Samhain Gathering Box Halloween All-Hallows Eve Herbs pagan ritual hotsell herbs Celtic wheel of the year festival feast holiday Mother Hylde's

Welcome to the 2022 Samhain Gathering Box! This is a PRE-ORDER, and all Gathering Boxes will ship out beginning October 12. Please check back to this space often, as I may update details and descriptions of the remedies and add photos of what's brewing for this box.

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A gathering of herbs to help you honor those who have come before...

"Samhain" (pronounced "sow-in") means the summer has officially ended. It's the beginning of the dark half of the year, and daylight will continue to dwindle until winter solstice. The Cailleach, or sacred hag, rules from now until Bealtaine. She is Beira, Queen of Winter, Wise Woman, Maker of Mountains, Huntress of Deer, and Keeper of Stones. She can summon winter storms and cast a frost upon the land with one thump of her staff. Samhain is the third and final harvest in the ritual year. By the end of October, all the crops are brought in, and this was traditionally the time of year for harvesting livestock and culling herds. The ancient Celts were a pastoral people and depended on keeping their herds on good forage. By summer's end, they brought their herds home and any that they couldn't feed over winter were slaughtered to stock the larder. The Samhain bonfire (“bone-fire”) was ignited to burn the bones of the animals that were culled. Each family would smoor the fire in their own hearth and carry a torch home from the Samhain bonfire to reignite it. This symbolic act reminds us that death precedes new beginnings, and to the Celts, Samhain was the beginning of a new year; when the cycle begins again.

Humans and plants alike are storing food for the coming season. Root vegetables like carrots, turnips, beets, and burdock are storing up their dense nutrients underground. Trees are sending their sap rootward. Fields are barren and Earth appears to be going to sleep. The green world is retreating back underground by way of the vast, unseen network of roots and mycelia. Earth is calling her children home to rest in the dark, creative womb of the goddess. Our physical and mental activities also turn their focus inward in harmony with this turning of seasons. It's in these dark, damp, hidden places where deep nourishment takes place.

Death in the physical realm turns our minds to our ancestors and loved ones who have come and gone before us. What wisdom can be gleaned from tuning in to their voices? What mysteries lie beneath the hollow hills? This is a particularly auspicious time, in that the veil between our world and The Other is at its thinnest. Things that have been lurking at the edge of our consciousness bring themselves more into our field of awareness. We are reminded now that the boundaries of our earthly selves stretch well below the surface where our collective roots intertwine.

In the Samhain Gathering Box, you will receive:

➕ Hag's Breath Incense Blend- A blend of loose herbs and resins for communing with the crone, the hag, the cailleach. Comes in a 4oz jar with a quick-light charcoal round that smolders for about an hour. Rosemary, mugwort, calendula, sage, bay, juniper berries. A more ethical alternative to white sage and copal for smoke medicine, these are herbs that our Celtic ancestors are likely to have used.

➕ Beyond the Veil Elixir- heavy on the rosemary because it helps us to remember the ancestors and increases blood flow to and from the head. Pomegranate jewels as a nod to Persephone and her descent into the underworld where she stays every winter until she re-emerges in springtime. Apples are associated with immortality and the undying lands of Avalon. Queen of the Night flower essence- if you desire the privilege of witnessing her beauty and intoxicating scent, you have to be willing to sit patiently in darkness, for she blooms but one night a year. Black cohosh to integrate all your levels of perception. Rose and rose hips for the forbidden rose that Janet picks from hotsell the woods of Carterhaugh which sparks her affair with Tam Lin on that fateful Hallowe'en night. Sage because it is synonymous with wisdom, and I think of sage as healing to our throats, which is the seat of our voice. Our throats are also the bridge between heart and head, giving voice to what passes between. Elderflower for the wise woman (Frau Holle, Hylde Mor, the Elder Mother) who dwells in the elder tree. She can escort you to and from dreamworld and show you things yet unseen about your life. Because of this, she is seen as a portal to an Otherworld. Taken medicinally, she "opens the tubes of the body", and drives things to the surface that have taken root deep within. I believe this also speaks to her energetic medicine.

