Happy Midwinter! This box will get to you after the holidays, but I’m hoping the items inside will shed a little light on the longest nights of your year.

I’ve been trying to revive my ill-fated Covid-era self-care subscription box in a new and more openly pagan form. The problem is that I’m still pretty sick and insane, so I’m not sure if I can actually do it.

I’m hoping to send out 8 boxes a year, and I’m going to test my ability to keep it up for a full year first. I would *love* an excuse to keep sending you cookies and other free stuff in exchange for your occasional participation in a quick little Google Forms feedback process. Let me know if you like the box and want to be one of my testers! Feedback is more useful to me than anything else at this stage, so you’d be doing me a huge favor.

Gift guide below!

Four Friends candle by Flamingo Estate

The tale of the Four Harmonious Animals is a popular Buddhist folk myth. It describes four animals who work in cooperation to eat fruits from a tree. The elephant carries the monkey on his back, the monkey holds up the hare, and the hare has the bird perched on his head. The moral of the story is that when everyone works together, even the smallest, weakest, and least tree-mobile creatures can access the best fruit.

This framing of the myth asks a question: why are the bird and the monkey stacking up on top of the elephant with the hare? They could be sitting happily in the tree snacking on the best fruits all alone, leaving the hare to snack only on fallen fruits. I choose to believe it’s because their social ethics consider the whole of society over their indiviual selves.

This is something we’re lacking in individalist-driven America. Folks like us who are trying to bring back the Village mindset need to remember that sometimes we get a worse reward when we’re putting in the effort to help others, *but it’s still worth doing.*

Mythology aside, I just wanted to give you a candle from Flamingo Estate, a company that’s doing really great awareness-raising work in the environmental sphere. They drive me nuts half the time with their LA-intoxicated obsession with celebrity… but I can’t help but agree with 100% of their business philosophy, and I love the way they put their money where their mouth is. Their sourcing team does a really great job of finding small businesses in the regenerative agriculture world to support, and that’s similar to the work I’d like to be doing with my subscription box post launch of actual business.

This candle is made with a blend of copal, amber, cedarwood, and myrrh essential oils. All four of those botanical substances have longstanding traditional uses in cleansing, protection, and energetic invocation. This blend creates a lovely woodsy fragrance to set the tone of your home during the winter season. It’s a small candle, but Flamingo Estate is generous with their essential oils, so burn it in a more open space for a better experience – and don’t lean over the flame to smell the candle, you’ll get a faceful of oil. Ask me how I know.

Oak Moss incense matches by Hibi

Japanese craftsmen have taken the concept of the portable incense match and turned it into a genuine work of art. One of the tiny boxes contains eight immaculate incense matches and features a striker; the other contains a heatproof mat to lay the match on so it can burn safely wherever you are. Eight is a lucky number in Japan – it’s associated with abundance.

Oak Moss, the fragrance of these incense matches, pays tribute to the coming Summer. In ancient Irish mythology, the Solstices represent moments of victory in the endless battle between the Oak King (who rules the Summer) and the Holly King (who rules the Winter). On the Winter Solstice, the Oak King triumphs and the days begin to get longer.

This fragrance is a useful reminder in the long dark of midwinter: summer is coming.

Rose quartz mini facial roller by Mei Apothecary

As a person with muscle tension everywhere in my body, I think everyone on Earth could benefit from the occasional facial massage. Either you already know how much tension you hold in your face or your mind is about to be blown.

I love this tiny tool for its precision – it’s great for targeting the little muscles around the eyes, nostrils, lips, and ears. Just trust me and try it. I like doing it absent mindedly while reading or doom scrolling.

You know how all the stories say you can use anything as a wand? See if you can extend your sensory awareness into the tool. Use the tool’s awareness to locate where your tension needs work. Don’t think too much about how to do it, just give it a go.

