Rituals in the Age of Technology - To LED, or not to LED?

[BlackLili]

Back when I was a freshman in college, it was the first time someone had tried to take away the candles and incense I used for meditation and rituals. I lived in a dorm, so the typical reasonable justifications were given; they're fire hazards, incense can induce allergies, and wax is damn hard to get out of carpet.

At the time, those fantasmagoric little flickery LED candles weren't available yet, at least on the wide retail scale they are now. Nor were "wickless candles (http://www.heatedscents.com/Category.aspx?cat=8)" that have become fashionable now, either. And most certainly there weren't the Glade™ plug-in scented LED candles (http://www.glade.com/glade-wisp-candle) around.

And while doing the links for this post, I now see that ThinkGeek has blow-on/blow-out-activated LED pillar candles (http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/94ce/). (ZOMG want.)

With all of the options available, in different colors of the candles themselves when you go to the high-end, and with the versatility of dropping an LED tealight into the appropriately-colored votive holder - I'm wondering why not to go high-tech in my rituals?

No soot, no wax spills, no danger of flame, and if you get rechargeable ones, you can let them run all day long!

So I ask here - for practitioners who work with candles in their rituals - what would you see as some differences between LED candles and traditional ones?

I have some ideas of my own as to why or why not I would switch to LEDs, but I want to get some opinions first.

Whachootink, MWers?

[Heart of All]

I'm in college, too, so no candles. For now I'm using an oil burner that uses a lightbulb instead of a tealight, and I like that. But it doesn't make a lot of light.

I love candles. I like fire. I miss them like crazy here at college. Not having them totally detracts from the atmosphere of the ritual.

I think that for certain situations or people, the LEDs would be an appropriate substitute. Like college, or places that are flammable, or for people who are allergic to smoke or don't like its smell.

But LEDs don't actually get smaller, which sort of takes away from the offertory feeling to me. I like candles because as you use them, they get smaller, which makes it feel like a part of it really has been given to my god/dess. I don't think I can feel that way about battery power. And they would obviously not be useful in rituals that involve burning paper or something, or with spells that require you to burn the candle until it goes out.

[Artiste-LiLi]

I can see uses for the LED candles (shoot..I have a few of the tea light ones myself)...and I can even see some magical uses for them...........but for me....in magic....they're a no go...especially since I make the majority of my magical candles. I'm just "old school" I guess; there's just something about the "feel" of a real wax-n-wick that you can't get elsewhere. And the "feel" of a wax-n-wick that you've handmade yourself is, for me, just "so much more".

[~Elise~]

I think that they'd be okay for show in a ritual...esp a group ritual or a public one, but for spellwork, no go.

JMO and YMMV

Elise

[*~Amora~*]

Those do look really neat, I will confess. They'd be great for mood lighting, but for my practices as a Hellenic Recon., it's very important to burn my offerings. So for that aspect, they wouldn't be useful.

It seems it depends on the potential use for the candle, and also possibly, how the particular god receives it.

[skilly-nilly]

I agree with the consensus about not LED-ing spell candles, but I think they are great in ritual. I belong to a Grove that has outdoor ritual and the difficulty of lighting a candle and the loss of atmosphere when the wind blows it out is always a problem.

I have made a flame flag and a goblet that bursts into flame with fabric, but I think that a glowy candle that you could turn on by blowing would be way cool.

[Artiste-LiLi]

Oh I think the techno-geeky candles are awesome! My hubby and I may even order some! I just can't see me using them for spellwork. I can see me using them to light a pathway to a "work" area or using them to delineate an exterior boundary to my "working space"....a sort of a: "Stop here, do not cross this line" sort of visual warning. :)

[Xentor]

I have made a flame flag and a goblet that bursts into flame with fabric, but I think that a glowy candle that you could turn on by blowing would be way cool.

I like those! I saw fake flames like that a couple years ago, with light and wind shining and blowing up underneatht the cloth. I was meaning to use them in my shows, for safety reasons because they are spectacular but a lot safer than real oil flames and torches... but I never got around to assemble the parts I had collected.

Kudos to you, not only for being able to build it, but also for actually building it!

[Xentor]

And they would obviously not be useful in rituals that involve burning paper or something,
True. If your dorm doesn't allow any kind of flame, not even matches or a lighter, you can always throw up and use your stomach acid to burn the paper...


or with spells that require you to burn the candle until it goes out.
Really? These candles burn out too. Just make sure to insert used batteries.

