Welcome to the companion course for Bones & Honey: A Heathen Prayer Book. This is a peculiar bundle of practices and rituals for naming, tending to, and wedding the inner uncivilized one.

This course is entirely self-paced. You are invited to move through it all in a day or take as long as you need. The lessons are cumulative, so please do move through them in order when you are ready to begin. 

Please note the recommended materials for each lesson.

Lesson I: Our Guiding Story

Recommended Materials: A candle, a journal, and a writing utensil

When you’re ready, light a candle in honor of your inner uncivilized self, then listen to our guiding story, “The White Wolf and the Wildflowers,” here (about 25 minutes): https://www.dropbox.com/s/azq5484kb8nyqdm/WolfKingStory.m4a?dl=0

When you’re finished listening, notice what feel like the “missing pieces” of the story and turn them into questions. You might ask: How did the wolf know about the wildflower crown, or why did the Queen Mother treat her daughter that way? The questions you name will be unique to you, of course. Name these questions, whether you have just one or many.

Just like when you have a telling dream, sometimes the missing pieces are more potent than the dream itself. Look to the questions you’ve named, and now ask: Why are these my questions? How are these the very questions I am living right now?

Lesson II: The Wolf King’s Oracle

Recommended Materials: A pack of blank index cards or 13 pieces of paper cut to approximately 3x5 inches, any art materials you desire

When you’re ready, create your oracle deck while listening to our next lesson here (about 16 minutes):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mpy8gx0ckr91rkd/WolfKingOracle.m4a?dl=0

Feel free to practice with your deck by asking questions as you would any other oracle deck. Notice the cards that repeat, the ones you seem to pull very frequently. Why would this be?

Lesson III: Dreaming the Wolf-King’s Wheel

Materials: A large piece of paper and writing utensil 

When you are ready, move through this discernment ritual by listening to the lesson here (about 25 minutes): https://www.dropbox.com/s/6rn9k56dxaxp3sd/DreamingWheelWolfKing.m4a?dl=0

Feel free to write strange poetry out of the words and phrases you circled for each direction. Create chants and oracular songs. Sing them in the four directions.

Lesson IV: Your Wedding Night

Materials: Your oracle deck from Lesson II and your “Dreaming the Wheel” paper from Lesson III, a journal, a writing utensil

When you’re ready, listen to the short lesson here (about 6 minutes): https://www.dropbox.com/s/ygi8s4ru2dgab7i/VowWritingWolfKing.m4a?dl=0

Choose your wedding date now. When will you move through the ceremony?

Lesson V: The Wild Wedding

Materials: A piece of fabric or clothing that represents your “unburnable pelt,” your vows from Lesson IV, any music you’d like to be playing while you wed the wild self.

When you’re ready, move through the ceremony here (about 9 minutes): https://www.dropbox.com/s/hq5xej4k4k96jm5/CeremonyWolfKing.m4a?dl=0

Celebrate the ritual in whatever way you see fit. Howl your new name at midnight. Run through the haunted borderlands and talk to the moon. Gather your wildflowers. Harvest the hidden treasure-seeds. 

And so it is.