Saying Hello To The Dragon.

The Rose Serpent

Bearded vulture and Leopard seal

Parents: why you wanna move so bad

Me: independence

Me in head: gettin a lizard

Jurassic Park Character Aesthetics: Dr Ellie Sattler

Ellie was wearing cut-off jeans and a work shirt tied at her midriff. She was twenty-four and darkly tanned. Her blond hair was pulled back. “Ellie keeps us going.” Grant said, introducing her. “She’s very good at what she does.” “What does she do?” Morris asked. “Palaeobotany,” Ellie said.

Sketchbook stuff

A Beginner’s Guide to Candle Magic

The very first spell that most folks cast happens on our birthdays. Someone lovingly purchases or bakes a cake for us and candles, representing our age, are placed on top. Those candles are lit and as we close our eyes, we are told to make a silent wish and blow them out.

Many believe that this tradition dates back to ancient pagan rituals. Our birthdays were considered to be important since they marked our entry into this world. The candles on the cake held great force and power and, once blown out, the wish was carried by the smoke and sent to the gods. The gods, in turn, would receive the message and grant the wish.

Candles are integral to spell-casting and are arguably the best and most inexpensive way to get started. Most of us have a supply of candles or tealights in our homes, and some light them at night while having dinner, reading a book or writing. However, candles symbolize elements - earth, air, water and fire and, if you have a desire in mind, all you need is fire and the intent to make it happen.

Candle colours and their correspondences

One of the most important aspects of candle magic is to use the right colour candle. Some spells are rigid and need a precise colour or shade of a colour while others are more open-ended. If you are unsure of which candle to use, always use a white candle - it’s a neutral and pure colour that can be used for anything. Here are the main candle colours and their correspondences:

White

Cleansing homes

Purifying spaces

Creating harmony

Invoking spirits

Improving communication with others

Summoning guides and angels

For use in every situation

Blue

Promoting restful sleep

Finding the truth

Gaining wisdom and knowledge

Invoking psychic visions

Calming emotions

Suppressing anger

Aiding meditation

Moving your house

Becoming more patient with others

Curing a fever

Having a better understanding

Protection

Red

Promoting strength and vigor

Rejuvenating energy and stamina

Conjuring willpower

Summoning courage

Inciting passion and sexual love

Sparking enthusiasm

Prompting quick results

Warding off enemies

Becoming more attractive to others

Pink

Healing emotions

Attracting romance

Becoming more caring

Inviting peace and tranquility

Healing rifts

Banishing selfish emotions

Protecting family and friendships

Invoking spiritual healing

Being more compassionate

Green

Accumulating money and wealth

Promoting prosperity and abundance

Accomplishing goals

Growing plants

Attracting luck

Negotiating employment matters and finding new jobs

Hastening conception and solving fertility issues

Casting out greed and resentment

Yellow

Increasing activity

Resolving health matters

Nurturing creativity and imagination

Passing exams and learning

Aiding concentration

Controlling mood swings

Protecting yourself when travelling

Persuading others

Healing problems associated with the head

Orange

Increasing energy and stamina

Improving the mind and memory

Promoting success and luck

Developing business and career

Helping those with new jobs

Clarifying legal matters and justice

Selling goods or houses

Capturing a thief or recovering lost property

Removing fear

Purple

Summoning spirit help

Bringing peace and tranquility and harmony

Improving psychic ability

Aiding astral projection

Healing

Easing sadness

Improving male energy

Summoning spiritual protection

Brown

Attuning with the trees and earth

Promoting concentration

Helping with decisiveness

Protecting animals

Amplifying assertiveness

Aiding Friendships

Bringing material gain

Gaining mental stability

Connecting with Mother Nature

Studying and learning

Silver

Summoning the Mother Goddess

Drawing down the moon

Connecting with lunar animals

Purifying female energy

Improving all psychic abilities

Aiding clairvoyance and the unconscious mind

Ridding negativity

Developing intuition

Interpreting messages in dreams

Banishing bad habits

Gold

Healing and enhancing well-being

Rejuvenating yourself

Improving intelligence

Bringing financial gain and wealth

Winning competitions

Attracting love and happiness

Maintaining peace in families

Cosmic ordering

Black

Protection

Strength

Banishing

Reversal

Hex-breaking

Choosing and cleansing your candles

It’s important to magically disinfect your candles before use - most are mass-produced across the world, often in less-than-ideal conditions and, because wax is a vessel for energy, every person that has come into contact with your candle has effectively deposited some of their energy into the wax.

There are many ways to cleanse candles before a spell and most folks have a ritual that works for them. Some people enjoy a prolonged ceremony of candle cleansing while others leave them in the garden to soak up moonlight. Below is a method of cleansing referred to as “anointing” and involves water and oils to prepare the candle before the ritual begins.

Step 1: Wipe Clean

Wipe the wax with a paper towel, removing all traces of debris and dust.

Step 2: Prepare a solution

Mix salt and water into a saucepan on medium heat. Once the salt dissolves, let cool.

Step 3: Intent

Standing in front of the sink, hold the candle in your left hand. Pour a small amount of the saline solution over the candle, being careful not to wet the wick. Take a fresh paper towel and dry thoroughly while saying:

“This magickal water cleanses thee,

With good intent and purity.”

Step 4: Inscribing

With a small paring knife or needle, scratch your full name and your goal into the wax. It doesn’t matter where you inscribe the words, and it’s not important that they’re particularly legible. Once the candle is lit, these words will burn away and give the spell more clout.

Step 5: Anointing

Pour some vegetable oil into a small bowl. You can feel free to mix in herbs that are associated with your spell’s intent. Hold the candle in your left hand again. Dip the first finger of your right hand into the oil and run it down the candle from top to bottom in a line. Say this invocation:

“This magickal oil anoints thee, with all things good, magickally.”

Step 6: Rhyming and Repetition

One of the ways we can add more power to a spell is by repeating the incantation over and over. Often, prewritten spells, both ancient and modern, will rhyme with some kind of poetic fluidity. Repetition will help enforce the message.

Step 7: Ending the spell

After repeating your spell the desired number of times, you will need to close the ritual. Choose one of the phrases below to say before looking upward and saying thank you.

“And so it is.”

“The spell is cast.”

“So mote it be.”

–

Sources other than my grimoire:

Robbins, Shawn, and Charity Bedell. The good witchs guide: a modern-day wiccapedia of magickal ingredients and spells. New York: Sterling Ethos, 2017.

Kitchen/Cottage witch aesthetic