Death is a Maiden, Skull Candle, Persephone Hela Ritual, Altar, Beeswax: Connecting to Departed, Releasing, Underworld, Ancestor Work

"Death is a Maiden" is dedicated to the dark aspect of the divine feminine, particularly those associated with death and the underworld such as Persephone and Hela. It is intended to honor the Time of Our Lady's Descent, Samhain, seeing or journeying beyond the veil, remembering the departed, as well as mediation work dealing with life and passing.

SIZES

Votive - pair standard fit into votive holder

Taper - about 5 1/2" tall set of 3

Pillar - 1 3/4 wide and 5 1/4 tall

Half Skull - 2 inch tall, 1 1/2 inch wide, 2 1/4 inch deep

Skull - 3 inch tall, 2 1/4 inch wide, 3 inch deep

All candles are made from 100% beeswax, these candles are scented with pomegranate and coated in dried parsley.

Please note as a handmade object made from pure, natural beeswax, it is natural for the wax to change color throughout the seasons with the pollen and nectar available to the bees. Therefore, there will often be slight variations in color. Yellow beeswax is pure and natural with no additions. White beeswax has been naturally bleached of the yellow hue. All other colors have the addition of a candle dye and nothing more.

Solis Iluminatum uses the best beeswax it can source. The largest bulk from Gardner Bees, a small family-owned farm in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, and others supplemented from wholesale suppliers from the United States committed to sustainability efforts under the certification of Oregon Tilth. We hope you will recognize the unique gentle scent and texture of 100% beeswax, uncut with any vegetable or petroleum based waxes.

If you require an alteration, customization or a size out of stock please get in touch and we'll work something out.

DESCRIPTION

Though late Hellenic and continuing versions of the myth frequently depict Persephone's journey to the Underworld as a forced marriage, archaeological evidence points to a different understanding by the ancients. Persephone is also known as Kore (usually considered in the form of Kore to be the Goddess of the Spring, a name so ancient it is also the term for "maiden," much as in Nordic mythology Freyr and Freya literally translate to Lord and Lady respectively). In ancient and isolated Arcadia the primary myth honors three deities, referring to Two Queens and a King. Attributed to Demeter, Persephone, and Poseidon (as a god of all bodies of water, including rivers and springs), the myth positions these deities as interconnected and not separated in their functions. The two goddesses were often called Despoinai "the mistresses." Their mysteries would live on with some independence to the Olympians through the Eleusinian mysteries. Persephone pre-Hellenism is no shrinking violet as commemorated in so much of the visual arts, but described even by Homer as the "formidable, venerable majestic princess of the underworld." Though fearsome as one who can carry the curses of the living to the souls of the departed and vice versa, she was also revered as someone a person would appeal to regarding any favor from the Underworld.

Hela (Hel) is the Mistress of Hel, the Nordic Underworld, which bears her name (much as Hades is also the name of the Underworld ruled by Hades). She is described in mythology as having half of her body in the form of a beautiful maiden and the other half as a decaying corpse. She is the daughter of Loki and the Jotun Angrbooa. Odin gathered all Loki's children with Angrbooa, and while Jormungandr was cast into the deep sea and Fenrir eventually bound until Ragnorak, Hela was given the Underworld to rule. Though she is often described as looking fierce or gloomy, Hela guaranteed that all who died, even those who did not die a warrior's death, would have a hall and lodgings for eternity. Most notably, despite the circumstances of the God Baldr's death, she relents that if all the world loved Baldr as deeply as the Gods claimed she would release him should all the living weep for him. Though a fearsome force, Hela is never shown to be an ungracious hostess or ruler.

SAFETY:

Never leave a lit candle unattended, and place a flameproof object under candle for precaution and to collect wax. As an irregular shaped candle melting wax has a tendency to drip unpredictably.