Advent Astrology Devotional: Candles and Wreaths
Hi, Starpal!
The start of Advent is 15 days away, and the central ritual item to have for Advent is (drumroll please)
CANDLES! We’ve put together a guide for you no matter what your budget is to source your Advent candles and even arrange them in a wreath, if you so desire!
(please tell me I have some fellow Bob's Burgers fans in the house!)
The four Sundays before Christmas, churches around the world have candle-lighting services. Because much of our community finds themselves on the perimeters of the institutional church, Sarah and I offer candle-lighting rituals, together on Zoom, Sunday evenings at 4pm PT/7pm ET. This year the Sundays in Advent are
Sunday, November 30
Sunday, December 7
Sunday, December 14
Sunday, December 21
Mark your calendar for the above dates (and time appropriate for your zone)! Our rituals tend to last about 15-20 minutes, with a custom liturgy (or ceremony) that Sarah and I write, and we will read aloud our reflection for the day.
About Advent Candles:
You can definitely observe Advent without candles, but we think it’s way more fun to include them. If you want to, you’ll need to gather four candles. Here are some options for different budgets:
Low/No Budget: Any four candles you have lying around will do! Ask friends, family, neighbors if they have any candles they don’t mind giving you! Post on your local Buy Nothing group! Or, make some variation on these ADORABLE retro paper candles from cardboard tubes, adding your “flames” each week of Advent. The added bonus is that they’re safer!
Retro Paper Candles from Smile Mercantile Craft Company
Moderate Budget: My local co-op has handmade taper candles for about $2 each in many colors, and so I typically swing by to grab three purple candles and one pink. Three purple and one pink candle is a traditional color scheme for Advent candles (purple for contemplation and commitment to change, pink for rejoicing). Some people also include a Christ Candle for Christmas in white or gold. Michael’s has a set, too.
Higher Budget: Big Dipper Wax has some beeswax Advent tapers here. I bet they smell so yummy when lit!
Wreaths:
It is often customary to situate your candles in a wreath. This could be a metal or ceramic candle-holder (here’s my gorgeous ceramic candle-holder my sweet friend and fellow minister-in-the-wilderness Lenny Duncan gifted me many years ago). You can always wire fresh or reusable evergreens to your wreath to make it more festive! If you have evergreens around you, you can just snip some springs from them and spritz them with water everyday to keep them fresh.
For those looking to make an investment, here are some different wreaths/candle holders I found that look like they’d ship in time for Advent!
For a kid-friendly (I mean, I would love to have this, too!) I think this wooden Advent Wreath from Shining Light Dolls is spectacular:
I'm loving all the vintage Advent candle-holders I came up with doing a quick search on Ebay, like this one:
If you end up buying something like this, please send me a photo so I can see it!
Another idea for wreaths: call your local florists and see if they make Advent wreaths (be prepared to explain what this is), or if they would if you dropped off candles. You could also just get a Christmas wreath to lay flat on your table and put candles in the middle of it. This saves on shipping and supports local business!
There are LOADS of tutorials on YouTube for making fresh or reusable Advent wreaths. Many of the accounts are “bad theology” coded, so I leave you to sift through that mess if you want, lol. Here’s a sweet video on how to make a budget and eco-friendly foraged Christmas wreath that you could easily incorporate candles into for Advent.
That's all for now! There Will Be Signs will open for registration on Sunday, November 23! Mark your calendars, and sign up here to receive a 20% off code the day before.
It’s so much easier to shop your values with some extra time, so join us in preparing early and (more) ethically for Advent this year!
Much love,
Lindsey and Sarah