Instead of burning a candle for your god, you're burning harnassed raw power. I'm pretty sure the gods will recognise it's both a sacrifice.

[cheddarsox]

My parent's Catholic church converted to electric candles nearly 30 years ago. They have them in front of statues where folks used to put a dollar in the box and light a candle for a prayer intention. Now, they have these electric candles that "light" when you touch a metal button on top of the votive holder. I'm not sure how long they "burn" for.

They still use real candles on the altar during Mass and at the Tabernacle, but the others save time, money and insurance costs, plus the clean up of soot from the walls that needed to be done on a yearly basis.

So, there is religious precedent for "converting" to technology in certain situations.

We all have to make adjustments due to our living situations. Most of us would love to have easy free access to natural worship sites, etc, but we don't, so we make due...instead of building stone circles, we have our little altars, instead of impressive and expensive statuary, some of us just have a great print out from a website. The intent is that we always do the best we can in the situation at hand.

If technology is making us lazy and thoughtless, not so good, if it's offering a way to have more, do more with the situation we are in..very good. So if the choice is a battery candle or no candle at all...I'd say, battery candle it is.

[Darth Brooks]

I do cherish using candles every now and again, but I generally prefer to use electric lamps for my rituals. Especially lightning lava lamps, strobe lights, things that flash and simulate lightning and/or create a disorienting effect. I'm not so unusual in this regard as far as Setians go, actually. Some are quite accustomed to using electric illumination for many of their rituals, sort of a Die Elektrischen Vorspiele kind of thing. This video on Youtube can give you a passing idea of what I mean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8FHk3Q7_GA

Notice that there are no candles, there is no "natural" light anywhere in the ritual chamber. All light is artificial, electric. Now mind you, the video is not exactly high quality, and the reading of the litany is not quite as emotional as I would like, but the sort of lighting effects you can see here are the sort of thing I generally like to use in my own practice. Aside from lightning lava lamps and strobe lights, I also use blacklights, night lights with red or green light bulbs (red is Set's primary color, but green does a good job of making the ritual chamber seem "alien" in my opinion, and Set has always been identified with the foreign and the strange), and as cheesy as it sounds, sometimes I use the plug-in jack-o'lanterns you can find at Wal-Mart 'round this time of year as well. (I have one that is painted black on the outside and green on the inside, making it perfect for the disorientation effect.) I have not tried LED candles yet, however. Occasionally I like to use wax candles to create more of an old-fashioned "gothic" effect, but I really do appreciate the electric light method as well. It has quite a good effect on building an evocative atmosphere.

And weird things tend to happen.

[Happydeadkitty]

This thread made my laugh so hard! Oddly enough, I've found much Wisdom in The Wyrd Sisters. There's so much truth in what they say. If you need fire, candles are best I'd say...but does it really matter...tools are relative...intent, and visualization. That's how I know it to be.

Watch this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjueqkz25TU

I have acted like Magrat...Granny...And Nanny Ogg. Magrat seems like such a fluff...but she's not, She is a witch.

HDK

What I want you to see is toward the end...

[sodapopninja]

Whachootink, MWers?
Doesn't do it for me. Electric light screams "mundane, nothin' happening here, nope no ritual" in my brain. Candles or sun/moonlight or bust. At this point my focus can still be easily broken (though I'm trying to remedy that), so the props and whatnot are really essential to me.

[Heart of All]

Really? These candles burn out too. Just make sure to insert used batteries.

Instead of burning a candle for your god, you're burning harnassed raw power. I'm pretty sure the gods will recognise it's both a sacrifice.

While that's true, I find it's better to substitute liquor than batteries.

[hikarilove]

Recently, I used a Notepad document as a ritual "script" instead of paper. While I thought I wouldn't mind the change, it actually got on my nerves quite a bit. I found it distracting to look at and use.

I think the LED candles are a great idea, but they would never work for me. They are not "less magical", but they don't press the right psychological buttons for me. I could re-program myself, but it hardly seems worth it when I can use real candles.

Then again, I'd rather have a raging bonfire than candles. But, being a city dweller, that's hardly a possiblity.

Can I get an LED bonfire? ;)

[BlackLili]

I see what people are saying about the differences. For me personally, I thoroughly enjoy the quality of the light and the physical warmth put off by a real candle.

For rituals though, I'm growing fond of my LEDs. I love using technology in my rituals. I love incorporating cultures - especially pop culture - into my path. For me, it makes the process more meaningful in that it gives me the feeling of taking ownership. It helps me "own" my path and my rituals to update them - like our foremothers and forefathers did for themselves.