➕ Keeper of the Cauldron Ritual Soak- a blend of herbs, salts, and oils for a sensual soaking experience. Here's what comes in each 16oz jar: Pacific sea salt, Celtic sea salt, activated coconut shell charcoal (to make it black!), essential oils of lavender, vanilla, and vetiver, dried mugwort (a magical dreaming herb), lemon verbena (can give you flying dreams!), angelica, calendula, elder leaf (the Elder Mother is an emissary from the Otherworld), rosemary (for remembering our ancestors), sage, and hops (reeelllaaaxxxx....) Each ritual soak comes with a muslin bag that you can use as a giant tea bag in your tub, or you can dump the entire jar in your bath water so you can see and feel and touch all the herbs (which is what I like to do!). The charcoal turns the water black-ish and makes you feel like you're in a giant cauldron. "Keeper of the Cauldron" is a phrase from Sharon Blackie's telling of Ceridwen's tale (you really must read "If Women Rose Rooted"). Cauldrons are symbolic of the womb, where all life begins. The wombs of our mothers, the womb of the Earth, and the dark places we retreat to when we need to reinvent ourselves. All things begin and end in chaos and darkness, and Samhain is seen as the end of one year and the beginning of another, which is why we associate the symbol of the cauldron with this time. The darkness and safety of a cauldron is deeply transformative and alchemical: what goes into it emerges a new being. Plunge below the surface and rise renewed.

➕ Corn Dolly and poem- Traditionally, small fetishes were fashioned out of the last bits of the crops to give the spirit of the cailleach somewhere to live until next spring when she might be plowed back into the Earth while sowing new seed. Some villages would dress the corn dolly to resemble the cailleach and burn her to honor the death of summer and thank her for the harvest. Even if you're not physically out harvesting crops this time of year, the corn dolly can be a reminder to think about the things you have been cultivating within yourself and show gratitude for the fruits of your labor. This a time of plenty, of thanksgiving, and of sharing. The cooler air and shortened daylight hours are nudging us to spend more time inward around our tables and fires. It's a time of reflection, of slowing down and tending your hearth. What things have run their course and need letting go? What will you do differently next season? Which practices are producing fruit? Put your gratitude and intentions into the corn dolly, then place her on your mantle or your altar to remind you of these things. You can choose to bury her in the spring with the hopes of putting your new intentions into practice, or have a ritual fire and burn away the things that need releasing. Each dolly will be accompanied by a poem I've written that weaves together different aspects of the cailleach with harvest lore and imagery.

➕ Rosemary + Yarrow Hydrosol (2oz spray bottle)- I always associate rosemary with ancestral work and calling forth memories buried deep in our psyches. Co-distilled with yarrow, who helps to establish boundaries and has long been used in divination. Yarrow is especially magical to distill, because its essential oil comes through as bright blue (due to the azulene content). Hydrosols are plant waters containing the physical and medicinal essence of the plant, and a very tiny bit of the essential oil comes through in the process. Spray in your space to clear and create energetic boundaries or use as a daily facial toner. Steam distilled in small batches in my own kitchen from plants organically grown and mindfully harvested. This batch is exclusive to this year's Samhain Gathering Box, distilled under a full moon in Aries.

➕ Rosemary Plant Spirit Candles (set of 2 tapers)- Plant spirit candles are intended to invite the energy plants into your space. These are perfect for your seasonal altar, meditation, or journeying with the spirit of rosemary. If you recall the famous saying "rosemary is for remembrance", you can infer its energetic medicine. It's to assist us in re-membering and integrating our spiritual and physical selves. It can help to pull us back into our bodies after doing ancestral work, deep meditations, or a traumatic experience.

Each pair of hand dipped tapers comes with a simple incantation for you to mediate on while burning the candle.

Rosemary's message is:

I invite the good ancestors
To help me re-member myself
And weave a new story.


Made with locally sourced Pennsylvania beeswax and locally grown organic rosemary.

Please use caution when burning candles, and do not leave unattended.

✨✨✨Again, this is a PRE-ORDER, and boxes will ship out beginning October 12. I may make slight changes to some things between now and then (tweak ingredients or come up with a clever name, etc.), but this list is pretty solid. Blessed Samhain, witches!


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These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition. I am not a licensed practitioner (no one is in the US), but have thoroughly researched my products and practices to give you a safe and reliable remedy. Please use this product as suggested, and consult with a healthcare professional when necessary or for very specific questions.