Candle Magic: Doreen Valiente's Candle Spell

Having a personal interest in candle magic, when I went to the Folklore, Magic and Mysteries: Modern Witchcraft and Folk Culture in Britain exhibition in Brighton yesterday I was excited to see Doreen Valiente’s Book of Shadows open at a candle magic spell.

The page on the left is entitled The Colours of Candles. If you can’t see what’s written clearly in the photo above, here’s what it says:

White: Purity, truth, spiritual strength
Red: Love, health, vigour
Light Blue: Spiritual understanding, happiness, calm, protection
Dark Blue: Depression, misfortune
Green: Money, wealth, good crops
Gold (Yellow): Attraction, charming, alluring, cheerfulness
Deep Red: Understanding love, strength of mind, vigorous will, exciting
Pink: Success, winning in love
Black; Sadness, mourning, evil
Silver: Victory of good over evil
Orange: Stimulating, encouraging, strength in love, activity in money matters
Purple: High power, furthering wordly ambitions, overcoming obstruction
Greenish Yellow: Arouses jealousy and discord, sickness (i.e. the evil shades of the colour, not the gold leaf sheen attributed to [word obscured] the spring green of Virgo
Lavender: Fortunate dreams

The page on the right contains The Fire Rhyme:

Fire-Flame
In the Old Ones’ name
Take the light and burn thee bright
and the spell be cast aright
Dark to light a-turning
Luck be in thy burning
Fire-glow, vision show
Of the heart’s desire
When the spell’s chanted well
Of the witching fire
HOOA TANAT HOOA
TISTA PHISTA SISTRA
DONNYABO DANNOSTRA

This is followed by instructions for the spell:

Take a candle of suitable colours and dress it with oil as described under “Candle Burning” concentrating on the purpose of the rite.
Light the candle and the incense, and recite the Fire Rhyme. As usual the burning of suitable incense helps the rite, though the rite can be performed with the candle alone. Have the wish read written down on a slip of new paper in the Theban Script, preferable in [word obscured]. Lay this slip of paper upon the pentacle.
Circle the candle deosil with the athame, saying:

That tout! A tout tout!
Throughout and about!
Let power this hour be gathered about,
The spell is woven round and about

Also displayed among items from Doreen Valiente’s altar is her pair of cobra candlesticks. You can see them in the photos to the right and at the bottom.

Do visit the exhibition yourself – anyone interested in witchcraft, folklore and paganism will find something of interest there. Folklore, Magic and Mysteries: Modern Witchcraft and Folk Culture in Britain is on at Preston Manor, Preston Drove, Brighton BN1 6SD, which is open from Tuesday to Sunday each week. It contains items from The Doreen Valiente Foundation collection. You can find out more details here: http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/prestonmanor/.

You can find out more about my own book on candle magic here: http://www.moon-books.net/books/pagan-portals-candle-magic

To read more posts like this visit A Bad Witch’s Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk