Collection: Crystal Candles

Choosing a crystal candle

All sixteen candles here come from one maker, Shakti SOULutions, hand-poured in small batches in the mountains of Colorado. The build is the same throughout: American-sourced soy and coconut wax with no paraffin, an organic beeswax-coated hemp wick, real stones set on the wax, a lead-free glass tumbler made in the USA, and no scent and no dye whatsoever. They split into two ranges — nine 7.5 oz chakra candles at $28.95 and seven 16 oz altar candles at $34.95 — and the difference between them is bigger than the six dollars suggests.

The 7.5 oz range — nine stones, seven chakras, one affirmation each

Each of the nine is topped with its named stone plus a clear quartz point from Arkansas charged under a full moon, burns up to sixty hours, and carries a chakra and a one-line affirmation printed on the glass. Every one comes in two crystal styles, Crescent Moon or Full Moon; both include the quartz point. Read them by chakra and the choice usually makes itself. For the root, Black Tourmaline (protection and boundaries) and Red Jasper (grounding and strength). For the solar plexus, Citrine (abundance and manifestation) and Tiger's Eye (courage and personal power). For the heart, Rose Quartz (love and emotional healing) and Peridot (receiving, abundance). For the throat, Blue Kyanite (clarity and communication) and Amazonite (truth and stress relief). And for the crown, Rainbow Moonstone (intuition and flow). No candle here covers the sacral or third eye; if that is the center you are working with, chakra stones: which crystal for which chakra lists the stones to set beside any of these instead. These are single-intention candles, sized for a sitting rather than a season.

The 16 oz altar range — seven deities, 168 hours

Larger, longer, and built to stay put: an image of the deity on the front, words of inspiration on the back, and the stones set into the top of the wax — three on most, five on two. Ganesha for clearing obstacles (yellow calcite, green aventurine, hematite). Saraswati for beginnings and creative work (clear quartz, aquamarine, citrine). Lakshmi for prosperity and self-worth, with five stones: gold rutilated quartz, citrine, malachite, apatite and green lodalite. Radha for devotion (rose quartz, malachite, angelite). Parvati for love and devotion, also with five: white moonstone, blue chalcedony, green rutilated quartz, strawberry quartz and Super 7. Kundalini Shakti for awakening and vitality (serpentine, moonstone, labradorite). Buddha for balance and inner peace (howlite, amazonite, lepidolite). If you are weighing a stone-topped candle against a figure candle for an altar, our magazine compares them directly in crystal candles vs. deity candles; and if the deity is new to you, working with a tradition you were not raised in is the honest place to start. The full deity shelf lives in Gods & Goddesses.

The arithmetic is worth doing before you pick the cheaper one

The 16 oz altar candle costs about twenty percent more than the 7.5 oz one and burns up to 168 hours against sixty. That is roughly twenty-one cents an hour against forty-eight — less than half the running cost. If you want one candle for one purpose and a stone to carry afterwards, the smaller one is the right buy. If you want a candle that lives on an altar and gets lit again and again over months, the larger one is not the indulgent choice, it is the cheaper one. The 16 oz altar candles also sit in Altar & Home; for everything under twenty dollars, including chime and votive candles, see Candles Under $20; the full range sits in Ritual Candles, and the plant-wax pours on their own in Soy Candles.

Why the stones sit on top, and why nothing here is scented

A common worry about crystal candles is heat: some stones are water-soluble, some are layered and flake, and a few are genuinely unsafe to heat. It is not an issue in this range, because the stones are set on the surface of the wax rather than buried around the wick. They do not melt, they do not burn away, and when the wax is gone they are yours — along with the tumbler, which is lead-free and made to be washed out and reused as a stone dish, a brush pot or a holder for tapers. Wash the wax off with warm water and put the stones back into rotation; how to cleanse crystals and how to charge them both cover what to do next, and which crystals fade in sunlight is worth reading before a rose quartz or amazonite spends its afterlife on a windowsill. If a stone catches your interest, the magazine has guides to rose quartz, black tourmaline, kyanite, citrine — including how to tell real from heated — and moonstone vs. rainbow moonstone; the loose stones themselves live in Crystals & Stones.

The absence of scent is deliberate rather than an omission. These are made to burn alongside incense, resins and anointing oils without competing with them — a vanilla candle and a frankincense stick in the same room fight each other, while an unscented candle simply holds the light. That also makes them the right candle for trataka, the candle-gazing meditation, where a steady unscented flame is the whole point.

Two habits that decide how well it burns

Trim the hemp wick to a quarter inch before every lighting; an untrimmed hemp wick is the most common reason a clean candle starts to smoke, which is the whole subject of why your candle burns black. And let the first burn run long enough to melt a full pool of wax right out to the glass — wax has a memory, and the first burn sets the tunnel for every burn after it. On a 16 oz candle that first session wants a couple of unhurried hours; the new moon candle cycle is one way to pace a long candle across a month. When it is spent, what to do with leftover ritual wax covers the rest. Set it on something that can take a warm glass — a stone tray from Bowls, Trays & Vases does the job.

Crystals and candles are traditionally used for focus, intention and reflection — traditional uses, not scientifically established effects, and nothing here replaces medical, legal or financial advice. Never leave a burning candle unattended, keep it away from drafts, children and pets, and stop burning when about half an inch of wax remains.

Frequently asked questions