As you read about rituals, candles, ritual tools and altar supplies, you’ve likely come across hundreds of opinions (all correct, of course) about what to do with candles. You’ve likely seen lots of information telling you to “dress” your candles prior to ritual.

So what does “dressing your ritual candle” entail? Do you make a cute little hat and dress for your ritual candle? Can you find some cute little shoes and a blouse? While you COULD do that, it would then be a bit difficult to burn the ritual candle, so perhaps this article should cut to the chase and tell you how to dress your ritual candle.

Please note: If you buy Enchanted Works Ritual Candles from Crystal Journeys, or other heavily pre-scented candles, they are ready for ritual, appropriately scented, and all you have to do is light them. They are “ready to go.” You CAN dress them if you would like, but they are so highly scented, that you may possibly get two highly incompatable scents that might make you see strange things. While hallucinations might be part of some people’s rituals, they are not always desirable. So please be careful out there, ok?

There are as many opinions on how to properly dress a ritual candle as there are on what color or style candle you should use for each working. In other words, as many opinions as there are ritual candles. These techniques are suggestions that you should take or leave depending on your own personal ideas. Don’t let anyone tell you there’s only “one true way” to dress a ritual candle. “One true way” ism is not Kestra’s idea of Wicca.

The ritual candle’s flame is the “head” of the candle, and signifies you. The bottom of the ritual candle is the “base” and signifies the world outside of you. This makes it easier to think about, at least from personal experience.

If you want to bring something to you, whether it be good health, happiness, positive thinking, or whatever it may be, dress the candle from the outside (base) to the top (head). Kestra likes to make a spiral by taking a drop of oil on your finger (make sure it’s not overly strong essential oil that will burn your finger) and working from the bottom of the ritual candle to the top in a spiral. Kestra goes clockwise for drawing spells, and does them in the waxing part of the moon phase. You might wish to affirm your intention as you do this, and ask that it manifest.

Conversely, if you want to draw something away from yourself, such as negativity, someone else’s energies from a tool, sickness, unhappiness, etc. all you need to do is reverse the process. Start at the head of the ritual candle, and sprial down to the candle’s base, counter clockwise, during the waning part of the moon phase.

Of course, if you find something that works better for you, by all means use it. There is no “one right way.” If it feels right to you, why not use it. The worst that can happen is that you offend the powers that be and get smitten with a lightning bolt .

Kestra is a Wiccan Priestess, Master Herbalist, and Reiki Master, offering the best in practical information, unique and useful altar tools and ritual supplies at an online shop called Enchanted Works. Please check out our offerings at http://www.enchantedworks.com Guaranteed not to be your “same ole” Wiccan shop.

Bookmark to:

Tragedy doesn’t make an appointment. It attacks! A terrifying surprise that explodes in the midst of a family. Tragedy brings with it multiple consequences as well…financial disaster, depression, guilt and blame. Devastating fallout! Marriages fall apart, family members commit suicide, personalities change. Yet tragedies occur daily. Tornadoes and earthquakes rip apart communities, car accidents claim thousands of lives, and children drink poisons or drown in swimming pools. People kill their friends and families, co-workers and peers. Here is what helped me make it through a horrendous time, so should it happens to you or to a close friend. You have some suggestions to fall back on.

Words are not necessary– a loving presence conveys support. Initial shock and denial are numbing and intensely painful. When we received the dreadful news of our daughter-in-law’s murder, we called our minister immediately. He and his wife came over and sat with us silently in the middle of the night. They made coffee, experienced our grief and comforted us with their presence.

Ask people you trust to handle immediate logistical problems. We had to cancel plane reservations, and make new ones. Airlines offer a reduced fare for situations when grieving families need to rush in an emergency. My brother, who travels a lot, made reservations for us. Caring friends wanted to keep our children and pets. Don’t hesitate to ask or accept.

Keep inspirational reading with you. Ask your minister or a caring friend to loan you an inspirational book if necessary. I found the book of Psalms particularly helpful, as well as a book loaned to me from an Al-Anon friend. Our minister mailed a wonderful book he had written. Another minister had
comforting words about the sweet relief experienced when dying.

Keep a journal. I purchased a thick, spiral notebook and kept it with me. In it put information as well as feelings, events, and questions. I taped business cards of police, investigators, and wrote down addresses of helpful strangers. My portable office became invaluable.

Buy thank you notes. Thank you notes help you to focus on the love and support you receive during this painful time rather than your helplessness or loneliness. Strangers brought us food and took us to dinner. Our church sent flowers to our hotel room. Friends held mass at home for our daughter-in-law. People who admired her came to see us, gave us religious pictures, and bought us sodas. I concentrated on building a new support system by writing immediate thank you notes. When we returned home, more thoughtfulness awaited us including food, vitamins, and an invitation to go cherry picking (a perfect thing to do when processing grief).

Stay connected to home. If the tragedy takes you away from home, arrange a time that you will talk with a calm, clear- headed family member daily. My brother called me at four every afternoon. I looked forward to his call and found comfort in his familiar voice. I took my laptop computer with me which enabled receiving caring messages via email. With my brother’s phone calls and emails, our home community stayed informed of our trauma. They organized needed support as soon as we returned. The church “casserole brigade” had food ready, gift baskets, cards and prayers. A special service at our church and a prayer service with our Marriage Encounter Group provided us with loving friends who listened and cried with us as we worked through our emotional pain. One can’t carry such a burden alone.

