#witchesmoon

The literature.

This month’s box came with quite a few paper products sitting on top of the main package, so I’ll start with those!

The oracle card is from the Wisdom of Tao Oracle Cards (Volume 2). There’s a typo in the description of these saying that the deck is by “Me.” As cute as that is, a little bit of Googling found me the proper artist’s name: Mei Jin Lu!

My card is “You Know What To Do.” As I begin to dip my toe into the dating world for the first time after ending a very long relationship, I appreciate the encouragement this card brings to me, and the patience that it advises.

These five Intention Sigils are themes that appear later in the box. They can be used for charging specific items, placed around your altar or home, or kept in your Book of Shadows. The five intentions they represent are Psychic Energy, Protection, Prosperity, Peace, and Enchantment.

Book of Shadows pages! Yay! As usual we have Adrienne Alden to thank for these beauties. The first one is an informational page about the December Full Moon. It includes multiple different names and correspondences for it, as well as some lovely art. I’m hoping that we continue to receive Moon-related art like this--it would be awesome to get one for each month.

The second page is a chart depicting several “magical alphabets.” It’s absolutely lovely and so useful--I will definitely be using some of these scripts in personal art projects and gifts.

That’s it for the paper products. Now let’s get under that tissue paper and open the box!

The Thoth Magickal Oil contains Tangerine, Almond, and Cinnamon oils, as well as Cinnamon Bark and Coriander Seed, along with a bit of Lemurian Quartz. I adore Almond oil. It smells so good! A few months ago the Fae oil also contained Almond. This oil smells like a spicier, more Autumnal version of that one. Like I’ve found myself dropped into a different magical dimension of sparkling Autumn trees, eternal twilight, and magical beings.

The Inner Flame Sacred Salt is similar in its spiciness, but without the sweet almond to tone it down. It will be great for an Autumnal bath, and would probably smell wonderful if mixed with a little bit of the oil! It contains Star Anise, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg oils Chamomile, Spearmint, and Star Anise mixed in.

We got a nice variety of herbal items this month--a smoke blend, a tea, and an herb. I like this combination--it’s got a bit of something for everyone.

The Sweet Wood Bark on the right is also known as Cinnamon Bark. If you’re sensitive to Cinnamon like I am, take care around this one! I certainly won’t be burning it in my home, but I will likely find use for it in a satchet, or as an offering.

The Clearing Sacred Smoke on the left is a blend of Lavender and Sage. The recommended use is to burn it on charcoal like loose incense, or to dress candles. It’s basically like a smoke cleansing bundle, but loose! If you’d rather carry a little mesh strainer or bowl around your house instead of a bundle for cleansing, loose herb like this is a great thing to try!

The “Grey” Black Tea is mix of Orange Pekoe and Cornflower. It looks incredibly dark in the bag, I can wait to see how it looks while steeping. I tend to prefer black teas above all others (I guess I’m a bit boring in that sense!) so I can’t wait to try this one.

The incense this month is called “Stillness,” and the scent is of Palo Santo. It’s very calming! I love woody scents like this and Cedar, so I’ll probably keep this one around for burning on my altar or before I have company.

The candle this month is different from previous ones in that it is completely undressed. The color looks almost like it would glow in the dark. It’s just plain white wax with no scents or herbs, and the spell parchment is blank, ready for your own intentions to be written on it.

Ah, crystals! I love crystals, and these ones are new to my collection--rough Moonstone! It’s always fun to get unique and interesting crystals that I don’t already own. I think the only further thing I could ask for is that they include a locality for the mineral collector in me, but I know that’s not always possible.

Now time for the star of the box--inks! This beautiful ink set from the Victorian Trading Company has one color for each of the different intentions and sigils listed earlier: Psychic Energy, Protection, Prosperity, Peace, and Enchantment. It comes with a gorgeous glass pen. I have no experience with inks and pens like this, but I can’t wait to try them out. I’ve been saving up the parchment from each box, and now I have a whole stack of different parchment colors to write on!

