This candle has been brewing in my brain since I visited Artemis’ temple at Brauron in Greece in September 23’. In antiquity, young girls journeyed to the temple, dressed as bears, acting out a ritual scene that ushered them from girlhood to womanhood. Since I first heard Dr. Carla Ionescu talk about what those rituals might have entailed, I haven’t stopped thinking about how monumental a moment this must have been for these girls, and there’s something so powerful and visceral about them pretending to be bears as a rite of passage to adulthood, that I knew that I wanted to pay homage to those little bears when I finally made the candles.

Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, young girls, and dance and song, but she also rules over sudden death, plague and disease. Deer are the animal most often associated with her, but bears, boars, guinea fowl, hunting dogs and buzzard hawks fall under her dominion.

Born on Delos, Artemis is the daughter of Leto and Zeus, and twin sister to Apollo, who she helped deliver only moments after her own birth which is why she is associated with childbirth. As a young girl, she sat upon her father’s knee, asking him to grant to her forever her maidenhood, and he obliged. She thus gains autonomy, something rarely granted to women of antiquity and that women found powerfully drawn to both then and now, and she’s always considered a goddess for women and things related to women.

Her retribution is swift and severe and she does not suffer fools. We may no longer associate her with wrathful vengeance, but her early worshippers did. When Queen Niobe of Thebes bragged about her superiority as a mother to her 14 children, as compared to Leto, Artemis and Apollo flew to their mother’s defense, striking them all down with arrows. In another myth, Artemis turns Prince Actaeon of Thebes into a deer for daring to see her and her nymphs bathe, and sets her hunting dogs on him, tearing him to shreds. Her wrath is always swift and straight as an arrow.

For the herbs for this candle, I chose Uva Ursi (bearberry) to invoke those little girls at Artemis’ temple at Brauron. I added ambrette seeds for their musky animal scent to honor her in her deer aspect. My homegrown lemon balm is here because the first story I ever remember hearing about Artemis was that her priestesses grew lemon balm outside of her temples to attract bees, another animal sacred to her. And my homegrown wormwood is here because we must include an artemisia when we honor her.

This purchase is for one pair of handmade beeswax Artemis candles. They are not scented.

Candle care: Herb dressed candles burn more like a torch than undressed candles. It is normal for the herbs to burn as your candles burn so you’ll need to take a few precautions to ensure candle safety. Before burning, trim the wicks to 1/4 inch. If wicks get longer as your candle burns, you’ll need to re-trim to 1/4 inch. This will help the candle burn efficiently and prevent higher flames. You’ll also want to burn in a saucer style burner to catch any burning herbs or dripping wax from falling on unsafe surfaces. Do not leave burning candles unattended and keep away from flammable materials, loose clothing, animals, and children.