What are intention candles?  

Intention candles are candles that create focus, and encourage presence and empowerment through the power of visualization and positive affirmations.  An intention candle is a candle that is dedicated for a single purpose to manifest your intention.

The best way to use an intention candle is as a tool of visualization. Not to be confused with meditation, visualization is more active - it requires you to focus on your intent and visualize it manifesting. The intention candle is used as part of this practice. And for centuries, candles have held a place in visualization, prayer and spiritual practices. Nearly every culture around the world uses candles for ceremonies, rituals, and celebrations to symbolize light, presence and intention.  There are very early linkages between candle-lighting and spirituality appearing in ancient Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, and indigenous practices. Of course today candles are integral to many prayer rituals today, from Christianity to the Jewish Shabbat, India's Diwali, and nearly every Buddhist shrine. 

Lighting candles for spiritual fire plays a role in every religion and philosophical tradition practiced around the world because candles  provide a physical connection to the element of fire. Since the fire element corresponds to our inner light, and our passions, wills and desires, a candle becomes a working tool to focus our attention and intention on our desires.

How do you set an intention with a candle? 

The ritual is pretty straightforward. First, cleanse your space. Create a quiet space in your house and use palo santo or sage to cleanse the energy. Relax your body and mind.

Find a spot where your focus (and the candle) won't be disturbed.  Clear the area of anything that doesn’t relate to your intention, and surround it with things that do. For example, an abundance manifestation could involve placing some dollar bills under the candle and some pyrite, or citrine crystals around it, along with a photo of who you see as the personification of abundance, or what you'd like to manifest nearby.   A love manifestation could include rose quartz crystals, a photo of someone you love (a person who makes you feel loved) and images of what you want love to look like.  

Next, close your eyes and visualize your goals and what you’d like to manifest. Focus on the feeling you get when you’ve achieved these goals. Do you feel inspired? Elated? Excited? Let those feelings wash over you.  As Neville Goddard says,  “If you will assume your desire and live there as though it were true, no power on earth can stop it from becoming a fact.”

Once you’ve meditated on what your intentions are, open your eyes and jot down your intentions in your journal or on a piece of paper.   Then, state out loud your intention. You want to be as clear and precise as possible about your intention. You will state your intention as though it has happened and currently exists.

A few examples include:

• I am abundant, I live in the home of my dreams.
• It's easy to manifest money.
• I am loved, and give the love I seek.
• I know joy, and I am joy. 

Light your candle and send your intention into the flame. The candle serves as an external place to focus your intention and to direct that intention out into the world.  A big part of what magical or ritual is, is setting aside the time to focus and visualize what you want.  When you light the candle, you’re symbolizing igniting your intention. 

Close with words of gratitude and positive affirmation -- good magic should always end in gratitude. You want to make sure you’re acknowledging what you’ve achieved and not just going onto the next thing. Recognize your work in putting an intention out there and give thanks for anything already in motion.

Intention candles are used to manifest wishes and desires. They are a way to bring your dream life into reality. When you light an intention candle, it illuminates your intentions, and when you meditate on it, it releases your wish and sends your energy out into the universe.

As with any meditation or ritual, what you receive is only reflective of the amount of work you put in to achieving your goals. But intention candles are a great way to get clear about what you want to bring into your life. Happy manifesting!