Rekindling Presence: A Candle Ritual for Returning to Yourself
Published by Tarot 1111, a digital studio dedicated to accessible self-discovery.
There are moments when presence slips —
when your mind won’t settle and your body doesn’t feel like home.
You’re aware, but unanchored.
In those moments, you don’t need to force clarity or pretend calm.
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You need a mechanism.
A small, repeatable act.
Something to bring you back.
Not by effort, but by rhythm.
You’ll need:
A high-quality, non-toxic wish or birthday candle (beeswax or soy-based, with no artificial fragrance)
A candle holder that feels special or grounding
Matches or a lighter
The Ritual
1. Set it up where you are.
Place the candle somewhere close — beside the sink while you’re washing dishes, on the table as you work, or near your bed if you’re unwinding.
2. Light the candle.
Take a breath.
Let the flame mark the start of your awareness.
You can set a simple intention like: “I’m here.” or “I choose calm.”
3. Stay in your activity.
There’s no need to sit down and meditate.
Just keep doing what you’re doing — but let part of your attention rest on the candle.
4. When anxiety, fear, or mental noise rises
Blow out the candle.
Let that be the moment you acknowledge it.
It doesn’t need a story. You don’t need to fix it.
Just release it with the breath.
5. When you feel more grounded
Relight the candle.
This is your signal — I’m back.
6. Repeat as needed.
There’s no rule for how many times.
Sometimes you’ll blow it out and light it again in thirty seconds.
Sometimes you’ll forget and relight it hours later.
That’s okay.
The point is not control — it’s awareness.
To close
When you’re done — done working, done thinking, done needing it — let the candle burn out on its own, or snuff it out with intention.
You may end it with a word. Or a breath.
Something that marks the return.
What if peace was not a place you arrived at —
but something you rekindled,
again and again,
with your own two hands?
Let the flame remind you:
You get to begin again. Always.
✨ Insight from Tarot 1111: Awakening is not about permanence. It is about rhythm—the courage to return, again and again, to the truth of now.