The CandleBarbara Walker, in her book The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, identifies candles as some of the oldest elements in religious ritual. The small flames shining persistently in the darkness, she observes, could symbolize the immortality of the soul, shining on in the darkness of death. Several authors on the subject of candle magic observe that most of us have performed a candle magic ritual because that is basically what wishing while blowing out the candles on a birthday cake is! To me, candles seem to be a natural magical symbol because they are not just light but flame. Before science revealed the processes by which fire is produced, it seemed to manifest from nothing - a potentially powerful substance where seemingly nothing had been. To light a candle is to call forth power from nothing.
And we must not forget that the fire of the candle is a source of light. Light characterizes the condition of being alert, visionary and awake. Darkness characterizes unconsciousness - the state of being asleep or unaware, the condition of being hidden. I remember being told that some Orthodox Christians speak of their icons as being "asleep" when they are in shadow and "awake" when illuminated. In modern science, light is the fastest thing known - an unmatchable standard by which other things are measured. It is the purest of energies, the least encumbered by matter. It is at the very edge of mundane existence. In the Jewish and Christian creation myth, light is the first element of creation, called forth by the voice of God. "Let there be light." The Jewish Qabalists made the behavior of this first light the object of a highly developed mystical system. To light a candle is to renew creation. Still, as Leo Vinci points out in The Practical Book of Candle Magic, the Christian Church did not always look favorably in the earliest days on the use of candles in worship. Many leaders in the Early Church considered the use of candles to be a "heathen" practice. It was impossible, however, to long repress the use of one of the oldest methods of creating an atmosphere of spirituality and reverence for the sacred.
It is a good thing, I think, to begin these operations with a meditation on light - its pure and glorious illumination. Imagine it bathing you, warming you and strengthening, awakening and revealing the noblest and truest part of your nature.
The Craft of Magic
What is magic? First, is magic a religion? It can be. But for our purposes here magic is a craft. It is the practice of using certain tools to create something of use. Like all crafts, magic may be used both for spiritual development and as a means to be of service to one's community.
There are several classic definitions of magic. For my purposes, I would describe magic first simply as a manipulation of reality. The important issue, really, is whether it is a manipulation of interior or exterior reality. The fact is that we live in a skeptical age and it is impossible to determine what would have happened if a spell had never been cast. We cannot tell if a magical operation has actually altered the course of events in some way. We cannot tell if all it does is alter one's perceptions so as to make one more receptive to and better aware of the forces operating in one's life. However, if that really is all magic does, then there is still a lot to be said for it - perhaps more to be said for it than if it were simply a means of "getting your own way" or "getting the upper hand."
For this reason, I would caution people reading this book against putting too much emphasis on tangible results. Instead, concentrate on working with the hidden connection between seemingly unrelated things - between, for example, planetary energies, colors, the fragrances of plants, letters of the alphabet, numbers, geometric shapes, the pictures on Tarot cards etc. Modern occultist Gareth Knight in his book Magic and the Western Mind speaks of "the magical imagination" and calls magic "a high art and science... that should release the powers of the imagination for the benefit of any other part of life."
Now this little manual is not intended to teach advanced spiritual disciplines or esoteric sciences. However, I would like to think that it will provide a few small introductory steps toward building the magical imagination. The idea, in my interpretation, is not so much to gain the ability to direct the world around you but to create a resonance between you and the complex interlacing of hidden forces beneath the mundane world and so gain greater harmony with the world around you. You may, indeed, gain the ability to exert more influence on the events in your life. Or it may be that you will simply become better able to receive the good life offers you and better able to respond to the challenges that life brings you. You should be able to focus the benefits into specific aspects of your life and toward specific challenges.
Knight observes that every act of perception is a creative, imaginative act because our minds must structure the things that we perceive in order to work with them. The mind creates the world as we know it through this process. Beyond that, our imaginations fuse images and concepts together so that they transcend their mundane significance. To change the way our minds order and perceive the world, therefore, is no small transformation. Some would even go so far as to say that internal and external reality are not as separate as we are in the habit of thinking and that when we change the way we perceive reality, it actually effects a change on reality. I will not venture here to say with certainty if the process we call "magic" is external or purely internal. My guess would be that it is a combination of both - and perhaps more one thing for some than it is for others. The great modern psychological theorist, Carl Gustav Jung, divided the world between introverted and extroverted people. Perhaps there is introverted and extroverted magic as well?
Anyway, if we could not assume magic to have some kind external effect - if we assumed that it could only effect the consciousness of the person performing the ritual - it would be futile to attempt to perform magical operations on behalf of other people or on behalf of the community in which one lives. My experience tends to be that things really do seem to "happen" - but not necessary exactly as planned. Problems do resolve themselves and there is a general feeling of energy being released. It is, however, far less directed than one might expect. The idea that the way we perceive the world in fact shapes the world to some extent is truly something to ponder. We come into harmony with the world and the world comes into greater resonance with us and, if we cultivate self-knowledge, perhaps even into resonance with our most profound motivations and purposes.
Creating harmony where there was disharmony, is, of course, a healing act. And this, of course, is an act of service to the world around you, to the community in which you live. Furthermore, the sort of magic that we are discussing here uses some fairly mundane objects - candles, perhaps some herbs from the kitchen. This has the great advantage of bringing the magical dimension into ordinary life and strengthening the sense of mystical connection between all things, even the most humble and everyday things.
