Black Cat Augury

Greetings, friends! ✨

It’s been a long-time coming, but I’ve finally decided to revive the Black Cat Augury pages and rebrand as a blogger and educator, more than anything else. I wanted to take a moment to re-introduce myself and my particular craft of magick here for those that take interest and want to come along for the ride again.

To start, I’m Connor – the main diviner, crafter, and blogger here at Black Cat Augury. As a proudly queer and transgender man, I bring my eclectic style and unwavering beliefs to the table when it comes to my craft. I am constantly pulling from the variety of traditional and new-aged practices of metaphysics and witchcraft that inspire me. I am a spiritual satanist, first and foremost, and I have been practicing for almost 15 years now, dedicating much of my time to my studies of the occult and meditation. My craft incorporates aspects of shadow work, divination, medium work, and voodoo, typically. My talents lie in divination and a combination of clairsentience and clairaudience to commune with spirits or other entities. I primarily work with spirits of the dead and demons, and I seem to have a knack for performing home cleansings, warding, and banishing negative energies or entities for those that are in need of it. I am also a certified master practitioner of traditional Usui Reiki, though I often find ways to make use of it with clients specifically for shadow work.

If I really had to label myself, I would have to say that I am more of a gray warlock than anything else. “Do no harm, but take no shit” – that’s the dogma that a satanist most often follows. While a lot of spiritual guides and practitioners focus on being “all love and light,” I acknowledge and wholeheartedly embrace the darkness that is present within myself and the universe that surrounds me. I strive to teach all my clients and students to do the same, thus attaining balance and harmony in some of the areas that others tend to shy away from. In the words of Carl Jung, “There is no light without shadow, and no psychic wholeness without imperfection,” and I try my very best to be mindful of this concept in all that I do because I truly believe that there must be a stability of both light and dark in order to achieve wholeness as both a person and a witch. We have to acknowledge and face the parts of ourselves that we may instinctively want to turn away from, because from there, I believe we have the power to change ourselves for the better.

Greetings, friends! ✨

I wanted to write a little follow up to my Candle Magic post because I know how important candles are to witches and candle-fanatics, everywhere. I wanted to offer some helpful tips and tricks on candle maintenance and upkeep that can help prolong the lives of your candles, thus ensuring that you make the most out of the money that was spent on them.  

At first, I know it might sound silly to imply that there’s more to candle maintenance besides “Light it and make sure to blow it out when you’re done with it to avoid burning your house down.” But in actuality, there are so many little things that we can do in order to help our candles burn cleaner and extend the lives of our candles.

The First Burn?

A candle’s first burn on a new wick can decide the overall life of your candle, and if you aren’t careful, you can actually ruin a candle right off the bat if you aren’t paying attention to it. For a candle’s first burn, you want to make sure that it burns long enough to evenly melt the wax along the entire surface of the candle. This prevents your next few burns from melting and drying the wax unevenly, causing inward tunneling of the wax—thus decreasing your candle’s overall lifespan. Too much tunneling will make it so that the wicks refuse to stay lit, no matter how much you try to burn away the wax that surrounds it. I’ve had a few candles that were ruined almost immediately by this, and it’s so disappointing. It’s often recommended to avoid lighting your new candles until you can dedicate a good chunk of time to allow the whole surface to melt for this exact reason; usually an hour will do the trick to ensure that the wax melts evenly across the entire candle surface.

Other Tips?

As another more obvious pro-tip, you want to make sure that you keep the wax clean from wick trimmings, hair, dust, match sticks that you might use to light the candle, or other unwanted debris that didn’t come embedded in the wax. Many of these fragments are dangerous and can catch fire if the flame hits any of it.

Extinguishing your candle also takes a bit of finesse. It is recommended that a lid or proper candle flame snuffer be used to put the flame out, rather than blowing it out. In doing so, you prevent an unwanted extra smoking or hot wax from splattering up into your face or all over the lip of the jar. It also prevents wax from being moved around to potentially dry and settle unevenly, which can eventually lead to tunneling through more burn/dry cycles. Keep your candles in a safe space at room temperature that avoids direct sunlight when not in use to avoid the candle naturally melting and cooling. Avoid windy or drafty spaces when burning candles, as these two things can decrease your candle’s burn time, cause the wax to melt unevenly (leads to tunneling), and diminish the throw of the candle’s scent if it is a scented one.

