Candles have been used in spiritual practices for centuries as a way to connect with ancestors and loved ones who have passed on. Different candle colors are believed to attract and honor specific ancestors or spirits. Understanding the meanings behind different colored candles can help you choose the right ones to use in ancestor veneration and communing rituals.
White Candles
White candles are often used to call upon ascended masters, angels, spirit guides and ancestors in general. They represent purity, spirituality and connection with the divine. Lighting a white candle when honoring your ancestors is a way to invite all of your loved ones to join you. It creates an open channel of communication between this world and the spirit realm.
White also symbolizes new beginnings and fresh starts. Use a white candle if you are hoping to wipe the slate clean in your relationships with certain ancestors. It can help remove blocks between you and create a blank canvas for more positive interactions going forward.
Red Candles
Red represents love, passion and courage. Light a red candle when you want to venerate ancestors who exhibited these qualities in life or connect to their fiery energetic presence. Red candles are also thought to speed up manifestations so they are good to use if you have specific requests for your ancestors.
In some practices like Hoodoo, red candles represent the blood of ancestors running through your veins. Use red candles on your family altar or when doing rituals to honor departed loved ones, especially if you want to draw on their strength.
Pink Candles
Pink candles attract sweet, gentle and loving spirits and ancestors. Use them when you hope to connect with relatives who brought joy, tenderness and affection to your life and family. Pink can also represent romantic love. Light a pink candle if you want to invite ancestors who had passionate romances or lifelong partnerships to inspire you in your current relationships.
Pink candles encourage caring connection and close family ties. They are nice to burn when remembering ancestors you had deep bonds with. The soft pink light creates a peaceful, loving space for their energy and presence.
Yellow Candles
Yellow candles symbolize optimism, cheerfulness and the energy of the sun. They are great for establishing uplifting and encouraging connections with ancestors who were known for their bright spirits and positivity. Use yellow candles to receive guidance from ancestors on expanding your happiness and fulfilling your life purpose.
In some practices, yellow represents the element of air. The color can help you commune with ancestors associated with knowledge, communication and the breath of life. Ancestors of air may offer clarity on situations through wisdom passed down.
Green Candles
Green represents nature, prosperity, growth and healing. Use green candles when you hope to connect with ancestors who were gardeners, farmers, herbalists or others who cherished the earth. Green can also attract ancestors who were focused on generating abundance for the family to leave a legacy.
Light a green candle if you are seeking healing or guidance around fertility, finances, or finding balance from your ancestors. The color can also represent new life and fresh starts. Green candles help you commune with ancestors so you can grow in the ways they wish for you.
Blue Candles
Blue represents wisdom, focus, and psychic abilities. Light a blue candle when you want to honor ancestors who served as teachers, scholars, or leaders in their communities. Blue can also attract spirits who had strong intuition and insight when they were living.
Use blue candles to amplify your communication with your ancestors. The color resonates with expressing your truth and having it heard by the departed. Ancestors of water represented by blue can offer emotional healing and powerful visions to bring clarity.
Purple Candles
Purple attracts ancestors associated with spiritual devotion, mystical insight and heightened intuition. Those who practiced divination and healing arts are often most strongly connected to purple light. Use a purple candle when you hope to tap into your ancestor’s magical knowledge and unconventional wisdom.
Purple can also represent noble bloodlines and royalty. Light a purple candle when honoring ancestors of high social status or impressive leadership accomplishments. Purple candles help create an atmosphere of sacred reverence and ceremony.
Black Candles
Black candles symbolize deep wisdom, banishing of negative energy, and connecting with deceased loved ones. Their darkness mirrors the unknown beyond the veil. Use black candles when communing with ancestors to seek profound spiritual truths from beyond this plane.
Black draws in ancestors who walked between worlds as mediums, shamans and paranormal investigators. Their comfort with the shadowy unknown can enlighten your path. Black candles can also represent ancestors who held deep secrets or practiced in darkness.
Silver Candles
Silver attracts protective, wise ancestral spirits to bless and watch over you. It repels lower vibrations and reflects negative energy. Use silver candles when you desire a safe space for ancestral connection. Silver can also represent lunar energy, intuition and the feminine divine.
Ancestors of water and the subconscious are drawn to silver. It enhances communication with spirits who offer mystical insight from beyond the physical world.positioned between this world and the spirit realm. Their comfort with the shadowy unknown can enlighten your path. Black candles can also represent ancestors who held deep secrets or practiced in darkness.
