Witches Box – Ancient Egypt
On my blog, I like to share things with you, that I enjoyed very much or feel the need to recommend to you. Sometimes I also like to try out stuff, to find out if it’s actually worth buying or not, so you don’t have to 😉 The Box I want to present to you today is one of these things, which almost sounds too good to be true and is also quite expensive compared to other mystery-like boxes that I have reviewed here. It’s called Witches Box 3 and is part of a seasonal mystery Box series by the Etsy Shop Zwinkerglanz, which next to doing boxes as this one specialises in self-made jewellery and witchy decoration and the box cost 79€. In the end, I actually paid 20€ more, but it was only for one item especially made for me and I will let you know what it was, so you know what exactly was part of the box before. Let’s take a look at it together!
Before I tell you about the items, let me tell you a bit more about the idea behind this box. It does cater to people who actually are part of the witch culture, but also to people who just love the witchy atheistic and I would say personally I am somewhat in between those two, so it was kinda perfect for me 😉 You actually don’t get to see which items are in the box before they arrive, because the owner of the Shop has to prepare those items right before shipping. But if you do want to know what things are inside you get a beautifully made listing, it’s actually quite the long list which includes 11 items in total. Amongst them are different kinds of jewellery like a chocker and wristbands, decoration like an agate disc, an alter display and a flower-themed fabric fan, but also ritual based things like a small jar of incense, a set of tin jugs and more and more. Just looking at the number of items it quickly becomes obvious where the pricing is coming from. Since there are so many, I tried to sort them into 3 categories.
Jewellery
The mystery Ankh box…
One of the first things I got in the box was a smaller wooden box handpainted in gold with a black ankh in the middle. Technically that would be an item in and of itself, but it also contained two long bands made out of pearls, which can be worn both as necklaces or wristbands. The pearls are made out of a material that is not something I like to wear, my long hair gets caught up in it quick, but maybe I can still use it as decoration 🙂
A chocker with the eye of Horus…
The chocker is made out of a black velvet-like band with a charm that looks like the eye of Horus symbol from the ancient Egyptian culture or better Egyptian mythology. It’s also known as the Udjat eye, which supposedly was helping the god Horus win a fight against one of the evil powers from ancient stories the god Set and thus is often connected to properties such as luck, protection and healing. So it’s a great choice for something to wear I think and it does also look very cool. My only problem is a very individual one, which I should have considered earlier, so it’s totally my fault not the fault of the shop owner! For me personally, the black band is just too short to actually wear the chocker in a comfortable way around my neck. So I might end up just hanging it somewhere as decoration^^
A wristband with a scarab…
The scarab is a symbol of rebirth, which is also very nicely explained in one of the sheets of this box. It’s connected to real dung beetles(aka scarabs) who roll a ball of dung containing their eggs around to protect them. And when the eggs are old enough, newborn dung beetles will emerge, for the people in ancient Egypt that was a sign of rebirth. But it’s also connected to an Egyptian myth about the god Chepri rolling the sun around the horizon to make it rise up again every morning. Because the sun was and is so important to life and development on earth, the scarab is often used as a lucky charm and this is a great companion to the Udjat eye choker 😉
A handmade upper arm bracelet made to look like a snake…
As you can see in this picture it’s made out of a thicker wire to wrap around your arm, which ends in either one long or two short snakes depending on how you look at it. Again it’s something that does not really suit me, at least in the size which it is in if you don’t start bending the material, which I have not yet tried out. I can wear it on my forearm, but because it’s almost black it kinda vanished in between my black tattoos, so for now my husband is wearing it 😉 It does look quite cool, and I don’t know about material costs and everything, but I think it might have even looked a bit cooler, more special and more “Egyptian” to me if it would have been made to look golden. But that’s just a personal view of mine^^
Decoration
One big agate disc…
The agate disc is really fitting to the Egyptian theme, because of the colour scheme, it reminds me and also the shop owner herself(as stated on another explanation sheet) of the desert sand and general geography of the home of the pyramids 😉 She also stated that the stone is as natural as possible, only cut up and polished with oil, which I do find quite interesting. Since to be honest, I mostly thought you need to use some kind of chemical to make stones shine like that, but I am positively surprised! Agate stones are said to boost self-confidence, sharpen communication skills and support health and good dreams 🙂 So I will definitely try and put the disc up in my bedroom! Especially when the sun is shining through it looks mesmerizing.
