The Outerknown
A podcast that shines a light on the outer edges of inner knowing. Tune in for spellbinding interviews on the occult, magic, astrology, tarot, witchcraft, psychic mediums, paranormal investigations, spirituality, and more.
The Outerknown
Candle Magic with Bran Taylor
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Have you ever wondered how candle making and magic fuse together? Our guest for this episode, Bran Taylor of Magic Hour Candles, shares their four-decade journey as a witch and how they’ve honed their technique in creating extraordinary candles. Bran not only enlightens us on their unique process of designing each candle, but also shares how anyone can engage with candles in their magical or ritual practices. Their immense knowledge and passion for their craft is truly inspiring.
Be sure to stay tuned through the end of the episode for a sweet gift from Bran! Visit Magic Hour Candles or follow them on Instagram @magichourcandles or Facebook to get one of Bran’s incredible candles for yourself or your favorite people.
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Exploring Candle Magic With Brandt Taylor
Bran Taylor (they/them)That's your center. That's the place of all possibility. The center is the spaces in between. It's in between the inhale and the exhale. It's the place where mystery lives, and that also lives inside of you ["Inner Knowing"].
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)Welcome to the Outer Known, a podcast that shines a light on the outer edges of Inner Knowing Lane. I love candles. I know you do too, but I've never really thought much about the sort of ritual around burning candles and the kinds of things that you can do with them.
Lane Collins (she/her)It's funny. You never think when you become a witch like how prepared you're gonna be during a power outage ["Inner Knowing"], but that's something that I constantly laugh at myself about. I am well prepared. My entire house can be a light. So candle magic is definitely. Whatever your approach, whether you're a witch or not, a witch can be something that's so accessible and so easy to make your own, and today's guest has long been my favorite candle maker, so I have just been over the moon excited to talk with them.
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)Yeah, brandtaylor is so brilliant and accessible is a really great word to use because in our conversation with them I was really just blown away about their approach to candle magic. The way that they make candles, the way that they talk about ritual and candles is so approachable that I was like, yes, absolutely, I can do this tomorrow. This feels very something that I can very easily grasp and sort of make my own, which I think you know as somebody who is sort of maybe magic adjacent, as not sort of a full practitioner. It's really nice to hear, when people have that open invitation and share in a way, that it's something you feel like, oh, I can try that out for myself and see if this fits and if it does like ways that I can really put my own stamp on it.
Lane Collins (she/her)Yeah, something I like to say is we're all doing magic all the time.
Lane Collins (she/her)Even something like a vision board can be magic if you want it to, and that's what I've always loved about candles. It's often something like if I have a friend who's like, how do I kind of get into this. It's one of the first things I recommend is working with a candle. So definitely. Well, let's get to our interview with Brandt. ["the Outer Known"]. Brandt, welcome to the Outer Known. Yay, thanks for having me. It's so exciting to have you here. I have been using your candles for years now. I'm so excited to talk to you about some candle magic. So I know that your journey as a witch has been four decades in the making. So how did that begin?
Bran Taylor (they/them)I know it makes me sound really old when I say four decades in the making, but that is really the truth, and no shame in being an older person. I first got my first tarot deck when I was in high school and I was really very obsessed with it. I would do readings for myself, I would do readings for my friends. I really just delved into everything. That was the cards, the imagery, et cetera. It was the Toth deck for anybody listening and familiar with tarot, and the Toth deck was still is my number one favorite deck that I read from. I'm not quite like an Alias, your Crowley fan, but I am a fan of the imagery and the art on the cards. So I started there and then, from that place, just sort of added more things to my tool belt slowly over the next 30 plus years.
Lane Collins (she/her)I am also a big fan of the Toth deck. It's one I use really regularly. What about the imagery? Do you love?
Bran Taylor (they/them)Well, I like that it's obviously a departure from the traditional Pixie Coleman Smith has to say deck, and I like the imagery because there's not a lot of people, especially in the miners. I actually like just dealing with, whether it's arrows or obviously cups or the coins, things like that, just to really delve into the things that aren't so tied to our humaneness. I really resonated with that. I like how they kind of transposed a few things in the majors. I thought that was a little bit interesting and I also think that the art itself is quite beautiful. If I was going to like hang some tarot art on my wall, I might pick the Justice card or the Aeon or something that really had a cool, rich history and a really beautiful art.
