Alternatives to real candles?

[earthair]

Has anyone tried fake candles for magical/ceremonial type use?

Does anyone have a recommendation for cheap small ones which are ok being left outdoors unattended for a while? I'd like them to look as firey as possible...

Has anyone else had any experiences good or bad of using fake candles instead of real ones?

 

[greatdane]

Earthair

I know you're in the UK, so you'd have to search the Amazon UK I guess, but....

Do you mean the candles that have batteries, but flicker? I know there are many on Amazon. They're not very expensive. I use real candles, but for what it's worth, I think it is intent, not the actual candle. I admit I like the real element of fire, but I would think whatever works for someone, works.
If you're interested in the ones I saw on Amazon, here's just one kind. There a ton. Just put flameless candles in search.
http://www.amazon.com/Flameless-Ope...8821&sr=1-5&keywords=battery+operated+candles

 

[Zephyros]

I've never tried it with fake candles, doesn't seem right. Why do you want to leave them unattended?

I think it depends on a great part on what ritual you're doing, in essence, what "school" of magic you're practicing. For example, I've found that when working "in the field" (whether real or metaphorical) using the Aces instead of implements yields good results and saves space and hassle. Some, though, would frown on this practice.

But as for the candle part, that's tricky. Insense sticks would fulfill the necessity for the Fire elemental, but would be perhaps lacking in effect. Maybe tea candles would do, they don't topple over in a breeze.

 

[earthair]

I've never tried it with fake candles, doesn't seem right. Why do you want to leave them unattended?

Because I can't physically be in multiple places at the same time, + I don't want to start a fire/injure anything.

I was even thinking about glow-sticks.


greatdane- thanks I saw those, but I wasn't sure what they looked like in real life?

 

[Zephyros]

Wow... apparently it's a bigger field than I thought!

How about what sounds like the Ferrari of fake candles, "remote control electronic LED candles with moving wick?" There's even a solar powered version for using on graves!

Some of these are really cool

http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/electric-church-candles.html

 

[Disa]

Someone gave us 2 fake candles for decoration and I have to say I really dislike them, even for that. They are good for putting in the bathroom if you want a little light in there. That's the only purpose I found for them. I like candles for decorative purposes but also to have a nice fragrance.

I never thought about using them for magical purposes.

If all you want is light for a ceremony, then sure, but I just can't see dressing a fake candle and doing magic with it? I'm not sure how that would even work? I base much of my interpretation on how the candles burn, which burned faster, whether the flame got extremely huge, whether the candle holder burst(which just happened yesterday) .

I'm curious about how you are using glow sticks in your magical practice- if that would work for whatever you are doing, then I don't see why a fake candle wouldn't work. I guess I don't understand what you are trying to do?


I do understand needing to leave them unattended. If you are in the middle of spellwork and you have to leave the house unexpectedly...

 

[Aster Breo]

I use a flickering LED candle to keep an "eternal" flame for Brighid. I also use an oil lamp and real candles every evening, but the LED candle stays on all the time.

I've used LED tea lights for the same purpose while traveling.

It's a safe way to have the idea of a flame even when you can't be there to monitor it. Some of the flickering LEDs are very realistic unless you're right next to them.

 

[ravenest]

Fake candles ! Dang blast and consarn it ! These silly new fangled inventions.

I have always thought fake candles were soooo weird a concept . Once I was having a drink at a bar in a Chinese restaurant , waiting for a table, and they had a little shrine on the shelf. I noticed the fake candles ... but then ... !

To barmaid : "Is that electric incense you have on that ?"

Crazy! At least a fake candle gives illumination .... fake incense is .... well, just stupid. (Its stick with a red led light on the end , no smoke or smell.

When we used candles outside in ritual we had coloured glass chimney things we put around them to protect from the wind, that should stop any accidents happening.

At the moment (not for ritual puposes) I am using 'funky egg'

Its an opaque white egg with led inside ( charges up magnetically) and it changes color , I have a larger spherical glass white sphere I put it inside to make a large light ball.

For a large outdoor circle a couple of times we used Hawaiian torches - but they stinky!

 

[ravenest]

Thou shalt devise a magical lamp that burns without oil or wick and is fed by the aethys. When I first read that, in the early 70s I thought ... yeah, right !

Now, I have one and it (like all my power) is generated by sunlight .

 

[earthair]

I use a flickering LED candle to keep an "eternal" flame for Brighid. I also use an oil lamp and real candles every evening, but the LED candle stays on all the time.

I've used LED tea lights for the same purpose while traveling.

It's a safe way to have the idea of a flame even when you can't be there to monitor it. Some of the flickering LEDs are very realistic unless you're right next to them.

Oooooo thanks *claps hands excitedly*
Look what I've found http://www.primrose.co.uk/-p-98702....showPLA=true&gclid=CNfMwZihr8oCFYIfwwodZCsD6w
AND they are coloured
AND submersible ... now that will make for some very interesting possibilities.