That’s it for November’s box! The inks bind together the theme, connecting the page on scripts with the blank spell parchment and the sigils. I love how in the last few boxes, the items all seem to be connected in deeper and more tangible ways. The Witches Moon never fails to dazzle me with something wonderful and unique.

The paper, for anyone interested. It’s a cool-toned, bluish, turquoise sort of color.

Here are the smaller paper products. The sigil is a Zodiac Enhancement Sigil. It is meant to enhance the strength of your particular signs. I like that they included the elemental symbols in the corners as well. The whole thing feels very balanced. I don’t normally use sigils much, but I like this one and I want to put it somewhere important!

The reading is from Whispers of Love by Angela Hartfield & Josephine Wall. This deck seems very sweet, and I appreciate the one that I got! I’ve been on the fence about inviting a new friend to go to an event with me, and this card motivated my to go for it and just buy the tickets. I asked her and now she seems as excited as I am for it!

We got bonus art from Adrienne Alden this month, which already makes is a wonderful box! We have a holiday piece about Mabon, and then a more thematic one related to the zodiac. It’s so lovely! These will be beautiful in my grimoire.

They really had fun giving the herbs alternative names this month. We have “Herba John,” which is St. John’s Wort, and “Compass Weed,” which is Rosemary. The first one makes sense, but I didn’t know about that alternative name for Rosemary!

The last one, “The Astral Dance,” is a smoke blend, which can be burned in a cauldron or a burner for loose incense. It includes Mugwort, Sage, and Spearmint.

The Luna Sacred Salt is made with Chamomile essential oil, as well as Lavender and Chamomile herbs.It’s very soothing and gentle, and I think would work really well in a moon-themed milk bath. I might just try it!

It’s difficult to see in the photo, but the Starry Wisdom oil has sparkles in it! It’s so lovely, especially when you move it around and the glimmery little particles start floating and shifting in swirls and currents. This oil is very wonderful smelling, made with Cedarwood, Lavender, and Rosemary essential oils. It has bits of Mugwort and Leaf of Silver floating around in it, as well as the usualy piece of Lemurian Quartz.

The Seeker of Knowledge incense doesn’t have any listed ingredients, but it smells like night time and mountains. I don’t really know how else to explain it.

The candle this month is a lovely black one, rolled in glitter and Mugwort. It’s called he Elder Guides’ Enchanted Spell Candle. The essential oils in the candle are Spearmint, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, and Peppermint. Usually mints are quite overpowering, but I can barely smell them on this candle. Somehow, the Rosemary seems to the the strongest scent, with the Eucalyptus behind it and only a distant hint of the mints. It’s very earthy.

The chant is as follows:

Among the Moon The Stars The Sky Lies the secrets Hidden High

But as I stand With Flame in Hand The Stars shine bright As the wick does dance For as Above Lies the Eldest Guides And So Below I share these ties

I center my Eye On the Dark Abyss As the Wisdom twinkles I Manifest SO MOTE IT BE

Now we’re getting to the really cool stuff.

I’ve always wanted one of those big pretty Smokey Quartz points. I have a couple little clusters that I dug up on a mining trip, but I’ve never had a good sizable one. Now I do! I just adore this piece. It has a little flashy phantom right in the middle that sparkles rainbow when the light hits it right. It’s just gorgeous!

That funky little frame there is also incredibly awesome. It’s a sliver of Meteorite! This slice is part of the Campo del Cielo Iron Meterorite which hit earth about 4700 years ago, north of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’m am so very glad that we have the origin of it--that makes it extra special! As a mineral collector, nowing the locality of my pieces is very important to me, and crystals included in these boxes usually don’t have them listed--like the Smokey Quartz here. But this one does, which is just wonderful. I’ve always wanted a piece of meteorite, and now I have one!

And last but so far from least--oracle cards! This is one of those things I never would have bought for myself, but now that I have it, I’m so happy I do! And perfectly enough, I think if I ever did buy oracle cards on my own, it probably would have been this deck or one like it. I adore astrological themes, night time, and things that sparkle. This deck is all of those!

The Witches Moon team hit it out of the park this month--the box is absolutely outstanding. Two pages from Adrienne Alden, a big beautiful Smokey Quartz point, a freaking meteorite, the oracle deck of my dreams! This has really been a wonderful treat!