Lane Collins (she/her)Totally agree. Well, you may can sell, as I mentioned, the most incredible, most powerful candles with your business magic hour. So what first drew you to candle magic and how did you start on that path?
Bran Taylor (they/them)Well, I have been using candle magic in my solitary practice, which I had for a long time, throughout my 20s and into my early 30s, and I would usually go to a candle store there was one in San Francisco where I used to live, and I would, not, knowing really anything, ask the women who worked there to sort of bless and dress so what they called it bless and dress a candle for me, and they would ask me what I wanted it for, whether it was a job or love or whatever, and I would go home and just sort of light it with some intention but not totally knowing what I was doing. I definitely had a pull towards candle magic. I had a candle magic book that I sadly stole. I don't advocate stealing. Ok, this is. I definitely, as a child of the Midwest without a lot of resources, stole some things from my local witch shop. Do not advocate this readers, I mean listeners.
Bran Taylor (they/them)But I did do some things where you're like anointing the candle with oil, red is for love and da, da, da, da, da, da da, all the assignments that were in the book, and I did those things for a while when I was in the West Coast, got things blessed and dressed for me, not completely understanding what was on top. What is in this candle? Why do I want? What's about it? And then when I moved to Portland in like the mid 2000s, there was a place called Orleans which was a family that was actually displaced from Hurricane Katrina. They had moved here after Katrina I'm not positive the date of that but I started going there when they opened and they had, I mean, more candles than I've ever seen in my entire life, like candles for everything, and I got all my candle magic there. I deepened into my practice and when they moved back to New Orleans they closed their shop, moved back. There wasn't really anywhere for me to buy candles, so I started making my own. What a wonderful introduction.
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)For our listeners who aren't familiar, can you talk a little bit about what candle magic is and how it works?
Bran Taylor (they/them)Yes. So there's a couple of different ways to separate this. One is like a candle, where you can like a taper candle that you can have and hold in your hand, that the wax in your hand have a direct contact, and then there's a candle in a container and that could be any type of container, could be any type of wax, et cetera. Candle magic you use a little bit differently with either of those, but the intention can be the same. Candle magic is putting your intention right. So I believe that magic is the art of changing your environment with your intention and it's about putting your intention into wax, which the wax I use is soy, some people use bees wax, there's paraffin wax, coconut wax, et cetera, and it's about putting your intention into this natural form. And the natural form is really special to me because it transforms and it's a physical representation of your intention.
Bran Taylor (they/them)As you put your intention into the candle, really feeling like whatever your wish or whatever outcome you want to have come out, you can write on the candle if it's in a container. You can scratch into the wax if it's a taper. There's no wrong way to do things like this. It's just about your energy and intention going into this wax and when you light it, I really resonate with the fact that it's transforming in front of you. And for me, when you have an intention, you want something to change, your goal is that something is either changing or shifting, whatever your goal is. So it's a physical representation of that, and it also changes by going into the air or into the atmosphere or into spirit, and I really resonate with that. I like watching the candles burn. I like seeing the progression of them. I also like letting it go when they're done and they've gone out. It's a really nice, tangible way to work with magic.
Lane Collins (she/her)Let's dive in a little bit more on the practical side of using one of your candles or a candle. You've got the candle, it's in front of you. How do you kind of like recommend that people start the process?
Bran Taylor (they/them)Hmm, okay. So if you have like a sourn candle, here it is, it's so beautiful, excited about it, you, let's say, with this sourn, you're going to want to connect with your ancestors, you're going to want to like have a deeper type of feeling of releasing, letting go, turning towards the dark part of the year, allowing yourself to shed your skin, things like that. Maybe you are looking for a change or looking for something to just help you sort of let go and also feel the support from your beloved dad, from your ancestry, from you know, whoever you your, the queers who have passed that you honor and love. Whatever, whoever it is. I would for myself, I like to write on the candles. I like to have them be a little bit less precious, which is why most of my candles are made in pretty, not fancy jars. The sourn candle happens to be a fancy jar, but I still would write like, maybe in the names of my beloved dead, I might use a sharpie and just draw something on here. If I wanted. I might write like compost or release, unwind, let go, surrender, whatever it would be for me. Or maybe it's like dreaming of my ancestors or dancing with whoever you know. Whatever I want to draw and I might actually physically write it on the candle. Sometimes I'll do like a little scratch on the wax, on the top of the wax where the herbs are. You can use a pen, you could use a knife, you can use whatever you want. I'm not a person who you have to use your sacred tools for every single thing. You could use a butter knife or whatever you want to. You could scratch onto the wax, you could draw on the wax and let's say you're done with that, or you just want to hold it that's also an option to hold the candle.
