Here are some ideas from Savannah plus others who have shared their safety tips based on their candle magic experiences:
- Make sure you have a fire extinguisher in your home.
- Think of how you would handle a fire in your home. Remember that fire spreads very quickly, and you will be surprised the damage a fire can do within a very short amount of time, and I mean seconds! Place the fire extinguisher in a location that can be easily accessed should a fire occur. We don’t recommend putting it next to your candle stand, because if a fire does occur, there may be a lot of smoke in that area and you will not be able to see the fire extinguisher. Further, the fire extinguisher may be HOT to touch and therefore …unusable!
- Glass candle cups and holders will explode if the flame burns next to the glass for any length of time. When they explode, bits of glass, flame, and sparks will ignite altar clothes, ritual robes, and hair, not to mention drapes
- Make sure you look at the items surrounding the burning candles such as plants, artificial plants, curtains that could be blown in the wind or a fan onto the flame, posters or pictures on the wall above a flame, or even a petition paper that can become accessible to the flame at certain times of the burning. Never assume that it will be alright. Make sure it has a clear area to work the flame, and if the spirit moves a message and a candle does break or spill, it doesn’t reach nearby objects and cause a fire.
- Tapers – If the taper does not fit securely in the candle holder you have, don’t use it. Sometimes you can wrap the bottom of the candle with foil so that it fits tighter, but this does not always work, especially if the cup of the holder isn’t deep. If the candle taper is the least bit wobbly, think of something else. Another idea is to sit the candle on a bed of sand or dirt. That way if the jar or the candle does spill, it spills into an earth element which will not further spread the fire.
- Wax even on a petition paper, can cause a flareup, so be very careful when putting your petition paper into the burning bowl. A lot of wax in the burning bowl will cause its own Firepit.
- Jar candles are indeed the safest type of candle to burn without consistent observation. But don’t be fooled. If a wick becomes close to the jar, the jar can break, and you have an active flame with the power of the wax to create a lot of mess and a potential fire situation.
- If you receive a jar candle and it is cracked, don’t be fooled thinking that it will be safe to place the broken jar into another container. If the jar is broken at the base, at a certain time the wax will begin to melt out of the jar and into the container. If the container is made out of plastic, the flame may hit the plastic and this becomes a very difficult and messy fire that burns for a long time. So you want to be aware of this potential situation. Basically if you receive a broken jar candle you should not use it at all.
Don’t burn candles on jars with plastic lids!
I am guilty of this myself at times. Especially when I have the best sized jar for the work, and the jar itself only had a plastic lid. Well, I should not have used this jar as i know better. But I rationalized it, telling myself, that I will be sitting next to the candle as it burns. Silly me – it could have gotten ugly real fast.
I recorded the video to show you what does happen (most of the time) if you use a plastic lidded jar for burning candles.
So what should you use instead?
You should always burn candles on top of jars with a metal lid. As you can see in the video, the jars I am working beside these candles all have metal lids.
What tips do you have for candle work? Leave your comments below