Sunshine body oil

by Ritual Mischief

$6.00

We made this body oil for gray winter days when we're missing the sunshine--a common occurrence here during our Pacific Northwest winters. Made seasonally and in small batches with herbs, flowers, plants, and trees we know personally, on land we know and love, and with the help of people we love and trust. This means our body oils are often not available year-round. We don’t overtax the plants here and never take more than offered. Currently available in a wide, 1-ounce, roll-on size only so that we can also offer in-person refills at reduced prices to people who stop by to visit the trees, dogs, cats, us, and/or the studios here in person. 

You have a choice when you order this oil--you can choose to receive it with or without the St Johns wort and motherwort infused oils. The base oil is a blend of local calendula, dandelion flower, chamomile, and cottonwood buds infused into organic olive oil. The St Johns wort and motherwort infused into olive oils can be added--for those who know themselves, their medications (and have talked to their doctors to ensure these infused oils are safe for them), and these plants well enough to know that they're safe for them. 

Read this Medical Disclaimer in full before you buy or use this oil! The oil with St Johns wort and motherwort infused oils was formulated for adults, not children. If you are allergic to aspirin, your body may not love the cottonwood buds in this oil. If you are taking prescription drugs of any kind, pregnant, breastfeeding, or have a chronic disease, condition, or allergies, talk to your doctor, nurse practitioner, naturopathic physician, and/or clinical herbalist FIRST--especially before using the St Johns wort and motherwort infused oils--as you may be advised against using St John's wort or motherwort infused oils, depending on your existing condition(s). The primary ingredients in this Sunshine oil are local calendula, dandelion flower, and chamomile infused olive oils with a smaller amount of cottonwood bud infused olive oil (and much smaller amounts of St. John's wort and motherwort infused olive oils if you choose that option). Visit the Medical Disclaimer page of this website for more details.

Suggestions for use: On occaisional gray winter days when you're missing the sunshine, roll a little oil into your palms, rub them together, inhale deeply, and then rub the oil into your arms, or neck, or shoulders. As you rub the oil in, imagine the plants in the oil hugging your body and shifting the tension or darkness that you're holding. Consider going for a walk afterward. Consider sharing how you're feeling on gray days with a trusted friend, family member, community member, tree, or forest. Go visit a friend in person if possible, or text or call them, when too-gray days are getting you down. Human friends make too-gray days sunnier too.

My relationship with this land, these plants, and ancestors offers me these things: Sunny calendula, dandelion flowers, chamomile flowers (and occaisional small amounts St John's wort infused oil) support my skin in feeling good and my emotional self in feeling sunnier, more relaxed, and more present. Dandelion flowers and cottonwood buds really draw out Kid Me. Kid Me was/is awesome! Kid Me loves to move and explore and wonder-while-moving, so I often find that I want to go for a walk after using this oil. Motherwort supports me in feeling welcome and wanted on earth just as I am, like my mother, sister, aunts, and other amazing women do. Cottonwood bud infused oil also smells great, protects my skin, and offers some pain relief (it also helps preserve the infused oil itself so the oil lasts longer). Wild St Johns wort--the brilliant healer--is considered a class 3 noxious weed in Washington state where I live. Seed sellers won't even ship seeds here. So finding, using, and loving it makes me feel like a bad ass, too. I recently used it for nerve pain--wow, what a champ! These plants may offer you similar experiences, or different ones--that is the nature of relationships with the living. I'm certain that one of the reasons this oil works so well for me in dark-gray mid-to-late winter is that I naturally conjure images of the bright and sunny orange, yellow, and white flowers, sticky red cottonwood buds, and yellow and red infused oils in my head as I use this oil. This ignites sunshine from within me! So if you don't know what these flowers and plants look like, find a book, garden, trail, or website and gaze upon these wonderful and beautiful beings. Plant them or visit them in person when possible! You'll be in great company!

Why olive oil? And tips for using olive oil as a body oil...

  • Care for planet, trees, and people. I use organic olive oil because of its long history of loving humans/safe use with people and also this oil's well-established supply chains, which tend to be better for planet, trees, and people than most other oils used for body care today.
  • Love. I love this oil, and the trees it comes from, and the people who devote their lives to its creation--people across many nation-state borders, beliefs, and persuasions.
  • With olive oil, you cannot rush. This oil takes its own sweet time with human skin. It doesn't disappear immediately. Rushing doesn't work. You may have to rub it into your muscles and skin for a longer period of time than you think you have time for. This slowing down to the oil's pace may feel slow or self-indulgent, especially if you were raised not to center your body or punished for listening to and supporting your own body in the past. If you do rush, you'll likely end up with oil on your clothing, bedding, and/or furniture. Here, depending on how we're using the oil with, we may change into old t-shirts or lay on old towels that we don't mind staining a bit with oil. Or rub it into feet outside and walk around in the grass for a while. Sometimes I'll rub oil into my feet and then put an old pair of socks on and read a book or go to bed. Please take your time, rub the oil in thoroughly. I practice welcoming the idea that this long-loved oil from wise old trees knows that we are worth the extra time, even when we (or other humans) don't. And, if you do rush and end up with oil on valuable clothing, bedding, or furniture, clean them thoroughly as soon as you can so the oil doesn't set and stain. Unless stains don't bother you: if that's the case, go wild! ;-) 

Ingredients: Whidbey grown (at Ritual Mischief) calendula and chamomile; ethically wild gathered dandelion flowers (from trusted well-known and loved Whidbey fields and forest edges) and local windfall black cottonwood buds (from Mountain Tree Farm in Arlington, our neighbors' trees here on Whidbey) infused into organic extra virgin olive oil. If you choose the option with St John's wort and motherwort, then these infused oils (plants infused in olive oil for 6 to 9 weeks) will be included too. We grow motherwort here at Ritual Mischief, and we ethically gather wild St John's wort in the summer on Whidbey from trusted fields and from along trusted walking paths.

Storage & life of the product: Store your bottle in a cool, dry, dark place where direct sunlight never touches the bottle. We suggest using the body oil within 18 months of purchase, because the only preservative is the nature of the plants (especially the cottonwood buds) themselves. Your oil may last longer than that, too, but if at any point it doesn't smell as good or starts to look different, stop using it. Also, we've learned that plant-infused oils have minds of their own. They may ooze a little bit (oozing is part of their nature and charm), and you may find that a tiny bit of oil pools under the bottle itself, so we recommend storing the bottle on a hard surface--like stone or metal or glass--that you don't mind getting a teeny bit of oil on. 

Packaging: This oil comes in 1-ounce reusable, clear glass bottle with wide metal roller ball applicator. See the Packaging page of this website for more details. 

Refills: If you live on, or visit, Whidbey Island, we will refill these bottles for you for $5 (for 1 oz) here at Ritual Mischief. Some of the expense of making them is in the special apothecary bottles, the expensive shipping to get the glass bottles here, and in the oil-resistant labels that, as it turns out, are really damn pricey. Hugs (and yay!) to anyone willing to reuse their bottles!

Shipping & Pick Up

We ship via U.S. Postal Service. Viva la public services! Whidbey Island friends & friends visiting Whidbey, save on shipping by picking up orders at Ritual Mischief on the west edge of Langley. Choose the Pick up delivery method at checkout if you intend to pick up your order, and we'll email or text you when it's ready and then arrange a convenient pick up time for you.

Refunds

If you order a product that doesn't work you, we will refund your money for up to 15 days after you received it. Proof of purchase required.

Digital products

Activity books and other digital content are available immediately after purchase.