Bran Taylor (they/them)I say ground and center yourself, and what that means is, if you're not familiar, if you're a new witch, you're grounding yourself. So you're feeling your body in time and space that you're at. You're expanding your roots down into the center of the earth with a breath, with your energy going as slow or as fast as you want to. You're going down to the heart of the earth, the pulsating you know. I call that the dark star or the like heart of the earth, whatever you want to call it and then you're allowing that, like regenerative creation type energy to come up all the way through the layers of the earth as slow or fast as you want up into your body, kind of allowing that to settle, allowing that to be in your body. And then you're doing the same thing, going up, releasing your energy up into the cosmos. You're finding the star that is one of your oldest ancestors. You're allowing your energy to go up there, say hello, have a little drink of cosmic stardust.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Whatever you want to believe, whatever feels good to you there's no right or wrong and allowing that, like energy from the cosmos, that beautiful, like spark, the inspiration, all of the big perspective, to come down, rain down upon you, in through your crown, and then finding a place where those two things mix. To me that's your center. That's the place of all possibility. The center is the spaces in between. It's in between the inhale and the exhale. It's the place where mystery lives and that also lives inside of you.
Bran Taylor (they/them)So you're allowing yourself to find that place. Find wherever it resonates for you. Maybe it's your chest, maybe it's your belly, whatever it feels like is your center. And then that's grounding and centering yourself. When you're holding the candle in your hands and you're stating I like to just say it aloud if possible your intention or your wish, holding that intention or wish placing it in an altar, placing it anywhere you want Like I said, there's no right or wrong for this, it's just what your magic calls for and then, using a flame you can use a match, you can use a lighter, you could use whatever you want and allowing yourself to light that candle and then really letting that whole intention, maybe with a few breaths, go into the candle. So you're not walking around holding it necessarily, you're letting the candle be like a placeholder for you. You're letting the candle have that intention. It's not separate from you, it's just an extension of you and it gets to be your magical tool for that time.
Lane Collins (she/her)How do you recommend? Like once a candle has gone out, what do you do with either the leftover wax or the leftover, in your case, the glass container?
Bran Taylor (they/them)I recommend making sure you get all the wax out.
Bran Taylor (they/them)So you could do that by boiling boiling water into the vessel, by putting it into like a double boiler kind of situation where, like a warm boiling water cup with the candle inside, melting the wax, and then you pour it out onto like a paper towel or whatever you want, and in my case you would get a gem.
Wax and Candle Design Types
Bran Taylor (they/them)Almost all my candles contain a gem at the bottom and in that case you're going to be removing the gem at that time and other candles are just getting all the wax out, no matter what. And if the wax is leftover, like once the flame is out, I don't think the wax is like so precious that it has to be like done something with. I just like to have the container be like let's clear it, let's clean it, the flame is the power right, so let's let that all go. You can compost those paper towels into your normal, you know city compost and then with the glass containers they can go through for me, they can go through the dishwasher, you can wash those and recycle them. Or if you're local to Portland, you can return them to me and I will reuse. Oh, that's amazing. Good to know.
Lane Collins (she/her)I'm curious too. You were mentioning kind of the different types of wax. Is there you know a specific reason you use one versus another?
Bran Taylor (they/them)Yeah, I mean for me when I started using candles in general is paraffin wax. I only use paraffin wax because that's what usually candles that you would go into a traditional sort of candle shop you would get a paraffin wax candle and I didn't personally want to use paraffin wax. The heat point is too high. It's made from mineral oil. You know it's like a petroleum byproduct and I didn't want to use that. I also don't want to inhale the off gas from paraffin wax. A beeswax also is a limited resource. I love beeswax candles but it's the amount of candles that I make, the amount of beeswax I would go through and the cost they would have to be is extremely high. Think about beeswax as being four times the price of any other wax. Paraffin is the cheapest, so it's kind of in the middle.