Here is the included description to start off with. The parchment is a much more subtle, traditional color this month--sort of a gentle off-white.

The Adrienne Alden page this month is focused on the Triple Goddess. It’s a very basic staple that is good to include in any Grimoire. The art is simply gorgeous. It is one of the items I look forward to the most each month, and it never disappoints.

The oracle cards used in August were from the “Soulful Woman” Guidance Oracle Deck by Shushann Movsessian and Gemma Summers. My card is #48: Following My Truth. This card is very timely, and I will need to meditate on it as I do my best to figure out what my truth actually is during an upcoming period of change and new beginnings.

The “Freyja” Anointing Oil is made of Jasmine, Rose, and White Tea essential oils, and contains Jasmine Buds, Rose Petals, and Leaf of Gold. As it often does, it includes a small piece of Lemurian Quartz. The scent is fresh and lively, but sweet and very fitting for the end of summer. It smells like someone waited until flowers had just begun to wilt before drying them.

The “Maiden Goddess” Sacred Salt is much sweeter and softer. I’m not sure why, but it sort of reminds of baby powder. It contains Vanilla, Jasmine, and White Tea essential oils--the Vanilla probably accounting for why it’s so much softer and sweeter than the anointing oil. The herbs included in the mix are Rose Petals, Jasmine Buds, and Marigold. I think this salt would be great combined with something a bit lighter to offset the dizzying, cloudy sweetness.

Herbs! We got three herbs this month with no tea. The herbs are Jasmine, Queen of Flowers, and Raspberry Leaf. I’ve received Jasmine and Raspberry Leaf in previous subscription boxes, so these will be added to an ever-growing stash. “Queen of Flowers” is apparently just another name for Rose Petals. I would really like to try making a soft Rose milk sometime, and I think these will be perfect!

The incense of the month is Wisdom of Amber. If my memory serves me, we’ve received incense with “Amber” in the name before, but I don’t think it was the same. “Amber” scents are often created with Labdanum resin, which comes from Rockroses.

This incense is very strange to me, because it smells like my grandma smelled when I was a kid--honestly! I think she probably wore a perfume that contained Labdanum resin. For me, this naturally connects the incense with the Crone, and I think the scent is very fitting regardless of my personal connections to it. It makes me think of luxurious abandoned places, fancy old clothes with moth holes, and dark, traditional churches.

The “Goddess Within” spell candle, on the other hand, feels very connected with the Maiden. The youthful pink candle gives of a scent that is subtle, bright, and floral. The candle was made with Jasmine essential oil and rolled in Rose petals.

I was surprised to see that we received Aura spray again this month. I’m wondering if this item is going to become a more consistent inclusion. This “Come To Me” Aura Spray was created with Patchouli, Amber (remember that Labdanum resin?), and White Tea oils, giving it a very musky, heavy, “come hither” type smell. It’s not a scent that I’d use very often, but I do think I might wear it when attending some rituals.

The crystal we received this month is a thin little plate of Amethyst. As some of my more long-term followers might know, I have a lot of Amethyst already. However, the crystals on this one are smaller than my other ones, making it distinct from them, and I do think it could be useful to have some Amethyst crystals that haven’t been with me my whole life, or that I didn’t pull out of the ground myself. It gives me a variety of energies to work with when I include Amethyst in my magic.

The necklace might be my favorite item from this box (at worst, it’s tied!). The lovely Crescent Moon Goddess pendant is a silvery color that can be worn with almost anything. Unlike other, smaller pendants we’ve received, it’s a bit big and showy, for when you really want to rock that witchy aesthetic. I am so excited to find a classy dress to match this with!

The Sacred Spiral Goddess Altar Statue is the star of the box, and I love it! It is tied or close to tied for my favorite item, along with the pendant. I especially love the side with the tree and the moons.

Mine did unfortunately arrive broken, with one of the moons above her cracked off. However, it was easy to keep it in place with a small piece of twine, and I’m not even sure if I want to request a replacement--I sort of like the character and symbolism of part of her having been carefully tied back together after being broken. Depending on which way you face the statue, each side tells a different but equally powerful and beautiful story, and it’s a story that I want and need to listen to right now.

