I like beeswax candles for the warm color, the smell, they are clean burning and long burning. I love to get special molded ones for special times of the year. Like egg shaped ones with molded flowers on them for Eastertide. Last year, I got a beeswax sanctuary candle (the tall glass jar, sometimes has saints images on the outside) right at the beginning of autumn and burned it regularly, finishing it up around All Souls Day. I have never had a sanctuary candle burn all the way down to nothing, but with careful candle tending I was able to use the whole thing.
I love appreciating the work of the bee, and honoring the cycle of energy. The flame that burns from that beeswax fuel is the energy from the sun. I imagine the journey…The sun’s rays shining on the leaves of a plant, that plant using the energy to grow and make blossoms, the pollen that the bee gathers, makes into honey, makes into wax…that little glowing flame burning. These kinds of things are so amazing and full of meaning and wonder to me.
Often the Christ Candle is a white candle and with beeswax you have a warm tan color. For a Godly Play environment, or an at home altar, having this shift is just another way to bring in a beautiful, fragrant, and natural component and get out of that bright white=pure and holy visual narrative.