Seven Lights: the ritual

Seven Lights is for a slow evening in colour. You set seven crystal candles in a row, from red to violet, light them one after another with one breath for each, and sit with them for as long as a stick of incense burns. It asks for no belief and no knowledge, only half an hour, a quiet room and a heat-proof surface.

Where the custom comes from

The word chakra is Sanskrit and simply means "wheel". In the tantric traditions of medieval India, teachers described points along the body, often pictured as lotus flowers, that a practitioner focused on in meditation. There was never one single system. Different texts counted different numbers of them, with different names, sounds and images.

The system most people know today, with seven points from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, goes back above all to one Sanskrit text, the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa, written by Pūrṇānanda in 1577. In 1919 the British judge Sir John Woodroffe, writing as Arthur Avalon, translated it into English in a book called The Serpent Power. Through that book the idea reached Western yoga, theosophy and later the New Age movement.

The rainbow came last. In the Indian texts, each lotus has its own colours, and they do not follow the spectrum. The neat order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet was added in the West in the twentieth century, and it spread with yoga studios and crystal shops. So what you light tonight is a modern picture painted over an old tradition.

Why a candle

Colour needs light to be seen. In a dark room, lit one after the other, they become a slow walk through the spectrum, and the act of lighting them gives your evening a rhythm: seven flames, seven breaths, seven small pauses.

We chose the Seven Chakra Crystal Candles from Ancient Wisdom. They are large candles in glass, poured in soy wax, with wooden wicks and crystals set into the wax, one candle for each of the seven colours. As the wax burns down, the crystals catch the flame. In modern practice the colours are paired with the chakras: red with the root at the base of the spine, orange with the belly, yellow with the solar plexus, green with the heart, blue with the throat, indigo with the brow and violet with the crown of the head. The pairings are modern, but they give the row its order.

The scent

The candles are about colour, and their description lists no scent. The scent in this ritual comes from the incense stick you choose. Incense sticks are not part of the set, so use one you love.

If you want to stay close to the tradition behind the chakras, choose something Indian. Sandalwood is the heartwood of a slow-growing tree from India, burned in Hindu and Buddhist temples for many centuries. It smells soft, creamy and woody. Nag champa is the sweet, flowery blend of champaka blossom and sandalwood that many people know from yoga classes. Satya has hand-rolled it in Bangalore since the 1960s. Many people find both calm and familiar.

We chose to leave the scent open because one stick is your timer: the ritual lasts as long as it burns. So choose a stick you would like to sit with for twenty to forty minutes.

Why these pieces

Seven Chakra Crystal Candle

The chakra incense bowl. A bowl of mango wood with a bright enamel finish and the chakra symbols painted on it, made for your altar. Mango wood is wood, and wood is never fireproof. Fill the bowl with sand before you stand an incense stick in it, so the glowing tip and the falling ash never touch the wood. Sand is not included, any dry sand will do.

Chakra Mango Wood Incense Bowl

The seven colour ash catcher. A long, narrow holder in mango wood, painted in the same seven colours from red to violet. You set your stick in the hole at one end, and the ash falls onto the long tray.

Seven Chakra Colours Ash Catcher

Use one of the two for your stick: the ash catcher when the stick leans, the sand-filled bowl when it stands upright. Together the three pieces make one picture: a row of seven lights, a thread of smoke, and the same seven colours repeated in wood.

How to do the ritual

1. Choose a quiet evening and a table or shelf where seven candles fit side by side. Switch off the big light.
2. Set up a heat-proof surface. A tray, a stone slab or a large ceramic plate. Never stand the candles directly on wood.
3. Set the seven candles in a row, from red to violet, a hand's width apart, away from curtains and shelves.
4. Prepare your incense. Stand a stick in the sand-filled bowl, or set it in the ash catcher, at a safe distance from the candles. Light it and blow out the flame so it glows.
5. Light the candles from the bottom up, red first, then orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Take one slow breath for each.
6. Sit with them for as long as the stick burns. Look at one colour at a time, or at the whole row.
7. Blow them out in the same order, red first. Wooden wicks can smoke a little, so open a window for a moment.
8. Let everything cool before you move the glasses or empty the ash.

What the ritual gives you

It gives you half an hour of looking at light. Many people find a ritual with a clear order, lighting one thing after another, easy to settle into, because there is nothing to decide. The colours do the rest.

You can repeat it once a week or whenever an evening feels grey. Each time, the candles burn down a little further. The incense bowl and the ash catcher stay, and they work for any incense stick long after the candles are gone. It also makes a good gift for someone who does yoga and loves colour.

Why we put it together

We wanted a colour ritual that is honest about where its colours come from. We think the true story is more interesting than the myth: a medieval Indian practice, translated by a British judge, repainted by the twentieth century.

We chose Ancient Wisdom for all three pieces because the candles, the bowl and the ash catcher share one palette. We left out anything that promises to "balance" or "align" you. Seven candles in a row do not need a promise.

Safety

• Never leave burning candles or incense unattended, and keep seven flames well away from curtains, shelves, hair and sleeves.
• Stand the candles on a heat-proof surface. The glasses get hot.
• Wood is not fireproof. Fill the mango wood bowl with sand before you use it for incense, and never put anything glowing directly on the wood.
• Air the room after the incense and when you blow out the wooden wicks.
• Keep candles and incense out of reach of children and pets.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions