To enhance the magic of your ritual candles, you can create your own, filling them with your energy and intentions! You can adorn them with big sequins, curio crosses, symbols such as the Egyptian ankh, faux pearls, or anything lovely and suitably glittery that can be added to the sides of the candles to create a “stained glass” appearance. Another technique is to mix in your magical objects, stirring them into the melted wax inside a mold. An even easier way to do this is to take a soft beeswax pillar candle and “stud” the sides and the candle top with tiny crystal pieces that cost just pennies per pound. You can save them after melting the candles down and reuse them again and again. Nowadays, candle-making classes abound, and you can get leftover or “recycled” wax to use, melt, and pour into glass votives for your own uniquely magical candle creations.
Traditionally, these oils are considered to have emotional healing properties as well as simply smelling marvelous on your skin and in your home. Just burning candles scented with these oils will be magical! Cedarwood oil has a woody and pleasant aroma and can also act as a natural sedative. Studies indicate it stimulates the production of melatonin, regulates sleep patterns, and brings a sense of serenity. A pre-sleep massage with cedarwood oil is truly therapeutic and will allow you to rest deeply and awaken refreshed and ready for anything.
Clary sage essential oil not only has a splendid smell, but has been shown in studies to positively influence the levels of the happiness-stimulating chemical dopamine in the brain. Perfect for uplifting the mood, clary sage helps to ease feelings of anxiety by calming the mind while boosting confidence and self-esteem.
Erin Lale
Fellow faculty at Harvard Divinity School posted an open letter to Wolpe in response to his article. It's available on this page, below the call for p...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. The Wild Hunt has a roundup of numerous responses on its site, but it carried this one as a separate article. It is an accoun...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. This one is by a scholar of paganism. It's unfortunately a Facebook post so this link goes to Facebook. She posted the text o...
