Using black candles in magickal workings is often a misunderstood art. Where some see only darkness, many magickal traditions recognize the depth, absorption, boundaries, and transformation offered by this colour. Black represents the fertile soil, the night sky, and the quiet, liminal space where endings turn into beginnings.

Black candle magic is not about causing harm or inducing fear. It is about closure, protection, and intentional release. These spells are designed to help you clear space, reclaim your energy, and welcome necessary endings with calm authority.

Work these spells thoughtfully. Focus on yourself and your space. Endings are powerful thresholds, so approach them with respect.

We’ve included links to our favourite candles, tools and accessories throughout the article. These links are affiliate, meaning we’ll make a penny or two when you purchase, at no extra cost to you.

Preparing for Black Candle Spells and Workings

Before beginning any spell:

• Use a new black candle if possible

• Choose a quiet, uninterrupted space

• Ground yourself with slow breaths

• Be clear about your intention – clarity is power

Black candle spells are especially effective during the waning moon or dark moon, but personal readiness matters more than timing.

1. A Black Candle Spell for Protection

Purpose: To establish energetic boundaries and absorb harmful or intrusive influences.

When to Use: When you feel drained, exposed, or energetically vulnerable.

Materials:

• One simple black candle

• Salt (plain sea salt or black salt. Make your own or buy here)

• Oil (a blended protection oil or plain olive oil with a few drops of vervain)

• Heat-safe dish

Method:

Place the candle on the dish and circle it with salt. Dress the candle with oil, stroking from the base upward, drawing protection toward you. Light the candle and focus on feeling steady and contained.

Chant (spoken aloud or silently):

“By flame that burns and shadow deep,
I guard my space, my strength I keep.
No ill may pass, no harm may stay,
All threat absorbed and swept away.”

Sit with the candle for a few moments, visualizing a calm, dark barrier surrounding you.

Close by snuffing the candle or letting it burn our safely. Repeat this spell as needed.

Essential supplies:

Vervain Essential Oil

This authentic, organic vervain (Verbena officinalis) is revered for ritual use.

2. A Black Candle Spell for Banishment

Purpose: To remove unwanted energies, habits, or lingering influences.

When to Use: When something no longer belongs in your life, and you’re ready to let it go.

I love this spell for its simplicity and clarity – sometimes, this is all you need. But this spell can also be made more elaborate, with added symbols or tokens to be burned, if you feel you need it.

Materials:

• One black candle

• Paper and pen

• Fire-safe bowl

Method:

 Write what you wish to banish in clear, simple words. Place the paper beneath the candle. Light the candle and focus on resolve rather than anger.

Chant:

“What drains my light, what binds my way,
I name you now – you will not stay.
With steady will, I break this tie,
Released, removed, now pass me by.”

Burn the paper carefully in the bowl, imagining the influence dissolving.

To close, dispose of the ashes outdoors or down running water.

Spell essentials:

Hand-poured, scented candle

This handmade candle is seriously powerful! We highly recommend using it for banishment spells and house protection magick.

3. A Black Candle Spell for Curse Removal

Purpose: To cleanse yourself of perceived malice, ill intent, or lingering energetic residue.

When to use: When you feel spiritually heavy or unsettled without clear cause.

Materials:

• One black candle (a pillar or figure-shaped candle likw the one above would work really well)

• Pin, toothpick or awl (a specific carving tool)

• Rosemary essential oil – this brand of organic oil is divine!

• Bowl of salt water

Method:

Carve your name clearly into the candle.

Dress with the rosemary oil, smoothing from the top to the base.

Place it beside the bowl of water and light it, until the flame burns steadily.

Keep the candle burning until

Chant:

“If harm was sent or ill intent,
Its power fades, its force is spent.
I stand restored, my spirit clear,
No shadow stays, no curse draws near.”

Wash your face and hands in the water (be careful of your eyes – it’s salty!) imagining the heaviness lifting away. Pour the water down the drain of your sink.

TIP: If you frequently cast candle magick, you may want to get yourself an awl – a purpose-made carving tool. Consecrate it, and use it only for your magickal practice.

Spell supplies:

Marble ritual water bowl

In the same vein, having a dedicated shallow ritual bowl can retain the ceremonial nature of your spellwork. This marble bowl is absolutely beautiful.

4. A Black Candle Spell for Release

Purpose: To let go of grief, guilt, or emotional weight you are ready to stop carrying.

When to use: During emotional transitions or when closure feels necessary.

Materials:

• One black candle

• Quiet space

• Optional journal

Method:

Light the candle and take a few deep, grounding breaths.

If you know what you are releasing, set this as an intention. If not, simply set the intention to release what is ready to depart and no longer serving your highest interest.  Allow emotions to surface without judgment.

Chant:

“I honor pain, but will not cling,
I loose the weight this ache did bring.
What once was held, I now set free,
I choose release, I choose to be.”

Carefully, with conscious intent and full presence, allow the emotions to move. Maybe they’ll dissipate or maybe they’ll intensify first, and ask you to move your body, shake, stretch or make sound. Honour what rises, and greet the moment with compassion.

Keep breathing until the feeling softens.

If you feel called, journal afterward to help integrate the work, before snuffing the candle.

TIP: It’s not unusual for release spells and rituals to need repeating once, twice or even a couple more times to really take effect. Don’t be disappointed if this is the case – it’s all part of the process. 

I often use 7-day candles for exactly this reason, lighting them each night for a number of consecutive nights until I sense the true release. 

Green leather-bound journal

Need a new spell journal? This is the perfect size for recording the details – intentions, ingredients, methods & moon phase.

5. A Black Candle Spell to Welcome Endings

Purpose: To consciously accept and bless an ending, making space for transformation.

When to use: At the close of relationships, roles, cycles, or chapters of identity.

Materials:

• One black candle

• Paper and pen

• Fireproof dish

Method:

Take a few moments to ground and get really present.

Write what in your life is ending, what is coming to a close, what cycle is complete. Follow it with the words: “I release this with gratitude.”

Light the candle and hold the paper in your hands.

Chant:

“All things must close to shape the new,
I bless this end and see it through.
With open hands, I let this rest,
What ends today prepares my best.”

Hold the paper to the flame, and then place it into the fireproof dish to burn completely.

Sit with the candle until you feel a sense of calm or completion.

Then close your eyes, and make sweeping motions down your body, with your hands, symbolically ‘sweeping’ away energy of the old, like shedding a skin.

Take a few deep, invigorating breaths, open your eyes, and blow out the candle.

Honoring the Power of Endings

Black candle work is not about forcing change or dramatizing closure. It is about recognizing when something has already reached its natural end and choosing to meet that moment with clarity rather than resistance.

Endings can often arrive quietly — as fatigue, repetition, loss of meaning, or a sense that effort no longer yields growth. These spells are not meant to create endings where none exist, but to support the process of letting go when holding on has become a form of self-neglect.

After working with a black candle, pay attention to what follows.

Release is rarely instant.

It shows up as boundaries that feel easier to maintain, decisions that require less justification, or emotional space where there used to be noise. This is the work continuing beyond the ritual.

You may feel the urge to act differently, rest more deeply, or remove something practical from your life. Follow that impulse – magick that does not translate into lived change remains incomplete.

Black candles do not erase the past. They help you stop feeding into what’s already finished. And in doing so, they return energy to the present, where it can be used with intention.