Inviting you August 2nd (Lighting Up 3)

Inviting you to take part in an August soulful candle lighting opportunity!

Hi there,

I have been as sitting on a nest for the past month or so. Not sure what exactly I was nesting!   And some days not even sure there was a nest at all!

Do you ever feel like that? If you do, or have, or are, read on.

I have been walking by the light of beeswax candles now for the past 19+ years. At first, I had some kind of ‘big idea’. But making it actually happen has eluded me for a long while.

What was clear was it had to do with a sense of a growing connection of when and where to light beeswax candles with others. But I couldn’t articulate this very clearly.  Either folks liked lighting beeswax candles or not, it seemed.

Last year I finished what seemed like a thesis to me: A Short Guide to Lighting a Candle in a mere 13 pages. It’s probably too long. But most times we go through the the long and winding path in order to arrive at where we started (Shades of T.S. Eliot’s: “We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time”). A deepening.

In January I began to host local Heart Remembering mini retreats. Women coming together to make and light a beeswax candle for someone special in their lives.  A weaving of heart meditations and rolling a beeswax taper. (Do ask me if you want to know more about these, as I would love to share.)

Earlier this year I also began a new blog series called Lighting Up exploring when we light candles. This is the third in that series. What started out as: “personal rituals” then morphed to “personal rites of passage”.  Follow me one step further here:

It is very true that we light candles for important passages in life. Weddings, Coming of Age, Births, Deaths, Moving Home, a New Job.

The beeswax candle flame I know is an invitation to make an ‘inner turn’,  an inspiration for us to pay attention as if for the first time, notice whatever we are carrying, holding within us in our hearts as we honour or mark the ‘outer’ event simply by lighting a the candle.

Such a simple thing, a golden flame standing straight and true.

The bees invite us into what the heart longs for, us making conscious our inner/outer ‘turning’, all the while holding our consciousness of Earth and the Divine all together within us.

This is the work/the gift of the bees, their mediating heaven and earth for us, collectively throughout our human history pretty much. Right in front of our noses!

Something so simple and so sublime at the same time.

So it is in this sense of potential inspiration, potential connecting that I offer you this simple ‘adventure’.

It is this: to light a beeswax candle every day for 16 days in August. Starting real soon.

By the way. No, it doesn’t cost anything other than your time and purchasing beeswax candles.  Most of you will likely have several beeswax candles in your cupboards somewhere.  Now would be the time to get them out.  It is an incredibly special occasion.  For you.  For  the Earth’s heart too.   This IS that special occasion you have been saving them for!

Welcome to your Personal Soulful Candle Lighting Adventure!

So I will make this short and hopefully clear as I can. If you have further questions, or comments or queries, just email me.

Starting When?

We start in this time of the Cross-Quarter of August combined with the August New Moon on which is the next day. So here in the northern hemisphere that would be Tuesday August 2^nd!!

Ending When?

On the August Full Moon, Thursday August 18^th.

Why Cross-Quarter days?

This one at the beginning of August is called Lammas, the first day of August. It was a  feast that was had, by the landowners in longer ago times, especially Great Britain,  honouring the fruits of the first harvest. On the Cross-Quarter days we look ahead to the next season. What will it bring? A time of looking ahead and also remembering what we had hoped for, even as we are still midway in the current season. Can we sense what is coming into fruition? What fruits am I witnessing in my life or my business? From my soul what would I want to work on now? For us facing the autumn, it’s also about reconnecting with Earth once more after all this outbreath of summer heat and light. The actual date of the September Equinox is still quite far away. The Cross-Quarter days are a soul opportunity to pay attention to what’s important in our hearts.

In the southern hemisphere it is fall. So it would be the reverse, looking to what new growth is rising up after the winter in-breath.

Why 16 days? Truthfully I started with 31 days, the whole month. And then I realized August is the time of Cross-quarter day and when I realized that this Cross-quarter day is also a New Moon (which is not the norm) I wondered when the Full Moon was. And there it was, almost 16 full days later.

BTW, It then occurred to me that 16 days is also the same length of time that queen bees take to be born. And that sealed the deal for me. So 16 days it is!

Time of day, length of lighting time?

All of your own choosing!

Is there a topic or theme?

Nope. You decide. Whether you start with lighting your candle for someone else or for yourself. In our heart it doesn’t matter. Just simply begin whatever is important for you right now in your heart. Start there and see what happens in 16 days. It’s your adventure. Your connecting. Your soul time. Done in freedom.

Do I journal?  If you wish.

You decide if you want to track how you start and how you end, as well as everything in between, or simply certain bits or nothing at all. Really its your choice.

Do I have to let you know I am going to do this?

You can if you would like to. Truthfully it would be lovely, more connecting to know who is actually lighting candles. Again I really want it to be your choice.

Is there anything I have to do?

Only to light a beeswax candle for 16 days.

Does it have to be pure beeswax?

It’s also truly your choice. Think it through for yourself and decide what you want to use.

If you have never burned beeswax candles continuously for several days, you may want indeed to choose beeswax for this time. Really to feel and know it.

Does it matter whether it is a taper or pillar candle?

It will be easier to burn a taper beeswax candle. (the ones fatter at the base than at the top of the candle) If you light a pillar style, with several short times of lighting you will create a ‘centre burn’ around the wick. If that happens, it’s not the end of the world! Just make the next time of lighting your candle a much longer time, such that the hot wax pool reaches the edges of the pillar. The taper styles don’t create centre-burns even for short lighting up times.

What if I’m not home to light my candle each day?

Hmmm. I don’t think the sky will fall. Often the unexpected invites our creativity!

Perhaps you could purchase or borrow one for those days you are not home, if you can’t take a candle with you?

What if I forget?

Give yourself grace! And notice what you notice! Just keep going and return to lighting your candle each day.

Tell me again what the purpose of this 16-day candle lighting is?

It’s a gift for ourselves, our whole self. Body mind and spirit. It’s about deepening our consciousness of our heart.
What it will become you may not know until the end, when a full cycle of the sun/moon has happened.
Often the idea I start a project with is not what it ends up being. Are you willing to be surprised?
We live in such isolating, disconnecting times, often tied to the media’s interpretations of world events. So this is an opportunity for awakening. Your own.  This is an opportunity for you.

Will you have any follow-up activities after the 16 days?

Not sure yet.

 Or you can let me know if there is something particular you want to do afterwards. Perhaps a community conversation together?  If I was on social media, perhaps we could use that. For those of you that have known me for a while, that’s a big ‘perhaps’! I tend to think the sky would have to fall for that to happen.  But who knows?
Bottom line is I haven’t thought this far ahead. The only thing I am clear about is that this IS a very good time to see what lighting a beeswax candle for these 16 days lights up in our hearts.

So, instead of simply writing a blog post ABOUT when we personally could light candles, I wanted to provide a live opportunity for the doing of this.

So, I don’t think either of us knows what we need yet.

How about we talk after August 18^th !  First things first! Want to join me?

Again, questions, queries?

Reply below in the comment section  or email me directly at lsnagel@hotmail.com

Bee-well
Linda
Community Candle Maker