http://www.care2.com/greenliving/brilliant-beeswax-candles.html
The Brilliant Beeswax Candle: Natural Air Purifiers and More
By Annie B. Bond, author of Home Enlightenment (Rodale, 2005).
Beeswax candles offer a honey scent, a golden flame, and the longest, cleanest burn of any candle.
But there is much more benefit to beeswax candles compared to paraffin candles that are made from polluted petroleum sludge, or even vegetable-based candles that are a big improvement over paraffin: When beeswax candles burn, they clean the air like a great, natural, air purifier, and they are a link to a deep spiritual belief system.
For each pound of beeswax provided by a honey bee, the bee visits 33 million flowers. It eats 10 pounds of honey. It secretes the beeswax from its abdomen, and then uses the wax to construct a honeycomb. Beekeepers recover the wax from the comb by heating it in water where the melted wax rises to the surface and can be removed.
Many have written about the wisdom of the beehive, and how burning beeswax puts a person in a special mood of reverence. It is easy to imagine why, given that millions of flowers have been visited and pollinated to make any one beeswax candle!
Healing and spiritual powers have been attributed to all products of the beehive. Honey has always been considered holy, a gift from God, and endowed with esoteric and mystical qualities. The Path of Pollen, or bee shamanism, is a calling into the secrets of healing, longevity, and spiritual powers of bee products, including honey, wax, and pollen. The Hebrew word for bee is dbure, meaning word, with the message being that the bee brings the Divine word. Specifically beeswax candles are designated for the Christian Roman Mass.
To burn a beeswax candle is to enter into the wisdom world of the bee, and you enter, too, into a world of benefits from the bee. Compare this to breathing toxic fumes from paraffin candles! (For more on toxic candles, see Candle Soot.
Cleaning the Air by Burning Beeswax Candles
Air contains billions of electrically charged particles called ions. Ions act upon our capacity to absorb and utilize oxygen, and therefore cause powerful effects on our lives and well being. The ions in the air can affect our mood, energy and health. Negative ions actually feel good. Too many positive ions make us feel bad and they are loaded down with pollution and allergens that are drawn to them and suspended in the air. Negative ions, on the other hand, remove the pollution and allergens from positive ions, allowing them to drop harmlessly to the ground.
Beeswax candle fuel is the only fuel that actually produces negative ions, which not only helps remove pollution from the air but increases the ratio of negative ions to positive ions, the ideal and necessary scenario for clean air.
Beeswax Candle Buyer’s Resource Guide
Make sure to only buy 100 percent pure beeswax candles.
Choose yellow beeswax (it is lightly refined)and not white beeswax is often bleached with chemicals and is best avoided.
Annie B.
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62 comments
add your comment »In response to the PETA article suggested below regarding inhumane treatment of the honeybee, I have to protest. The linked article was wrought with so much misinformation—people who are swayed by mistreatment of animals (I myself am an activist) must have exposure to the facts.
As a backyard urban beekeeper and a deeply spiritual person, I have firsthand knowledge of the beauty and intimate relationship humans can share with another kindred species, like the bee. All bees do a wonderful service to humanity by providing 1/3 of the foods we love to eat—like apples, nuts, avocados, peaches, celery, strawberries, melons, and cucumbers. 80% of the foods that require pollination are pollinated by the “imported” European honeybee. Why? Because many, if not most, of the foods we eat came from Europe!
Plants have developed over the millennia to coexist with tandem with other species, and in order to enjoy the same foods on our continent we must emulate the original environments in which the foods developed. Native to America bees do not generally pollinate Old World crops--they have their own job to do! There are small carpenter bees, and sweat bees which will lick your sweat, to well-known bumblebees (all of which are in serious decline).
If you feel having honeybees is inhumane, you should consider your diet and focus solely on native American foods.
Like your food, you should have a relationship with any honeybee wax product’s source. Know your
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If you want beeswax candles, the ones from Honey Gardens (http://www.honeygardens.com/candles.htm) are nice.
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Thank you for this information, I generally really like your articles. I love the concepts presented here and agree that bees and all they produce is precious and powerful, however, I do not believe that modern methods for obtaining these products are ethical, let alone respectful.
I think one can use a vegetable based candle and meditate on the wonder of the bee and be mindful and respectful of their power without actually using the beeswax. I believe this state of mind/contemplation is more helpful than the actual wax now that ethically obtained beeswax would be difficult to come by and therefore defeats the intended respect and reverence.
For more information on the mistreatment of bees please visit this site: http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=122
For the ionic effect I would recommend the other vegans or those concerned for the welfare of the bees to try a salt lamp instead.
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Once it's burning and there is some melted wax, drop a few drops of an essential oil or essential oil blend into the hot wax and enjoy the fragrance. It is very hard to use true essential oils in candles because you have to pour them into the heat that makes them volatile so much is lost unless some binder is used. Dropping into hot wax is more potent. Great for romantic or holiday moments..
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Sarah: vegans do not use products from any animals (including bees) even if the product is not eaten.
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While I really like this article and I'm glad to have the links that were included... I wonder, Marion R. What's being Vegan got to do with it?
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I've made beeswax candles for years and have been worth it. I've known about the soot of other candles sense I was a kid(home-school). Keep up the good work.
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This web-site offers tealight beeswax.
www.candlebeefarm.com
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the hebrew word voor bee is 'dvora' and the word for 'word' is 'mila' but the word root of dvora is d-v-r like in ledaber -talking in hebrew and in this way it fitts your way of thinking ver well
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sounds great, but I'm vegan....
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