Reading a Candle

SIGNS LEFT IN OR ON THE CANDLE HOLDER, STAND, PLATE, SAUCER, GLASS, OR LABEL

It is quite common to read the smoke patterns left behind in a candle glass for divinatory purposes. This is a combination of Capnomancy -- divination by smoke (a word that can also refer to reading patterns in "live" smoke -- that is, incense smoke or the smoke from a candle) and Ceromancy -- divination by wax (a word that can also refer to reading patterns formed by dripping wax into water). It is therefore known as Capno-Ceromany or Cero-Capnomancy-- divination by smoke and wax.

A glass encased candle burns half clean and half dirty

A grey or black and sooty top which fades down to a clear bottom indicates that there is hidden trouble with the person for whom the lights have been set or that someone is working against your wishes. Things will not go well at first, but by repeated spells you may get them to go better.

A dirty, black, sooty burn marks the candle glass or holder

This means things are going to go hard -- the spell may not work, the blessing may fail, the person is in deeper stress or trouble than you thought.

• If the work is being done for gain or increase in love or money, or for job-getting, then the subject of the spell -- the beloved or the one who has been asked to provide the money or the job -- is "resisting" the work and "throwing up obstacles" against the person on whose behalf the light has been set.


• If the work is being done against an enemy and the enemy's candle burns sooty and dirty, then it is likely that the enemy is fighting your influences.

Sometimes there are distinct images seen in the haze or soot left by smoke that clings to a candle glass. You may see an angel, a skull, a playful dog, a human face, or a heart. These signs, and many others, can be interpreted in the same way as tea-leaf patterns or the images discovered in melted wax by the practice of ceromancy.

The glass or ceramic candle holder, saucer, or plate cracks or breaks

Breakage is never a "good" sign -- but it is not always "bad," either. If the spell is for increase or amelioration, a broken holder or base is unfortunate; if the spell is one of aggressive expulsion, the break can indicate the suddenness of the rupture to come, but . You need to consider what kind of candle it is in order to interpret the meaning.

• If the crack or breakage results in dripping wax, the indication is for tears or loss of blood.


• If the crack or shattered glass is "dry," the outcome is not likely to involve tears or blood.


• If the spell is being done to gain something or to change conditions for the better, the meaning of the breaking glass depends upon the conditions involved.

Here are a few specific examples of how i might interpret a broken candle-glass as a "bad sign":

If a Stay With Me that you were working to keep your husband from divorcing you and the glass cracked, i'd call it a bad sign.

• If you were burning a Blessing candle to help someone recover from a traumatic brain injury and the crack was near the top (head) of the glass, i'd call it a bad sign -- a notice that there would be some remaining deficit in cognition.


• If you were burning a Reconciliation or Return to Me candle to draw your ex-lover back home, a broken candle glass would be an all-around bad sign -- he has split from you and wants to stay split.


• If you are burning a Love Me candle to cause someone to care more for you, then the broken glass and dripping wax could mean tears and separation and a broken relationship.


• If you are burning Money Stay With Me candle to control your financial losses, then the broken glass with dripping wax could mean inability to control outflow of money and failure of the spell.

Sometimes the breaking of a candle glass is neutral, or functions as a warning.

• If you wanted to make a winning bid or offer on a house that is for sale, and you set a House Blessing or Money House Blessing candle on a picture of the house and the glass cracked, i'd take the cracked glass as a sign that there make be hidden flaws in the house itself. This is a warning sign to you -- and as such it is neither a "good" nor "bad" sign -- but heeding the warning might save you a bundle of money on down the road, which is good.


• If the candle is being burned in opposition to someone, like an enemy, for instance, the breakage of the glass may signify resistance, fighting back, or a reversal of the spell.

Sometimes breaking a situation apart is exactly what you want to do, and in those cases, the broken glass may be interpreted as a sign that your spell is going to succeed, although the split will be harsh, abrupt, or painful:

• If you were working Separation candle to break your apartment lease prematurely so that you could move into a new apartment, i'd call it a fairly good sign.


• If a Separation or Break Up candle glass breaks, it might signify a very complete and abruptly shattered break-up (with tears of sorrow)


• If a Separation or Break Up candle glass breaks, and you had knowledge that the work is being performed against resistant people, and the break was accompanied by a lot of black soot in the candle glass or burning of the candle label, it could signify their break would be temporary or incomplete, due to their resistance to the spell.


• If an Intranquility candle breaks, it may mean that the target is resisting or is shielded by spells and that your attempt has shattered against those defenses; it may also mean that the Intranquil Spirit, who is called upon in this spell, does not wish to work for you.
A broken Essence of Bend-Over candle may mean that the one whom you wish to control or bend to your will is fighting back and breaking your spell.

In some cases, the breakage of the candle glass is ambiguous and further divination over the candle is necessary to settle the question.

• If you were burning a Road Opener to break through a log-jam between your union and the company you worked for on contract issues, i'd take it as a sign that there would indeed be a break-through, and soon ... but not necessarily for the best, because, as the wax ran out, so too might some employees be forced to "run out."


• If you were burning a Break Up candle to break apart your wife and her outside lover, and they did split up, this won't ensure that your wife stays faithful from now on, so you'd want to do some more work on her, too.


• A broken Cast Off Evil candle might signify that the evil spell was suddenly broken (possibly with tears, bloodshed, or God-knows-what-all) -- or that if the evil was embodied in a bad person who was hanging around (as opposed to a bad habit or substance abuse, for which these candles are also often used) then the breakage of the glass might signify resistance on that persons part and their refusal to be "cast off" from the person whom they are parasitizing.

In other words, the symbolism of a broken glass varies based on the type of candle and there is an art to reading the signs, which cannot be neatly summarized by a set of "rules." You may do a divination on the result to further clarify the signs -- and remember to combine the meaning of the cracked glass with other signs, such as soot, burned label art, etc., in order to get the fullest picture of what the outcome will be.
In the end, no matter what the kind of case you are handling, the action i personally would take when a glass candle breaks would be to set another of the same sort of light on the same situation; that is, i would re-do the work because i would not consider a broken candle and spilled wax to be a positive outcome unless the candle was lit for a negative petition, and even then it would have negative side-effects (tears, blood, loss).

Seriously speaking, and with no attempt at frivolity or triviality, it must be noted that the best way to avoid a broken plate, saucer, or holder is to not use glass or ceramic in this capacity. A worker who persists in the habit, especially after breaking more than one such article, is a worker who is ungrounded in the real world, whose spirituality may aim high but who fails to take note of the physical laws that govern and set limits on our daily lives on Earth.