Candles/incense

[stephanie58]

My altar faces east but when I light candles & incense the smoke & flame heads north. Is that normal or am I just being wierdly observant?

[MeganB]

Hey @stephanie58

I think normal in this case is going to be relative to what’s going on. If you have a draft, an air conditioner, or something similar that blows a specific way, that can cause your incense smoke and flames to move a certain direction. But if you don’t have any of that, then it may be relevant! How it is relevant, though, is up to you and your practice, or any house spirits you may have.

One way you can determine if it’s relevant is by moving the placement of a candle or incense around the room and seeing what happens. If it always moves in the same direction, I would do some divination to see if you can figure out why it’s happening.

[BryWisteria]

Hi @stephanie58,

I’m with Megan on this one- before digging into any magickal explanation, it’s always worth it to check and see if there is a mundane one first! Air drafts can come from windows, household appliances, open spaces, fans, etc and can be tested in just the way Megan suggested.

Once you’ve determined if the cause is mundane or magickal, you can decide what to do from there. Divination is always a great way to get answers, or you could ask your deity/spirit animal/guardian/etc for further guidance.

Good luck and blessed be!

[Nixi]

@stephanie58 definitely check and double check for ‘logical’ reasons. If no reason can be found I, drawing from a story told to me by a historian and mathematician who had set out to solve a local legend with logic, think you might want to consider that someone might be trying to tell you something.