Tag: sacred scavenging

PSA on Bone Reading Sets

I’ve temporarily removed listings for bone reading sets while I replenish my stock.  This to ensure that those ordering sets aren’t waiting any longer than necessary–typical wait time for completed assembly of sets, depending on price and complexity, is 6-8 weeks.  Typically I’ve been able to stay well ahead of schedule, but I want to continue this trend, so temporarily I’ve removed the listings while I restock and get myself ready for the next batch.  All prior extant set orders have been shipped.

Soon also to come to Bones to Pick will be blog posts on a variety of topics related to sacred scavenging and theriomancy, as well as posts showcasing the products and services of fellow colleagues and practitioners.  Stay tuned.

Originally posted on: http://ift.tt/1URmoti

Protip: Preserving and Consecrating Animal Teeth


Pictured: A Eurasian Cave Lion (Panthera spelea) lower carnassial, and a bottle of Leo Oil from Midtown Mojo Manufacturers)

Some animal teeth can be a bit troublesome to keep and work with at times.  When a tooth lacks the natural lipids found in the mouth, they split, crack or break.  This is especially common with teeth that have come from juvenile or young adult animals, where the teeth may still have hollow areas or undeveloped dentin layers.  Even fossil teeth, depending on age, wear and degree of mineralization, have been known to crack and break.  Usually if I need to store teeth before use I’ll wrap them in paper towels soaked with baby oil.  I’ve even used Dentene mouthwash.  However, there is one method I use frequently that not only helps to preserve your animal teeth, but also can turn them into powerful amulets and talismans.  If you plan on incorporating a special animal tooth in your spiritual work, use a condition oil.  Hold the tooth in your hand while praying or focusing on your intent, and vigorously rub some of the oil into the tooth as you’re doing so.  The oil should absorb through the dentin layers, leaving the tooth with a nice glossy finish and, depending on the oil, a nice scent.  I will periodically reapply oil as needed; over time the tooth will develop a very handsome aged patina.  For extra “oomph”, leave the anointed tooth with a candle (specific, dressed or no depending on what you’re doing; YMMV) to incubate overnight, or time your anointing to fall on a specific day or hour.

Teeth themselves make for excellent amulets, and humankind has been using animal (and sometimes even human!) in that capacity for centuries.  People have used them for strength, protection, and to connect with the energy behind the animal the tooth or teeth once belonged to.  Teeth are a very intimate part of the animal.  They reside in the head and are responsible for feeding, nurturing and communication.  A very important and useful way of connecting with the consciousness of the animal to which it once belonged.

Originally posted on: http://ift.tt/1n2mr7O

Lion claws available, plus a few notes

A few more of the lion claws from the batch have been posted.  These will likely be the only ones we’ll be posting for awhile, so get them while you can.  The others will be posted if and when they are ready.  Instead of testing the limits of my growing headache further by giving a detailed explanation as to why, I’m going to quote a friend and customer of BtP:

“To borrow from my Husband’s nomenclature for a moment, the “Average
Cadaver” cannot understand that to some , not all items from our fellow
creatures that walk among us are easily acquired. They must be cared
for, Honored, prayed over and given much love prior to parting with them
in any way.”

This rather explains the primary drive behind our philosophies here at Bones to Pick.

Of those claws that we posted, one is a fully cleaned specimen wire-wrapped in brass for use as talismanic jewelry.  The others that we posted are sold “as is”.  These claws came from an old, vintage Tanzanian lion rug.  These are all bone-in; some may have tanned flesh and fur still attached, some claws may show natural damage.  Please see photos.  I actually prefer relics like these over the sanitized ones, as they provide more useful materia to connect with the animal’s energies and also vibrantly express character unique to the living animal that once owned them.  Please feel free to check them out on our website and do feel free to get in contact with us if you have any questions.

Originally posted on: http://ift.tt/1OOjTmt

It’s very important to know the differences between the…

It’s very important to know the differences between the cottonmouth water moccasin and the humble water snake. Both take to the waters and keep similar diets, but one is venomous and territorial, and the other is not. The cottonmouth can easily be identified by its whitish mouth and acute angles to the head, and the water snake has a much broader and blunter head (in first photo, the water snake is at the top, in the second, the water snake is to the left). Both are beneficial to the health of our waterways, but know which one is aggressive and capable of harming you, and which is very shy and would much rather be left alone. Both have very beneficial energies to work with if approached with caution and respect with regards to their relics and remains (do NOT literally approach a cottonmouth, though. EVER!).

Years ago, during my work at a nature center, one of my educational partners was a large female water snake. She was unusually tame and chill for a female water snake (which are bigger than the males and tend to be feistier–not to be confused with venomous or aggressive). Water snakes in general tend to be really shy and don’t handle too well in captivity, but she was very special. She would ride around on my shoulder or wrapped around my neck, and had her own cubby when I was doing office-related work in the center lobby, where she’d peek her head out and help me greet visitors. She taught me a lot of secrets in the time we worked together, and I think back fondly of her when visiting the rivers and streams, always remembering to thank her kin for helping to keep our waterways vibrant and healthy.