The Moon Box arrived in a discreet, plain brown box.  My only complaint here is that if it were left out in the rain, it definitely would have gotten soggy!  Luckily my mail usually arrives in the evening, so it’s very unlikely to sit out long.

The top of the box held most of the paper products.  These included (going clockwise):

A personalized Oracle Reading on a card from the Kuan Yin Oracle by Alana Fairchild.  Mine is the Dance of the Butterfly Queen!

A lovely Book of Shadows page on Yule.  The art here is absolutely beautiful, and the paper is thick card stock.  I cannot wait to start my book and include it!

A Sun Protection Hex Sign. I’m not generally into small print-type items.  The information provided about this hex sign was informative, but I don’t think I’ll personally use it much.

The stack of paper products also includes the introduction to the box, along with descriptions of all the items. With this is a blank piece of parchment included for your own use in your Book of Shadows or otherwise.

The Geneva/Juniper Sage in the box smells absolutely wonderful, and definitely exudes holiday spirit!  The description says it is often used to bless new homes and dedicate spaces to new work. I found this beautifully fitting to my needs, and used it almost immediately on my altar!  It sheds everywhere, though. I swear, this thing is way worse than my cats. The box is filled with little pieces of it, and my altar is absolutely covered in it even though I did my best to keep it over a dish.  I don’t mind that at all, because I made my altar cloths to be machine washable, and my nook now smells fabulous.  But let that be a warning to anyone who wants to avoid a mess!

Next in the box is a layer of herb-y items.  Birch Bark, St. John’s Wart, and a lovely-smelling tea called Stand Still, with a muslin bag for steeping.  I’m actually especially pleased to have the muslin bag--I never thought of using muslin to steep tea, and most of my current steepers are a bit bulky for individual cups. The tea contains Red Rooibos, Ginger, Cardamom, and Chocolate Chips. I love tea, and I can’t wait to try this tomorrow morning to start off my relaxing work-from-home day with some grounding mediation.

The Hekate Sacred Salt includes Pine, Mistletoe, Blessings Oil, and Holly leaves.  According to the description, it’s meant for soaking in baths.  I almost want to draw a bath while I sip my tea.  That sounds like an amazing way to keep cozy in the Winter!

The Rune in the middle there is a Ken Rune.  It comes as a pendant on an unbound string, which I tied into a double slipknot to wear.  It actually comes in a box which also has a Ken Rune painted onto it for charging, which is pretty nice of them!

On the right is a small crystal that came in the box.  This is a Faden Quartz Crystal.  It’s sort of difficult to see from this angle, but it has a blurry line through the middle of the stone where it broke and healed many times over thousands of years. That’s not something I ever would have thought about when seeking meaning and correspondence in crystals!

For those who are unable or simply not inclined to use incense, this month;s box included some Ritual Spray for Yule!  It smells like pine and myrrh to me--the description says it is composed of Pine and “Blessings” Magickal Oil.

The Veritas is a sunflower-based oil that contains lots of lovely ingredients, including Birch Bark, like we received earlier in the box. I don’t own any good anointing oils yet, so it will be great for when I’m doing solitary rituals!

The “big” altar item is the copper ritual bell.  This bell is engraved with the Triple Goddess. It’s very high quality and sounds clear and lovely when chimed.

Lastly are the candle and the incense.  Both of these smell thickly of Pine, which I absolutely adore.  It’s the perfect season!  The candle comes with a mantra you can repeat a few times while burning it.  I personally am partial to composing my own mantras and spell words, but I still find this lovely and I’d like to hang it somewhere near my altar.

The description of the candle has instructions for setting it up to burn without a holder, but I’m going to hold out and see if the Box of Shadows comes with a holder!

Whew!  That was a lot of stuff!  I was very on the fence about Moon Box, but with this first shipment of my own, I’m definitely warming up to it. All the items are so high quality and pretty. I can’t wait to start next month with the Witches’ Moon!