Wick trimming is another piece of maintenance you can do to help prolong your candle’s life. You should always trim the wick with either a proper wick trimmer or a pair of sturdy scissors between candle lightings. Keeping the wick approximately 6 millimeters from the wax can help prevent unwanted soot buildup around the lip of the jar, as well as unpleasant “mushrooming” of the wick. “Mushrooming” is when the wick gets too charred and bends over to touch itself or the wax that it is embedded in. Once this happens, it’s incredibly difficult to salvage, as the wick often refuses to light or stay lit for extended periods of time again.

Examine the Flame

You can tell a lot about your candle’s health and overall lifespan just by examining the flame that gets produced upon lighting. A candle that burns cleanly and efficiently has a flame that doesn’t flicker too much and sits more upright. If your flame flickers too much or just won’t stay upright despite there being no drafts or wind present, you should snuff out the flame and allow for some time to cool before trimming the wick. Once trimmed, you can relight and reexamine the flame to see if it looks better.

The End of a Candle’s Life?

One of the most important tips that I learned the hard way after startling myself several times - don’t burn the candle all the way down. Tempting as it may be to use every last drop of wax that you physically can, you want to leave about 10 millimeters of wax before finally calling it quits on a candle, especially if your candle comes in a glass jar. Reason being that you don’t want the flame getting too close to the candle jar’s base and overheating it. Glass will shatter, and other materials may get dangerously hot and melt or split. I’ve had jars straight-up explode unexpectedly from this because I wasn’t paying attention and wanted to use up all the wax. Leftover wax still got everywhere even after the jar exploded, and I had to wait for it all to dry so it could be scraped up and cleaned appropriately. Don’t be like the old negligent me—don’t burn your candles all the way down. 🤡

Greetings, friends! ✨

As one of our first real posts on this blog again, I felt it would be most important to discuss one of the most basic aspects of spellcasting—candles and candle magic! Candles come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, smells, and materials, and with them brings a multitude of uses and things to factor in with your practice. As a critical aspect of spellcasting, candles can be most useful in assisting with manifestation and setting intentions with our work.

Choosing a Candle for Spellwork?

While some would argue that the size or make of your candle matters little, I would have to say that this is only really accurate when it comes to candles that you’re using around the house to burn for their pleasant smells. However, like most other practitioners of magic and witchcraft, I would say that it is important to choose your ritual and spellwork candles with more careful consideration. For example, if you’re doing a ritual that requires you to burn the candle all the way down, it would be counterproductive of you to choose a longer or larger candle that will take several hours to several days to finish burning. For most witches, we like the smaller votives or tea lights best, unless the spell or ritual calls for something more specific.

It is worth noting that any candle that is to be used for a spell or ritual should be a fresh one, or one that you are explicitly dedicating to being used for that particular type of spellwork or ritual and nothing else. The reason being that candles can pick up vibrations and energy from the universe around them, particularly when they are being burned. If you have an already-used candle that you’re trying to do spellwork with, your efforts may become tainted by the energy that this used candle might be carrying with it, thus negatively impacting your work or outcomes.

Some spells require candles that come shaped like certain figures, or they are to be used as sympathetic magic—where the candle will represent an entity or a person or feeling. Many witches like to rely on the color, astrological, or day of the week associations that come with candles, as well.

Color Correspondences?

White – White, in color or candle magic, is considered to be a collection of all the other colors, as such, in most pagan traditions and witchcraft, it can be used in place of other colors if needed. Its primary uses are for cleansing, purifying, healing, encouraging peace and honesty, spiritual or medium work, bringing harmony, and with reference to Lunar and Goddess energies. It is most often associated with the moon, Monday, and the zodiac sign of Cancer.

Gray – As a cross between white and black, this color often operates as a neutral force, in spellwork. Its primary uses are for maintaining peace or neutralizing negative or malevolent energies, as well as representing balance, protection, patience, and intuition. It is most often associated with the moon or Jupiter, Monday or Saturday, and the zodiac signs of Capricorn, Libra, Scorpio, and/or Virgo.

