the ocean on a still day, you could include sand or seashells. A candle to draw love might include small cut-out hearts, one to draw money pieces of dollar bill. Note that any added objects should ideally be flammable, or if not flammable small enough not to prevent your candle from burning.

You can use herbs suitable for incense to further your spell. Use herbs you can safely burn indoors. Herbs may make a candle smoke and can combine with the wick to create a large flame, so use them sparingly. Also, herbs tend to clump at the top and bottom of the candle, often producing a stub at the end that’s hard to burn. However, herbs are easy burnable ingredients to add in line with your intention, and if you choose the right herbs they’ll smell good. For lists of herbs, try any incense-making book, such as Scott Cunningham’s The Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Brews or Wylundt’s Book of Incense. To make sure your herbs smell sweet, burn a pinch first.

Both the preceding books also discuss scents, which you can incorporate also. For a strongly scented candle, you’ll need to add perfume. It’s best to use candle scent, found at candle-supply and craft shops, or synthetic perfume oil. Essential oils are volatile and break down in the wax, leaving your candle with no scent at all.

The candle making processAs with any spell, start by considering what you want and what symbols represent your goal. Likewise, as always, don’t try to compel someone who hasn’t consented. Remember that what you do returns to you threefold.

Start by collecting your ingredients and planning your candle-making for a day and hour appropriate to your intention. Imbolc this year falls just after the full moon, so for spells of increase you might want to wait till the moon turns. Or phrase your spell to release something negative. If you need money, banish poverty. If you want love, banish loneliness.

Give yourself a few hours to make your candle or candles, during a period when you’re unlikely to have your concentration broken. Just melting the wax alone, depending on the volume melted, can take from 15 minutes to an hour. You’ll be using the kitchen, so make sure you’ll have it to yourself or that any visitors will be attuned to your purpose.

First, melt the wax in the top of your double boiler. If you want all your candles to have the same color, add the crayons or old candles now. You can use a single pot if you’re willing to watch the wax closely — you don’t want it to burst into flames. Break the wax into small chunks beforehand, so it will melt faster. Heat the wax over medium heat, but don’t let it boil. If you want candles of different colors, you’ll need to melt the crayons or old candles separately, then add clear wax to about the right volume in the pot and mix before filling your containers. Add candle coloring according to package directions.

While the wax is melting, pad your working space well with newspaper, because you will almost certainly spill some wax. Make sure all your ingredients and tools are handy. If you have herbs in unmanageable sizes, for example whole rosemary stalks, break them down so the pieces are a size to burn without becoming small bonfires.

Once the wax is fully melted, turn the heat low and let the wax cool till the wax on the sides of the pot starts to set, at approximately 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Cooling the wax a little helps prevent the creation of large air bubbles in your finished candle.

Now you’re ready to start forming candles. I usually cast a working circle at this point, calling my patron deities to witness, but without a lot of tools or formal setup. You can work as elaborately or simply as you like. However, I would recommend making the candle with focused intention, as well as charging it later.

Take a moment, then, to focus your concept of your goal. You might create a running mantra to repeat through the rest of your candle-making, or consider an image or group of images to help you concentrate. Be sure to state your intention simply and firmly. If it seems appropriate, write your intention down.

First, if you want multiple candles with the same scent, or you’re only making one candle, scent the wax now.

Next, cut a wick for each candle. The wick needs to be as long as your candle container, plus several inches. Thread the end of the wick through the metal tab or paperclip, or other object appropriate to your spell — for a money spell, you might anchor the wick with a folded bill. Then, drop the weighted wick-end to the bottom of the glass container. Making sure the weighted end sits flush on the bottom and the wick stays as straight as possible, wrap the other wickend around a popsicle stick and set the popsicle stick across the mouth of the glass. Make sure the wick-tail is in the center of the candle-to-be. The more centered your wick, the more evenly your candle will burn.

If you’re using unleaded wicking, pour a little wax around the tab at the end, then let it harden firmly. Then gently stretch the wick taut, and rewrap the top around the popsicle stick.

Next, add the nonwax ingredients to your candle. Drop your folded written intention, if any, and any other objects into the bottom of the candle glass. As each falls, imagine it adding strength to your spell. You can add herbs now as well, or you can add them to the top after pouring, if you want them to float down through the wax and be distributed through the candle.

When your objects and initial herbs are in, pour the wax. Pour evenly and slowly, and try to make sure your wick stays in the candle’s center. If you want to add herbs after pouring, do so directly afterward. If you want to scent a candle singly, now’s the time.

The next part is the really hard part — set the candle out of the way, and leave it alone! It will take up to an hour to harden. You can continue to meditate on your purpose, set up an altar to formally charge your candle, or take down your circle for the time being. You might want to check your candle in this interim period, as the top’s center may form a depression, which you can top off with melted wax. To this end, keep some wax melted.

When your candle’s solid, cut off the extra wick at the top, leaving about a half-inch.

Next, energize the finished candle with your intention. Cut your circle and call any deities or spirit helpers you like, if you haven’t yet, and restate your purpose. Then raise energy in your chosen manner. When the energy’s at its height, send it into your candle, then ground any excess into the earth, keeping what you need for yourself.

Finally, burn your candle. One of the great things about burning a candle in a glass container is that you can keep it going night and day in relative safety. Make sure, however, that the candle is in a place where no human or pet can knock it over, and where no combustible thing can fall across it. Also, at the end of the candle’s life, you might want to burn it while you can watch; it’s during the last inch or so that the glass will break, if it’s going to. Either way, just in case, burn the candle on a nonflammable surface, say an earthenware plate or a tile floor.

If you don’t want to burn your candle every day, burn it on days appropriate to your spell. For example, burn a love candle on Fridays, a day sacred to Aphrodite, Freya and other love goddesses. Again, tables of correspondences can help you figure appropriate days, or you can determine them astrologically. Or you can burn your candle when you feel particular need.

Ingredients for different intentions

If you can’t find or don’t like any of the following ingredients, by all means cut them, substitute or better yet create your own recipe from scratch! The stronger the associations for you and the more personal your candle’s creation, the more effective your candle will be.

For divination and psychic work: Purple coloring; a small image of an eye, for far-seeing; lemongrass, sandalwood, cloves, yarrow and a pinch of nutmeg; frankincense scent
For protection: No coloring; basil, vervain, rosemary, St. John’s wort and a pinch of black pepper; vetiver or patchouli scent
For healing: Pale blue coloring, bay, sandalwood, cedar, carnation, lemon balm; eucalyptus scent
For peace and harmony: Pale blue or lavender coloring; lavender, meadowsweet and hops; lilac or any light floral scent
For inspiration in the arts: Yellow coloring; a small image of a lightbulb; a piece of amber; bay, cinnamon, lavender, orange peel; scent of bergamot, or any citrus scent
To attract love: Pink coloring; small silk or candy hearts; rose petals; jasmine scent
To attract sex: Red coloring; sexual images; rose petals, ginger, damiana, ginseng, a vanilla bean; musk scent
To attract money: Green coloring; a folded bill or shiny dime; dill, lavender, sage, cedar, wood aloe; oak moss, vetiver or patchouli scent, or some combination of these
To get a job: Green coloring; a topaz or turquoise; pictures of tools you use in your work; bay, lavender, cedar, red clover, nutmeg; orange scent, or any citrus scent

As you make and burn your candle, attune to the season as well as your intention. Now is the time to ask Bride for inspiration and to light a new flame, beckoning the longer days to come.