Purification with candles and aromas

Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Folkways, Elemental Magic and Dark Paganism.
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monsnoleedra
Adeptus Minor
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Purification with candles and aromas

Post#1 » Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:14 pm

Thought I would share an older ritual / spell and perhaps maybe get a discussion going on it. It's in part my own and in part things I grew up with so not uniquely mine. So aspects are mine or changed to reflect my own personal workings while other's are more universal in application. I have shared this in other places so people may have seen it before but it has been a number of years ago.

Hopefully my thoughts and reasoning for how and why is clear for how I did things and what I used. I believe that should aid in enhancing any discussion or promoting it.

.............................

One of the things I learnt early on was the usage of candles in purifying the home. Yet it was for more than just purification for it also served to evict spirits and / or trap negative energies and / or spirits.

Various colored candles could be used but the most common colors for my usage were white, green, brown and if possible composite candles (see below for specifics).

The basic premise was that one opened the front door to the home and on either side of the opening you placed a green candle. The green was for growth, harmony and peacefulness. White candles were also placed with them to bring in purity / divinity and serenity. If possible a composite candle of green and white served best. Of note since I was dealing with fire I used candle holders or some sort of tin to catch the wax or allow the candle to collapse into to ensure no chance of starting a fire.

If one desired, you might also use a small fan to help pull those things into the home and use the element of air to push things before it. Perhaps to even bring in an aromatic scent or such to aid in the process, I once saw sage used in such a manner with a smudge type pot just outside the doorway. For me personally I preferred the smell of cedar and used it for purification.

White candles were used throughout the home. Sometimes as small as those on a birthday cake, other times the large tubular ones that burnt for days it seemed. Most times though I would use birthday cake sized ones in the corners of each room, possibly the windows and a bit larger one at the doorways.

One might also use some form of sage or cedar as an additional influence or the usage of the essence oil's to help in the process. If sage was used then it was white sage though sweet grass could also be used in its place.

This procedure or process would be done throughout the entire house until you reached the final room. Like the others you'd use white candles in the corners and doorways. But the final candle would always be either a composite candle or one stacked upon another in the end. That last candle being placed in the window which was opened.

Here one always started with a white candle, usually a small piece that was allowed to burn out quickly but leave a wax plug upon the windowsill. As this candle was flickering out a brown candle would be lit and sat down on top of the fading white candle.

The purpose of the brown was to capture the negativity in the home as it was pushed outward and away. It also served as the element of earth to trap and bind the more negative spirits or thoughts that maybe passing outward as well. Now depending upon the size and history of the home it could be a small candle or a larger candle. If one desired they could also inscribe it with runes or sigils that helped to cleanse, trap and bind the negativity and spirits that might be present.

Depending upon the practice and methods of the person doing the purification aspects the candle might burn for a few minutes to as many as a few hours. One critical facet though was that whoever was doing the ritual had to stay in this final room until the very end. Through chanting, prayer or summoning they would pull the healing and presence / influence of the green candles into the house and to the final room. Many times using the smell of cedar or whatever aroma the green was associated to for the green candles and smelling it in the last room. With its arrival the house was felt to be clean and purified with the attributes of the green candles instilled throughout the home.

If doing a two-level or split-level house one might have to have an assistant located upstairs to determine when the scent arrived there. The assistant would also be used to push the negativity and presence down the stairs and into the final room.

In the final or last room the person doing the ritual / ceremony would cap the brown candle with a white or golden candle. White was the norm for the purification and sealing in of the negativity. White was also seen as the void in this situation and uncorrupted in its binding and closure. Gold was seen as a sign of divinity and accepted the offering of the trapped energy, refuge or residue to the god / goddess one was associated with. For instance I follow Hekate so I might use the gold to denote her presence and my sealing and bestowing of the left over to her along with the energy that was corrupted and fouled to be carried into the earth with her for her usage.

Once the brown candle was fully encased by the white or gold candle (or a composite of white and gold) the window would be closed and the final candle either allowed to burn completely out and fully encase the brown or blown out. Myself, it depended upon the feeling at the time both actively and subliminally from the house and any allies I may have called upon to assist me. Sometimes I'd suggest allowing it to burn completely as the presence in the home was so intense that the very smoke of the extinguished candle almost felt as if it released part back into the home. Though some may decide to act before the candle was consumed. While you might blow the flame out, I'd suggest the use something to smother the flame vice blowing it out.

The bound and sealed candle would be removed first and placed into some container and closed up. Normally by itself so that the encasing candle wax was not broken or torn. I've used toilet paper padding inside a small box, a hand towel to wrap and surround it as well. In the end though that is up to the practitioner and whichever method or precautions seem best to them.

Then going in reverse order you work your way back out of the home. Picking up the used up candles from corners and windowsills. The final candles to be extinguished were the two green ones located at the front door. Along with that the fan would be removed and the front door closed to element of air. Though each time the door is opened afterwards the air element comes in and refreshes the home.

The green candle stubs might be removed or placed above the door on the framing. Sort of a reminder of the presence of the green influence.

The words or passages really depended upon the practitioner and who or what they called upon. Myself, I usually called upon the element of air to use its breath to blow the negativity and spirits from the home. I would speak it as I walked through out the home and lit each candle. Call upon the tongue of air to breathe into each flame to burn and consume that, which might linger.

In the last room I'd call upon the earth and earth elements to grasp and hold or bind the negativity into itself through the brown candle. Call upon air to drive it before it so that earth might grasp it firmly and hold it tightly. To call upon flame to burn away any lingering negative energy. In many ways to transmute and/or transform the energy from one form into another.

You may notice at this point that one has used Earth, Wind, Fire but no water. In the final stage one might use water from a glass or sweat from the body as the water element. I myself did not use it but I have known others that used a blue candle upon the windowsill in the final room to represent the element of water.

The final step would be the burning of the candle residue from the white candles. One might possibly bury them but I always burnt them as I attributed them to celestial purity and void.

The last and final candle I always buried in a spot that it would be unlikely to be disturbed. It could be burnt in the sense that it was going into the chthonic world or underworld and burnt within the confines of the earth. As the wax melted and ran into the ground the energy was transferred / transmuted into the ground to be used by the earth element or the chthonic god / goddess one dedicated the gold candle to. If one dedicated a gold candle to a celestial god / goddess you might have it consumed on an above ground altar type setting.

But regardless of how the final candle was destroyed I would not destroy it with the remnants of the white candles as they were pretty much uncorrupted and their residual energy returned to the void and element of air.

Pretty long-winded I admit but presented for discussion and to give just an idea of a possibility.

Again I do not believe I have shared this but if I have and you've re-read it I apologize. Yet I'd still ask for your participation in the thread. While it is based upon my earlier practices and such it is not written in stone and other items may be substituted in the place of items I've indicated. Hopefully I have provided enough details that one can see both how and why I used the items I choose so that changing of items can be easily done or at least analyzed to see how it might be changed and what the general train of thought through the entire ritual was aimed at.
Can't Never Did Nothing Till It Tried!



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