[Setting Lights] Your Master Candles

This discussion is just the first part of what I have to say about the art of Setting Lights, as candle magic is referred to in conjure practices.

The Master/Spirit/Mojo Candle

It is customary for those hoodoos that work with Setting Lights to keep a candle on their workspace that represents their connection to their spiritual Source. 

This candle has a number of names - the Master Candle, a Mojo Light(s), or a Spirit Candle. Whatever you prefer to call it, they are the same thing: connection to Source, as represented by fire.

Some rootworkers of a particularly Christian bent may keep a single candle representing the Light of God, or a trio of candles for the Holy Trinity.

I prefer to use a single white candle for what has been called the Original Source, or the Formless Fire Behind the Darkness.

Regardless of what you choose, it should be a white candle. The goal is to invest it with a portion of your power, to tie it to yourself.

This is first done by anointing it with High John the Conquerer oil. Remember, High John the Conquerer is the folkloric source of all hoodoo, so he'll "bring the mojo in," as they say.

Anoint the candle in the oil - if it's a taper, place a bit of it in your left hand palm, set the middle of the taper down on the oil and then turn it clockwise as you pull it toward you, anointing it from the middle to the top, making sure to get the wick. Then, return it to the middle of your palm, and this time turn it counter-clockwise while pushing it away from you, anointing it from the middle to the bottom.

If your Master candle is instead a novena candle (the kind in a glass jar), then take some oil on the index finger of your right hand, and rub it onto the top of the candle in a clockwise circle. Reapply oil and reanoint two more times, so that you've anointed it three times total.

It is traditional to add a little touch of your blood to the anointing oil before anointing your Master candle - this will add your own mojo to that of High John's mojo. It is this combination that makes the candle into your Master candle.

Once you've put this together, you need to light it, so the mojo can "cook in." Do this by taking a small taper and lighting it. (NEVER light your Master candle from a lighter or match - the Master candle's sole purpose is to transfer flame from one Source to the next, and that is how it must be lit.) Hold the lit taper above your Master Candle, reaching high as though you were reaching up into the sky to find Fire there; visualize the flame at the tip of the taper being invested with the power of Spirit, or the Sun, or the Holy Trinity, or the Formless Flame. Then, bring it down to earth, and light your Master candle with it.

Congratulations - you're a Light Bringer. ;)

Once you've lit it, let it burn for about an hour or so. This is only necessary the first time you create your Master candle. From now on, when you create others, as this one burns down, you'll light them the first time from this candle. As of this point, you will constantly pass the flame from one Master candle to the next - no need to recreate them anew.

(A note: Get used to having what I call Lighting Tapers around. Magical candles have to be "foundational" - that is, light is brought to them. You do not bring the candle to the light; in the spiritual metaphor of Setting Lights, light comes to man, man does not go to the light.)

You can use this light in a number of ways. If you use flame to purify or empower any tricks you do, make sure it is drawn from this candle - remember, the fire here is "your fire," representing your mojo as made manifest in a flame, so use it appropriately.

Creating Your Master Purpose Candles
Once you have a Master candle, you're ready to create your Purpose candles.

These are effectively your main candles through which you concentrate a specific sort of mojo - healing, blessings, money, love and the like.

When you create candles of these sorts for other people, you will light them for the first time from these candles. In this fashion, you grant those who use those candles access to the mojo you've built up in your Master Purpose candle. Thus, when you make a Money Stay With Me candle, you light it for the first time from your green Money candle. Then, your client lights their candle at home, and it draws on the potent prosperity mojo you've built up in your Master Money candle. Make sense?

Preparing these is similar to the Master Spirit candle. First, anoint them as you did the Master Spirit candle, except use a dressing oil appropriate to their purpose: Money, Healing, Blessing, Love, etc. Whatever it is that you prefer.

Then, light it, using a Lighting Taper with flame drawn from your Master Spirit candle. This is the right way to always light your Master Property candles, but for the first time, allow it to burn for a little while. Once it has melted some, drop three drops of High John the Conquerer oil into the liquified wax - this is obviously the reason why these candles are most often the novena type, as the glass holder contains a small pool of melted wax once they've been burning for a while, allowing a couple of drop of the oil to be dropped into it. Then, allow the candle to cool, and it's ready to be used.

Do not "pass the flame" from Master Property candle to next one - always make them "fresh," as described above.

Finally, feel free to decorate the candle - ribbons appropriate to the work you do, maybe hung with small symbolic charms appropriate to the candle's theme. I am a calligrapher, with an interest in seals, sigils and magical writing, so I tend to "name" the candles with a unique symbol, written in parchment in ink appropriate to the candle's purpose, and accompanied by the astrological sign associated with the candle's purpose. Feel free to get very creative with this - the more of your time, energy and creativity to devote to this candle, the more mojo you're investing in it.

I'm including two photos of my Master Prosperity candle, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. A key hangs from it, in a design that suggests expensive gilt-work to me. I also penned two Pentacles from the Key of Solomon (the Second and Fourth Pentacles, from top to bottom) to add to it.