Black – Black absorbs light, in magic, so in spellcraft and energy work, it is most useful at absorbing negative energy. Its primary uses are in banishing, repelling, protection, enhancing inner strength and resilience, self-control, warding, and for help with breaking bad habits. It is most often associated with Saturn, Saturday, and the zodiac signs of Capricorn and/or Aquarius.

Red – Red, in candle and color magic, is the “fastest” color, so it is often used in conjunction with other candles to act as a catalyst for speeding up spells and achieving results faster. Its primary uses and associations are in love—passion and energy, lust and romance, anger, sex, confidence, determination, courage, as well as for general health. It is most often associated with Mars, Tuesday, and the zodiac signs of Aries and/or Scorpio.

Pink – Like red, pink is another color associated with love, in candle and color magic, though it is meant to be gentler and mostly used for good or purer intentions. Its primary uses and associations are for joy, self-love, happiness, intimacy, strengthening relationships and healing, reconciliation, friendships, sensitivity, and universal love. It is most often associated with Venus, Friday, and the zodiac signs of Cancer, Gemini, Libra, Taurus, and/or Virgo.

Yellow – Yellow, in candle and color magic, is primarily associated with warmth, energy, and life, and it has uses and associations in increased memory or regression, intelligence and logic, learning, confidence, knowledge, happiness, clarify, manifestation, and business dealings. It is most often associated with Mercury, Wednesday, and the zodiac signs of Gemini and/or Virgo.

Blue – There are many different shades of blue that all have their own more unique meanings, but a general rule of thumb is to look at blue in more of a “light” shade versus a “dark” shade in gathering meaning. Lighter shades of blue have uses and associations with inspiration, guidance, friendship, healing, and manifesting happiness or positivity. Darker shades of blue have uses and associations with enhancing psychic ability, empathy, balance and harmony, communication, counteracting depression, vulnerability and creativity. It is most often associated with Jupiter, Thursday, and the zodiac signs of Sagittarius and/or Pisces.

Orange – Orange, in candle and color magic, is most often used when one needs to be bold or confident, as it is considered to be an incredibly powerful color. Its primary uses and associations are with change, career success, control, confidence, fun, dispelling laziness or poor workmanship, finding motivation or creativity, ambition, and taking quick action. It is most often associated with the Sun, Sunday, and the zodiac sign of Leo.

Green – Green, in candle and color magic, is most often associated with success that comes from the fruits of one’s labors or harvest. This is where the association of green with success generally comes from. Its primary uses and associations are with prosperity and abundance, growth and harvest, new beginnings, generosity, counteracting greed and jealousy, and with trees, plants, or other workings of nature. It is most often associated with Venus, Friday, and the zodiac signs of Taurus and/or Libra.

Purple – Purple, in candle and color magic, is most often associated with royalty (power), though I also learned it to be heavily associated with psychic power and intuition. Its primary uses and associations are with ambition, spirits and astral energy, divination and intuition, respect, expansion of the realms, universal or cosmic awareness, and uncovering secrets and knowledge. It is most often associated with Jupiter and/or Neptune, Thursday, and the zodiac signs of Sagittarius and/or Pisces.

Brown – Brown, in candle and color magic, is most often used in dealings with nature, the earth, or animals. Its primary uses and associations are in developing strong and sturdy foundations, grounding, dispelling indecisiveness, improving concentration or help with studying, and upkeep of the home or sacred space.

Dressing Candles before Use?

Once you’ve selected your candle, you may choose to oil or dress it before burning. This often helps to establish an energetic bond between you and the candle, like charging it with your own personal energies and vibrations to better help project your intent into it before burning. To dress candles, you would need a natural oil—a lot of witches like to use grapeseed because it’s cheaper, more accessible, and has no strong scent. Another option would be to buy or mix your own oils like the ones sold at metaphysical stores for more personal touches. Some spellwork may call for specific herbs to be mixed into the oils or for the candle to be rolled in prior to use while setting your intention for the casting.

You begin dressing your candle in oil, you start at the top of the candle and rub the oil down to the middle using a finger or special, dedicated cloth for it. Begin again at the base of the candle and rub the oil back up towards the middle, ending where the first coating of oil finished. Depending on the pagan tradition practiced, anointing is done in a similar fashion, it just works the opposite way; start in the middle and work your way towards the top and bottom instead.

Candles for Divination?

