Black snake candle, 8″

A snake coiled around a staff is one of the oldest images we have, from the healer’s rod of Asclepius to the bronze serpent Moses raised in the wilderness.

Origin & Traditional Use

Snake candles are a modern candle-shop design, but the serpent behind them carries many meanings: renewal through the shedding of skin, guarding of treasure and sacred places, hidden knowledge, and, in rootwork, the danger of poison and enemies. Black gives the candle a protective and binding edge.

Uses by Tradition

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Shedding: burn the candle to let go of an old habit or self, with a piece of shed snake skin beside it if you have one.
• Guardian: set the candle by the door or on a protective altar so the serpent watches the threshold.
• Wisdom: burn it while studying occult texts or during divination.

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Snakes are part of the hoodoo idea of “live things”: a crossing candle carved with an enemy’s name and burned to send them restless, writhing trouble.
• Uncrossing: burned in reverse to draw out such a curse from a client, with the remains thrown into running water.

A Simple Working

• Write down the habit or condition you want to shed.
• Carve a single word naming it into the wax near the base.
• Dress the candle with a little olive oil, from wick down to base.
• Light it and read the paper aloud.
• Burn the paper in a cast iron cauldron from the candle flame.
• Let the candle burn down over a few nights.
• Bury the ash and remaining wax outside, away from your home.

Pairs Well With

• Shed snake skin: for renewal and transformation work.
• A cast iron cauldron: for burning petitions safely.
• Black salt: for protective work at the threshold.
• Olive oil: a plain dressing oil.

Lore & History

In Numbers 21, Moses makes a bronze serpent on a pole so that the Israelites bitten by snakes can look on it and live. The bronze serpent, called Nehushtan, was kept for centuries until King Hezekiah broke it up because people had begun burning incense to it (2 Kings 18:4).

What You Receive

One 8″ black rod-shaped candle with a sculpted serpent coiled upward toward the wick.