How to Set Lights (Burn Candles) the Kemetic Shaman Way (Part 1)

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I am amazed of how many people claim that their magickal practice is not a religion, yet when asked how to perform basic rituals like setting lights. They will tell you that you “Have to” do it a specific way. If you have to do something a specific way then you have just made it a religion, so I will share my shamanic way of setting lights.

First setting lights is an old term that simply means burning candles. I burn candles for numerous reasons such as to empower and enlighten spirits, to honor spirits, and to give input on a particular outcome I desire. I will explain how I do each very briefly.

Tea lights are great for empowering, enlightening and honoring your spirits.

To honor, empower and enlighten my spirits, I typically use tea candles because they are convenient and easy to clean up since they burn inside little tinfoil cups. Another thing I like about tea lights is that they typically burn for about 2 to 3 hours, which means as long as you place them inside a noncombustible container such as a ceramic or clay dish. You can burn them without having to keep a watchful eye on them. Disclaimer, never burn candle unattended and near combustible items but whenever I need to set a light real quick. I will use a tea candle.  Tea lights can be used for empowering spiritual jars and spiritual pots. They can also be used for empowering charms. To charge them with your prayer, simply cup a tea light in your hands and tell it your intention. Then blow your breath on it to transfer the prayer to the candle. That’s it not light it.

If you want to add an oil, cologne, petition, etc. go ahead but I have found.  That spending all of this time doing this takes away from your magick of manifesting what you want because you spend too much time worrying if you have performed the operation correctly. In other words, you spend too much time worried about technique and not enough on your genuine intention.

Chime candles are great for manifesting magick.

To give instruction on a particular outcome I desire, I like to use chime candles because they burn nice, the flame it usually strong, and they are large enough to perform ritual gestures. So there are two ways that I use these candles and they are for manifesting and abolishing.  

Manifesting is magickal acts done to attract the necessary energies and influences you want to achieve a goal, while abolishing is done to destroy and remove the necessary energies and influence preventing you from achieving your goals.

When I use these two methods I typically burn them on a coin, such as a penny, dime or quarter, that has been named after the individual or situation that I am working.  This coin afterwards becomes an offering to the spirit(s) I am working with since it will not be removed. I usually burn the candle heads up with the coin heads up to instruct the spirit that I want to manifest a particular goal.

For instance, a regular ritual practice that I use to manifest protection for my household is to set a penny upright in the vicinity of the spirit so that the head is facing the ceiling, which I refer to as putting it in the spirit’s lap. 

Then, my ritual gesture is to light the head of the candle and then the bottom so that the wax melts on the coin and it sticks. This ritual gesture signifies the spirit (above) blessing the physical (below). For additional focus, I will inscribe a short command in the wax of the candle using a brand new pen, which again signifies something new. BTW I will keep this pen and use it for other manifesting rituals.

To abolish, such as an obstacle that is preventing me from achieving a goal, I take a coin and turn it head down and place it in the spirit’s lap. Then I bite or break the tip of the candle and turn it upside down so, that the tail of the candle points the ceiling and the head is on the bottom.  Then, I light the broken head end and the bottom of the candle so that it sticks, which might take a minute or so, thus signifying the stubbornness of the situation. The ritual gesture behind biting the candle head and reversing it, is to show your disgust and to petition your spirit to remove it from your physical presence. Again, if you want you can inscribe a command in the wax but use a jagged edge like a rusty nail or old pen.

When you set the light (light the wick of candle), stare into the flame and repeat a simple command to your spirits. For instance, if you were setting a light to bless a friend with back problems.  You might say, “Bless _____’s back.” You would repeat this until it becomes inaudible. You might feel the urge to whisper it, shout it or find a slight musical tone as you repeat it.  Whatever the case go with it and keep repeating it until it resonates in your mind and you see your objective, hence you are in a mild trance state. Afterwards you can stop and simply let the candle burn down. You will sense that even after you have turned away that it continues to resonate with you.

There are numerous ways to burn candles, these are just a couple of the simplest methods I have found to work real fast. In the next article I will speak on how to set lights based upon their colors.