The Art of Reading Flames
Light the sacred candle, silently formulate your question and observe how the flames reveal the messages of the universe.
Candle reading, or velomancy (from Latin cera, candle), and more broadly ceromancy, is the divinatory practice that observes the flame, melted wax and residues of a burning candle. It is widespread in Mediterranean and Hispanic-American popular traditions and in Afro-Cuban spirituality (Santería). On Tarotsi it is offered in symbolic version: the tool generates an animated candle scene and derives a reading.
The flame: tall and clear (favorable energy), trembling (instability, doubt), low and dim (fatigue, obstacle), going out (closing of the cycle or wrong question). The wax: dripping to the right (action, future), to the left (past, memory), in fat drops (intense emotions), in even trail (clarity). The residues: at end of combustion, the shapes are read as symbols (heart, cross, obstacle, journey).
Enter your question, choose the candle color (red for love, green for money, white for peace, black for protection, violet for spirituality, yellow for study and intellect) and light it. The tool shows an animated candle and at the end derives an interpretation from virtual flame and wax.
Velomancy is practiced in popular Christian cultures as a domestic practice, often before a sacred image. In Cuban Santería and Brazilian Macumba, colored candles are used to "work" on a specific topic in ritual key. In Europe it is documented since the Middle Ages and interpreted differently across periods: as popular piety or, in Counter-Reformation times, as suspicious practice.
Yes, with caution (never leave unattended, away from children and fabrics). A white candle on a heat-resistant dish, a whispered question and ten minutes of observation are enough for a small home rite.
Yes by tradition: white peace and protection, red love and passion, green money and prosperity, yellow intellect and study, blue calm, black release and protection, violet spirituality, pink self-care.
Traditionally yes, it indicates the ritual did not "take" or the question should be reformulated. Often physical causes (drafts, short wick).