Soul Lover Interview #4: Love filled candles with Blythe

I am delighted to introduce you all to Blythe Chidgey. I have known Blythe for a number of years as she is a regular client and student of mine. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with her and see her blossom into her truth, power and trust in self. As a reiki teacher I really love and feel honoured to get to witness the transformations and expansions students go through as they start to walk the reiki path. One of the main things that the journey does is really align people to their truth and authentic self. It’s very common for students to undergo big life transitions and changes after receiving a reiki initiation, and Blythe is a prime example of that. Shortly after she did her Level 2 training last year she was retrenched from her corporate job. Rather than viewing this as a bad thing she realised that it was exactly the push she needed from the universe to follow her heart and become her own boss, so she took the leap and started working for herself.

She has gone on to create one of the most beautiful candle ranges I have come across. Each candle is created to align the user to a specific intention and feeling. She hand makes the candles herself and charges each one with reiki. I LOVE candles and they are an important intentional object within all my healing sessions and workshops. I tend to be fussy about the candles I use, so when I discovered Blythe’s range I was very excited. Not only do I love the range, but through Blythe I have also learnt a lot about candle “care” and great tips and hints on how to get the most out of each candle. Experiencing all this I knew Blythe was the perfect person to interview for the Soul Lover Interview series.

Describe yourself in 5 words. 

Terminally passionate, wildly human Aquarian.

How did you come to create the “Blythe Spirit Candles” range? 

It was a big combination of things, I was finally leaving my corporate job, I really wanted to do something creative with my time and I had spent so long in digital marketing and copywriting roles selling things online for other people that I knew there was a way I could develop a brand that was heart centered and offered something valuable to people.

Late last year I entered the darkest period of my life and I think during that death I was in a sense “giving birth” to this offering. I truly felt like I had been on the operating table and the person who emerged, or maybe still is emerging, is so much closer to being in her truth and purpose.

I had been working with rituals and as part of ritualizing my life I went in search of a candle that had been made with love and intention but I couldn’t find anything that looked nice and felt right.

That was when the idea came to me but the rest of it all kind of manifested itself through me just after I completed Reiki 2.

Until November last year I had never made a candle in my life. I remember telling my mum I was going to start making Reiki Charged candles for use with ritual and intention setting and she looked at me oddly and asked if I even knew how to make a candle. I figured it couldn’t be that hard and took myself off to a 2-hour class to learn. I was really wrong and my first few candles were the biggest fails you could ever imagine. But something inside me really wanted to offer these candles so I persevered and eventually I made some really lovely candles and I think my friends and family were a bit shocked. I committed myself to not over thinking the process of the branding and the naming of the candles and I used meditation and Reiki to channel them and they came out perfectly (I think!) and are each a representation of my journey.

I had such strong faith that my story is the story of many, and in my healing I heal others.

So far it really seems that way, I kind of amazes me still, how much people connect to the candles. 

What makes your candles so special? 

I do feel like Reiki, Spirit, God, Goddess, The Universe, whatever it is you choose to call it, knew I wanted to offer something and just manifested these through me. I don’t like to take credit for them, I feel like it’s my work right now to offer them, and to build on that as I receive feedback from people about what they feel/ want/ need/ desire.

I write about my candles in my journal a lot, and usually it leads me down the path to the idea that my candles can truly support self-love and self-care.

This is something I have had a big long journey with. From being a teenager who suffered with body image issues and an eating disorder, to an adult who was not living her purpose and as a result suffered from some dark times, as we do, and some anxiety, I have only now, that I am in my thirties, learnt how important, and non-negotiable self-care and self-love truly are.

I want to help people to use the candles as a prompt in ritual, to be able to put aside time when they light their candle and focus on the mantra and the intention and let that energy work with them.

For me just recently, I have been sitting with my Love candle a lot. I have practices like having a bath, meditating, breath work, listening to music that lights me up, that I do when that candle is lit. I focus on the mantra of “I am Love” and I know that while the candle is lit this is my focus.

How can people use your candles to ignite change in their lives?