Bran Taylor (they/them)I've used this wax for a long time. I've gone through a few different soy brands. Some of them actually didn't survive the pandemic, which is sad. But it's non GMO, 100% soy wax. It takes color really well. It melts evenly. You know I'm not afraid of inhaling the off gasing. It's not going to be toxic to you in any way, which is important to me.
Lane Collins (she/her)Yeah, I've heard a little bit about that with paraffin wax and never really realized like how toxic it was until I started burning a lot more candles as a witch?
Bran Taylor (they/them)Yeah, definitely.
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)I appreciate that thoughtfulness in the sourcing and making sure that you're using non toxic things and being earth friendly.
Lane Collins (she/her)Well, as you mentioned, I know there's like different color correspondences. You put gemstones and, I believe, like herbs and or essential oils in your candles as well. Can you talk a little bit about that and kind of how you design each one?
Bran Taylor (they/them)Yes, so when I first started making candles, it was 2011. And, like I said, my beloved Orleans went out of business. I had nowhere to buy candles, okay, and I decided to use soy wax. It was readily available to me. I wanted the tall, traditional seven day burning candle or in my case, 120 hours burning candle and I started making them for a new moon group that I hosted from about 2010 to 2012 and maybe even also into 2013 a little bit, but I would have folks over for new moon and I would make candles depending on that new moon, and my intention really was I didn't really know what to put in the candles at first. I was an astrologer at the time I just finished my astrology apprenticeship around that time and so I was a working astrologer and I just sort of used the plant correspondences and the gemstone correspondences for that new moon, and that's kind of how I started pairing those things up the color, the herb, the essential oil and the gem. So those were kind of my three components to start.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Now I have evolved into a wider scope. Not all the candles contain gems, because they don't have to, and we can talk about that in a little bit, but every candle is a little bit more. It's made in a different type of way and I am also mostly using herbs that are readily available to me that either I grow, a which friend of mine grows. I'm not using any herbs that are like not of this land or not of my lineage. And the gems I use, I try to use as small of pieces as humanly possible because they are a limited resource and they still really want to be in the candles and maybe someday I'll take them out, but at this time I still. I mean, gemstone magic was something that I used for so long in my solitary practice and I feel like it's still important to be in there. But you know, everything is evolving.
Bran Taylor (they/them)I've been doing this for since 2012. So some things have changed, some things have been renamed, some some things are different. You know it's a little bit different and as far as the like correspondences go, I decided to sort of not go with the traditional correspondences in general. There's lots of books around candle correspondences written by different practices, different types of magical folks, different types of witches that say, like this color is for this, is colors for this and I.
Bran Taylor (they/them)That just didn't really seem like it applied for me and this would flow into how I make candles. But when I'm making a candle I'm asking the candle or it's being presented to me as a color and I go just proceed with that information. So you'll see that like I use like a white candle to dispel things, like a clearing candle versus a lot of other things, other practitioners, I think that that would use a black candle to kind of like get rid of things, dispel negativity. I like using white to do that. My love candle is like a soft pink or like even a hot pink versus our red. Like you know, I just sort of want to do things that feel a little more me and hopefully people resonate with it.
Lane Collins (she/her)I certainly do. I have to say like I think something that really kind of progressed my own witchcraft practice was like realizing that it's foundationally an animus to practice. You develop relationships with materials, with plants, with colors, to your point and I just I always want there to be a perfect answer like this corresponds to this and this and this, this planet and this plant, and I think this is actually confusing. You know how it can be quite different in different books and different. You know, if you're studying your ancestors work and then new age witchcraft book, like what is this? You know, why is this all different? And I think you really have to to some degree develop your own relationship and kind of what you were saying like based on your own lineage, your own histories. So I love that, I love that you've done that. What? What's your personal favorite candle that you've created? Ooh, that's fun.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Well, a little bit of me wants to say revolution. Because that candle, all the proceeds go to a different organization. I did that starting when Standing Rock happened, and so I have just switched whoever the money is going to, whether it's like Southern Poverty Law Center or Trevor Project or whatever. But I like that. That's kind of like. I mean, it's sad that we need a revolution candle for a different thing all the time, but that's just the world that we're living in. I'm really proud of that and I'm proud to have a consistent thing that benefit at all times. So that's definitely a favorite.
