Dried Bay Leaves Whole (52USA, 2oz)

Sinderella's note

Dried bay leaves, my child — the old practice is this: you write what you're *building* on the leaf, not what you're losing. The burning is a declaration, not a release. The solstice is peak power. Saint John's Eve is the old bonfire night. Write the word. Hold the leaf in the candle flame over the abalone shell. *Madonn'.* Simple. Saint Joseph for the thing you're building in it.

The long version

Bay leaf burning is one of the oldest written-and-burned folk practices still in active use — you'll find it in Italian folk magic, Hoodoo, Brujería, and every Mediterranean folk Catholic tradition that ever stood around a fire and meant something by it. The practice is simple: take a dried bay leaf, write a single word or short phrase on it with a pen (the word for what you're *calling in,* not what you're banishing — that's different work), hold the leaf by the stem over an abalone shell, and let the candle flame catch the tip. Let it burn completely. The smoke carries the declaration. Sinderella does this twice a year: Summer Solstice morning and Saint John's Eve (June 23, the vigil before the Baptist's feast on June 24). Both are *building* occasions, not releasing ones. Save the release work for the full moon. The summer fire is for declaration, commitment, what you're willing to put into the full light and be *held to.* The culinary bay leaves sold in bulk — Frontier Co-Op organic, McCormick whole bay — are exactly right. Big, flat, hold the ink, burn clean. Do not use fresh bay leaves; they don't ignite properly and the smoke goes acrid. One leaf per intention. If you have more than one thing to declare, burn them one at a time. Let each one finish before the next. Keep the unused leaves in a glass jar on the kitchen shelf or the altar — they're protective between burnings. The dry herb has been used for protection against evil in Italian folk Catholic households since your great-grandmother's grandmother. A few leaves tucked in a corner drawer. A sprig behind the door. It works both ways: declaration when burned, protection when kept. Saint John the Baptist for the fire. Saint Joseph for what you're building in it. The Atlantic Ocean for the thing you're finally ready to say out loud.