Gold Candles
Gold candles represent success, attainment, prosperity, and solar energy. They are nice for honoring accomplished ancestors who reached high levels of achievement in their fields. The precious metal quality attracts spirits who brought wealth and affluence to the family legacy.
Use gold candles when you want to manifest abundance and blessings into your life with help from your ancestors. Gold can also symbolize male energy and power. It is a good choice when energizing rituals focused on fathers, grandfathers and other masculine ancestors.
Multi-Colored Candles
Candles that blend multiple colors together unite the energies and meanings of different shades. They create balance and wholeness, making them great for general ancestor work when you do not need to call in a specific spirit. Multi-colored candles open channels of communication across the veil.
Use rainbow colored candles to experience the full spectrum of your ancestors’ wisdom, talents, and energy. The variety of colors empowers you to receive whatever blessings and guidance you most need from the other side at this moment in your journey.
Choosing Candles
When selecting candles to use in honoring ancestors, you can choose shades that symbolize their personalities, talents, passions and area of influence while alive. If Aunt Mary was a joyful, caring nurse, for example, pink and green candles would strengthen your connection to her energy.
You can also base your color selection on the type of guidance or support you seek from particular ancestors. Asking a great-grandfather known for his spiritual wisdom and intuition? Light a purple candle to open up that channel of communication.
Sometimes you may feel intuitively drawn to a certain color of candle when preparing to do ritual work or communicate with your ancestors. Trust those gut feelings about which shades will be most energizing and empowering.
Adding Candle Dressings
You can further customize candles used in ancestor work by adding symbolically significant herbs, oils or decorations that amplify their intended purpose.
Rubbing candles with essential oils linked to your ancestors’ energy enhances your connection. For example, anoint a candle with sage or pine oil when honoring family members connected to nature and the outdoors. Use rose oil for ancestors who showed love, while lemon and orange oils promote uplifting communication.
Dusting candle tops with powders and herbs is another way to increase their alignment with specific spirits or energies. Gold glitter or powders symbolize success, while bone meal represents communication with those who have passed on. Sprinkle graveyard dirt or restorative herbs like rosemary if you seek healing from ancestors.
Carving, painting or adhering symbols to candles also directs their magic. You can etch ancestors’ names or draw symbols with significance to them, like floral designs for a grandmother who gardened. Decorations amplify energy flow between realms.
Setting Up Candles
Strategically arranging colored candles creates an energetic grid or spectrum for ancestor communication. Here are some suggested patterns:
- Place one white candle in the center to attract all ancestors, surrounded by different colors for those you hope to contact.
- Create a rainbow spectrum with red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple to activate full energetic flow.
- Arrange candles in a circle with ancestors’ names written on each one pointing inward so their energies come together.
- Group candles by color categories, like a cluster of similar shades for communal ancestors versus family-specific.
Use your intuition to set up candles and crystals in patterns that activate a spiritual portal. Circle arrangements symbolize unity and wholeness. Triangular formations direct energy between realms.
Timing Your Candle Magic
Lighting your candles at energetically significant times magnifies their power:
- Sunrise/sunset: Enhances communication between realms
- Full moons: Aligns with heightened intuition, psychic abilities
- Dark moons: Provides clarity in darkness, deep wisdom emerging
- Samhain: Thin veils between worlds on this spirit night
- Birthdays/death days: Open doorways to connect with that ancestor
- Numerology alignments: Lucky numbers, repeating digits like 11:11
Time your rituals and intentions to coincide with passing energies that give candles extra magical oomph. Tap into seasonal shifts, moon phases and personal synchronicities.
Safety Tips
When working with ancestor candles, be mindful of fire safety. Never leave burning candles unattended. Place them in sturdy non-flammable holders on uncluttered surfaces. read spiritual truths from beyond this plane.
Black draws in ancestors who walked between worlds as mediums, shamans and paranormal investigators. Their comfort with the shadowy unknown can enlighten your path. Black candles can also represent ancestors who held deep secrets or practiced in darkness.
Conclusion
Candles of different colors have unique energetic vibrations that allow us to connect with our ancestors in varied ways. Choose candle colors mindfully based on the types of spirits you wish to attract and messages you hope to receive. Arrange candles in intentional patterns to amplify their power. Time your ancestor work with candles to coincide with energy portals between realms. With the right use of candles and attentiveness to their spiritual symbolism, we can bridge the veil to those who came before.
