Everyday Rituals
Make a candle to burn during any activity you want to “spiritualize,” from performing household chores to getting the car ready for a journey. If you have school-age children, make a new candle to burn on the first day of school each year. Take a “spiritual break” every day by lighting a particular candle made for a particular purpose. (Also see “Candle-Gazing Meditation” later in this chapter.) You might even want to make a different candle for each day of the week to connect with the significance of that day. (For example, Monday is Moon Day.) Turn your personal hygiene and grooming into a candlelit ritual to honor your body. Use different colors and scents for different bodily attentions.
If you keep a spiritual journal, create a candle to burn while you are writing in it. (For more information on keeping a spiritual journal, consult my book
Your sacred space is for silence and solitude. You should have at least a small area of your home for this purpose. Whatever space you designate as sacred should be well tended, with an array of handmade candles readily available for your intentions when you utilize your sacred space. Some general topics are listed below, but they are only guidelines: You will undoubtedly create your own intentional subjects and make your candles in order to serve your specific purposes. For example, there might be a wedding coming up in your family. You could make a special candle to bless that union and light it on your altar in your sacred space while you offer a blessing prayer for the couple to be married.
A Candle for Each OccasionHere are some examples of special-purpose candles you can make:
Peace — An invitation to bring serenity to the center of your being
Love — To open your heart for giving and receiving
Happiness — To enhance your playful nature
Thankfulness — To appreciate more of life's gifts already yours
Healing — To help resolve conditions of illness, physical imbalance, and/or emotional difficulties
Home — To bring tranquility to your living quarters and make your home a safe haven
Abundance — To increase the flow of all good things into your life, including money and material goods as well as goodwill and blessings from on high
Passion — To bring pleasure and learn to be more fully alive
Protection — To ease mind and body with a feeling of being safe and sound
Wisdom — To learn to see with the heart as well as think with the mind, and awaken the spiritual self through inner insights
Courage — To move beyond fear and into strength with the ability to face the unknown
New Beginnings — To create a fresh start and inspire positive feelings about change. (Feel free to add your own intentions to this list of intentional-use candlemaking.)
Set aside a space in your home that you will designate as sacred. Make this space a place where you can practice silence and solitude. Make your sacred space comfortable and calm, and advise family members that when you are in your sanctuary you are not to be disturbed. Treat your sacred space with respect. Keep out anything that will profane your intentions there. Collect objects that help you to feel your spiritual energy, that connect you to your Higher Self. These objects can be “found” items or ones you have acquired or created, such as candles. They might include rocks and crystals, flowers, driftwood, twigs or tree branches, pine cones, candles, incense, aroma oil, and a special chair, pillow, or floormat.