A handmade bookmark with cartouche pearls…
There has been a lot of thought gone into designing this special bookmark and I really want to share that with you. At first, it’s made to look golden, because as I mentioned before golden is something often associated with Egypt even though same as today, not everybody was able to afford it. The so-called Cartouches were used to put the name of pharaohs onto graves, paintings and visual stories in general, the names on the two which are part of the bookmark are made up though 😉 Connecting the two is an infinity symbol because infinity was very important to the idea the people had back then about life, death and everything in between. Unlike in Buddism where rebirth is a big part of their religion, back in the day, the Egyptian people thought that there was a life after death for which they had to prepare in many different ways, so this symbol is referring to that. Last but not least the flower is the lotus blossom which seemingly was the crest flower of the northern part of Egypt. I really love how everything looks together and I am looking forward to seeing it hang from my books 😉
A flowerthemed farbic fan…
The biggest connection to Egypt with this item is probably the heat. And with German summers getting hotter and hotter every year, this seems to be a good accessory to have in my bag! I do love the design, but I don’t know how durable the thin wooden plates are. Guess I will find out within the next few months 😉
A bag with an Egypt design…
This item does look a bit like something you would have gotten as a souvenir from Egypt, but I don’t think that has to be a bad thing! I actually like the very typical design depicting two gods and it has the perfect size to either keep some healing crystals with you or maybe put your money away in a stylish way^^ It must be one of the Items I was looking forward to the most and I am pleasantly surprised to hold it in my hands. It’s bigger than I thought and I really appreciate getting some healing crystals with it(which would not have been included normally, but the owner knew that I wanted to use the bag to carry some^^)! The design is sewn into both the back and the front and on the zipper, there is a little protection against the evil eye, which I do find very fitting to the theme overall 🙂
Rituals Items
A set of tin jugs…
As the owner explains yet again, water was always very important in a dry country such as Egypt so it became almost holy in a way. This is why jugs full of water were something very promising and also the reason why the owner might have included those. They can be used for rituals where pouring water is involved but of course, they can also just be some nice decoration for around the house 😉
A jar filled with silver incense and one with gold tinsel(flakes)…
These ritual based items connect many things from ancient Egypt with another: Incense which was seen as the fragrance of the gods, Silver as a very rare but sought after material and gold as the sign of infinity and the divine since it never loses its shine. Even though it’s not real gold, it does like pretty similar 😉 In the explanations sheets, the owner gives some ideas of which rituals or for which spells those items can be used. Nothing which I personally am confident with right now, but maybe I can use it someday in the future^^
A self-cast altar display with ankh…
The display is made out of plaster and it’s supposed to be painted, which I did kinda expect after browsing through the Etsy store before buying the box. If I would not have thought, I think I might have expected something different, something more “finished”. I just feel like the ankh symbol does not really come through with all the other great details when it’s all this chalk white. Sadly colouring in things is really not my speciality I just don’t have enough patience for that xD I know that if you would buy a plaster cast like that in her shop, it would come with the possibility of the owner painting it for me, which I would have liked to have here too honestly. I am a bit sad that it was not stated as an option in the description of the box. But the cast itself is very detailed and beautiful, just not an activity for me personally.
Explanation Sheet and Story…
I tried to include some of the many times when the owner used the sheets to explain why she included an item or its connection to ancient Egypt itself. She also included some fun facts and interesting knowledge, some of which were even a bit unknown to me and I was fascinated with ancient Egypt even before receiving this box! The story she included actually revolved less around magic and more around love, which did throw me off a bit because I was expecting something different, but it was still a pleasant read and we also get some other nice reading recommendations which I will definitely take a look into in the future! All of the sheets also have been designed in a beautiful way, with a frame and different illustrations.
Personalised agate Cartouche necklace…
Last but not least, let me tell you why I actually paid more for the box than originally intended. The box is basically a kind of recommendation of items you might like following a specific theme, but if there is something you don’t want to get because you already own it or it does not interest you as much, you can get it exchanged for something else. I asked for two long Candles to be removed since long-term I can’t really use candles for much, since I am not allowed to lite them in my apartment in Hamburg. We thought about what I wanted to exchange it for and in the end, there were two items that REALLY interested me from her shop. One was a small bag with an intricate design and the other one was a necklace made out of crystals in a way that I had never seen before. Long story short: I got both and needed to pay extra for the necklace 😛 But it was worth it! The necklace was even designed specifically after my idea to make it look like a Cartouche from ancient Egypt, which I absolutely love <3 So technically it could have been part of the box and it would have even fit the theme, but it’s not in there normally. Whereas the small bag was actually a surprise extra for the first people who got the box and I managed to get the last one. If you would get the OG Box, instead of both of these items you would get two long red and gold candles with a sun and a moon on them.
Final Verdict
Actually, I got my mind blown by this box, because it can barely be compared to anything which I have ever gotten for myself. Of course, the mystery element feels familiar, but the sheer amount of stuff, the love and care that went not only into making but also packaging the items and the very nice chats I had with the Etsy owner, made this into a very special experience for me. The Jewelry she made feels special, some items seem really unique to me and the explanations, further instructions and extra knowledge that she provided makes getting this box a vital recommendation for me if you are interested in learning something about a new topic(ancient Egypt in this case) and getting a variety of things connected to it.
Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress