Dressing A Candle

To be honest, I was never one for dressing candles. It seemed an unnecessary step and I never really gave it a try for fear of doing something wrong. In the past, the most I would do would be to sprinkle some herbs at the top of the candle once some of the wax had melted.


I have recently changed my ways.


It seems like common sense to state that you get out of something what you put into it. The statement is true and I can feel the difference in a candle's energy after adding essential oils and herbs.


I took a white pillar candle and poured some Palo Santo essential oil onto my hands. I smeared that stuff all over the sides of the candle as well as the top. Then, I sprinkled a mixture of Irish Moss and White Sage that I broke down a bit in my mortar and pestle. I placed it in the correct position on my altar and lit it up so that it could start illuminating my space and cleansing my altar.


The purpose of this story of mine is to tell you not to be afraid to try new things. You might just discover that the new way is better than whatever it is that you've been doing. Putting in a little extra effort makes for a better finished product, especially where spirituality is concerned.


Dressing a candle is a witchcraft practice and I see no conflict in using it in my practice of Irish Polytheism. It's easy enough to imagine that the Irish of yesteryear did something similar (I have no proof of this, it's just what I think to be true), but this practice works for me today. Since I'm not a CR, I see no problem in embracing this modern technique that is found in so many belief systems.


Some might balk and say I'm practicing incorrectly. Those folks should feel free to leave me a comment below and tell me the "right" way to do this. Perhaps I'll learn something new again.

The Sabbats - A Reflective Episode

I've been feeling a disconnect with some of the sabbats as of late. Even if I'm not able to do a full on ritual, I still make time to pause and reflect on the wheel of the year and the changing of the seasons. I just don't feel a connection to Ostara like I do with Imbolc. I've been searching for possible reasons why, and even going so far as to theorize that everyone likely has sabbats that they don't identify with as much as the others. But my answer led me somewhere that I didn't expect: only celebrating the 4 greater sabbats.

Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. Those are the ones I'm going to celebrate for the next year, starting after this upcoming Samhain. Then, I'll take some time to pause and reflect on the change and determine if it makes sense to continue or if I should return to the main Wiccan concept of the sabbats. And I'll also continue my personal research into what the Irish did; not to hope to copy their practices word for word, but as a starting point for my own personal practice.

I'm not a Celtic Recon but I have been reading a lot of related blog posts, websites, and book recommendation lists in order to get a general overview of the Irish way of doing things all those years ago. All my research points to the fact that they celebrated these four sabbats and not those on the quarters (Yule, Ostara, Litha, and Mabon). Not a lot of factual information survives from those times in my opinion, but one note of interest is that the due dates on a lot of their bills has been recorded as corresponding with the dates of the greater sabbats and not the lesser ones as one might find in other cultures.

There's also the ability to correlate Irish deities that I seek to honor and revere with these specific celebrations (though to be fair, this isn't exclusive to any particular pantheon or culture).

You can honor the Morrigan at Samhain.
You can honor Brid at Imbolc.
Danu can be honored at Beltane.
Lugh, naturally, at Lughnasadh.

So I'm going to give it a try and see if my perception shifts. I'm still considering myself a Wiccan for the time being even though others might disagree with my assessment. I'd love to hear from you if you only celebrate the greater sabbats, or even the lesser ones. Everyone is welcome at my little corner of the internet.