Dusk is the honest hour, when the day has spent itself and has nothing left to hide. In the greying light a candle becomes a small oracle, its flame a tongue that speaks in flicker and lean.
This is the simplest of the seeing-spells and the friendliest to the beginner. It reaches toward a yes, a no, a soon or a not-yet, reading fortune in the oldest language there is: the behaviour of fire.
The Working
- As the sun goes down, write your question on a slip of paper in as few words as you can find.
- Fold the paper once toward you and set it beneath the candle’s foot.
- Pour a ring of salt around the candle, closing the circle so nothing wandering may join you.
- Light the wick and speak your question aloud, then fall silent and watch.
- Read the flame: steady and tall is yes, low and struggling is no, and a leaning flame points you the way to walk.
- Let the candle burn down a finger’s width, then pinch it out and keep the paper until the matter is settled.
The Incantation
Little fire at the failing light,
be my honest tongue tonight.
Burn me true and burn me clear,
answer what I ask you here.
Yes or no or bide and wait,
read for me the turning fate.
The spell is sealed when the flame is pinched between wet fingers, and released when your question is at last answered by the world.