Spiritual Candles

I’ve been obsessed with lighting candles for the past two months. I light a candle about 3 times a day. I have scented candles from DW, Sand + Fog, Briteside and M.WG. My favorite brand is DW Home Candles and my favorite scent is Vanilla Maple. There’s something about the ritual of lighting candles that I can’t seem to resist so I’ve decided to do some research about it.

The most obvious use for candles in Ancient times were to provide light. The Ancient Egyptians made rushlights more than 5,000 years ago and used them to illuminate celebrations. In 3,000 B.C., they made the wicked candle which was primarily used to light their homes, aid travelers at night and in religious ceremonies.

The Ancient Romans are credited with developing the wicked candle by dipping papyrus in melted tallow (animal fat) or beeswax. Early Chinese candles were molded in paper tubes, rolled in rice paper for the wick and wax from an indigenous insect, combined with seeds. Hanukkah, dating back to 165 B.C., the Jewish Festival of Lights centers on lighting candles. In the Middle Ages, the Europeans found a way to burn beeswax pure and cleanly, without producing a smoky flame. They were very expensive, only the wealthy could afford to burn them in the home. Beeswax candles were most widely used for church ceremonies. I got my candles at TJMax for $3.99-$6.99, clearly a lot has changed but what of the tradition?

Candle-making is a whole other topic but it’s definitely got more appealing to me after this research. New quarantine hobby, maybe? Today’s candles are mostly made from paraffin and soybean wax. Soybean wax is softer and burns slower than paraffin. Scented candles only became a thing in the mid 1980’s- 1990’s. According to Candles.org, “Today’s candles are no longer used as a major source of light... They symbolize a celebration, ignite a romance, soothe the senses, honor a ceremony and accent home decor, all while casting a warm and lovely glow for all to enjoy.”

While looking up candles, I decided to look up fire. Fire is viewed by Christians, the Chinese and the Hebrews as a symbol of divinity. Many cultures view fire as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. Freud saw fire as an aspect of the libido representing forbidden passions. In psychology, fire represents destruction and regeneration and as a mediator between vanishing and appearing forms.

I was hoping that this research would explain my sudden fascination with lighting candles, maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t, however, I know how it feels. Lighting a candle feels like burning my old habits and old ways away, like a cleansing and denotes purity, maybe even a rebirth. It feels essential to my soul to light a candle each day as a reminder of my journey to fulfillment. I embarked on this journey almost 2 months ago. The only other use is the amazing aroma to hide certain scents, if you know what I mean.

Spiritual candles on the other hand, yield a power over your aura and Divine Light. Candles play a powerful, supportive role in conducting and redirecting spiritual energy that has gone astray. This particularly stuck out to me, “if you feel enveloped by a strong fear or feel anxious, burning candles can help.” - spiritualarts.org Candles have the power to transform situations in your life, they alert the Divine that you are seeking their help, can sustain meditation practices and provide energetic support to keep you from unintentionally reigniting internal patterns of worry all over again. Maybe I will get into candle-making after all, I can’t see myself ever parting from this new ritual.