Candles also have divinatory properties and purposes. The most common method of divination with candles involves reading the wax and the way that the candle physically burns. To divine by way of burning, pay attention to whether the candle burns low or tall, if it flickers, or if there’s more than one flame. Two flames could mean that a spirit or otherworldly entity is attempting to reach out to you, or that someone is trying to help you achieve your goal. The colors found inside of the flame may also give hints about the effectiveness of your spellwork, depending on how brightly or dimly it burns. Others may divine with the candle’s wax by dropping pieces of it into a bowl of cold water and examining the hardened shapes that form, similar to tasseomancy, or divination by reading tea leaves or coffee grounds.

Divination: An Examination by Connor

Divination comes from the Latin word “divinare,” which means “to foretell, foresee, or prophesize.” It is related to another Latin word, “divinus,” which means “to be inspired by a god.” Divination is sometimes used interchangeably with the words “psychic,” “fortune-telling,” or “clairvoyance,” but in actuality, these terms barely scratch the surface or truly illuminate all that divination encompasses.

Divination is the attempt to gain insight into any question, topic, or situation regarding the past, present, or future through some standardized, ritualistic or occultic process. It can be done through a variety of different ways, from the most well-known of cartomancy—or rather, card-reading—to more obscure means like using certain animals and their behavior to predict weather patterns or disasters. Each method of divination typically comes from a long history of practice and cultural or spiritual significance to the practitioner. Diviners are those that practice divination in any of its many forms. I am a diviner of 14 years practice, and I, like many others, have a whole arsenal of tools that I use to help show me the way during any reading that I perform, be it for myself or for my clients.

The Question: “How can divination help me?”

 As I commonly like to reassure to every new client that comes to me with this same exact question, divination is not quite as specific (or terrifying) as what it is often made out to be in most popular media. You will never catch me sitting behind a crystal ball and screaming that the spirits are telling me that you’re going to have a horrible accident on the first Tuesday of next month unless you change up your daily routine. Divination just isn’t that specific or extreme, typically.

Granted, there are some diviners and more powerful seers out there who see visions or dreams of the past, present, or future and can make some accurate assessments using this particularly rare method of divination. However, the vast majority of us diviners out there make use of divining tools and our own psychic intuition and empathy as our main method of sussing out advice for you. Our methods are usually much calmer and more figurative, as we spend a lot of our time and energy in trying to interpret the symbolism in what our tools and gut-feelings are trying to tell us.

Connor’s Philosophy When It Comes to Divination?

My readings are not often designed to tell you exactly the way something is and will forever be. Sadly, that’s just not the way the universe works most of the time. Instead, my readings are crafted with the intent to examine your life—be it the past, a past life, the present, or a possible future—and to look at all the factors that play into your situation. This is done so that I can determine any potential outcomes and how they might impact your life as you continue on the course of this path. I’ll try to get a read on how it will play out for you, how it will make you feel, how it might affect others that you care for that play a larger role in your life, and so on. The point of this is to help illuminate one path over another for you, so that you can effectively confront any possible challenges head-on and make more informed decisions or choices. And if it's not for a decision-making process, then this is done so that you can gain the clarity needed to grow from prior unfavorable situations, or to simply see if you want to continue on down the path that you currently walk or change course for a more desirable one.

I am of the firm belief that nothing is ever set in stone. We forge our own futures and this life is everything that we make of it. Attitude, intentions, and effort go a long way in magic and manifestation, and we can alter the entire course of our lives with one conscientious decision or more positive change. This is also why you can get away with doing more frequent readings, and also why you may sometimes see so much variance between readings. All it takes is one active shift in thinking to completely change the path that you walk—one break-up, one failure, one success or promotion, one new relationship, one financial decision, one habit that you cultivate, one new hobby that’s tried out on a whim, etc... Anything can make an unexpected difference in shaping you and your life, for better or worse.

Divination is a tool that can help you better navigate your life in all of its trials and tribulations. If you don’t like the predicted outcome of any reading that you receive or perform for yourself, step back and ponder exactly what it is that you find unfavorable. Dig deeper, ask more questions and challenge them with more solutions, then re-evaluate those solutions to try and find a better way. Once you have sight of that more favorable outcome, then go for it with everything that you have. You aren’t a helpless puppet in the hands of an angry and unforgiving fate—you have the power to make the change that is necessary.