How Bees Hold Sacred Time / Alysia Mazzella

Today I am joined by Alysia Mazzella --  a traditional beeswax candlemaker and the author of Fourfold the Oracle, an oracle deck she created based on natural cycles of four. She is also the co-founder of Backland Gardens a project in upstate New York focusing on skill shares, education + self-sustainability.

WE DISCUSS /
*How she got into candle making -- a process that grew from a personal practice, honoring sacred time + a desire to be as close to nature as possible
*A historical narrative on human relating with bees and honey
*How bees model working relationships for social sustainability
*How having a livelihood directly related to bees orients her relationship to value and work
*Finding ethical, respectful, reciprocal ways of working with nature
*How bees teach her how to run her business
*Why local economy + purchasing from people you know is important for sustainability
*The benefits of beeswax candles compared to candles from other materials
*Why buying soy candles is supporting climate change
*Alysia’s personal practices with candles to hold sacred time
*The special spectrum of light from beeswax candles + how it interacts with our bodies

LINKS /
Support the Podcast on Patreon + get monthly video astro forecasts
Sign up for this month's group healing circle -- last one of 2020
Sign up for FREE Moon Webinar happening on 11/23
home.body GIFT CERTIFICATES: for astrology, spirit healing + guidance sessions
Mary Grace's website
Mary Grace's IG
/ /
Alysia's website: Use code MARYGRACE to get a discount
Alysia's IG
Mapping our Roles in Social Change Ecosystems (.pdf)
Honeyland documentary. Watch on Hulu.
Rotten: episode on fraudulent honey importation . You can also read this article.
Bliss, book by Peter Carey
Conflict is not Abuse, book by Sara Schulman
Farming While Black, book by Leah Penniman

Transcript

mary grace allerdice: 0:15

My name is Mary Grace and you're listening to the homebody podcast. Here we explore what it means to practice embodiment, which is practicing home inside our own selves, and also within our wider body, which is the earth. These spiritually and artfully minded conversations center healing, magic and astrology, intuition, art, wellness, creativity, social and environmental justice as the practices that help us witness more relationship, meaning and purpose. We are here to approach life as a conscious process. And my hope is to enliven you, encourage you to hone your intuition, connect to your own center. So together, we can cultivate more wisdom, and self trust and be dynamic agents of beauty. People who are fully awake, and with our power and tact, we're here to be more intentional as we approach the creation and caretaking of life. And we are here to make room for inquiry, sensitivity, and joy. Thank you for listening.

Alysia Mazzella: 1:27

It's really beautiful that they all have a role. And that's actually something I've been thinking about a lot in this time, because it feels a lot like pick your side, pick your side, pick your side. And what's happening is a divide, right? Like that's just 100% what's happening. And yeah, pick your side. But at the same time, it's more in my studies and what I'm reading and looking at, it's more like what's your role?

Unknown: 1:58

Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me today as we really barrel through this last little bit of 2020.

mary grace allerdice: 2:10

Today, I am joined by Lisa Mozilla, traditional beeswax candle maker. And we have so many, many conversations that weave in and out of this larger conversation talking about bees and honey and what bees teach us about sustainable practice and local economies, regenerative growing practices, how our bodies interact with light and marking sacred time. And also how she came to be a candle maker and working with beeswax and some of the boundaries and the special limitations that mark working with nature and nature's resources so directly and why it's important to approach that from a really conscious place. We have another conversation about bees coming up later on this month as well. We two different guests talking about this topic from two very different angles, different expertise and experience. So Alicia, Alicia contributes so much to this conversation. And I'm really excited for you all to meet her if you don't already know her and her beautiful work. Before we jump into the episode, I just want to share a couple, actually three, so it's not a couple of you three announcements. Before we jump into the episode, just to keep you all posted. I'm posting their free webinar on this coming Monday, which is November 23. We're just going to talk about the moon in astrology and within your natal chart. It is at 4pm eastern standard time or 4pm. eastern coast here in the US. And if you can't join live, no worries, I'm sending a replay to everyone who signs up. But if you don't sign up, you won't get the replay because I will know who you are. So you can sign up at the link below in the show notes or you can just go to my website mg allerdyce.com that's mg l e r di c e comm you'll see a little banner at the top of the site and it will direct you to where you need to go to sign up. And again, it's free. It doesn't cost you anything. It's a gift. We will talk more about specifically what the moon brings to your chart and translates to the chart why the moon is just as important as the sun and what the moon phases communicate in a chart, the sign of the moon is in. We'll talk briefly about eclipses and also some practical doable ways to start working more with your moon will also save some time for q&a towards the end. So if you want to be able to ask a question in real time, be sure to join live. So sign up to do that at the link below or my website. Or you can also get the replay. But either way you got to sign up. So next, I spent this week and got everything ready and set up to where you can now purchase gift certificates from me online to make it easy to gift a session or contribute to someone else's session, I have a direct link to those below in the show notes. And I have options set up starting from as little as $25. And if you purchase gifts of$100 or more, you start to get money back to you that you can use for a session for yourself. So or you can use it all for yourself or whatever you want to do with it. So I'm really excited about that. And I'm looking forward to being in those exchanges with you. And yeah, this is a time of year where there is more gift giving whether or not you're doing that I completely understand. But I just wanted to make it more accessible, whether it's a gift for a holiday that you identify with, or a gift for just making it through this year. I'm happy to be there for it. And then lastly, we have our final group healing circle of 2020 coming up on November 28, which is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And

