Writing down a magickal intent and burning it in a fire is a magickal practice that appears to have endured for centuries. My personal preference is to use a colored felt-tip pen and write my intent upon flash paper and igniting it in the flames of a colored candle. Flash paper is chemically-treated paper often used by stage magicians to create a large, flaring glow when ignited. Of course, this creates a rather remarkable impression during spellcasting, but the real reason I enjoy using this is a bit more mundane. Flash paper gives off no smoke or smell, so you can cast your spell in the house without annoying your spouse, children, or whomever with which you share a dwelling. In addition, flash paper ignites and burns almost instantaneously and leaves no ashes, so there’s no need for a special, fireproof bowl, no concern over whether and how to reignite the paper if it doesn’t burn all the way, and no cleanup of messy ashes afterward. Nonetheless, it would still be helpful to have a supply of water handy in the unlikely event that anything needs extinguishing.
Come to think of it, I really should have carried that stuff in my store!
To cast a flash-paper spell, you’ll probably want to have the associated colors in felt-tip and candle handy. There are many, many tables of correspondences available that will provide you with the various colors that are associated with a given intent, so I won’t bore you with the tables here. If you have any troubles determining the best colors or other correspondences, however, feel free to email me using the link below, and I’ll get back to you with some ideas quickly.
However, although you may choose the candle and felt-tip of the same color, it might be more effective to use two colors, emphasizing two different aspects of your intent. For example, if you wanted to cast a healing spell, you may wish to use a green candle to represent healing, but write upon the flash paper in red ink to represent strength and vitality.
Once you’ve chosen your colors and are set to cast the spell, light your candle, chanting something to the effect of:
“Here, I summon Fire’s light,
To aid me in my spell tonight!”
Now, in the candlelight, write your intent in a clear, concise manner. This may be in verse form, but flash paper pads generally give you pretty small pieces upon which to write, so brevity may be very helpful here!
Focusing on your intent, carefully place one corner of the flash paper into the candle. As you do this, be prepared for a large flare as the paper vanishes in a burst of flame. As it does so, call out something like:
“I call upon the strength of Fire
To bring me that which I desire.”
Fire has a rather fast-acting aspect about it and you should see some very vivid results rather quickly with this spell!