Magic and Games: Monopoly Charm Candle Spell

Did you know that the original Monopoly playing pieces were bracelet charms? Charles Darrow was using buttons to test his new game, but the women in his family preferred using the more personalised good luck trinkets on their bracelets instead. Parker, which published Monopoly in America, agreed and kept the concept. That's how the classic Monopoly playing tokens came about. There's a long history of magic and games being intertwined, and this is just a tiny part of it. You can also bring Monopoly charm magic full circle and use the playing pieces as part of candle spells.

When you do a candle spell, you can just burn a tealight and make a wish, but you can make it more effective by adding things that symbolise or correspond with what you want. Traditionally, you can pick a candle of a suitable colour, carve words into it, anoint it with oils, add scents, and possibly pick a special candle holder to put it in before you light it and cast your spell. However, sometimes you don't have all those things in the house when you need them, or you can't afford to buy them.

An ordinary white tealight is fine - and you can use other things around the house to add symbolism. If you have a copy of Monopoly, those playing pieces are perfect. The ones in the photo above are from the 1970s American set. Modern copies have done a bit of switching to keep up with the times. If you bought your game recently, it might have a cat, a duck, a penguin or a T-rex. You can also use the houses, money and dice. Here's a list of the pieces and what they could represent in spellwork, but feel free to use your own intuition and come up with other ideas:

• Boot: Safe journey on foot; give someone or something the boot; healing for the feet or legs; putting your best foot forward in any venture
• Top hat: Job success; help in theatrical ventures; healing for matters of the mind; confidence in general; performance of magic
• Iron: Smoothing out difficulties; help with domestic matters
• Thimble: Protection; love and romance (thimbles were traditional gifts as love tokens); thriftiness
• Wheelbarrow: Gardening; help with carrying heavy loads both physical and emotional; the environment
• Ship: Safe journey by water; dealing with emotional issues
• Car: Safe journey by road; help with mechanical matters; finding your route ahead in life
• Gun: Protection; help in winning battles of any kind
• Horse and rider: Gaining control of your life; help with moving forward; relationship issues; emotional balance; health in general
• Dog: Protection; companionship; assistance with life's difficulties; courage; healing for animals; 
• Cat: Psychic powers; companionship; independence; healing for animals
• Duck: Safety in water; emotional issues; healing for aquatic creatures
• Penguin: Family issues; good parenting; coping with harsh environments; environmental problems 
• T-rex: Protection; courage; facing fears
• House: Anything to do with the house or home, especially moving home; security and safety; family issues
• Hotel: Safety when staying away from home
• Money: Wealth; abundance; getting a pay rise or a new job
• Dice: Luck

You can also use the Community Chest and Chance cards for their specific wishes, although I hope you don't often need a Get Out of Jail Free card.

Here's how to do a simple candle spell using Monopoly pieces. All you need is a white tealight candle, some matches and the bits from a Monopoly set. Decide what you want to wish for and then choose the game pieces or cards that most closely match your aim. You might just use one, or you could use a combination. Then, try to sum up your wish in one or two words. Inscribe those words on your candle with the end of the match, then place it on a heat-proof surface and put the Monopoly pieces around it or in front. Light the candle. As you do so, visualise your wish coming true. You can say some words out loud too:

By candle flame
And token's charm
My wish be made
To no one's harm

Let the candle burn down, but for safety don't leave it unattended. If you need to leave it, extinguish it and relight it another time.

You can find more candle spells in my book Pagan Portals - Candle Magic, and you can see details of my other books on my Moon Books author page.