St. Expedite: The Saint of Many Colors

The most common colors associated with St. Expedite are red and yellow. Red for expediency and yellow for success. Sometimes a brave soul will venture into the color green for money. I applaud the brave souls who depart from the norm, because you, my friend, are on the right track.

​In the Hyatt texts,  St. Expedite is referenced by an informant as  as the Saint of Many Colors. She calls him this based on the fact that his clothing is very colorful. In fact, this color association between saints and their clothing and the color of candle used is observed with other saints, as well. For example, St. Anthony wears a brown robe so his candle color is brown. St. Jude wears a green robe, so his candle color is green. If you are ever in doubt about what color candle to use with a particular saint, look at their iconography and observe the color of the clothing they are wearing. Use the predominant color as the primary color. Of course, a white candle can always be used with any saint whenever petitioning them for any purpose.
    
The name of the conjure doctor who shared the information about using many different candle colors with St Espidee was called “Nahnee.” Nahnee was from Algiers, Louisiana and called herself the “Boss of Algiers.” She basically stated that a petition begins with a red candle on the first day, which is allowed to burn down. Then, a green candle is lit the next day and allowed to burn down. The following day, a yellow candle is lit and allowed to burn down. A different color candle is burned every day for nine days to petition St Espidee, the Saint of Many Colors. Note that she refers to candles as “lights.”
 
Now, yo' take—St Espidee is a saint of many colors, see. Now, today yo'll burn a red light, tomorrah yo'll burn a green light, tomorrah a yellah light. He wus a young Italian man an' he wus a saint of many colors.
 
(How do you mean a saint of many colors?)
 
A saint of many colors—dat chew have tuh use all colors tuh him—all colors—use a red light, a green light, a brown light—yo' use diff 'rent lights, yo' see, each day .

(What do you mean that he is a saint of many colors?) [I repeat my question and get a logical answer.]
 
Dat mean he wo' many colors in his garments—many colors on his garments. Dat why yo' use many diff'rent lights—red, yellah, green, blue. Each day he gits a diff'rent color light fo' nine days. An' each time yo' light a light in front of dat lamp, yo' ring dat bell an' yo' make dat wish, an' dat party will wander off an' yo' won't know whut become of 'em. (Nahnee, “The Boss of Algiers” Algiers, La., Vol. 2, p. 1373).
 
Although Nahnee doesn’t go into any details about the lamp she is referring to, in New Orleans Voudou and Haitian Vodou, it is common practice to light a candle in front of an oil lamp (charm lamp, magick lamp) in order to activate it.  Most rootworkers today will only use the candle itself or the lamp itself, but not both in combination. This practice is but one of several that can be found as a Voudou practice but never identified as such in the Hyatt texts. To see how this idea can be applied to working with a charm lamp, see the Magick Lamp to Get a Job on page 103 in my book, The Conjurer's Guide to St. Expedite.
 
Another departure from the usual red candle color is shared by the informant Hyatt calls a Woman and her Three Saints from New Orleans. She describes using pink and blue candles with St. Expedite for love. She explains that blue candles are for truth and pink is for love, so burning a blue and a pink candle together will bring true love. I love this use of the two candle colors towards a specific goal.
 
You burn a pink candle and a blue candle to St. Expedite. That's for love, true love, and for what you want—in asking him for money and things, for true things, for him to do truthful for you. You burn blue or pink to him. (New Orleans, La. [872], Vol. 2 p. 1406).