An Embrace of Nature

★★★ Death witch / Bone collector Everything I own is legally obtained. No, nothing in my collection is killed just so I can have it's bones/skin. If you don't agree with witchcraft/taxidermy then please turn around & leave me be.

[coyotestar]

Hi, been too tired and depressed to post here but travelled up to Massachusetts this past weekend to see some dear friends and finally confront a personal symbol common up there

Highlights:

-finally got to see deaths heads in person

-saw a fucking ghost on the highway which promptly made me have an anxiety attack in the car Thanks i guess

-charu, my ghost familiar, apparently showed up at my friends party after i left and they started doing a spirit board session, of which she was asked for a booty call (she said no lmao) and made friends with the cat

[coyotestar]

Enthusiasm and excitement are at a head in celebration of new people to give love to. My emotions run so fast that its hard to keep up.

That old fear reappears to dampen it all. A high swings to low and it runs through my mind-

"Am I too much? Am I overwhelming? Do I give more than one can stand?"

A pin drops and I feel a mixture of frustration and determination, though its not my own.

White hands placed on my cheeks, a stern glare, she whispers with force-

"You will never be too much."

[grossitspara]

Hair developer vs household peroxide to whiten skulls

Literally have never heard of using hair devoper to whiten bones before today and I’ve been into vc for quite a while now. With a quick search I found one source that said it had the chance of turning the bone to mush and was a bad idea. Seems like the extra ingredients in the hair devoper would be more harmful than helpful even if the h202 content is higher.

What do you guys use or what are your thoughts on this?

[coyotestar]

Hair developer is used all the time by many, many people because its literally peroxide. Some do have additives- usually an oil (good for hair..not for bones) but there are hair developers where its just the peroxide.

The most popular hair developer for bones is bought from sallys beauty. The blue bottle of developer is plain peroxide, while the red label has the oil additive. It is availiable in higher amounts than the drugstore 3% which is why people like it. 40 volume developer is 12% peroxide, 30 vol is 6%, etc.

the percentages certainly aren't high enough to turn bones to mush. To really start bones on a path to mush, the percentage would have to be at least 25% (plus other factors) and as far as im currently aware, no hair developer comes with a peroxide percentage that high.

I no longer use drugstore peroxide, i only use the blue bottle hair developer in 20 or 30 vol, because it comes in gallons (much more convenient) and works better/faster while still being gentle. It can also be watered down to a lower percentage, stretching the money spent on it

[coyotestar]

Im US so we have vastly different hunting stuff going on here, but what in the goddamn is going on in the UK right now with all the over hunting and blatant irresponsibility regarding birds

[coyotestar]

Every time i see witches talk about what they experience in the astral plane i think "huh. Sounds like second life"

[coyotestar]

Theres not too much grease in this gator skull but he's just so goddamn large that its taking forever to degrease him bc my setup isnt meant for /2 foot long/ skulls. I gave up trying to get hot degreasing to work with his size and threw him in a tub of 10% ammonia

[coyotestar]

Lynx cranium with blood staining, common in feline skulls. Theyre in peroxide right now and may go for an acetone soak later, still didnt find the two teeth that the fae stole from me

[coyotestar]

if your comment about witchcraft/occult is "haha can you believe these people think magic is real!?" Then you 100% have not a single clue what the beliefs actually are in witchcraft and are basing it soely on fantasy media magic (which is very different from how magic is actually believed to work) and ya need to shut up

Its fucking always christians or atheists who do this bc they wanna feel like theyre better than everyone else

[coyotestar]

Every time i remember that fuckboy that told me "witchcraft is for THE WISE ONLY and showing ur a witch through clothes MAKES US LOOK BAD AND FAKE...*goes on to fill wordcount*" after i said "eh witches who dress up to feel witchy are fine, its an identity thing" cracks me up

Like how self absorbed do you have to be to say "witchcraft is only for the wise"- son you of all people are obviously not wise with my point zooming over your head 5 times sit down

[coyoteprince]

A test print I did last night- the card art looks really good as prints. Matte looks nice, I’m curious to see how the same art compares when printed on glossy.

I’ve now added some reward tiers to my Tarot/Oracle Patreon! These include early access to card art/brushes, exclusive blog posts about development, videos, full size .JPGS, and even handmade prints of the card art like shown above.

Samples/info here!

[coyotestar]

Heres a new thing im doing- help support my project so I can literally afford to work on it more and bring it to others! Its very personal and connected to my witchcraft

[coyotestar]

Ive seen some weird shit in the witchcraft community before so little phases me anymore. Spirit selling shops however are just. The weirdest for me though and i cant get over them

Talking to spirits? Why not, looks weird to a lot of people but its not hurting anything usually. Selling tarot readings? Sure, theyre entertaining and can help you think about your situation more. Selling spirits you say you bound to shitty made necklaces, and promoting them like theyre some weird kind of cool rad..pet…slave.. product thing? Uh. Mmm. Hmm.

These things usually go for $10 upwards to $100 per individual spirit. Depending on how you view this sorta stuff, at best youre literally buying an imaginary friend, at worst youre basically…enslaving a spirit, i guess? I dont trust that either way lol

[ofwitchesandwolves]

What the fuck did I just read. Are you for real. Why the fuck

[coyotestar]

?????????

