Selling Sorcery: How do you price it?

So there I was, talking to Linda over a kitchen table loaded down with the nine oils, the Dragonsblood tincture and Hyssop extract, and the live dill ( a sprig for each little bottle) needed for my new Protection Oil, which I'm bottling for sale at PPD along with the Wellness Oil previously mentioned. See the small plastic box in the photo? That's full of bottles of Protection Oil.

None of the bottles are new; all are found or bought old and recycled. Many of the corks are new, and some of the old corks had to be drilled and sanded out. The largest one is two ounces, the smallest about 9 ml. I was looking at a tube about midway between the two sizes and thinking I'd sell it for $7 or $8 — and Linda said that was too cheap. "How do you price it, then?" I asked. Her phone rang. The discussion ended. I still don't know for sure, but maybe a DIY cost comparison is in order.

If you wanted to make two ounces of this oil you'd have to buy (or already have) each of the nine essential oils — Petitgrain and Black Pepper (both nowhere on local niche stores' shelves, so I ordered them online); Jasmine absolute, which is $24 for a 10ml bottle; and Sandalwood, Patchouli, Cedarwood, Juniper Berry, Cypress, and Geranium, at an average of $11 a bottle. You'd have to have or make some Dragonsblood tincture; it's sold only in solid chunks, and you have to smash it up and figure out the solvents. You'd have to have some Hyssop extract on hand; it's not uncommon, but what are you going to use the rest of the bottle for? And you'd need a sprig of fresh dill and a nifty antique bottle; fresh live organic dill is sold in $6.49 packages with about a hundred sprigs (I made 20 bottles total), and cool old bottles run around $3 to $9 — more, if they're really pretty or rare.

Then there's the labor: I bathed ritually, dressed up in my casual witchy robe, put on makeup and did my hair, brushed my teeth with tea tree oil toothpaste and mouthwash, even did my eyes before beginning the ritual to make this oil. I won't count that, because the labor being prepared for was for love.

When I woke up this morning and smelled the result of adding enough olive oil to fill my pottery oils chalice, I doubled the ingredients — did the spell again — then carefully placed dill sprigs in each bottle before filling them (using a clean hypodermic syringe, no needle). And I still have to print and attach the ingredient cards with gold cord!

So here's my price, which I will be happy to justify to the incredulous: the smallest bottle will be priced at $7, the largest at $40. Of course, anyone who needs two ounces of protection oil — which is used pretty much solely to anoint windowsills and thresholds — will probably be a professional home cleanser and thus well able to make his or her own oils, so I'll probably be bringing that one back home to keep as stock. Then again, maybe he or she will appreciate the convenience!

What would you think to pay for the ingredients of sympathetic magick? How much would you think feathers (for a wind-calming spell), empty wasp nests (for getting rid of harassing pests and nuisances), big bird bones (for fast flight away from troubling persons and situations), or powdered cow horn (so someone will "blow your own horn" appropriately) would cost? I'm telling you, this business of selling sorcery and sorcery accessories isn't nearly as easy as giving them away!

I haven't even started trying to price the staff lengths or the wonderful matched antler sheds (for Stag King crowns) or the marvelous twisty Barbados sheep horns. Miserere!

North Texas Pagan Pride Day 2008

Woohoo! PPD is only 11 days away. (See http://ntxppd.org ) I am going to be a vendor there — first time anywhere, and first pagan fair!

The universe has provided me with a marvelous, experienced pagan mentor for vending, Linda Hall — who is also the person responsible for getting us two "pop-up" tents, which I understand are a vendor's dream. She's bringing some gorgeous batik hangings and sarongs. (The sarongs have another name in the Caribbean; thanks to my friend, Margaret, I remember now that it's called a pareu or pareo.)

I'm bringing my famous herbal oils — "Wellness" oil, excellent for massage and for rubbing on owwies, bull-nettle and insect stings and spider bites, and the skin over unwell body parts, and for a wonderfully renewing bath. (I call it healing oil when I give it away, but I have a feeling the FDA or the FCC would get upset and make me put disclaimers on the labels of any bottles for sale.) This oil is presented in highly ornamental big bottles with a story/ingredient card attached.

I'll also be offering some Pagan Security Devices: Protection Oil, for windowsills and thresholds, in pretty corked, antique and unusual small bottles; freshly made organic sage smudge sticks; sticks of fresh organic rosemary; pentacles and maybe baguas for the porch and front door; and some big huge (sterilized) bones with big teeth marks to place on doorsteps and porches as thief deterrents — that is, if Bubba and Khan don't chew through the steel cables tying them to the porch and take them away for burial. (Mo suggested making a huge, heavy paw imprinter for the yard ... maybe next year!)

I'll be bringing some handmade witchy ornaments and accessories, some staff lengths, reclaimed and recycled antlers and horns (NOTE: no animals were harmed so I could offer them) for do-it-yourselfers, bundles of feathers, and a few wonderful Feng Shui remedies. If I can convince Mo to gather and work them, I may be bringing long willow and grapevine braids, suitable for wands and staves or wreaths, respectively. (I'll put up a photo of my own staff as soon as I finish attaching the willow braid and crystal to it.)

I will be proudly offering a polymer clay product that Mo invented, Patriotic Pagan pins: They feature the sacred spiral in red, white and blue, and some feature tiny Swarovski crystals. And if my buddy Leslie obliges with the design in time, I'll even be offering "Goddess Bless Our Troops" vehicle "ribbon" stickers!

I will also, in accordance with the Bright * Green * Light theme of this year's PPD, be offering an extremely "green", sun-charged lighting product, Lunabrite. (See www.lunabrite.com ) It comes in blue and green and I'll be offering it by the foot, cut to the desired length, or in precut necklace/collar/bracelet lengths. The company is sending me several coils, and I will also be taking orders for bulk quantities.

BEST of all, though, I'll be bringing high-quality prints of three Thick Air(C) images and of the "Tranquil Cats" photo seen earlier in this blog. If you want to be sure you get one, please let me know which images you want, whether you want them mounted or rolled, and about what size you want them. I'll let you know the price by return e-mail. If it's not too windy, I'll be offering smoke divination — and you can take your reading/image home.

Look for the beautiful double tent with the gorgeous tall young pagans (Mo's oldest grandson, Rusty, and one of my granddaughters, Angel), probably in costume, somewhere near it. I'm so excited!