The Candle Experience
The Candle Experience is a phenomenon used in some Teaching Mission contexts to indicate the presence of teachers attending a session by way of their illumination in various configurations.
Description
These candles can be obtained in any hobby shop, especially at Christmas time and/or in the wedding decorations. They are called wedding candles or Christmas candles. They are a small tube-like candlestick enclosing two A-sized batteries end to end, at the bottom of which is the base and at the top of which is a decorative rim that screws on to hold the batteries in place. Into this decorative rim you insert a specialty 4-watt bulb (bulbs sold separately) and screw the bulb in tight. Once the batteries are correctly inserted into the tube, and the bulb is screwed in tight to the decorative rim, now comes the tricky part.
The top decorative rim is connected to the candlestick, yes, but it must be set at precisely that spot where contact is intangible. In other words, just short of connection. Close, but not quite. A hair's breadth. Then you set the entire candlestick on any designated spot, perhaps on a mantlepiece, or your bedside. You may elect to have a few of them in different parts of the house. If you opt to have more than one, you may dub the various candles as the entrance for various personalities. I.e., at our house in Butler, Pennsylvania, we had a mantlepiece in the living room upon which I set four candles: one for the midwayers; one for my personal teachers; one for the group teachers; and one for the big guys, Jesus and/or Machiventa.
It is said that the midwayers, who can tamper with the material world, use the candles to get our attention. Yes, of course, the UB's message on superstition, ghost cults, and totems would indicate that such a thing is sheer poppycock. But even so, as Malvantra said, it has its benefits. The candle experience comes when you observe when they choose to come on. For some, a candle will come on when they may be in the depths of despair and feeling desperately alone, giving rise to a new surge in faith. For some, to awaken in the night ... even in the dark night of the soul ... and see their candle glowing strong, out of the blue, is a sign that God is with them, deriving great comfort. Sometimes they feel that is an invitation to Stillness, wherein they find the answer to what they had been struggling with or looking for. For those who pose a question at large, a specific candle may light to indicate which is the level of teacher who will reply..
The Butler TeaM used them extensively as social lubricants and cultural stimuli; we used them to help direct the agenda. It was not uncommon for the candles to bring us to order and light up or extinguish as the evening went on, orchestrating the Teachers as they came and went throughout the evening. The only setback ever found with it is the batteries and the light bulbs are quick to burn out and it is often difficult to find the special 4-watt bulbs off-season.
