Alternatives to real candles?

earthair

ravenest said:
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!

I can only find ones that plug in on a stand...is there a website?
So the incense is real but on a fake stick? Wierd.

earthair

Disa said:
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) .

Yup, I'm not sure it'll work yet either because it's either fire or it's not! But short of employing some people to stand around with fire extinguishers just in case, it's going to have to do. Twill have to be symbolic fire.

Disa said:
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 haven't used glow sticks, I was just thinking aloud about whether they might be an option. But even the red ones look a bit too alien and chemically. Plus at some of the locations people might think someone is in distress and send out a search party.

Cocobird55

These look interesting. I used to love candles, but after getting asthma, I can't be in the same room with them. Does anyone have any recommendations?

earthair

Cocobird55 said:
These look interesting. I used to love candles, but after getting asthma, I can't be in the same room with them. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I've ordered some coloured tealights, and tomorrow I'll try some LED wax effect ones, and, inspired by ravenest, a random assortment of solar powered ones in the garden. I will report back!

Did you read this article about scented candles and formaldehyde? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/12103003/Why-scented-candles-could-cause-cancer.html

and http://www.care2.com/greenliving/which-candles-emit-carcinogenics.html

She suggests these healthier types- http://www.care2.com/greenliving/7-candles-that-wont-give-you-cancer-or-make-your-kids-sick.html

Cocobird55

Thanks for the link -- I will order a couple of soy pillar candles.

Aster Breo

The most realistic looking LED candles I've found are the ones described as "dancing flame" or "moving wick". Obviously, if you're close to it, you can tell it's not a real candle. But, from even a few feet away, they look very realistic.

The one I have is a 6" pillar candle, about 3" diameter. The body is actually made of wax. It takes 3 AAA batteries.

Many of them come with timers and/or remote controls. Some are even scented.

ravenest

earthair said:
I can only find ones that plug in on a stand...is there a website?
So the incense is real but on a fake stick? Wierd.

No its a plastic stick with a glowing red end, no incense at all . But it looks like incense ... without the smoke or smell ... which is why you have it in the first place :laugh:

Do you mean funky egg ? It does plug in on a stand that it sits on, but that is for recharging ( magnetically, so it just sits on the stand ). It has a battery inside the egg. mIne seems to run for most of the night on battery charge.

$50 ! Whaaaat ! I got mine at a junk shop for under $15 each ..... here is one for $10

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/adelaide-cbd/other-lighting/funky-egg-night-light/1101411022

earthair

So far, I've tried the LED waterproof tealights which arrived today, and I'm really pleased with them...in the dark the constantly changing cycle of colours ( red-white-purple-blue-green-yellow-orange ) is very hypnotic, and makes for an awesome modern style magic circle if you need the whole spectrum rather than a more Wiccan style white light :cool2:

The downside is that one person can't really time the switch on of each light to coincide with the same colour, so the effect is a bit random- disco/christmassy - which is probably why I like it :joke:

The downside is that in the daylight these look very plasticy and not at all candle-y.

I've spotted some LED fake wax, half burnt down candles on special offer, so I'll try those next. :party:

Aster Breo

earthair said:
The downside is that in the daylight these look very plasticy and not at all candle-y.

I've spotted some LED fake wax, half burnt down candles on special offer, so I'll try those next.

Try looking for the ones described as "dancing flame" or "moving wick" LED candles. As I said a few posts ago, many are made of real wax, some are even scented. From a few feet away, they're very realistic looking.

earthair

Aster Breo said:
Try looking for the ones described as "dancing flame" or "moving wick" LED candles. As I said a few posts ago, many are made of real wax, some are even scented. From a few feet away, they're very realistic looking.

Thanks- I will try them