Tea Scented Candles
On Candlemas, we light our home with the gentle flicker of candlelight to honor the ancient ritual of entreating the sun’s return by using light to attract light. This concept of like attracting like, known in ancient practice as sympathy, is the foundation of much that happens during the celebratory month of February. It is the firmament of the superstitions surrounding Groundhog Day, whose roots are found in the Bavarian forest amongst ancestors who had themselves inherited the ancient traditions of Imbolc. Burrowing animals would peek onto the carpet of snow that still lay deep in the forest, as hopeful as their human neighbors that snow was melting, that the sun was gathering strength. In human huts and encampments, lighting candles or even just peering outside were acts of courage and sympathy. By the bravery and bravado of lives linked much more intrinsically than we can imagine today, animal and human entreated the sun to respond in kind. With the path illuminated by ancient ways, the Pennsylvania Dutch brought the old world traditions of the forest to the gentler landscape of the Middle Atlantic, not just Groundhog’s Day but the “hex” signs, bolted onto barns and stitched onto quilt squares, that attract good luck.
Here is a simple craft to celebrate Candlemas: votive candles scented with tea and lit in teacups. Tea leaves, of course, carry their own mystique of good fortune. The harvest festival of Halloween isn’t complete without a gypsy fortune-teller reading tea leaves. While fun and overall harmless as a parlour game, tasseography is also a folk tradition of several cultures. Every part of the tea plant, from leaves to roots, is special. What better expresses this than the practice, never more grounding than during lengthening winter days, of a nice hot cup of tea? Tea is soothing and contemplative, appropriate to this holiday of gathering vision at the point when winter starts to melt into spring. A cup of tea compels us forward from a murder mystery savored from a cozy chair in winter’s early light to a pitcher of Arnold Palmers on the springtime lunch table. Make these tea-scented candles in honor of the natural light gathering outside as the earth turns towards the spring equinox.
Every natural holiday contains at its core a reflection of its complimentary opposite on the wheel of the year. Six months hence we will celebrate Lammas, the first of the three harvest holidays. On that day, high summer will mark its journey towards autumn. Our plans for the year will be at their midpoint. Today’s illumination of possibility will have become the certainty of occurrence, however that manifests. Then will be the time to stop for reflection and assessment while on the journey. Now is the time to savor, then commit to, the first steps. On this day of late winter as it gives way to spring, we see the possibilities of the year upcoming as those proceed from the dug-in planning and preparation of the post-Yule period just passed. Like the groundhog who is this holy day’s unofficial ambassador, we determine whether to retreat for six more weeks of respite or to go forth in search of the blessings of the strengthening sun called forth by candle magic.
Candles are magical heirlooms, inherited from ancient times when wax was a precious substance both because it was scarce and because the discovery of its usage was new. The very idea of light being available beyond sun, moon, and stars was eye-opening. That sense of revelation is at the core of the sacred holiday of Candlemas. The light from the candle calls the light from the heavens, drawing unto itself that which is both at its core and that it is at the core of. The gathering light illuminates the blessings gathering, and gathered, around us. The wonderful soft candlelight of still moments, of possibilities, are the true gift of Candlemas. Just as in the candle’s light there are love and hope, in the shadows illuminated there is gratitude’s depth. Such is the power of candlelight.
Tea-Scented Candle
This craft uses basic candle making supplies; click here for an online source. I have found that teacups accumulate in the cupboard, but if not, look for them in thrift stores or tag sales. If you wish, make the candles in votive jars.
1 tea bag, Earl Grey, jasmine, or cinnamon-clove
Here is a simple craft to celebrate Candlemas: votive candles scented with tea and lit in teacups. Tea leaves, of course, carry their own mystique of good fortune. The harvest festival of Halloween isn’t complete without a gypsy fortune-teller reading tea leaves. While fun and overall harmless as a parlour game, tasseography is also a folk tradition of several cultures. Every part of the tea plant, from leaves to roots, is special. What better expresses this than the practice, never more grounding than during lengthening winter days, of a nice hot cup of tea? Tea is soothing and contemplative, appropriate to this holiday of gathering vision at the point when winter starts to melt into spring. A cup of tea compels us forward from a murder mystery savored from a cozy chair in winter’s early light to a pitcher of Arnold Palmers on the springtime lunch table. Make these tea-scented candles in honor of the natural light gathering outside as the earth turns towards the spring equinox.
