To Reveal an Unknown Identity

At the darkest point on a Thursday night, take a candle stub (three or four inches should do) from a candle used upon your altar or a Church altar and place it in front of a mirror or bowl of water. Cover your eyes with your hands and say, “Come, now, spirits without name, and reveal to me the person that I wish to see.”

Uncover your eyes and explain in plain speech who it is you want to have revealed to you (ex: a person who is gossiping about you, a secret admirer, etc.). Then, light the candle and gaze into the mirror or water beyond it, waiting for the identity to be revealed to you. This may happen as an image in the flame or in the mirror, an impression that occurs in your mind, or in a dream after your spell.

Adaptation: If you prefer, you may also use another divination method by the candle’s light (Tarot, bones, etc.). Whatever divination you work best with is fine.

Allow three days, repeating the rite each night and burning just a small amount of the candle, for the identity to be revealed. Once you have divined the person’s identity, you may anoint the remaining lump of candle with blessed water and say, “Now I have seen you. Now you are known. Now, by the spirits, you must hear me.” At this point, you can speak plainly to give this person a command (such as to cease their gossip, to end doing harm, or to see certain good qualities in you) and burn the rest of the candle down as much as possible. Discard any leftover wax and wick in the garden of a church.

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Notes on Folkloric Basis & Methodoly: This spell is inspired by a folkloric motif known as Type 425A in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU Index). The specific folk tale that I used as the primary source of inspiration for the symbolism and mechanics of the spell is a Norwegian folk tale called East of the Sun and West of the Moon (Asbjørnsen & Moe, No. 41), which falls into the thematic category known as “The Animal/Monster Bridegroom” (425A, ATU) and the broader category of “The Search for the Lost Husband” (A25, ATU).

This spell is started on a Thursday night because Thursdays are considered an especially potent time for sorcery and for works invoking the help of spirits. This is especially true with magic relating to graveyard and churchyard work and is a noticeable theme recorded in Swedish and Norwegian personal grimoires. (If you want to view examples directly [and can read Norwegian], I recommend browsing the University of Oslo (UiO) “Magic in Norway” Archive. If you cannot read Norwegian or Swedish, The Graveyard Wanderers: The Wise Ones and the Dead in Sweden (Johnson) also contains several examples of this association in practice.)

East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a tale that centers on the magically concealed identity of the heroine’s husband, which she reveals with the use of a bit of candle given to her by her mother. Although this would make a candle from the family home or any candle stub procured from a loved one suitable for this spell, I elected to use a candle associated with the Church or one’s altar instead. I made this choice both because of the folk magical associations with curios from churchgrounds (often used in the summoning of spirits and the revealing of hidden things) and because of the themes of Christianity and purity which appear in the folk tale.

The tale has a recurring theme of threes (three drops of tallow, three stages in a journey, three nights the heroine attempts to save her groom), which lends to the three-night time frame. This was also a practical decision used to allow more time for careful divination. The candle and wick are returned to the church in the end (if there is any leftover) because the tale does have an emphasis on the fabled purity associated with Christian faith (Christians being the helpers that reveal the truth to the groom, and the heroine’s Christian faith allowing her to pass a test that the witches and troll in the story cannot, etc.). This can be done in any place the practitioner associates with purity, faith, and closeness to divinity.