East Bay Slimes

25% off - original price $20

BOTTLED SPIRITS // First tree in a mile, and it's a stout myrtle with bald branches. No relief from the sun out here. Leaves would help, if someone hadn't replaced them all with dusty glass bottles. You cool down in the shade. The breeze blows through the bottles, making a series of heavy hollow sounds while you nod off. The dense sounds of many conversations cut your nap short. There's no one around, not until you look up at the bottles: they're filled with bright blue orbs, and words echo from them. None seem to notice your presence. You hone in on the sound of weeping. "...they need to check the water hole... is this Hell... my body is making my father ill..." The surrounding bottles are silent. Coherent words deteriorate into choked sobs. "Can't get enough. Porcelain, chrome, the rusty ones. Gotta turn those sleek faucets. Ever find me a hardware store. I'm gonna haunt it 'til the cows come home." Laughter rumbles inside neighboring bottles.

Bottle trees are a Southern tradition with roots in African practices. In 9th century Kongo, it was believed that spirits, both benevolent & malevolent, roamed the earth at night. Because they were attracted to colorful, shiny objects, they could be lured into bottles placed outside the home. As dawn broke, the sun's rays would destroy the trapped spirits. The bottles could then be sealed and thrown into a river to wash away any residual ghosties. This practice was connected to the Kongo tree altar tradition, where deceased relatives were honored with graveside memorials involving plates attached to sticks or trees.

The bottle tree tradition traveled to Trinidad, the Bahamas, & eventually the American mainland. Enslaved Africans brought this tradition to the South, where it then spread into Appalachia. The choice of cobalt blue bottles is significant in Hoodoo folk magic, symbolizing water and sky, a crossroads between heaven & earth, the living & dead. The bottles are hung upside down with their necks facing the tree trunk -- often a crepe myrtle, which provides a vibrant backdrop. Legend has it that when the wind blows through the tree, the moans of these ensnared spirits can be heard whistling in the breeze.

🖐️ iridescent blue pigmented clear silica shard, fishbowl & straw bead + iridescent purple "ghostly sheen" on top
👃 heady summer gardenias, juicy southern peaches, line-dried laundry, fizzy agave spritzer, delicate fresh cyclamen
+ "ghost" made of wispy cotton trapped in a glass corked bottle, ghastly faces, iridescent blooms, spiderwebs, translucent ghosts