Holly Botanic

🎄🎁 OUR COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS HAMPER IS FINALLY HERE! 🎁🎄

And it's worth WELL OVER £250! 😍

Just look at all these gorgeous goodies… and there's still MORE to be added!

For anyone who doesn't know, each year I visit our lovely local shops, independent businesses and talented makers, personally purchasing all the goodies to put together our community hamper.

The idea is simple: support local, give back and bring our community together! ❤️

Every penny raised goes straight back into our local community! No money goes to me or Blossoms Wellness. It's all about supporting our wonderful small businesses.

🎟️ HOW TO ENTER

🌿 At Blossoms Wellness – Grab your raffle tickets when attending a class or event.

🎄 At our Christmas Craft Fair – Sunday 15th November!

Even better, EVERY purchase from one of our lovely stallholders earns you a FREE raffle ticket!

💷 Raffle tickets are CASH ONLY, so all the money raised can go straight back into supporting local businesses.

❤️ THIS YEAR'S LOVELY LOCAL BUSINESSES

We've chosen some wonderful small businesses to feature in this year's hamper:

Lyme Bay Winery, Ria's Scent Lab ,Acorn Gift Shop, Millers Farm Shop The Pink Independent shop in Lyme Regis 🩷Vivienne Littley, Stephanie and Tony, Crema the Crop Coffee Roastery, Archway Bookshop, Nicole Revy ,The Old Forge Fossil Shop, Kate, The Charm Bar, Mina Fountain, Kate Hilder

Winner called Wednesday 2nd December.

Thank you for helping us support our amazing local community.

Shop local. Support small. Give back. ❤️

Tonight, in the old language of the Highlands and Islands, is Oidhche Shamhna. 🕯️

Oidhche means night, and Shamhna comes from Samhainn, the great festival that fell on 1 November. To this day the Gaelic name for the month of November is an t-Samhain. The word is often said to mean summer's end, though scholars still argue over where it truly comes from. What nobody argues about is what the night meant. For the Gaels it was the hinge of the year, the moment the light half gave way to the dark half, when the cattle were home, the harvest was in, and the long nights began.

It was believed to be a thin night, when the world of the living and the world of the unseen lay close together. So families drew in around the fire. The old folk told the stories that only came out on Oidhche Shamhna, of the sìthichean, of wandering lights on the moor, of a neighbour who once met something on the road home and was never quite the same. Children sat as close to the hearth as the heat allowed. 🔥

There was fun in it too. A bowl of fuarag, cream whipped with toasted oatmeal, was made for the night, and small tokens were hidden inside it. Whoever found the coin would have money, the ring meant a wedding before long, the button meant losing what you had, and the thimble meant no sweetheart that year. Spoons went in carefully, and every find was greeted with shrieks of laughter.

Historic Environment Scotland still offers the old greeting for the night, Oidhche Shamhna sona dhuibh uile, a happy Halloween to you all. 🍂

Somewhere behind every costume and every candle in a window tonight is a Gaelic family at a peat fire, listening to a grandmother's voice in the dark. If someone in your family still told the old stories at Halloween, which one do you remember best?

Samhain: When the Veil Grows Thin

There comes a night
when the world grows quiet,
when the earth slips gently into winter
and darkness settles softly across the land

Samhain.
The turning of the wheel.
The sacred threshold
between this world and the next.

And somewhere,
in the stillness between worlds,
we remember.

Those whose presence we sometimes feel
in the whisper of the wind,
the flicker of a candle,
or in a memory rising from somewhere deep within.

And so, as the veil grows thin,
our hearts turn towards
our departed loved ones.

We light a candle.
We remember them.
We speak their names.
We honour them.

~ 'Samhain: When the Veil Grows Thin' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Image Unknown, via Pinterest

15% off!

Fight sniffles, coughs and sneezes with 15% off everything in our Immune System category until Friday 16th October.

Use discount code: SUPPORT

https://bit.ly/4yicvds

Ali (Loe?) - You've sent me a couple of emails about balms. I've tried replying but your email address is wrong. Please try again or contact me on WhatsApp at 07562918884.

Summer Essentials!

If the Holly Botanic UV Protect Lip Balm and Roll-On Oil Insect Repellent aren't currently in your possession...then why not!?

Not only will they easily fit in a pocket or bag to be applied when needed they are natural, vegan-friendly and cruelty-free!

Keep pesky insects away, soothe bites and stings and protect your lips from UV. ☀️🦟

The Weekend Whimsy Hunt has begun.

Find any 8 before Monday.

Photos are encouraged.
Stories are encouraged.
Rock introductions are strongly encouraged.

🤎

If you're struggling to (especially with the 🥵) try a spritz of our brand new Sleep Mist 😴 Beautiful natural aromas of lavender, bergamot, cedarwood, rosewood and sweet marjoram soothe and calm and send you off into peaceful, restful sleep.
💚
Spritz your bedroom, pillow, PJs, partner (if willing), breathe in and relax...

Quality Supplements For Less!

Until Sunday we are offering 15% off all vitamins and minerals when you use discount code VM15

View the category here
https://www.supplementplace.co.uk/vitamins-and-minerals/