Bran Taylor (they/them)The art candles one of my personal favorites. I actually just changed. The art candle Used to have a floor right at the bottom Floor. Right is very hard to get and in a small size, and it's also very fragile and didn't feel right to be in there. So now every art candle has a mystery gem and I just have a whole jar of mystery gems. I just put my hand in there and pull one out. So whatever you get is what you get and they're all. Every single art candle is different, so they're fun to make and fun to pour.
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)That is really fun. I love that.
Lane Collins (she/her)The gems are great. I totally understand. You know you're thinking around. Maybe someday they'll have to go away. I will say, like I really especially with your candles, I just have a real connection with them. Each one that I've used I've kind of developed a real like relationship with and every time that gemstone comes out of the bottom I'm like okay, like all of my intention is like kind of absorbed in the stone and it feels extra beautiful. You know, I can have that as a remainder on my altar or put in my pocket or carry it with me in my purse like whatever I need to do. But just want to say like I love them. They're so great.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Okay, good, good, good, me too, me too.
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)Talk to us a little bit about your witchcraft practice and how that kind of feeds into your candle making.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Okay, so I, you know, started out with Reading Tarot. I went through a solitary witch practice through my 20s and early 30s. It wasn't always in the forefront, but it was definitely there. I deepened into that by. I used to go to like a women's gathering in my 20s and early 30s and saw some older witches really doing powerful magic and I was very intrigued, I was blown away. I thought they were like so cool and I wanted to learn from them. So bad, okay, like very cool. And I took, you know, workshops when I could, whether it was like learn astrology or learning a broom making or whatever.
Bran Taylor (they/them)And when I was in my mid 30s I entered into a mystery school and I spent eight and a half nine years in mystery school. It used to be called the blue iris mystery school. I believe it's now called the golden web mystery school. I'm no longer teaching or working with the school, but I'm a graduate. I've done, I've devoted probably I mean I've devoted years of my life, but really every weekend of my life for literally years to that school and the practice and working with a couple teachers, one of which is Collette Gardner, who's an incredible witch and I really love her. She's very dear to me and that was in a big community. So I went from working alone or with just like a small group of people, like at the women's circles and stuff, and then I went into like a huge community you know our saun rituals or hundreds of people. You know it was a different. It was a completely. You know we're putting on witch camps, we're putting on like very elaborate, like production value type rituals and you know me being teaching. I was reading tarot, I was doing astrology and I was doing candle making. So there was a lot of things that were overlapping during that time and in 2019, the school kind of imploded. Honestly, one of the teachers was called out. You know we all have some harm from that teacher and I do believe that teacher can hopefully find some healing for herself. But there's been a lot of harm caused by her and her methods and I didn't really want to be affiliated with the school anymore. Even though I learned so much and I really have a soft spot for the teachers that were involved. I do miss doing ritual in a large group.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Now in the since 2019, it's been a smaller thing for me. I had to. Really it's kind of a spiritual crisis I had to go through and be like, okay, whoa, what if everything that I was taught is bullshit? Okay, then what? Okay, well, I can go back to how I used to practice magic.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Well, I learned from books and from these women in the woods who are probably terfs let's be real and, like you know, just like things that just didn't feel right and like all my elders, kind of feeling like they're like letting me down and it's. I didn't want to throw them away, but I also didn't know what to do with the teachings and how much of them came from narcissism or from spirit. So, having that like confronted for myself, I had to really rewind. I had a lot of grief I mean so much grief this is summer of 2019 into the fall. Obviously, we know what happened in the early 2020. So it just was like and then it just became like isolation for me, my spiritual community and, of course, just for everybody in general, and I had to reset.
Bran Taylor (they/them)And for me, in 2020, 2021, and even 2022, I had to rewind and go back to something as basic as okay, do I believe magic is real?
