Pasta, you’re witchy. I keep getting ads for candles with the Greek Gods’ names on them. Can you confirm that seems like a Bad Idea? I’m all for Athena, I do not want to summon her if I light my candle.
Ooooh this is a neato question to answer! Taking off my writer hat and putting the witch hat on instead, especially as one who uses lots of candles, including various deity or deity adjacent candles.
Tl;dr it depends on the candle, so sometimes not a great idea and sometimes just fine.
I think in this case, for me, this would depend partly on what the candle was intended for, and partly on what you would use it for. Some altar candles are absolutely meant to call up a deity. They're like attempted phone calls, candles meant to fire off a flare and go 'HI, HEY, COULD YOU COME OVER HERE PLEASE IF YOU AREN'T BUSY'. These are candles I usually only use for ritual or meditation, so if it's this type of candle, yeah, that's not one I'd use casually.
Some other candles are meant more to honor the deity in general or just to remind you of the deity's general season. But there's also candles that bring in an element related to that deity! That last one is the type of candle I use when I don't necessarily want to call anyone up, but I want to tap into a little of their energy that's just kinda (waves) around naturally. You honor them with the candle, and you get a little of that energy back. It's a sorta quid-pro-quo thing, no phone calls, no summons, just a sort of tiny offering and a little drop of energy back.
An example might be a Brigid candle while you're crafting or writing. You light a candle that has her name, or that's been blessed by her, and it helps you get in the zone - her zone specifically, since she's involved with crafting and poetry. One of my witchy friends also does this with an Athena candle when she's studying.
In all these cases, if you're using that candle casually, yeah, you might get something you're not looking for in that moment, especially if you're getting a bad feeling about it. I honestly don't think anything terrible would happen, since people have been doing stuff like this without thinking about it for a long time which means you (and your intent) would have to put some energy into it to get noticed above the general noise i once performed a shortened historical ritual summoning/invoking Anubis in my jr high history class for our section on ancient egyptian religion and i was fine for example. But there's always a chance of some side-eye.
ALL THAT SAID. I have always been of the witchy opinion that there's room for stuff that just falls into, 'I just think Stuff Inspired By This God Is Neat TM'. There are all sorts of candles and art and statues and music relating to gods that simply fall under the category of 'I was inspired by them', things just meant to be enjoyed for beauty or love's sake. I have a replica statue of a famous ancient figure of Artemis, along with a painting of her and two hunting hounds. It could be used in ritual if I wanted it to be, but I just treat it as art that I enjoy that was inspired by her. If it's that type of candle, I see no issue with getting it, enjoying it, and burning it, because the intent of the artist is simply to create something beautiful, and your intent is to simply appreciate an artistic creation that was inspired by Athena, not actually ring her up.
And if it's just someone trying to make a quick buck... there are better candles out there.
I HOPE THIS HELPS MY FRIEND!
