We started with 50 small gift boxes. My job was to decorate each box inside and out. I painted the outsides with acrylics, to make them look as though moss was growing up the sides. Since the boxes are going to be distributed to Pagans from various traditions, we tried to keep the symbolism generic. Along those lines I stamped the tops with a simple black spiral.
Inside the boxes, I covered each side with a piece of elemental-themed scrapbook paper - earth on one side, fire, air and water on the others. The bottom of each box contains a charm for protection inspired by a spell in Valerie Worth's book, Crone's Book of Charms and Spells.
Everyone involved contributed something different. Inside each box we placed a vial of herbs, a bag of sea salt, a vial of blessing oil, a red cord, a tiny wand, a sea shell, a wood pentacle, a miniature white altar cloth, and a corn offering.
Jennie Wiseheart created adorable willow wands, each with its own feather and amber tip. Jonah Dove wood-burned each of the tiny pentacles and Sybilla Stone created a custom ritual oil.
On the bottom of each box is a personal message from one of the contributors.
It is our hope that each of these ritual boxes finds the perfect person for it, since they are each a bit different. This weekend, we send them off with a prayer that all members of our military come home safe.