Bran Taylor (they/them)And like, ask myself that question in the morning, right, maybe pull a card, even if I don't believe in it at the moment and just be like what does this have to tell me I can take or leave it? Every day was like a one day at a time vibe for me. The only thing that I could count on every single day was magic is real, because the tree exhales and I inhale. Gravity holds me on this earth. I am in relationship with this tree, I'm in relationship with nature, I'm in relationship with the beings that are around me, whether they're seen or unseen, and I had to really just have a reset and it was slow and grief ridden and rich and methodical. Every day, having that practice and I'm not saying I'm totally through it I feel open in a new way and also producing candles during that time a little challenging. I didn't create a lot of new things during that phase. I just kind of did what I normally did and, yeah, I'm grateful to be kind of at a different place with it now, but I'm still evolving.
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)Thank you for sharing that. That's a very powerful story and just kind of a reminder that sometimes we really need to force ourselves to go back to those very elemental, very basic questions when we don't really know what else to do or don't really see any other immediate answers.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Yeah, and even if you are part of a community or have a teacher I mean, our teacher was like there's no more trained witches in America than you. I could do a ritual that would like blow your socks off in 30 minutes I just was like very, very like I was a good teacher. I was really entrenched at what I believed and then for me to be like that doesn't matter and that's not the only way to do this, and part of that was my teacher's narcissism and like what does that leave me? What was my role in that? You know, like ugh it just. You know I was able to kind of strip back the layers to get to some basic belief systems and know that it doesn't.
Bran Taylor (they/them)All the other stuff doesn't really matter. What matters is do I feel in relationship with my magic? Do I feel like I am doing something that's good for myself in the world? Am I, when I do magic, am I moving between the worlds? Do I feel like I'm affecting things in a good way as an agent of change? You know things like that.
Lane Collins (she/her)Yeah, it's really going back to the foundation. Like, as you were talking about it, I kind of kept envisioning the tower card and the tarot and the tower card moment.
Lane Collins (she/her)That's, yeah, thank you for sharing that. I really relate to that in a lot of ways and just kind of constantly in my practice, going back to like healthy skepticism, trying to understand what I truly believe versus what I've read or have been taught, and just trying to feel my way through it. So, thank you, thank you for sharing that Well, in terms of like, where you are now in your personal belief system and kind of continuing to make the candles through that. What do you believe now about magic and what makes it powerful?
Bran Taylor (they/them)I think what I believe now is I'm leaning more into the things that are intangible to my humanness, and being a human is really cool. I'm so glad that I chose to be a human or you know what happened to be a human this lifetime? Who knows? But I'm kind of leaning into the things where it's like I. The truth is, I don't know if this is working. I don't know, but I do believe that my intention is most of the magic, right? So the other part of the magic is unknown to me and I'm not trying to act like I know it and I'm the only one who knows what this magic is, or I don't think. I mean, maybe people do know that, but it's not for me to know and I don't want to get hung up on it. There's no right or wrong way to do things. I don't believe in that at all. I don't think that somebody making candles for three months is making a more powerful candle than someone's making it for 12 years. It doesn't matter. Everyone's thing is different. We're all bringing something unique to the table and there's room for everybody here. So kind of getting out of my ego in those ways and just allowing my intention to be as clear as possible and then kind of just handing it over, surrendering the rest. Because that's the part of magic I don't know and I'm not going to know and nor do I want to, because that's to me like where the specialness kind of comes in and my intention can be as clear as I want it to be, but I don't want it just to be so human and mundane. I want to have spirit kind of come over and be in conversation with me. I want to have it be in relationship and you know I also do a lot of listening. So one way I make the candles as well is I only listen.
Bran Taylor (they/them)I this is challenging. I made originally I made like a grand trine candle. I made more like astrology based candles, lilith candles, things like that. Those were very, very beginning. And then I woke up and was like I have to make a healing candle and it has this, this, this and this, and that I'm not doing anything. I'm just waking up and thinking this is what it is. And then I was like what color? I'm asking questions, what color is it? Oh, it's this color, and I'm just listening and creating what I'm given. Right, and that is how I mean. I'm not going to say 100%, but I'm going to say 98% of these candles are made and they don't really deviate that much from the original intention.
Bran Taylor (they/them)For instance, I wanted to make a Mars candle. For years, literally years I was like I just feel like I need a Mars candle, I need this energy. Of course it's Mars. I'm really trying to wield this into like fruition, right, and it's not happening. Not happening, not happening.