Originally posted on: http://ift.tt/1W3LK8U

So spring is finally here…

So spring is finally here, which means it’s time to get to work in the yard.  What here looks like a pile of bricks, railroad spikes and buckets is actually sacred space.  The buckets are where I’ll be macerating animal skulls, and behind those buckets is a cairn, lovingly named The Pit, a portal and workspace for interfacing with the land’s basimbi (land-spirits, put simply).  This here is a work in progress, and will actually be expanding outward as time goes on, and more animal skulls and bone get processed and transformed into important tools for ritual and ceremonial use.

As an animist and Palero, I see all life as being sacred.  Which is why, for me, absolutely nothing goes to waste.  Everything has value, from the blood that’s shed, to the meat that’s eaten, to the skulls and bones that’re left behind.  The processes of death, decay and rot are just as sacred, and just as infused with life and potential.  Witnessing and working with these processes is deeply influential to understanding the workings of life itself, and is far from what most people would see as “morbid” or “depressing”.

Originally posted on: http://alchemicallion.tumblr.com/post/119705030111/so-spring-is-finally-here-which-means-its-time

On Working With the Relics of the Dead

Working with the parts and relics of the deceased in a spiritual fashion is a form of ecstatic union, connecting on a deeper level with the underlying spiritual current permeating what most conceive as “reality” (Kalunga is what would come to mind to the Palo practitioner).  At its most superficial I’d describe it as a form of psychometry, but what it really is is taking on the role of the psychopomp.  That itself takes on different manifestations, however.  A dog and a crow are both psychopomps, but both are shaped differently from one another and behave and function in their own unique fashions.  This also largely depends on who you are and what you are working with.  Not everyone is capable of being a psychopomp.  Taking on such a task without the mental or spiritual fortitude can manifest itself in mental imbalance, among other unpleasant things.  I’ve seen this numerous times over the course of years in my work with the dead, but I’m not here to tell stories of specifics, but to offer a general idea of what this kind of work entails, and the job I perform personally.

What do I mean when I say “relics of the dead”?  This could count as anything that is left behind at the moment of death, or relating in some way to the passing of an animal (be it human or nonhuman).  Similar to the Catholic understanding of relics, these take primary and secondary forms.  A primary relic would be the skin, hair, bone, nail or any other physical remnant of the direct body.  A secondary relic would be various items such as pieces of clothing, reliquaries, graveyard dirt and so on.  I’ve worked with relics of all kinds: animal bone, skin, blood, soft tissue, crematory ash, graveyard dirt, and numerous other items.  Each of these things have different attributes, spiritual imprinting, and function.  To keep things simple, I’ll start with the differences in spiritual function between animal bone and animal skin.

In my long experience, the deepest and longest-lasting spiritual connection one can find is within bone, particularly the skull.  While fur and leather and soft tissue decays and dissolves, bone will endure for much longer and serves as a lasting foundation and record of the animal (whether human or nonhuman) that once lived.  Numerous animistic cultures and spiritual traditions throughout the world make use of the skull as the primary focal point for spirit and for the personalities, thoughts and perceptions of the once-living animal.  It is the sum total of all wisdom, knowledge, experience and sensation, which is why skulls were so revered and held highest of all the remains of the dead in numerous animist cultures and societies. In Regla de Palo, skulls make up a very important part of various ritual workings and spiritual tech.  This has been the basic premise for a great many headhunter societies whose primary goal was to capture the head of the enemy and gain control over the fallen enemy’s soul.  The bones and particularly the skulls of the ancestors received similar preparation and treatment.  An example of this is the story of Odin and Mimir, when Odin preserves the head of the fallen sage through the use of various herbs and incantations, seating the soul within the decapitated head and accessing the wisdom and memory within.  The severed head proffers wisdom and knowledge to Odin.

Animal skins and hides also make up a significant part of animistic practice and tech that involves psychopomp work.  The skin is a very intimate part of the body, and is the external expression of ourselves, the organ by which we sense the world around us.  Skin-to-skin contact is a very powerful form of connection and energy transferral.  Much has been written about skinwalkers, berserkergangr (bear-shirt), and the shaman and his or her ritual cloak of shapeshifting.  The skin or hide of an animal, especially when ritually prepared, is a powerful tool by which the animist or spirit-technician can interface with the spirit and energies of that particular animal.  To give you an example of how powerful an animal skin can be, sometimes the simple act of draping one over a person can cause them to “go under” or become posessed by the animal’s spirit or energy.  Animal skins can also be used as containers or coverings for the storage and transport of ritual and holy objects or items, or mediums on which spells, sigils and so on can be written upon.  The spiritual charge within the skin or hide amplifies the work being done.