Friendship bracelet kit by Mercury Provisions, featuring Sero by Gist Yarns

It’s good for your brain to do stuff with your hands. Did you ever make friendship bracelets as a kid? I didn’t, but over the summer I got into it and it healed something inside me. I had forgotten that textile crafts are one of the most intrinsically human pastimes ever – one of the first things humans ever did for fun *in all of history.* Playing with yarn is something we’re *supposed* to do.

Anyway, if you ever feel inspired to do something creative in your downtime, friendship bracelets are a super easy way to get into a craft. There are a ton of tutorials out there and I trust you to find one that works for your learning style.

I wanted to outfit you with the best possible thread because I feel strongly that as adults we deserve good quality grown up materials for our arts and crafts. I tried to pick out an expressive selection of colors for you to play with. There’s enough for you to waste some of it in a trial and error process, and then still be able to start over with the same design when you figure it out.

The yarn I’ve given you is made of raw silk from China. I feel good about supporting Chinese makers during the trade war. I love the saturation of color it’s able to achieve. The red almost glows in the dark.

Winter cookie selection by Mercury Provisions

Twice-baked shortbread: Made with only three ingredients. Small batch, half-salted cultured butter, unbleached organic cane sugar, and Red Tail Grains’ “miller’s choice” blend of the discard mixed grains that come off the mill between different batches of flour.

Cocoa Crinkle: A brown sugar based cocoa cookie made with Bensdorp 22/24 and rolled in two types of sugar for a nice outer crust. I had crinkle cookies made with this cocoa powder as a 12 year old child when I was on holiday in the Philippines, and I imprinted on them. Spent the next 18 years searching for the flavor… and I found it.

Brown butter sugar cookies: A simple soft cookie with extravagant details. My standard golden sugar mixed with browned salted Kerrygold butter, an almost offensively large amount of Nielsen-Massey vanilla bean paste, and a touch of malt powder.

Hazelnut semolina cantucci: Made with Flamingo Estate’s famous extra virgin olive oil, organic hazelnuts, a touch of vanilla, maple sugar, and Red Tail Grains’ soft semolina. On the drier side as these cookies go.

Pistachio rose cantucci: A touch of almond flour, yellow cornmeal, Turkish pistachios, and Flamingo Estate’s rose petal infused wildflower honey. These are baked softer – let me know whether you prefer them or the crunchy ones more.

Bensdorp 22/24 Hot Cocoa by Mercury Provisions

Bensdorp 22/24 is unquestionably *the* world’s best cocoa powder. It’s processed in Belgium using the Dutch method, which adds alkali to balance the acidity of the raw cacao. The result is a high-fat, low-fiber cocoa powder that is packed with both flavor and nutrition.

I’m not a food scientist, but one thing I know is that the flavor in food mostly comes from the fat. So it’s important that the processing Bensdorp uses for their cocoa powder retains a lot of fat. That’s what makes it so flavorful compared to lesser cocoas.

A lot of people insist on making their hot cocoa on the stovetop, but this mix works just as well if you microwave your milk (or dairy alternative). There’s no solid chocolate bits to melt in slowly. Just stir in as much or as little of the mix as you want.

If you want to make an American style hot cocoa, use about a tablespoon of mix with about 12 oz of milk or dairy substitute. For closer to a Spanish style, use a heaping tablespoon with 4-6 oz of milk. For a Filipino style that’s somewhere in between, prepare on the stovetop, follow the American style proportions, but also grate in some dark chocolate.

The cocoa powder does tend to stick to itself and lump up upon contact with liquid. Really take your time smushing out all the lumps you can find.

Ingredients: Organic unbleached cane sugar, Bensdorp 22/24 cocoa powder, Maldon salt.

Thingney Ezay chili paste by Flamingo Estate

This winter Flamingo Estate put out a box of assorted small items made in collaboration with some really cool Bhutanese companies, and I bought an extra box to distribute amongst friends because I wanted to pay money towards supporting their collaborators.