Bran Taylor (they/them)I'm doing, I'm pulling cards about it. I'm waiting till Mars is out of retrograde and I can, and it's perfectly aligned in my chart Da, da, da, da, da, you know. And then I, literally, after it's about three years in the waiting and in the waiting room for Mars Okay, that Mars finally was like opening the door and being like oh, are you here for your appointment? Great, and it was completely laid out and it was like okay, here it was the gem, the this, the this. Also, it has like ritual fire ash in it and I needed to have that at a certain time. You know it has to have all these things in it that are totally aligned and I was like thank you, I'm not using my will to create these things.
Bran Taylor (they/them)There's a few exceptions, but the majority of the candles are just made with me. I'll say, like I want to make a art candle Please show me what's in there and it takes. Sometimes we'll take a long time. Mars took three years. So I am really trying to turn on my listening ears as much as possible and I do make, like you know, a hundred things. It's not. I actually sometimes need to turn the volume down a little bit. Sometimes we don't need all those things, but it's still fun and I'm still showing up for it. It's home.
Lane Collins (she/her)I love that. I've always been like really curious about your process because, as I've said, I've used many of your candles and it sounds like there's kind of a specific recipe and like astrological timing and all of the things that go into it. I love that.
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)Yeah, that's really so fun to hear, because sometimes I think we get so caught up in our own well, this is what I want and this is what I think it should be and sometimes the patience and the listening really does pay off in the most spectacular way. Definitely, and that's very cool that you finally got your Mars candle.
The Process of Creating Special Candles
Bran Taylor (they/them)Yes, definitely, and you know it's also sometimes is a hilarious wrench as a small business person when it's like, oh, you know that eclipse candle needs to be eclipse charged gems, so I have to pre-plan to charge the gem in a certain eclipse, so if I'm out of eclipse season I'm going to have enough gems to make eclipse. It's just, it's a little hilarious. I'm definitely working with the cosmos a lot of times, whether it's fluorescence making or herb harvesting or gem charging.
Lane Collins (she/her)Yeah, Well, it's clear why your candles are so special. Curious about those materials. It sounds like you maybe harvest a lot of your own and make a lot of your own like essences et cetera. How does that process take place, as you kind of plan out these candles?
Bran Taylor (they/them)Well, it usually will take a few months. So let's say, you know, when Mars came to me it was like this is within the Mars candle. I'm like, okay, I'm writing it down and I'm sort of thinking about it, I'm letting it simmer and sit. So to me it's like on, it's on the burner now. Right, it's not being fired, but it's like, or whatever the restaurant thing is, but it's, the tab is up, okay, and so there might be some changes, like the next day might be like oh, it's actually red jasper, not carnelian, it's this, not this, and I'll just make a little note oh red jasper, oh, this is this, or it's dark red or whatever it is. And I'll write little notes on the piece of paper that I have on my desk and then I will start really going into the production of it. So for charging gems, I will look at the astrological timing and make sure I can charge those. Most of the time they're nighttime charged, with the exception of, like sunstone or the carnelian that goes in the fire candle. Some things go solar charged as well, or they'll be charged under a certain transit. So I'll refer to those things again.
Bran Taylor (they/them)With the flower essence, if I don't have it, I have to see if I can make it. If I can't make it, I will get them from FES that I love. I'll buy them from sister spinster or some other type of witch who I really adore and think makes great essences, and that'll also be timed for me, like according to the plant, if it was in bloom, et cetera. You know, in the winter might make some cedar or some other types of like restful type essences. But and then the herbs, if I don't grow them or they're not readily available, like I use a daffodil on the Ostarra candle. Daffodils aren't blooming all year round, so I'll have to make sure I have them when they're popping up. I go around the yard and just snip, snip, snip kind of thing, but I will put a call out for those.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Usually with the Mars candle there isn't like, for instance, the Mars candle doesn't have an herb, so that's a different kind of energy. A lot of times there is a flower or a plant, the oil. You know, honestly, if I completely had my way, I would probably not use oils at all. I'll be honest, I'm a really sensitive person, I'm like a migraine kind of person, sadly, and I don't like fragrances. I call my candles almost unscented.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Oil is in there for mostly the energetic properties. After that it's not really going to smell the room. With a few exceptions the astrological sign candles, the holiday candles and a few other candles do have more scent and I do have that on my website is like this is more scented. People love a smelly candle and that's one thing I've had to sort of like bend a little bit, because if they don't smell like anything at all, people are like bummer. So that's like where my business person kind of sneaks in a little bit. But I usually say it's there for, like the energetic properties, which is also true If they happen to smell cool.
