Dream meaning Dreaming of a candle

A candle in a dream gives a small light that has to be tended, like whatever keeps a flame alive in you: hope, attention, prayer, love. The flame tells the reading, whether it burns steady, gutters in a draught, or goes out. Candles belong to vigil and memory in many faiths.

Jewish homes light candles to welcome the Sabbath and to mark the anniversary of a death, and the Book of Proverbs calls the human spirit the lamp of the Lord. Christians carry candles at Candlemas and through the Easter vigil.

In Sufi poetry the candle and the moth became the great image of love: the moth circles the flame until it is consumed, and in Saadi's Bustan the moth asks the candle why it weeps, and the candle answers that it burns too, parted from the honey that was its sweet companion. A lit candle in a house is guidance or blessing, and sometimes a child who brings light to a family.

A steady flame is a blessing that stays with the household through a dark season; lighting a candle is a prayer, a remembrance or a good work begun; shielding a flame with your hands is care for a child, a faith or a love, something precious and easily lost. A candle lit in a mosque or at a grave is remembrance that reaches the one remembered.

A guttering candle is a blessing that needs tending before it fails, and a candle burning at both ends is strength spent from two sides at once. A candle going out is an ending of a matter, or a light that will be lit again after rest.