Freya Bath Salts
by Galina Krasskova
One of the things that I
early on learned in my worship of Freya was that it’s OK to celebrate our
physicality, to rejoice in the blessings of incarnation (which can be annoying,
inconvenient, and messy but rich in blessings too). Sometimes that’s best done
in small, seemingly insignificant ways. It all adds up after all. I first came
to truly worship Freya through interacting with others who had a deep devotion
to Her. In fact, one of the first offerings I ever made to Freya involved
creating the following bath salts (from my own recipe) and sending them to a
devotee of Freya for ritual use. While not the first interactions that
I’d had with this Goddess, it was the first time that I called on Her, prayed
to Her, poured out offerings (of Goldschlager liquor, for those interested) and
felt any sort of connection to Her mysteries. I wanted to create something nice
for my friend (and I knew she loved pampering herself with bath salts and
whatnot) and asked for Freya’s blessings. For those who might be interested,
here is the recipe that I used:
(The “measurements” are approximate. Feel free to adapt to your own taste).
Base:
1 cup of Epsom salt
1/2 cup of kosher salt or (preferably) pink Himalayan salt
½ cup of baking soda
¼ cup of sweet almond oil (for the skin, to keep the salts from being too
harsh)
To this base add the following:
4 parts of damiana
2 parts rue
1 part raspberry leaf
½ part mint (I like to use chocolate mint)
1 part rose petals (optional)
1 part honey powder
15 drops Jasmine oil
1 or 2 tablespoons ground coffee (it’s really good for the skin believe it or
not)
10 drops lily of the valley or honeysuckle oil (I believe I used honeysuckle
oil for the first batch, and lily of the valley for the second. Try them both
for yourself and decide what you like best).
2 tablespoons ground amber (I took large pieces of amber, hammered them down
into smaller chunks, put it in a mortar and pestle and ground it down to
powder. It took awhile).
Mix it all up thoroughly. You can grind it up if you want a finger grain to the
salts. If I were doing these again, I’d probably add two tablespoons of gold
glitter (I’ve seen bath bombs that incorporated glitter and it’s kind of cool.
It adorns the skin long after the bath and that adornment, that sense of
valuing oneself and one’s embodiment, that simple celebration of beauty and
physicality is something I associate with Freya’s lessons).
I sent this to my friend with incense that I also associated with Freya (sadly,
I’ve been unable to find that recipe) and a red candle. I told her to use the
salts as a cleansing bath: prepare a bath, make an offering to Freya of the
incense and whatever else she wanted to offer, light the candle and soak in the
tub. Afterwards, she was to adorn herself in clothing and jewelry that made her
feel beautiful. One of Freya’s lessons is about valuing oneself, knowing one’s
personal work, and recognizing one’s personal power, beauty, and holiness.
Anything that helps the average woman do that, imo, is a good and holy
thing. Hail Freya!
Artwork by Carina Saxtorph.