Lane Collins (she/her)I'm also a migraine person, so I actually totally relate and enjoy your candles. For the light scent, yes, it's very compatible for me.
Bran Taylor (they/them)And I like to burn multiples at a time. I'm burning a Libra candle with a Revolution candle with a Mercury candle, whatever it is, so I don't want everything smelling all different and clashing and getting weird, so I like to keep it simple.
Lane Collins (she/her)Well, a little bit back on your personal practice. One thing I just wanted to ask about you've said that you're a crossroads witch. I was curious what that means to you.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Well, it's a label I do wear proudly, although it is a little bit challenging at times. I'm a crossroads witch because I really operate from that all possibilities place. If you stand at the crossroads, then to me you're at an alignment, you're at a place of choice. I'm somebody who really believes in choice. I really believe in transformation. As a non-binary trans person, I believe in transforming not only your body, being able to live in this world as somebody who is ever evolving and ever transforming. And for me, living at the crossroads it could be life or death. It could be drawing something towards you and pushing something away. It's just a little bit of that polarity. I don't really like to live in the black or white polarity spaces. I like to operate in the middle. I'm a mutable sign person. I really thrive in that mutability.
Bran Taylor (they/them)And when I was working with the crossroads more intently when I was in the magic school community, I was doing a lot of work with Hecate. I was doing a lot of things where it was around death priestessing. I did some living funeral work. I do a lot of pet death things like that. I thought maybe I wanted to be a death doula. I wasn't sure. I don't think that's my route anymore, although last week I got an alert on my phone from Black Cat DOA on my street down the way and I just can't. That's my work. I put my gloves on and it's raining and I went down there to get that cat out of the middle of the street.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Because that's just who I am. To me that's being a crossroads witch. It's for me, looking at the in-between spaces, and in the in-between spaces all things are possible. You're not subscribed to the one idea or the other. You're operating in a place of ever-evolving, like I said, ever-transforming. Again, that's probably why I'm really drawn to candle magic, because I like the art and the magic of transformation, and that's what you're doing with this. I still like death work and that still resonates when I think about crossroads. But to me it's a little bit deeper. It just feels more like I'm comfortable in the uncomfortable places and I don't subscribe to dark witch, whatever good witch which I operate in the places of. We're doing the best that we can as humans and sometimes we have to operate in the place that is in between to really make some magical things happen.
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)So yeah, yeah, that really resonates. I've read and heard from various sources that mutable signs are. We're the folks that help people through the transitions. We're the folks that are very comfortable with the unknown and we help people sort of move through those portals in life from one state of being to another and I can see, yeah, why you're really drawn to that. Well, what's your sign actually? Lane and I are both Pisces sons.
Bran Taylor (they/them)Oh, I love this Amazing A double Pisces podcast. Wow, no one's called Outer. Known Jesus You're really on the nose here. I love it. Well, I'm a sage. I got a Gemini rising, so working that mutability as well. Double fire, hmm, double fire. Yeah, I have a lot of fire and a lot of air. Makes sense as a candle witch, right.
Lane Collins (she/her)I know Exactly yeah.
Jackie Peterson (any pronouns)Well, Bran, thank you so much. You've given us so much to chew on and to think about and we really appreciate you sharing so much of your story and your journey. And if our listeners are interested in learning more about you and your work and potentially purchasing some of your beautiful candles, where can they find you?
Bran Taylor (they/them)It's been my pleasure. I love being on this podcast. Anyone can find me at magichourcandlescom. Again, that's magichourcandlescom, and you can use the code Outer Known for a discount on your order.
Lane Collins (she/her)Am I allowed to use that? Yes, you are, of course you are. Oh my God, you're cute. I can't help it. I'm like constantly buying your candles. Thank you so much, bran, it's just been an absolute pleasure.
Bran Taylor (they/them)It's my pleasure to be here. Thanks so much for having me. Thank you.
Lane Collins (she/her)The next episode was edited by Lane Collins and produced by Lane Collins and Jackie Peterson. Our theme music is by the ever-talented Smoke Benito and our cover artwork is by Eric Santino. Until next time, Blastic Bee.