Fake Saint Candles

Sometimes I am just not enough.  I am limited by my own weaknesses.  I avoid conflict, feel insecure, take on too much, please others before myself - this is who I naturally am.  But, as Iago says, "’Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners" (Othello I.iii.361-363).  We have power over ourselves, and what better way to obtain the qualities we see in others yet lack ourselves than channeling others' bad-ass energy through one of my favorite things - fake saint candles.

My first saint candle was this Jane Austen one I purchased at my local independent bookstore, Union Avenue Books.  This candle made so much sense to me as my love for Jane bends toward the extreme with her signature as my first tattoo and this magnetic poem in my room:

I know that these candles are jokes, (which is why they could seem disrespectful or blasphemous to some) but I love the idea of somehow invoking the awesomeness of one of your heroes through lighting a candle.  Let's be honest, getting through life is just too difficult if you rely only on your own natural tendencies.  I, for instance, am such a people pleaser.  I tend to avoid conflict, stay quiet, and, often times, let people walk all over me, giving myself the excuse that I can handle it, that I'm better at it anyway, and that it's easier to do something yourself.  How do I overcome that natural part of me?  How about by calling on the fierceness of Beyoncé or the pugnaciousness of Elizabeth Warren?

What if I need the self-accepting, non-apologetic rebelliousness of Carrie Fisher or the biting wit of Jane Austen?

Some days you need to just buy yourself flowers, read some lesbian poetry, get in your bubble bath,  and light a candle to our goddess Beyoncé.

When we're young, we play pretend and try on other identities as we grow into our own.  As we age, we pretend in different ways, mostly that we know what we are doing when we clearly do not.  To me, these candles rekindle (HA) that sense of fantasy.  I can still incorporate the lessons I take from others as I tend the garden of myself.

Excessively diverted,

BBP

**Disclaimer** It wasn't until I thought about writing this post that I realized that these candles could be thought of as disrespectful.  In fact, if any of you find this product disrespectful, I really would like to know.  I want to continue to grow in using my money for good in the world, and that means examining my current practices.  I certainly don't use them to mock religion.  I find real joy out of them, as I do religion.