East Bay Slimes

CAILLEACH BHÉARA //

✋crunchy (black sugar scrub beads + bone charms)
👃warm ambers, herbal incense rising from a cauldron over a wood fire, smoked fig, a beastly musk, the warm & woody scent of oud, and the first of the season's clementines.

Cailleach Bhéara holds many names & forms, and has been feared & revered across Celtic cultures in Ireland, Scotland & the Isle of Man for hundreds of years. Folklorist Donald MacKenzie describes her as "fearsome to look upon" with "only one eye, but the sight of it was keen & sharp as ice and as swift as the mackerel of the ocean. Her complexion was a dull, dark blue, her teeth were red as rust, and her locks, which lay heavily on her shoulders, were white as an aspen covered with hoar-frost." She is the goddess of the winter months, safeguarding animals during that time. She controls the winds and weather, and shapes the landscapes into mountains with rocks falling from her apron. Yet, there are many versions of Cailleach. Celtic mythology was "passed down through oral tradition for so long that it is difficult to untangle the web of stories and names given to the characters." (Cailleach Herbarium)

Once a wandering friar came to the Cailleach's house. He asked her age, which he had heard stories of. She replied that every year she killed an ox and made soup from the bones - & said he could find her age by counting the number of ox bones thrown up in the attic. The pile grew & grew and he had not cleared a single corner, her age was so great. In Irish mythology she had seven maidenhoods, bearing children by many husbands before becoming eternally aged, outliving them all. She is said to be the maternal ancestor of every Irish tribe.

In the springtime, the Cailleach yields to Brigid, goddess of summer, & turns to stone. Countless standing stones are said to be sacred to her. The stone she transforms into is said to remain moist despite the warmth of the summer months because of the life force it contains. (Irishcentral.com)

She is represented as a pile of bones, “bone fragments”, and “ash” mingling with ice crystals in a clear slime base. Color-shifting pigments represent the transition from winter to summer; dark snowflakes & glitters evoke her deep magic. Fragranced with a blend of warm ambers, herbal incense rising from a cauldron over a wood fire, smoked fig, a beastly musk, the warm & woody scent of oud, and the first of the season's clementines.

NOTE: orders of this slime (as long as supplies last) will come with a mini corked fragrance vial on the side, containing a complimentary fragrance blend that is primarily ambers and ouds. It's not the exact same fragrance blend as the slime, but will give it an extra amber-and-oud-y punch, if you choose to add some to the slime! Add with caution, as crunchy slimes like this are prone to fallout if too much fragrance oil is added. PLEASE NOTE: I CANNOT MAIL FRAGRANCE BOTTLES OUTSIDE OF THE U.S.