I genuinely cant tell if youre offended or are wtfing at what im describing bc the internet kills tone but its the first one we can talk about it

If its the second one then Yeah its very much a super common thing and like every shop looks and acts the exact same...the descriptions are real over the top

[coyotestar]

I checked my degreaser yesterday and Charlotte the wolf is 100% bright ass white, not a single hint of grease. She's only been in for about a week, maybe a week and a half so I'm very leery. With animals the size of fox and bigger, usually more fat is pulled to the surface by this time and the bone is oily.

I guess theres a possibility shes just not as oily as some due to diet or something, im going to pull her soon and put her together but I'll refrain from paraloding her for a while to see if grease pops up

[coyotestar]

Ive seen some weird shit in the witchcraft community before so little phases me anymore. Spirit selling shops however are just. The weirdest for me though and i cant get over them

Talking to spirits? Why not, looks weird to a lot of people but its not hurting anything usually. Selling tarot readings? Sure, theyre entertaining and can help you think about your situation more. Selling spirits you say you bound to shitty made necklaces, and promoting them like theyre some weird kind of cool rad..pet...slave.. product thing? Uh. Mmm. Hmm.

These things usually go for $10 upwards to $100 per individual spirit. Depending on how you view this sorta stuff, at best youre literally buying an imaginary friend, at worst youre basically...enslaving a spirit, i guess? I dont trust that either way lol

[coyotestar]

I never thought I'd have a familiar tbh, spirit communication outside the dead or dieties isn't something I want to play with much and i don't really believe living pets can be familiars (a lot of it seems to just be people humanizing their pets too much)... traditional familiars are suppose to be spirits anyway, either ghosts or fae-like beings not of our ground world that sometimes appear as physical visions of animals

I'm just a little surprised I've had a familiar for about a year or two without realizing it. A lot of people think of them as pets bc the whole humanizing living animal things when its more like...your best friend but on a different plane of existence. They'll do shit for you if asked politely (in this case, spell work stuff, comfort, and protection usually), but they can leave if youre shitty to them, just like any relationship with someone

[coyotestar]

a dream about Anubis

A dark, endless room with a floating wood door, and an absolutely colossus Anpu peering down at me. He appeared as he does in ancient art, stylized wolf head, shimmering deep black skin with lighter palms, dressed in a skirt and bright gold. Holding a long, gold staff as light poured onto him from below, a background of eerie humming that would stop when he talked.

“Why do you wish to work with me?” It felt like he already knew, but wanted to see how I’d respond. I nervously babble about our similarities and how he drew me in when I was young to the large figure. He crouches over me, turning his head right to look at me with one eye, “Then you must consecrate your dead. I understand you have limitations, but try to cleanse one with smoke every day until it is completed. Offer them to me, along with a clove of garlic.” “Garlic?” He didn’t answer

-------

After looking it up, apparently ancient egyptians were the first to grow garlic and the lower class would consume it daily to increase endurance + strength. well then

[camofworms]

As someone who is very interested in collecting bones, I have been trying to figure out why it bothers me that people can just personally own human bones.

When I went to a dentist office they had a real human skull in the room. I asked about it and apparently it was a skull of a 9 year old and the dentist himself owns it. It doesn’t belong to the dentist office, it belonged to that man who got it while traveling to another country. Apparently it is very easy to own human bones. And a lot of the skulls and skeletons in classes and in people’s homes came from other countries. From people who never consented to being in someones apartment or art class. 

In america we get to have the choice to consent to what happens to our bodies after we pass. We fill in a box to consent to be an organ donor. We can choose to donate our bodies to science. In fact, it’s illegal to take the organs or any part of a body unless the person has given permission for it to be done while they were still alive. So why is it so easy to get bones of people who are not american? It really seems like we just view them as less important. Or maybe it’s because family can’t sue us for it. Or maybe they are not even viewed as people.

And yah. They are dead. They are not upset currently about where they are. But we don’t even know who they are. They could have living family or loved ones. They could have had a belief system while they were alive that had specific after death needs.  Our bodies are very useful tools after death. I am an organ donor and I would love to have my skeleton in a science lab for people to learn from. But I sure as hell don’t want my skull in someone’s apartment being dressed up with wigs and glasses. Does no one else find this kind of messed up??

[coyotestar]

I have a lot of similar feelings. I dont care about being dressed up when im skeletonized (we all have different ideas of whats respectful or not- put sunglasses on me hell yea), but the mystery of not knowing who these people were and the reality behind the trade of how these remains end up in american hands I do have problem with. Human bones are absolutely fantastic but the history of how they generally end up being supplied in the US is...awful.

The US has always been desperate for medical specimens, but now we also have more private collectors. It used to be where human bones were sourced primarily from people who were thought to of not 'deserved respect' (criminals) or outright graverobbing.

Graverobbing is still a problem to supply our constant need for medical skeletons. If i remember correctly, modern day supply is primarily sourced from India and Cambodia, and these remains arent....exactly legally sourced. Hell, earlier today I was looking at some history stuff and some dude collected the skeletons of a large death site made up of Apache people and sold them as tourist souvineers in the 1900s in Arizona...and it was legal!

Heres an article on modern day human bone trade in India i read a while ago: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/2007/11/ff-bones/amp

[coyotestar]

Heres what degreasing should generally look like- first is after 7 days of continuous running of my heater and fountain pump, second is after a fresh change. The yellow murkiness is caused by fat being melted out of the bone and saturating the water. Degreasing must be held at a constant, 24/7 115 F temperature (for animals like deer, 120F minimum) for at least two weeks to properly melt the fat for removal