Bhutanese chili paste “Ezay” is served as a condiment with pretty much every meal imaginable in Bhutan, to such an extent that it’s become a symbol of Bhutanese hospitality. This Ezay gets its unique character from Thingney, the local name for Szechuan peppercorn. Thingney is blended with chili peppers, fresh garlic, and green onions.

Suggested pairings: rice, dumplings (specifically momos if you can get them), mapo doufu.

Charm 01 Embodiment essential oil blend by Mercury Provisions

This one doesn’t have a label – it’s the small amber bottle marked with a red dot of paint.

Don’t use this product on your skin! It’s a fragrance only. It is not for skin care. If you get it on your hands, wash them with soap right away because this will hurt if it gets in your eyes.

All that said, this essential oil blend is designed to center your awareness in your body and help you detach and ground from ruminating thoughts. If you focus on the fragrance for minute or two, you will start to feel your energy moving downward from your head into your body. It’s not magic, it’s just herbs.

What herbs? Parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and ginger. Soup herbs. Before the days of medicine, these herbs were traditionally used to strengthen the body during times of sickness.

Fragrance cuts right through to the lizard brain. Smelling these herbs’ essential oils works a little differently than eating the same herbs, but the effect is the same. The energy that is circulating in your mind centers will be pulled back down into your body as you breathe in the fragrance. That ends rumination spirals and hands back your agency.

Heart diffuser and wool coaster by Mercury Provisions

A lot of people are sensitive to the fragrances of essential oils and have a strong aversion to active diffusers, the kind that puff essential oils into the air. I prefer passive diffusers, which simply hold a drop or two of oil for you to smell only when you get close enough. Active diffusers disperse fragrance that lasts for days, while passive diffusers tend to quiet down after a few hours.

I thought these heart shaped lava rocks were little cuties. The pocket made of wool felt also functions as a coaster to absorb any extra oil that falls through the pores of the lava rock. When you’re done using the essential oil you can put the lava rock back into the pocket so Jinx doesn’t steal it.

Make sure you don’t douse the lava rock with too many drops at a time – you don’t want the essential oil to drip out of it, because if it soaks through the wool coaster, it can eat the finishing off your furniture. 2-3 drops of oil is plenty. If you need more intensity, stick the whole bottle right under your nose.

Charm 02 Nerve Tonic herbal tisane by Mercury Provisions

This herbal blend is designed to function as emotional regulation support. Its active ingredient is Skullcap, a natural anxiolytic. As an herbal tonic, it’s also packed with a ton of diverse nutrients to give you a generic boost like a multivitamin.

The other herbal blend I’ve given you has more of a mind quieting effect. This one does more to quiet the physical symptoms of emotional distress, not the thoughts. It slows down the fight or flight response.

Charm 03 Lucidity Aid herbal tisane by Mercury Provisions

The active ingredient in this herbal blend is Mugwort, a traditional lucidity aid. Mugwort has the effect of cutting out mental noise, leaving you in literal mental silence. This can be helpful if you’re suffering from ruminating thoughts, and maybe less helpful if you have a job that requires you to do a lot of on the spot creative thinking. I suggest trying it for the first time on a day off.

Mugwort also has the effect of making you lucid dream – and also making you feel calm during those dreams. This is an interesting enough effect that many people want to drink it just for that. Try not to drink mugwort for dreaming too many nights in a row, because your body may not find the sleep quite as restful, even if you enjoy it.

Mugwort tastes bad, and the rest of the ingredients are mostly there to mask its flavor.

Tea infuser by unknown maker

I’m sure you already have something like this, but there was no way I could send out an intro subscription box without including an infuser for the herbs and teas I’ll be sending out over the months.

I chose this one because it’s roomy enough for you to be generous with your dosing, it has small enough perforations that nearly all the herbal matter will be contained, and it looks easy to clean. It’s roomy enough that later on when I send you whole tea leaves there will be space for them to bloom. The lid also doubles as a coaster!