Van Van candles are made on the Wednesday immediately after the New Moon. Burn just one, or one each night for a three day spell, burn all of them all at once to prepare a Voudou Temple, give to friends according to your Will, for any purpose of blessing, renewal, or sanctification.

Van Van candles use the same essential oil blend that I use for my Van Van oil. Van Van is a favorite Louisiana standard with many uses, including banishing, purification, ritual preparation, and meditation.

Van Van is used to prepare a magickal working space and to anoint ritual participants.

Most of the traditional ingredients in Van Van have pest-repelling properties, which is a constant need in the Deep South! Traditional Van Van potions are based on the citrus-smelling grasses like Citronella, Palmarosa, and Vetiver. Some of these are included in my Van Van oil.

For my formulations I took an intuitive leap, based on New Orleans pronunciations. What we call Vervain in Europe and Texas (Ver-VANE), is pronounced (vurh-VaHN) in French and Cajun. Vervain is a European witchcraft mainstay herb, used by Druid and western Witches alike for purification and magickal power and healing. Verbena essential oil (Aloysia triphylla or Lippia citriodora) known by it's common name as Lemon Verbena) would have been available to early French perfumers based in New Orleans, but since it is quite expensive, it would be unaffordable for most New Orleans styled HooDoo practitioners and potioneers. Because of its powerful purification properties, I conjecture that Vervain (European Verbena officinalis or American native Verbena hallei), which has no scent or essential oil was used in infused oils to obtain the powers of the Verbena, and that the lemony scent and purifying qualities were added in with Lemongrass, Citronella, and Palmarosa grass essential oils, as necessary, affordable and available, to approximate the elusive scent of Lemon Verbena essential oil.

My version of Van Van oil pays tribute to this history, and contains real Lemon Verbena essential oil. It contains sea salt blessed on the Wednesday after the New Moon.

Natural Magick Shop magick candles are ritually crafted of beeswax sheets, for a renewable-resource nature-friendly burn. They are infused with 100% natural essential oils and absolutes appropriate to the intention of your candle spell.

All magic candles are made on the correct day of the week for Planetary influences and phase of the Moon for Lunar powers. Feel free to burn just one and save the rest for later, or burn one each night for a three day candle spell working, or burn all of them all at once or one after another for a prolonged Astral Journey, or share with friends according to your Will.

These magick candles come three to a package, are four inches tall, and fit most standard taper holders for 3/4 - 7/8 diameter taper or household candles. But they do tend to drip (unless you fridge or freeze them, which I don't usually have the time for) so I like to burn them and all my candles on the dishes I use for candle magick, little sushi dishes work great. I also have a large black granite tile, and a beveled mirror for candle magick, where I can let them drip and puddle as they will.

For more Voudou and Hoodoo magick potions, read our blog article.

For other potions for cleansing and purification, see this blog article.