Pagan Product Review: Air Wick Color Changing Candle

My sister and mother introduced me to a nifty new product the Air Wick Color Changing Candle about a month ago and I immediately fell in love with it. These are candles that are either in a frosted glass cylinder or in a black cylinder with an abstract stain glass design on them. When lit, the wax will slowly transition from blue to green to red to purple to blue again. It reminds me of in my childhood when I would stare amazed at water color changing fountains for hours except now I'm an adult and this amazing thing is happening with fire!

I have been using the product for the past month or so, and burnt through several candles ( I use like a million both for religious reasons and for ambiance). I've been so pleased/intrigued with these candles, I thought I would share and review.

How the Candle Works:

At the bottom of each candle are battery powered led which gives off the differing colors. Up top by the wick you can see a little hole or space meant for an infrared light given off when lite to activate the led. So the container while reusable will not change colors on its own and the wax, while there is no indication of what IS in there, doesn't have some weird chemicals changing the actual wax coloring.

The Experience of the Candle:

Click here for a small youtube video that zeetonred has posted to view a frosted candle lite. Otherwise know that the transitions from one color to the next is smooth and fluid. While the wax is obviously a solid material, the flickering light on top combined with the rippling color below give an almost water like quality to the product. It would be easy to use this candle for meditation or raising power as it's very relaxing and easy to focus in on. I would not personally use the candle for scying as the color changing qualities could be distracting when gazing at the candle and if one is going to pour the wax in cold water to get shapes, it seems like a waste of the product.

When the candle starts to burn down the drama and brightness of the color changing effect is lessened. I don't think the thing “wears out” as my sister believes, but that the medium used to display the color transitions is the wax of the candle and as it burns we lose the medium and hence the brilliance of color.

As I said previously, the candly comes in a frosted glass or a “black edition” which has a stain glass effect (each stain glass motif is a bit different for each of the scents). The frosted one calls to the New Ager in me and the black light seems to channel that last reserve of inner Catholic I have left. Both look lovely. I use the frosted one often as a general altar candle or as a personal power candle. I used the stain glass candle in my Samhain ritual as a tribute to my Grandmother but also because I found the black candle with the light cut outs as a great echo of a jack-o-lantern.

Scent wise, Air Wicks has somewhat hindered the sale of these candles as they come in only lavender chamomile, vanilla, and apple cinnamon. I don't love any of the scents. The most obnoxious to me is the lavender, but please keep in mind I don't like the smell of lavender very much so they may have nailed the market there. I try to avoid vanilla because it makes me hungry, this particular rendition is very sugary. The apple cinnamon is nice for the fall and winter, but I'm not sure how much use I'll have for such seasonal scents come spring. Fortunately for me, none of the scents are very strong and really after the first burn, it's rare to catch much of the smell. For witches who are considering the aromatherapy of these candles, the scents made add or detract depending on the rite and the witch.

Cost: I found these candles at Walmart, Target, and my grocery stores. They were being sold at each place for $5.44

Possible Magical Uses for this Candle:

1. If you're into candle magic, you probably also use some form of color correspondences when picking out candles. These color changing candles could be a great replacement for the all purpose white. They may also serve for low budget spells a three in one candle where it the air wick may represent the blue, red, and green aspects of a working, if you have a spell requiring all three of those colors.

2. Rainbow meditation. There are a ton of guided meditations meant to take one through the 7 chakras, and the visual changing colors of this candle could be a great aide or it's own personal meditation. I do have one major caveat in this recommendation though, the candle doesn't do a full rainbow rotations of colors. There is never an intense deep orange in the rotation, the yellow, if you want to count the transition from green to red as yellow, is muddy and brief. If you're the kind of person who will need a visual for every single color, this candle is probably not going to work. Also if you're going to spend a long time working with a certain color in the meditation, the shifting colors may distract some.
   
3. This could be an excellent candle to use to call quarters, especially in fire heavy rituals or sabbats cause this candle draws attention and focus like no other.
   
4. I can see a meditation being created surrounding this candle where each color transition and flicker of the flame are used to show how fire as an element is a constantly burning diverse passion that runs through all the world.
   
5. These candles make great offerings to ancestors or the divine. At $5.44 a pop they aren't a back breaker but they aren't cheap either. With a burn time at 30hrs, that's an hour a day for a month, which is great for prolonged rites and spells or for a month long commitment that one wants a visual cue for.

My Over All Rating:

I'd probably rate this items as a seven out of ten. It's fun, pretty, and useful. There are some major draw backs in the scent category and I was disappointed that the candle wasn't as ideal as I first thought it would be for a rainbow meditation. While not an essential tool in my spell work, it has a useful niche and it's highly enjoyable in mundane life.