How to Inscribe and Anoint Your Ritual and Spell Candles

by Joseph Barresi

The importance charging and anointing your candles before you use them for spells and rituals cannot be overlooked.

If you wish for your rituals and spells to work to full effect, charging and anointing a candle with a particular oil, or inscribing symbols and words on them, will make the candle and its purpose all that more potent.

For example, if you are performing a love spell or attraction spell to try and find love or to strengthen love you already have, you would use a pink colored candle (pink represents love) and then inscribed love based symbols. After inscribing, you would then anoint that candle with a love based or attraction based oil.

The same could be said to prosperity or wealth based spells and rituals. A green candle would be used (to represent prosperity, wealth, and money) and then inscriptions towards prosperity and wealth would be drawn onto the candle. Afterword, an oil would be anointed that focuses on prosperity.

Inscribing Your Ritual Candle

After cleansing and blessing a spell candle, you should begin to inscribed the candle with symbols or words towards whatever it is your ritual or spell is on.

For example, if you are using a love spell and you wish to obtain the love of someone you know, you can inscribed your initials and their initials onto the candle, or you can even use the full name of loved one and yourself.  You can add the names along side with symbols that represent love as well, such as a heart or even ancient symbols of love such as the Reiki love symbol.

You will need something with a fine point to scratch the surface of the candle. It can be a pin, a specialist scribing tool, a cocktail stick or anything else your imagination can dream up. Once you have chosen your tool though, dedicate it properly, then tuck it away in your magical tool chest and reserve it for just this purpose.

As you are inscribing your candle, visualize the outcome. Make it a small ritual in its own right. Once you have inscribed your candle, you may wish to 'Dress' it. This is optional, your choice entirely, but it's easy and again adds to the potency of your spell.

Anointing Your Ritual Candle

Anointing your candle would be the next step to properly charged your ritual candles. As stated above, you should anoint with oils that are specific to your desired outcome. There for if you are looking for love and attraction, you would use those types of oils.

The method for anointing your candle is pretty specific. The most general method is to hold the ritual candle in one hand, dip the first two fingers of the other hand in oil and starting at the top (the end with the wick) run your oiled finger down toward the centre of the ritual candle. Stop at the centre, lift your finger off, turn the candle slightly and repeat the process until all the top half of the candle is covered. Then starting at the base of the candle, run the oiled fingers toward the centre. Again stop at the centre, lift the fingers off, turn the candle slightly and repeat the process until the entire bottom of the candle has been coated.

The whole time you are anointing the candle, concentrate on the outcome you wish to achieve with your spell. Experienced spell weavers often anoint the candle in a specific direction depending on the type of spell they are performing. For spells to attract something to the spell weaver, the candle is anointed from top to middle, then from bottom to middle. For banishing or sending something away i.e.. getting rid of bad habits, negative energy, breaking jinxes or hexes, the candle is dressed from the centre out to the top, and then from the centre out to the bottom.

Once the candle is coated in oil, it can be rolled in herbs relevant to the particular spell you are performing. For example, use Agrimony for breaking hexes and returning them to sender, use Chamomile for attracting friendship, Hyssop for purification and cleansing, Patchouli for wealth and so on. Once you have lit your spell candle and performed your spell, allow the candle to burn itself out completely.

White: A balance of all colors, effective for spiritual enlightenment, purification, protection, cleansing, clairvoyance, healing, truth seeking; rituals involving lunar energy; may be substituted for any other candle color

Yellow: Activity, creativity, drawing, pulling, compelling, and unity. Yellow brings the power of concentration and imagination to a successful ritual: used in rituals when you wish to gain another's confidence or persuade someone or in rituals that require solar energy.

Gold: Fosters understanding and attracts the power of cosmic forces; beneficial in rituals intended to bring about fast money or riches

Pink: Promotes romance and friendship; standard color for rituals intended to bring affection; a color of femininity, honor, service; brings friendly, lively conversation to a dinner table.

Orange: Charges and recharges intellect; combine with any other candle to stimulate their actions; for rituals stipulating Mercury

Turquoise: Healing, Prosperity, Peace, and Growth

Peach: Strength, Protection, Confidence, and Communication

Rose: Maintaining Health, Patience, Passion, and Peace

Orchid: Physical Energy, Happiness, Power, and Healing

Violet: Spirituality, Friendship, Relaxation, and Peace

Chartreuse: Confidence, Prosperity, Travel, and Growth

Red: Health, passion, love, fertility, strength, courage, will power; increases magnetism in rituals; draws Aries and Scorpio energy

Silver: Removes negativity and encourages stability; helps develop psychic abilities; attracts the influence of the Mother Goddess.

Purple: Power, success, idealism, psychic manifestations; ideal for rituals to secure ambitions, independence, financial rewards, or to make contact with the spiritual other world; increase Neptune energy

Magenta: Combination of red and violet that oscillates on a height frequency; energizes rituals where immediate action and high levels of power or spiritual healing are required.

Brown: Earthly, balanced color; for rituals of material increase; eliminates indecisiveness; improves powers of concentration, study, telepathy; increases financial success; locates objects that have been lost.

Indigo: Color of inertia, stops situations, or people. Indigo is used in rituals that require a deep meditation state or in rituals that demand Saturn energy.

Royal Blue: Promotes laughter and joviality; color of loyalty; use to attract Jupiter energy, or whenever and influence needs to be increased.

Light Blue: Spiritual color; helpful in devotional or inspirational meditations; brings peace and tranquility to the home; radiates Aquarius energy; employ where a situation must be synthesized.

Blue: Primary spiritual color; for rituals to obtain wisdom, harmony, inner light, or peace; confers truth and guidance.

Emerald Green: Important component in Venusians’ rituals; attracts love, social delights and fertility.

Dark Green: Color of ambition, greed and jealousy; counteracts these influences in a ritual.

Green: Promotes prosperity, abundance, and success; stimulates rituals for good luck, money, harmony, rejuvenation.

Gray: Neutral color, useful when pondering complex issues during meditation; in magic, this color often sparks confusion; it also negates or neutralizes a negative influence.

Black: Opens up the deeper levels of the unconscious; use in rituals to induce a deep meditation state, or to banish evil or negativity as in uncrossing rituals; attracts Saturn energy.