When red brick dust and laundry bluing were recommended as protectants by our mothers and before, it was - I would surmise - because they were plentiful and convenient as much as any other reason. Yes, blue stone has been used for centuries for cleaning, and thereby been incorporated to the wise woman's bag of tricks, as it were, but technological advances were incorporated as they became available and economical. Blue stone became bluing, became blue balls (stop s******ing, you know what i mean,) became liquid bluing. These days, I'd think in my neighborhood, liquid bluing would be use the most often, because that's what's sold in the local stores.

If its used at all, which is my point, I guess. In the city I live in, its got a rather open and large Pagan community. Its easier for most Witches (and otherwise) in this town to find sweetgrass braids and dried white sage and dragonsblood resin than it is to find bluing. So by and large, those things get used more than the latter.

The times and culture we each live in, IMO, are just as valuable as any other, in any other time. There are fascinating things to learn, to use, and to incorporate into any ritual that marks it with a unique timestamp that says to the practitioner "That looks like it was done (here) and (when)!"

I'm no Reconstructionist, by any means. I have mad respect for those who are. Its not my path this time around though. To me, I want my magic(k) to reflect my life now, and the times and culture I'm living in. I want my grandkids to look at my grimore and think, "Wow, Gramma looks funny in those old clothes! And what's a Magic 8 Ball?"

If I go to the local hobby store, and get the wiring, and the LED bulb, and a battery and something to case it in, and wire my own candle - I'd see that on the same level as someone who makes their own candles of wax. A process that, if done enough times, becomes easy in a relative way, and can be meditative.

But I don't need to make my candles for them to mean something to me, either way. Or to be capable of directing a charge.

For the most part, I think the scented candle things are nice, but almost always overpower whatever room I'm in and leave me gagging and gasping for clean air.

But I love my little LED tealights, at work and at home. They let me have fun flickery orange ambient light, and help give me a meditative focus throughout my day, whenever I want.

I lust after those blow-on/blow-out jobbies from ThinkGeek. Must have for Yule, methinks.

I don't know that one type of candle would ever fully replace the other for me. At least, not unless one type becomes prohibitive somehow and the other is much more economical. And with the advent of rechargeable batteries for the LEDs, they're becoming very reasonable.

I guess for me, I can appreciate the infusion of technology into my ritual, as much as we "accept" electricity in our homes, instead of insisting on using nothing but candles and oil lamps because "if it was good enough for Granpappy, its good enough for us!"

I still love my wax and oil candles. I've just found that there's potential here.

[BlackLili]

Did I kill my own thread? Nertz. /snaps fingers

[samkhat]

Another consideration are these:


http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo221/gitana_photobucket/saltlamp.jpg

While they are electric (they also have some you can place candles in) they are natural salt, and therefore imbue the properties of salt & ionization as well as illumination. Lots of sources for them online, they are called Himalayan salt lamps. The above is a bowl, but they also sell pillars, cup-sized, and globes.

http://www.internatural-alternative-health.com/sharedint/salt-lamps/Salt_Lamp_Large_Aloha_Bay.cfm

[ainecrea]

I agree with most of the posts already. I think those blow on/off LED candles are awesome to set the mood, they won't fall and burn on carpet, animals can't get hurt, etc. But I wouldn't use them actually on the altar for a spell or ritual, but I would around the room.

[ffetcher]

For our own private rituals, my wife and I have used LED candles since before they were commercially available. The initial impetus for doing so was a "slight misunderstanding" with the management of a small hotel in Aachen. How were we to know that the 'non-smoking' rooms were equipped with detectors. :)

I still have the first one and despite my dodgy soldering it still works - it runs on a pair of rechargeable AAAs and I built in a tilt switch so that it will hang on a thong round my wife's neck, then turns on when you turn it the other way up.

Strangely, given the preference for the mock flickery ones expressed on this thread, I just bought four of those for a pound and swapped the flickery bulbs for pairs of LEDs, I guess it's whatever floats your boat. Over the years we've got to the point where, if it's just us, 'nice flickery real candle' = 'romantic meal', whereas 'green LED glow' = 'ritual or spell'.

I have done a couple with 555 timer chips, so that you can set them for twenty minutes or whatever, quite useful for meditation and suchlike, but those do get complicated. I wish I could figure out how the 'blow on, blow off' ones work, they do look way cool.

