⫯Candle, Cord & Charm

The folk spellcraft of the witchcraft lessons, worked step by step. Choose a candle by colour and planet, cleanse it, carve it, dress it toward you or away, find the Moon and the planetary hour, then light it on screen beside your own: it burns down with the time, can be snuffed and relit, and reminds you never to leave it. Tie the nine-knot cord in its order and untie one knot a day, or keep it as a binding, and untie the sailors' winds. Fill a charm bag with an odd number of things of its planet, tie three knots and refresh it each new moon. Steep an infused oil for two to four weeks, shake it daily, strain and label it, and anoint inward or downward. And make a healing poppet, for yourself or with consent. Tap a flame apart as Faraday did in his 1848 lectures on the chemical history of a candle. Carve the candle with your finger and the marks burn away as it burns, dress it with strokes that are checked against your aim, and light it by striking a match along the box.