Today I found my perfect wedding hat, in gold cotton and silk for £3.99 in Oxfam. I am inordinately pleased with it. I checked the maker online and if I'd tried to buy it new it would have been over £100! (For a hat!!! Yikes!!!)

Anyway I tried it on for everyone to admire asking whether I was wearing it at the correct angle. Mr Penry then pointed out that by the time I'd had a couple of sherries it was likely to be on back to front anyway!

Candles are incredibly popular nowadays. They turn up everywhere, in garden centres, discount ‘pound’ shops, greeting card shops and some even have their very own designated ‘Yankee Candle’ shops.

I’m not sure why this should be. When I was young there were white household candles but not many fancy ones. Even in the Sixties, I can remember my uncle’s delight at discovering Price’s Night Lights which would burn for six (or was it eight?) hours non-stop. Whenever he had visitors he would light one of these in his little ty bach (outside toilet) where there was no electricity.

Pagans have had a field day with candles in recent years. Now you can buy any colour you desire, even black, and books have been written to tell us exactly what spells we should say with them.

Previously you were most likely to come across candles in Church. Houses without electricity tended to use oil or paraffin lamps rather than candles.

The way candles are used in Church is a good clue as to how they were used in pre-Christian times. We know that Pagans used to leave lights as offerings at trees, stones and wells (sacred sites in other words) because there is a Church edict banning the practice – and you don’t normally ban things that aren’t even happening!

The more I work with candles the more I realise they have a life of their own. Their flame is sacred. It brings light where there is darkness. A whole raft of folklore and superstitions have grown up around them.

We are told not to leave a candle to ‘die’ alone in a room. It should have someone with it, and if that’s not possible then you should ‘put it to sleep.’ Some people will tell you that you should only snuff out a candle, either using a candle snuffer or pinching it out between finger and thumb (am I the only person on the planet you regularly burns herself when she tries this?) Personally I prefer to blow the candle out, because breathing is itself a type of magic, or can be, with a little help!

Whether we are aware of it or not we tend to treat candles as though they have a life of their own. When we light votive candles we are giving them a job to do, carrying our prayers, blessings, healing thoughts etc. wherever we direct.

And when we treat objects as though they have a life of their own, it isn’t long before it becomes a reality…