Mini-muse 002: A little light

+ Replay link for our latest tarot journaling session

Hi little coven.

As temperatures have dropped and nights have grown long, I’ve found myself revelling in lower-case candle magic… in the micro-ritual of lighting a wick and retreating, even if only for the length of a birthday candle’s burn, from the relentless glow of electric light and glowing screens.

The benefits of eschewing electric light and tapping into the mystic, connective power of flame is no secret: Candle Magic(k) is a rich and storied practice dating back thousands of years, spanning cultures and theologies.¹

But even though I know it’s true, even though I’ve felt first-hand the magic that arrives when I strike a match (always a match for me, lighters shatter the illusion) I need the nudge, the reminder, to ignite the spark.

Looking for the replay of our most recent tarot journaling club session? Find it here.

One of my favorite nudges to retreat into the glow of candlelight is Jeaneatte Winterson’s gorgeous essay Why I adore the night, a piece I find myself repeatedly drawn to at this time of year… one that reminds me just how creatively invigorating a little — rather than a lot — of light can be:

Spending the evening in candlelight, and maybe by the fire – with no TV – talking, telling stories, letting the lit-up world go by without us, expands the hours, and alters the thoughts and conversations we have.

I have noticed that when all the lights are on, people tend to talk about what they are doing – their outer lives. Sitting round in candlelight or firelight, people start to talk about how they are feeling – their inner lives. They speak subjectively, they argue less, there are longer pauses.

To sit alone without any electric light is curiously creative. I have my best ideas at dawn or at nightfall, but not if I switch on the lights – then I start thinking about projects, deadlines, demands, and the shadows and shapes of the house become objects, not suggestions, things that need to done, not a background to thought.

Another nudge: Recently, I spent a day reading tarot at Messy Nessy’s Cabinet of Curiosities in Paris, and returned home with a set of Nessy’s Twenty Minute Reading Candles. Inspired by her own desire to spend more time reading, the candles have helped me set regular intentions to draw away from my work, my worries, and the weight of the world to spend time with my favorite human creation: words.

Boy reading by candlelight. By Matthais Stom. Via Wikimedia Commons.

I hope this little mini-muse can nudge you toward a few moments of retreat, a little dark luxuriation, a longer pause, a dip into your inner life. Maybe you’ll get there through the striking of a literal match, or maybe just by virtue of stepping away from all the artificial light and noise the world generates, permitting yourself to come home to yourself just as you are, like a moth to the flame of your own soul.

Tell me in the comments:

How do you work with candles?

What other micro-rituals are helping you dip into your inner life this season?

What have you been musing about, lately?

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1. I’m sure I’ll write more in-depth about candle magick for creatives one of these days, but if you’d like a primer on developing a formal Candle Magick practice now, I rate this episode from the Demystify Magic podcast.