This listing is for one Brown Bear, Oak and Mugwort Ritual Rattle, from The heART of Ritual.
 
There are two different sizes to choose from, a full sized rattle and a travel sized rattle. Please be sure to select the size you wish to order from the drop down menu.
 
• keywords: strength, grounding, courage, insights, protection, resilience, inner stillness, letting go, grief composting, community, home and hearth.
 
The Rattle head is naturally dyed with Acorns and Oak bark. It is filled with offerings of the Bear's favourite foods, including Fly Agaric and Wild Berries, and a star Garnet for direction on the path. The space between the Rattlehead and handle is accented with Wild Rose and Mugwort plant fiber cordage, the cresent moon shaped sesamoid bone of a wild Brown Bear, and ethical Bear Fur. I made a small hand painted Cep for the side of this tool as fungi are one of Bear's most treasured foods. This is attached to the handle with Wild Rose and Mugwort cordage and accented with natural matt stone beads. The handle is the stem of an incredible Mugwort plant that grew in the garden in 2024, it's height exceeded three meters so I knew as soon as it returned to the ground and went to sleep for the winter that I would have to honour those stalks!
 
This offering came through during the winter 2024 earth element season, which wove themes of sticks and stones and skin and bones throughout, both literally and symbolically. Winter Solstice is the time that I personally feel the strength of Oak most, and on this date, a messenger arrived at the door, Brown Bear. It appeared in my dreams and manifested in reality too.
 
I wrote a rather long insight into this in our Spring newsletter, but what I didn't mention there was that I also received an enexpected piece of brown bear fur and feet bones on Winter Solstice too! Note that this time of year is when Ursa Major and Minor are most prominent in the night sky, so the framework for birthing of this ritual tool happened very softly, organically, and easily. 
 
In many ways, this one ritual rattle represents it all - the bones of Samhain, the light and hope of Winter Solstice, instinctual awareness of the need for rest, strength and trust in the process, and the natural pace of the Earth all wrapped into one.
 
ABOUT RATTLES AS RITUAL COLLEAGUES
Rattles are ceremonial tools that resonate primarily with the fire element, their sound resembling the hissing of a snake. As a tool, they are used to purify, cleanse and transform (an individual, group energy, or place) and are also wonderful to use to energize or invigorate if a person is feeling sluggish or a space is stagnant. This is their transformative work as traditional healing tools. What resonates with you, how you choose to uniquely work with these ritual tools, your experience, and the direction this takes is entirely up to you. It is your intimate expression of prayer and reflects your unique ceremonial intention.