Every natural holiday contains at its core a reflection of its complimentary opposite on the wheel of the year. Six months hence we will celebrate Lammas, the first of the three harvest holidays. On that day, high summer will mark its journey towards autumn. Our plans for the year will be at their midpoint. Today’s illumination of possibility will have become the certainty of occurrence, however that manifests. Then will be the time to stop for reflection and assessment while on the journey. Now is the time to savor, then commit to, the first steps. On this day of late winter as it gives way to spring, we see the possibilities of the year upcoming as those proceed from the dug-in planning and preparation of the post-Yule period just passed. Like the groundhog who is this holy day’s unofficial ambassador, we determine whether to retreat for six more weeks of respite or to go forth in search of the blessings of the strengthening sun called forth by candle magic.
Candles are magical heirlooms, inherited from ancient times when wax was a precious substance both because it was scarce and because the discovery of its usage was new. The very idea of light being available beyond sun, moon, and stars was eye-opening. That sense of revelation is at the core of the sacred holiday of Candlemas. The light from the candle calls the light from the heavens, drawing unto itself that which is both at its core and that it is at the core of. The gathering light illuminates the blessings gathering, and gathered, around us. The wonderful soft candlelight of still moments, of possibilities, are the true gift of Candlemas. Just as in the candle’s light there are love and hope, in the shadows illuminated there is gratitude’s depth. Such is the power of candlelight.
Tea-Scented Candle
This craft uses basic candle making supplies; click here for an online source. I have found that teacups accumulate in the cupboard, but if not, look for them in thrift stores or tag sales. If you wish, make the candles in votive jars.
1 tea bag, Earl Grey, jasmine, or cinnamon-clove
2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil, such as vegetable oil
1 teaspoon essential oil, orange or lemon
1 bag candlemaking chips, soy or soy-wax
Candle wicks with attached metal tabs
Heatproof glass measuring cup, reserved for crafts and projects
Metal teaspoon, reserved for crafts and projects
Small silicon spatula/scraper, reserved for crafts and projects
Craft scissors
2 teacups or votive holders
Safety note: Working with wax chips is the safest way to make candles, especially for beginners. Wax is highly flammable, with a flash point of approximately 260 - 280 degrees F, and hot wax burns skin. This is not a craft for children, people with compromised cognition, or when the pets are around.
- Remove the paper tag and metal clip from the tea bag. Place the tea bag into the measuring cup. Pour the cooking oil onto the tea bag.
- Place the measuring cup in the microwave and heat at 50% power for 2 minutes.
- After the oil has heated, use a potholder to safely remove the measuring cup. Set aside to steep until very fragrant, approximately 3 minutes.
- After 3 minutes, safely use the small spoon to remove the tea bag from the tea-scented oil. Safely use the spoon to press the bag against the inside wall of the measuring cup to express as much of the oil as you can.
- Measure the essential oil into the measuring cup.
- Measure wax chips into the measuring cup to the ½ cup line. Use the teaspoon to stir the chips until they are well coated with oil. It is okay if they begin melting.
- Position one wick each into 2 teacups or votive jars, metal tab at the bottom.
- Gently measure a teaspoon of wax chips into the cup/jar, mounding it around the metal tab.
- Using one hand to steady the wick, use the other hand to carefully fill each cup / votive with the warm oil-chips mixture from the measuring cup. Use the scraper to use all of the mixture so that the candles will be as fragrant as can be.
- Once the candles have cooled and solidified, trim each wick to ½ - ¾ inch above the wax surface.
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