Magic Operant Candle Magick

Candle magick is one of those techniques that is often treated without much seriousness among ritual magick practitioners. It's not that we don't use candles in our rituals, it's just that there have been way too many books written that treat candle magick as "light a candle, make a wish, and there you go - you're a magician!" Candles are actually wonderful ritual implements and there is something alchemical about the whole process of wax moving through the states of matter from solid to gas and in the process fueling a flame, and in my opinion it is precisely because they work so well that they can be used to make a simple or even silly ritual more effective.

One of the issues with the operant paradigm is that ritual work must merge the microcosm and macrocosm in order to accomplish change most effectively. Just opening the operant field (Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram/Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram) and then doing a simple candle spell is much more effective than using the candle alone, and by adding the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram or Hexagram that corresponds to the goal of the ritual you can increase its effectiveness even more. This makes the ritual more complex, but in my experience it is well worth it if you are serious about getting effective magical results.

You should choose your candles carefully. The candle should either be white or a color associated with the goal of the ritual. I use the Crowley/Golden Dawn color scheme found in "Liber 777" in my own work, but if you were trained in another tradition with a different set of associations you will probably do better with that color scale rather than starting over with a new one. A white candle will work for any ritual but it will be less specific in its effects. With the Crowley/GD color system, you want to use the Queen Scale color for a mystical ritual or meditation and the King Scale color for a practical magical ritual.

As far as the type of candle goes, I prefer the 7-day candles that you can leave burning after the ritual forms are complete. The spell will continue to work as the candle burns down. While the available colors are limited, you can find very nice colored glass candles at church supply stores. These are designed to take replaceable wax inserts but they will also hold many of the 7-day candles that you will find at stores. It's an added bonus to be able to tint the light of the candle and the symbolism of white wax producing a flame that then is filtered through colored glass tuned to the spell is a good symbolic representation of the lightning flash or divine light descending.

There are a number of different systems for "dressing" candles. This procedure generally consists of annointing the candle with various substances associated with the goal of the ritual. A simple way to do this is to select a harmonious essential oil and smear a little of it into the wax of the candle before you light it. "Liber 777" includes a list of herbs associated with each sphere and path, which is helpful for selecting the type of oil that you should use, but again, if you have already learned a different set of associations use those instead. Traditionally you should smear the oil around the wick of the candle using a clockwise motion.

Here's the basic ritual procedure.

(1) IDENTIFY THE GOAL OF THE SPELL AND CHOOSE YOUR CANDLE ACCORDINGLY. If you wish to dress the candle, do so before the ritual. Place it on an altar in front of you, usually to the east. For any sort of negative working, like a curse, put the candle inside a containment structure like a Goetic triangle. If you have a link to the target of your spell, place the link in physical contact with the candle.

(2) OPEN THE OPERANT FIELD WITH THE LBRP/LIRH.

(3) PERFORM THE GREATER INVOKING RITUAL OF THE PENTAGRAM OR HEXAGRAM corresponding to the path or sphere that is related to the goal of the ritual. Conclude the GIRP/H with "Let the divine light descend!" and then light the candle.

(4) STATE THE GOAL OF YOUR RITUAL CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY. As I've mentioned before, state only the desired outcome without specifying the means by which it will come to pass. You want all channels open to the spell's influence so that it can select the shortest path.

(5) MEDITATE ON THE CANDLE FOR AT LEAST A FEW MINUTES. Twenty minutes is great if you have the time, but even five will do.

(6) CLOSE THE RITUAL WITH THE LBRP TO SEND THE ENERGY ON ITS WAY. Place the candle someplace where it can burn all the way down safely, and if you are using a magical link, keep it in contact with the candle. If you used a containment structure, you will want to leave the candle where it is unless the containment structure can be moved along with the candle. You're done.

This simple ritual will get you better results than the ones you find in most candle magick books, and can be done with very little preparation once you learn the basic pentagram and hexagram rituals. While the GIRP/H will make the ritual more effective, until you have those down you can omit step three and just say "Let the divine light descend!" and light the candle after the LIRH.