Southern Bramble: a Podcast of Crooked Ways Season 6, Episode 4: Candle Magic
Mar 3, 2026
A lively deep dive into candle magic, from the history of candles to practical burning techniques. They debate whether electric candles count and warn about fire hazards from decorative candles. Conversations cover color correspondences, figure and photo candle uses, moving workings, novenas, and safe herb and oil preparation.
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Candle Burn As Transference Ritual
- Insight: Candle magic is primarily about creating a transfiguration from physical to non-physical, not reading flame omens.
- Marshall emphasizes dressing and burning a candle to send intention out of this reality, not to interpret soot or flame.
Candle Dressing As Symbolic Impregnation
- Insight: Candle dressing is sexually suggestive metaphor and functions as symbolic impregnation of intention.
- Austin describes greasing, carving, and wicking a candle as a phallic act that 'impregnates' change into the world.
Color Correspondences Are Cultural Layers
- Insight: Colored candle meanings are historically recent and culturally specific, not universal correspondences.
- Austin and Marshall note early candles were white/beeswax; colored dyes and color meanings grew with 20th-century manufacturing and local money colors.