I feel as though when we start to work with energetics we open ourselves up to how truly magical we are. How much wisdom lives inside us, whether that be from past lives or if it lives in our DNA from our ancestors. We rarely give ourselves enough time, space or peace for this information to come through to us. We know what to do, we just live in a World where we are so Yang and rushed that we have lost confidence in that.

I think during ritual with a candle, whether it be one you are drawn to through fragrance, imagery, words or that is just speaks to you, you can hold sacred space for yourself to remember all that you know and build on that faith and knowledge of complete wholeness.

I feel they work on a range of levels depending on where people are at.

The Goddess one (which has a mantra Sara gave to me during my Reiki attunements!) has been very popular because I think the concept of “self-worship” is really rising up at the moment and women are really acknowledging the power that there is in that. Whole has also been a more popular candle because the mantra of “I am Enough” speaks to everyone at some point.

Some of the candles have far greater meanings and ability to transform for some people than others. I find it interesting and fascinating to hear from people about how the candles have helped them to shift, because it is often in ways that I would not have been able to intellectualize or feel myself. I think that is the beauty of how they manifested themselves, they mean what they need to mean and with the support of Reiki they do the work they need to do for the individual.

I feel we can all attest to the science of mantras, and when developing the mantras I ensured they were all present tense and were not aspirational but very much concrete “I am”, “I have” “It is time” statements. I know even from my own experience of having mantras around my house on post it notes, that having those words written there before me is like it’s very own radio tower to the universe. It’s powerful, magical stuff, I love it.

You have an option to “design your own candle” for self or loved one, can you explain how this works and the benefits of creating a custom vs choosing something from your range? 

I am really deeply exploring this right now. The more people approach me about this and talk to me about their preferences the more I am opening up to being more fluid with each of the existing candles. I am in the process of working out how I can offer a range of fragrances for each candle. I have realized just how deeply personal fragrance is for people, so soon (I hope in the next month or so) everyone will be able to choose from a range or fragrances and then match that with a selected intention.

The custom candles have been popular for gifts, and they come with a label that I design for the candle. I have recently been channeling specific mantras, imagery and words for candles, which have been a beautiful process and provide the individual with something really supportive.

Realistically I am open to creating whatever someone is looking for. I really love making these candles because I know, for me, how supportive they have been.

I use a specific fragrance, which smells like oranges, in my own home when I am feeling a bit shit, and it pretty much lifts me straight away because it reminds me of a beautiful trip I took to the Peruvian Amazon, where I randomly ended up meditating beneath the stars on a boat on the Amazon.

I know how far scent can take people, and how strong the connection can be to emotion, so I am so open to creating exactly what it is that someone feels drawn to, or needs.

What are your top 3 tips for burning candles properly? 

I have shared a few on my Facebook page which seemed to come as a surprise to people so I am glad I did that and I will do more soon.

The big ones are:

First burn fill burn- set aside enough time to do a full burn where the wax melts all the way to the sides of the jar. This is because soy wax has a “memory” and at the first burns the wax memory sets. When you don’t do this the candle will tunnel and you miss out on half or more of your candle burn time.

Be mindful of the room- Obviously observe safety because of the flame, but also try to avoid open windows and air conditioners because they will cause the candle to tunnel (the wick and flame will blow to one direction and you will get an uneven burn.

Trim your wick- about 6mm is the perfect length for your wick. This encourages an even burn, but it’s also for your safety, because a longer wick can break off the fall into the melted wax and ignite the candle- we definitely don’t want that!

Where can people buy your candles from and stay in touch with you? 

Etsy Store Link
Facebook Link
Instagram

I am on Facebook and Instagram at the moment I sell my candles via Etsy but am in the process of getting a website set up and will be starting to do markets too. All of this information I will share on social media for anyone who wants to know when and where.

The new website will have a blog where I will be sharing some or my writing around ritual and self-care and then eventually some little meditations to go with each candle. That’s the plan for now, but I feel like there will be lots more to come.

Blythe has generously offered a special 15% off for all Space-In-Betweeners. So when placing your order if you enter in the special discount code of SPIRITANIMALS you will receive 15% off your order. YAY!

Do you love candles or use them in rituals? Have you tried Blythe’s range, what is your favourite candle? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

x Sara