All I can do is show you my way and our coven’s tradition. Get excited about making your own altar candles though, like many other witch’s tools, it’s an extension of you.

Many visitors to our metaphysical shop often see me making a batch of these at the front of the store, come visit! Connect with us for more on Instagram, Facebook (Meta) or TikTok.

Just because someone uses a scented candle with some crystals and perhaps a few charms, doesn’t make it an altar candle. Though, I suppose you could use that. But if you’re buying it for that purpose, my belief is you’re wasting your money.

That’s different than buying a spell candle from someone that is enchanted to honor a deity or for a love spell. Your best bet for making magic happen is to make your own altar candles.

What are Altar Candles For?

Altar candles, at least pertaining to most witchcraft practices, are the center and focal point of the altar. A witch’s altar, of course, is the center and focal point of sacred space in which we work. We don’t just want to light any candle and place it upon the altar.

For magical workings, altar candles raise power and produce spiritual energies. They can magnify, amplify energy and spellwork. Altar candles often keep unwanted energies at bay, banishing and purifying the working area.

The type and style, even the number of altar candles is going to vary greatly according to culture, tradition and practice of the witch. For example, in some Arthurian magical traditions, one white and one black candle are used as they symbolize balance of the dark and light. In some hoodoo, voodoo and other magical practices, the altar may have several candles on it.

While I normally have just one high altar candle burning, I sometimes do place four additional candles for the elemental corners. It depends on the work I’m doing.

These are elemental candles, I don’t consider these “high altar candles:. I choose four colors that correspond with the four directions and the elements. I design and dress these for inviting and holding elemental energy.

There are candles of all kinds, but spell candles are not the same as your altar candle.

Altar Candles: Scratch or Remodel?

So, for this article, I’ll just be using one candle, starting with an inexpensive soy pillar and crafting my altar candle. I tend to remodel mine, vs from scratch.

If you’ve never made candles, it’s quite messy and time-consuming. Making your own altar or spell candles from scratch can be very gratifying, but there is nothing wrong with remodeling.

Remodeling can also be very economical too. I use plain soy short pillar candles. Candles are made from many different types of wax. Pillar candles are also safer on the altar for less chance of being knocked over. Never leave a candle burning unattended.

Unscented soy smokes less, is less expensive, and quite easy to carve, which I consider an extra bonus. I get mine mostly from dollar stores, believe it or not, and save me quite a bit of money.

Preparing Candles

Assuming you have chosen and obtained your candle (or poured your own), now it’s time to prepare them for “dressing”.  Dressing is simply a term witches use to describe carving, oiling and powdering a candle.

Remove all the packaging and be especially careful to remove stickers on the bottoms of candles. That paper can become like a giant wick and produce quite a flame. This can lead to shattering your candle glass and become quite a fire hazard.

I have a dedicated cauldron specifically for smoke-cleansing items I work with like wands or athames. I use white sage and a little dragon’s blood. Enchant the sage and the dragon’s blood separately. I teach my coven to enchant everything, every step of the way. If you are unsure, read Enchantment Magic as a good guide to success.

I enchant the herbs/powders according to their magical properties. White sage is perfect for purification, so I enchant it to purify the candles, thus removing any unwanted energies. The dragon’s blood I enchant for cleansing, manifestation and potency.

In short, I’m enchanting the dragon’s blood to not only cleanse my altar candles, but to make their purpose manifest and to make them potent.

I also smoke-cleanse the candle glass that holds my altar candles. To the candle glass, I also enchant and add a layer of salt. I enchant the salt to keep the area purified, and this helps to level the candle so it’s not sitting at an angle.

Lastly, I trim the wick to ¼ of an inch. This really helps prevent tunneling and encourages proper burning. It’s a bummer when your candle tunnels and you only get half the burn hours you should have.

Dressing the Candle – Carving

Here is the fun part, and where you get to be creative. Your coven or tradition may already have expected sigils and symbols. If not, there’s a lot of room for creativity.

In this image, notice both the top and the side of the candle, but let’s start with the top. It is best to do any carving before oiling or powdering.

You can create your own special and magical candle carving tool or purchase one. I like little pen-knives but also iron nails and special made tools.

On the top of the candle, I have the “horns of power” and representative of the Horned God and masculine divine energy. Notice the little waning crescent moon? This is representative of the goddess, in this case Hecate. It is placed between the antlers.

I have always believed the male energy in the universe must never ignore the female energy. Otherwise, things wither and die. I teach my coven that witchcraft is like a bow; the female energy drawing power, or gestating, and the male energy looses the arrow. Without both, the bow is useless.

Now, you don’t have to do that, this is but my way only. You are free to art your altar candles in any manner you see fit. I am merely giving you an explanation and hopefully inspiring you to create your own.

On the side of the candle, it looks like a letter “H”, which (for me) stands for Hecate but is also the first letter of my last name. The right side composes the letter “C”, which stands for Cernunnos, another name for the Horned God. You see an arrow flying through the “H”, left to right. This reminds me of the bow and how both male and female are engaged in working magic.

Dressing the Candle: Oil and Powder

I then continue to dress the candle with a spell oil. In this case, I use our coven’s manifestation oil. I can’t share the exact making of that oil as we are all oath-bound. You can use any oil or spell oil you like but choose with purpose.

Once the candles are oiled, time for the powder and empowering the sigil and symbol work. For this, I am rubbing the ground herb powder vigorously into the sigils and symbols to empower them.

Make sure to brush or wipe away any excess oil or powder, it can interfere with the quality of burn performance.

Your choice of powder is wide-open here too. As for myself, I use our coven’s intention powder with extra dragon’s blood. Even though the intention powder is already enchanted at its making, I still enchant it for specific purposes. The same with the dragon’s blood, to increase potency and power.

Intention powder goes back a long way and is a mix of many herbs enchanted and ground together. Ours’ is a mix of 70+ various herbs and an astounding mix of magical properties. We only sell that in our metaphysical shop currently.

You can find a lot of herbs on our website like herbs by magical property, though those are bulk herbs, but find the ones you like, we also offer all herbs in 1 oz and 2 oz packets.

You could use as little as one to three herbs or a dozen or more, it’s up to you. Ginger and dragon’s blood both excel at raising power for instance. I always work with and suggest working with prime numbers when choosing ingredients.

Hopefully you are inspired now, happy candle carving!

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