As I annointed the three candles I bought the other day with patchouli oil, the thought occurred to me.  There is a good reason most people I have learned from or books I have read say to annoint candles by hand.  It does much more than just spread scented oil onto the wax.

This past semester, the other class I took was forensic science, and at the beginning we learned of something called the Locard Principle: “with contact between two items, there will be an exchange.”  (BTW I got an A in that class, as opposed to the D in organic chem.)  While Locard was the head of a crime lab, his principle has definite application in magick!

When you annoint a candle by hand, your skin oils and epithelial cells (dead skin cells) also transfer on the microscopic level, which tranfers a little of yourself into the candle wax along with the scented oil.

This right here is perhaps the best argument for the “do it yourself” crowd in candle magick.  Along with imbuing the candles with your intent, you literally put a little tiny bit of yourself into the wax!

Posted on May 10th, 2008 by Darwin
Filed under: Spellcraft