How to Dress a Candle

"Dressing a candle" means quite literally to dress it: with oils, herbs, liquids and powders, before you light it for a spell. Dressing a candle properly is a critical part of casting effectively and powerfully. This guide walks through how I do it. The full step-by-step booklet, with pictures, is free: the free Dress Your Candle manual.

What dressing a candle means

Every part of the dressing should match the spell. Using the proper herbs for each spell matters as much as the oil. For love, for example, you want love herbs such as rose, hibiscus, Adam and Eve root, orange peel, catnip, dragon's blood and cinnamon, with love oil, attraction oil, olive oil or an essential oil like rose.

Remind yourself that witchcraft is work. Dressing takes patience and time, and the whole way through you should be envisioning your command coming to life.

What you need

• Candles in the right colour. I like chime candles, usually more than one for extra strength, or taper candles, again normally more than one. For more permanent spells I use 7-day candles.
• Oils that match your goal. You can use as many as you like, as long as they correspond to your goal and command. If you don't have the right oils on hand, olive oil can work.
• Herbs for the same purpose, and a mortar and pestle if you want to mix them.
• Powders (optional). Powders are a bit different from herbs: they are made specifically with an intention, and can be made with herbs, roots and oils.
• A carving tool. A sharp athame or knife, normally blessed and cleansed to do this specific job.
• A tray, a mirror or a fire-safe dish to stand the candles on. It will get messy.

Every colour pertains to something specific. A few examples: pink candles for a love spell, red for passion or speed, green for money, blue for peace, brown for stability and black for banishing.

Before you start: cleansing your space and yourself

Preparing is part of the practice, whatever path you follow. First make sure your space is cleared, set and safe to cast. Make sure you won't be distracted and can stay focused on your spell and your intention for the entire cast. Never leave a spell unattended.

Sage your space, cleanse it and cleanse yourself, and leave the sage burning. You can also use palo santo. Then light a white candle for protection and command it to protect you for the whole course of the spell.

To prepare a spell, I take my preferred divination tool and ask: is this spell justified? Which herbs does it need? Which oils will be best? What exactly should I command the spell to do? I take notes, because that is the basis of the spell.

Keep a dedicated area large enough to dress and light your candles safely, so that no accidental fires can happen.

Step by step: carving, oiling and herbs

1. Carve your command

Some will say carving isn't necessary. I find spells are more direct and powerful when the command is carved into the candle.

• To bring something to you, carve your command toward you: from the wick downward, toward your body.
• To remove, banish or send something away, do the opposite: carve from the bottom up to the wick, away from your body.

2. Oil (anoint) the candle

Oil follows the same rule. To draw something toward you, rub the oil from the wick downward, toward your body. To remove or banish, rub it from the bottom up to the wick, away from your body. Rub the oil all the way around the candle, everywhere except the wick. You can use more than one oil on each candle.

For money, money oils, drawing oils and road opening oils work well; my road opener oil recipe is one I dress with. For love, rose and hibiscus essential oils, and love, attraction, romance, desire and damiana oils.

3. Add the herbs

You can never have too many herbs, as long as they serve the same purpose. It takes longer, but I find that putting one herb on the candle at a time while chanting its specific command works best. You can also mix several herbs together in a mortar and pestle and put them on at once.

Roll the oiled chime or pillar candle in your herbs. Stand it up by melting the bottom of the candle and sticking it to a mirror, a tray or a fire-safe dish, then put the remaining herbs around it.

Use your own specific command for each herb.

Working with a 7-day candle, or adding powders? Both are in the free manual, step by step.

Which direction to rub the oil: drawing in versus sending away

Dressing for protection, money and love: what changes

The method stays the same. What changes is the colour, the oils, the herbs and the direction.

• Love: pink candles (red for passion). Rose, hibiscus, Adam and Eve root, orange peel, catnip, dragon's blood and cinnamon, with love, attraction, romance or rose oils, dressed toward you.
• Money: green candles, with money, drawing or road opening oils, dressed toward you.
• Protection: a white candle for protection. My kitchen staples for protection include salt, basil, garlic and ginger; among the others, rue to ward off the evil eye and sage for cleansing and protection.
• Banishing: black candles, dressed away from you.

Safety: oil and herbs near a flame

• Never leave a spell unattended.
• Oil the candle everywhere except the wick.
• Stand candles on a mirror, a tray or a fire-safe dish, in a space big enough that no accidental fires can happen.
• Keep loose herbs and excess oil away from the wick and open flame, and use only a small amount.

After the candle burns

When the candles have burned down, read your flame and your wax, then put the spell to rest properly. Proper disposal is how you complete the spell. When the candles have burned out, thank your spirits for all they have done and dispose of both the candles and the offerings.

Your white protection candle, once it has finished burning, is disposed of in your front yard.

The full method, free

For the full step-by-step method, including 7-day candles and powders, keep the free Dress Your Candle manual.

Get the free Dress Your Candle manual

When you're ready to learn colours, herbs, timing and reading your candles in depth, that is what the Queen's School of the Craft is for.