In the months that follow…. Tragedies attract media, curious people, gossips, and people intrigued by dramatic life events. Sometimes people who had nothing to do with the tragedy become obsessed with the details. With our tragedy, information changed constantly upsetting our perspectives and tearing our shreds of hope. Phone calls and emails came from strange sources. Be careful not to answer media questions or give out information to the wrong people.

A year might not be enough…. Grieving takes time. Any healing does. For us, ongoing legal trials fester the guilt, doubt, and confusion. Even though life has basically returned to “normal,” my energy level has not. I seem to accomplish far less than before. I remember having a long “to do” list and happily checking off task after task. Now, I check off two. (Three if I count my exercise.) My focus has become a wild animal, difficult to train. Yesterday, I had to write down take a shower. Initially, I asked friends to take me places as a distraction. Immediately after I asked, it seemed as if I lacked time to go anywhere. Time became unmanageable. I let go of my career goals, a difficult challenge for an achiever like me. Making sales and booking presentations did not seem relevant any more.

Even now, a year and a half later, I am still in the healing process only now I have a deep understanding of what other people are going through.

Let go of what you didn’t do to prevent the tragedy. Focus on what you can to help others now. Both my husband and myself have felt called to serve people in new ways. A year after the tragedy occurred, my husband got laid off from his lucrative computer-consulting job. He wants to make a career change to teach high school. I took volunteer training to answer hotline phones for sexual abuse and family violence. The experience has been rewarding, I’m sorry I waited until now to do this. Both of these activities stem from the helplessness we felt after our tragedy. Even our children respect us for taking them on. We know our values are changing.

It has been said that our tragedies make us who we are. We would agree with Corita Kent, “Flowers grow out of dark moments.”

Ana Tampanna, “The Alligator Queen,” is author or the “The Womanly Art of Alligator Wrestling.” To learn more about her books in addition to her speaking and coaching services, visit her site at http://www.alligatorcoach.com/index.html

Bookmark to:

For years I taught about density as well as the properties of carbon dioxide, though never at the same time. Why it took so long to put the two together, I’ll never know. Here then, are a few demonstrations involving the density of carbon dioxide gas and a flame. These should be done by adults or under careful adult supervision as there is a potential of fire hazard.

I suggest starting by showing that air and carbon dioxide have different characteristics. Hold a lit candle in a glass for a few moments. It keeps burning. Now place a small amount of baking soda in the glass and pour in a bit of vinegar. What do the kids see happening (bubbles) and what do they think is happening (gas is produced)? Now lower the lit candle into the glass and it will go out instantly (the gas does not support the burning of the candle).

For the next part of the demonstration you will need several candles of different height. You will want as many different heights as possible so some candles may be broken, some placed on supports such as candlestick holders, inverted coffee cups, etc. I always hold these candles in place by lighting one and allowing the hot wax to drip onto the surface where I want a candle to be placed. I then place the bottom end of the candle in the wax and allow the wax to harden. The candle will be “glued” in place by the cooling wax. I have the candles / supports placed in the upright aquarium so that one corner remains open.

Now, light all of the candles. The effect should be quite pretty, but that is not the purpose. Place one cup of baking soda in the free corner of the aquarium. To this add two cups of vinegar. The familiar bubbling will occur. By watching the candles, something intriguing will be seen. They will go out, one by one, from the candle closest to the aquarium bottom to the uppermost candle. The reason? The carbon dioxide is more dense than air, therefore it rests below the air in the aquarium. Since it is continually produced, it pushes the air out of the aquarium so that it can remain below it. If enough vinegar / baking soda are added, the aquarium will become brim full of carbon dioxide. To prove this just light another candle and slowly lower it into the aquarium. It will extinguish itself once it gets below the aquarium’s opening. In fact, the carbon dioxide will rest in the aquarium for quite some time, especially if the room is still.

Another demonstration to try is to make a long trough out of V-shaped aluminum foil and use it as a guide for pouring carbon dioxide. Place a candle in a candlestick holder and light it. Place some baking soda and vinegar in a large bottle and let the bottle fill with carbon dioxide. Now, hold the aluminum foil trough so that one end is just above the candle flame. The other end is held higher. If water was added to the trough, it would pour down and extinguish the candle. We are going to do this with the carbon dioxide instead. “Pour” the carbon dioxide from the bottle into the higher end of the trough. The candle flame will flicker and usually extinguish at the lower end of the trough. Why? (The carbon dioxide, being more dense than air, actually does pour down the trough. Once it reaches the other end, it pours out of the trough and over the candle flame. Since the gas does not support combustion, the flame flickers and goes out.) This should re-instill the idea that carbon dioxide is more dense than air, as well as the fact that carbon dioxide does not support combustion.

A final thought… if you have easy access to affordable dry ice, it can be used in place of the baking soda and vinegar. It really is just carbon dioxide gas cooled and compressed into solid form. If you handle it, be sure to use gloves and tongs as it can quickly and easily cause frostbite.

Until next time… keep having fun with science!

Thomas Smith owns and operates Wonder Workshops, an online supply mecca of retro toys, puzzles, puppets, magic tricks, books, novelties, and DVDs, all based in science, math, and problem solving. Tom also presents hands-on, mind-on science workshops for teachers and parents around the country. To find out more about the workshops and store, be sure to visit http://www.wonderworkshops.com You’ll be glad you did!

Bookmark to: