PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com

In Which Our Intrepid Blogger Considers Buying a Human Bone, But Doesn't

“Maxilas and Mandibles.” That was the name of the bone store.

I'm visiting a friend in NYC. “You've got to see this one,” he says, so we go.

The store is long and narrow as a coffin. The bones are beautiful.

“Do you have any human bones?” I ask. It would be cool to have a femur to beat the drum with at Samhain, right?

Right?

Femur in hands, I kneel down on the floor. This was, after all, part of someone's body once. Always ask before you take.

Something's wrong. My heart is pounding, the sweat is pouring off of me. “Where is this from?” I can barely manage to get the words out.

“India, I think,” says the clerk.

Gods. Who knows what the story here is? I rise. I don't want this thing. I don't want it in my house; I don't want it in my city.

As Halloween and the Day of the Dead approach, I see more and more skulls both cheery and eerie decorating homes and businesses. This year I have seen them in greater abundance than in previous years. This may be true or it may be that I am taking better note of them. To be truthful, I have some skulls that are decor and some that are altar pieces that grace our home year round. Last night I took a crystal skull out of one of our cabinets and sat it on the table, and took a contemplative ramble.

Bones

In the old days bones and animal parts were used widely for magical purposes.  People were hunters they used all the parts of an animal primarily for food and warmth, and the bones for magic.