There are numerous examples of the above given, and I’ll write more on specifics later on.  Part of what I do is fulfill the role of ‘sacred scavenger’, which means finding and preparing nature’s relics and artifacts to be used in a spiritual or ritually meaningful way.  My methods range anywhere from scavenging roadkill to procuring tannery and furrier rejects to seeking out lost and overlooked treasures in antique stores, junk shops and estate sales, and the search itself is just as sacred.  Part of my search involves meditation, prayer and offerings to the animal I wish to work with (either personally or for a contact or client seeking my assistance), and usually it will present itself in some form.  An old skin in a junk shop, a skull at an estate sale, or a pile of bones in the forest.  Serendipity and ‘coincidence’ make up a large part of this–what many occult practitioners call synchronicity.

I’ll write more on this later, when my migraine isn’t kicking my ass.  Hopefully with pictures.  Folks do love pictures.  Keep up the great Work all!

Relics, Artifacts, Dead Things, and the ATRs

(Note: Part of this is a bit of personal history, so I can get across a general idea of the progression of events that led me to where I am now, and why.)

As soon as I was old enough to walk, my parents would take me to the museums in Washington, DC.  I was lucky that I had parents who valued knowledge above other things.  There were no visits to Chuck-E-Cheese, and amusement park trips were rare.  By the time I was in middle school I was reading and comprehending college level books, and taking out my own interlibrary loans.  But I had begun to comprehend something else, and at a much younger age.  It was within these museum halls that I first became aware of a seemingly subtle current that flowed around and through what most people perceived as “reality”.  Animals long dead came alive before my very eyes.  Spirits in old coffins and canopic jars rose to tell me stories of ancient times beyond the reaches of memory or comprehension.  These experiences firmly crossed the line between ecstasy and terror, and my young mind grappled desperately with the changing flows of reality all around me.  I remember when I would go into the Sant Ocean Hall in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  All around me I would see the sea creatures come to life, telling me their stories through sound and movement, color and pulse and vibration.  I was immersed in their world, a kaleidoscope of wonder.

It was these experiences that would form the skeletal frame of what would become my spirituality.  I spent a very large part of my time as a child rambling in the woods, or lost in a book.  I had much preferred the company of animals and spirits to those of other children.  I knew, even if I did not fully comprehend at the time, what these spiritual entities were, but I didn’t discuss them with the adults around me.  I bore enough of a stigma from struggling with a severe learning disability and behavioral challenges.  I didn’t want to compound this with stories of spirits, “imaginary friends”, talking trees and so on and so forth.  Not that people never suspected anything.  A mummified turkey foot in the toy chest.  A weathered fox skull found on the railroad tracks and hidden under the bed, directly beneath my pillow, “So he can talk to me better in my sleep”.  By the mid-90s I started actively exploring the occult.  Like most people I cut my teeth on Wicca first, and ended up firmly rooted in Hermetics (alchemy) and closely bonding with the deities of the Greco-Egyptian pantheons (particularly Dionysos, Hermes and Wepwawet).  Fast forward to the present, I’m initiated into the ATRs.  I’m still very new, having only been initiated for a about nine months or so.  In truth I never expected this to be the end result.  How exactly I stumbled into the ATRs is an interesting adventure.

For years I’d maintained an online presence under the moniker “Shin Cynikos”, though most people simply called me “Solo”.  I was an active presence in various occult and metaphysical circles, as well as the “scavenging” and “vulture culture” communities (primarily on LiveJournal, a format I no longer use).  I also kept an active blog, Cynanthropy.net, which I may or may not go back to using.  Tumblr seems to allow for more on-the-go posting, since I rarely sit down long enough to write detailed posts like this one.  But I digress.  Gradually I began to withdraw my online presence, mainly because I seemed more preoccupied with actually living my spirituality instead of typing about it like so many others do (and there is much in that department I simply keep a secret–Harpocrates and yadda yadda), and I tend to care very little about attention-seeking and what others think about me and what I do.  I’d also by that point amassed quite an impressive collection, and had a penchant for finding the oddest things, which garnered me a reputation amongst the local and semi-local occultist friends and acquaintances who’d come around looking for stuff for their rituals and projects and so on.

Eventually I’d attracted the attention of a Palo house a few years back, though contacts with some mutual friends, and started working with them on finding various things, as well as talking shop about everything from spirit-work, necromancy and the ritual use of animal parts to animal husbandry.  It was funny at first, because–although I had an awareness and understanding of the ATR/DTRs, they never registered much on my radar at first, and I honestly could not understand why someone would want to, say, take a museum-grade, fully articulated wolf skull and stick it in a pot of dirt.  “A skull is not a root bulb!” I remember saying at one point.  But I ended up fostering some truly valuable friendships as a result, and ultimately ended up “going native” and getting initiated myself.  It’s been a crazy ride, but ultimately I’ve no regrets.

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