And, regarding electronic ritual scripts, we try to work from memory but one time I made decorated images of the text speech by speech, and loaded them into my phone so that we could scroll through with the backlight on. Great for working in the woods if you think you might forget something. The effort of doing the decoration meant we were putting something extra in, a bit like doing calligraphy. Again, horses for courses.

blessings
ffetcher

[HetHert]

I go with a mix. Nothing says magic like wax candles. I'm partial to their natural energy and the left overs for making cauldrons. I too, though, love electrical lighting concepts. Stings lights, LED lights, strobe, and ambient mood lighting are all good to me. Nothing like a few ball-paper lights draped in sheer colored scarves to create a mood. Or twinkling string lights to capture the feel of the sky goddess.

Whatever floats your boat, get's you there, or rings your bell I say!!:thumbsup:

[Tigerlily]

Old-ish thread but I thought it would be nice to bring it up again since I plan on getting some LED candles myself. :) I have a slight phobia of fire. I'd like to have my whole room in candle light while doing a ritual, it seems so magical to me. But I don't feel comfortable if it was all done with real wax candles. So I'm going to get some fake LED candles for decorative purposes to set the mood but still use wax candles for ritual workings. :)

[BlackLili]

Just as a side note but I thought it was worth mentioning here; DH and I just went on vacation, camping on a beach for 4 days. LED candles are amazing for placing in strategic corners or the shelves inside the tent - or to have a ritual on a windy night on the beach and still have your candle light! :thumbsup:

[SphinYote]

As someone with allergies, and severe sensitivity to any kind of fragrance, I'd be all for the LED candles, just for ethical reasons of not harming other people around you.

That said, I'd add, try it out and experiment, if you're in your own home and not likely to affect anyone else. My qualm is that I know that things plugged in also have an effect on me, and not for the better....used to be that anything plugged in near my bed would trigger sleep paralysis and nightmares. So it seems to me they do change the atmosphere in interesting ways and it might be good to see if it's compatible with you, or doesn't interfere with anything....

Yote

[BlackLili]

Sphin,

Do batteries do that to you as well? Most of the LED candles I work with are battery-powered or solar.

[SphinYote]

Sphin,

Do batteries do that to you as well? Most of the LED candles I work with are battery-powered or solar.

I don't believe so, but it's also been about 5 or 6 years since electrical things bothered me significantly. But I know that people have brought up the electrical issue and being able to feel it in other threads, so i thought I'd mention it.

Good information to know, that they're battery operated. I might think about looking into it myself, once my living situation stabilizes again.

Candles (scented or not) are not good things around uber-curious cats with overly fluffy plumes....and battery operated means that these are a practical thing for when the electricity is out.

[BlackLili]

You can also get ones that are rechargeable making them even more practical these days. :thumbsup:

[Meadhbh]

I agree they wouldn't work when you had to burn something. But they could work if your in a palce where candles just aren't do able for what ever reason. It may also be a good call when theres a ritual where there are enough small children run the risk of knocking them over, or getting wax every where what have you.

[Nox_Mortus]

I might see using them for lighting or something I suppose, but I wouldn't use them in ritual or spellwork, the elemental correspondences would be all screwed up IMO, and it would adversely effect the psychodrama aspects.

[Tigerlily]

I'm highly interested in being environmentally concious and friendly. It's a part of my spiritual beliefs. I'm wondering what would be better for the Earth: wax candles or these electric ones?

[Raven Reed]

I love the new electric candles. I have more than one friend who has had a house fire from candles that were supposedly out. I am lucky that I have a fire place in which to keep my lit candles contained, but for most of my life this is not the case and I would have been glad for the little electric candles.

[ambertears]

I'm highly interested in being environmentally concious and friendly. It's a part of my spiritual beliefs. I'm wondering what would be better for the Earth: wax candles or these electric ones?

I'd go wax, since it's an organic material. That's if I were using a coloured candle to represent the element... honestly, ideally I'd use a dish/bottle of dirt, stones or a pot plant to better represent earth.

I'm all for battery/solar candles for mood lighting (I'd not bother buying them personally though), but I'd never use them in magic or ritual. I like the warmth of real candles too much, the smell of the wick...

[Brearley Arn]

if you are only using them for light, your fine.
if your using them to represent fire, imo your out of luck.

Although,in my tradition( Druidry) representing the elements can be considered pointless. The entire world is the elements land, sea and sky and you yourself, represent fire through your life, passion etc your "Inner Flame"

The Earth my bones,
Water my blood,
Air my breath
and Fire my Spirit

can also work to describe it.
So really you could use the (fake/substitute)candle, and yourself as the representation of the elements.