it will be at 7: 6:12

30pm Eastern time. I believe that's correct, you will double so I think that's a little check the website on that. But it is in the evening, and I'm pretty sure it's 730 there will not be one in December. So if you want to get one in before the end of the year, now is the time to do it. The circles have been really, I just keep being amazed at how different they all are each month based on who's there and what's trying to what wants to happen. And the circles are basically channeled energetic healing for the particular group who signs up shows up, you can join us live on the zoom call, or join us not on the zoom call. Either way, you will get a replay the following day. And either way you will be included in the transmission. I've had really beautiful feedback from folks who are joining live and also from those who did not. So there is no pressure in how you participate or how you do not. And I welcome you to do so in whatever way makes the most sense for your schedule and your resources. It has been a really special and powerful time each month and I'm excited about what will come through for us and this last one of 2020 you can sign up for it at the link below in the notes. Or again simply head over to mg allerdyce.com mgallerd.com forward slash calendar. Yeah, and I think that's all I have for announcements on my end. And so now I want to get back to our guest and then get into this really lovely episode. Alicia Mozilla is a traditional beeswax candle maker and the author of four folds the Oracle which is an Oracle deck that she created based on the natural cycles of four. She's also the co founder of Backlund gardens, which is some land space in upstate New York setting up for a gardening skill shares education and also self sustainability. For candles and her work are completely gorgeous. And after you listen to this episode, you will also understand all of the efforts and the beauty and consciousness that goes into making them. Elisa Elisa clearly loves what she does. And all that work brings her into communion with there's just such a wide appreciation and honor and respect for all the dimensions of her work and it's really, really beautiful. She has been kind enough to offer all of us listening and a part of the show a discount on her candles. So you can go to her website which is www.alysiamazzella.com and enter the code MARYGRACE, which is my name, all caps, one word. I have it listed below in the notes, both the website and the code and they'll get a discount on your purchase. It would be an incredible gift for yourself for those that you love or as a heartfelt sustainable addition to your practices, your decor, your ritual, your meals, they're just so beautiful. You can feel all of the the spirit and the care that goes into them. For myself. I have personally been enjoying the glass pillar Moon Mama candle lately, and also the chimes candles. I've been dressing them, using them for my own rituals and practices and they are just such a delight to interact with and work with and to have in my life. So again, head over to her website, alysiamazzella.com and use the code MARYGRACE all caps one word and just get a discount on these gorgeous products for yourself. Be sure to also check out her Instagram. She has lots of really helpful videos on how to use her candles as well how they're made more information on the perks of beeswax. And you can find her handle@alysiamazzella. In general, if you're buying gifts for folks this holiday season, buy local where you can we kind of talk a little bit about local economy in the episode. But you know, buy from people, you know, support businesses that you want to see stick around, don't assume that they're making lots of money and they don't need or want your business. You may think that your purchase or contribution is small, but I can guarantee you that it will mean a lot to any small business owner, especially this year. Since we live in a world where we cannot yet fully divest from capitalism, where your dollars go matters and it influences what sticks around was able to survive and what doesn't buy from folks on the podcast, we've had so many beautiful people on and if you want me to, it's now prompting me as I'm saying it to like make a list or of folks who've been on that you can purchase from buy from folks that you know buy from your friends buy from individual artists, you can purchase sessions or gift certificates from me, and he doesn't matter who it is. But buy from people who connect to your heart in the way that they're working means a lot to you purchase directly from the source research, the ethics and the sustainability. Or better yet the regenerative spectrum of someone's work, how do they treat people who work for them? Is this a business that's monopolizing industry? Or is this a business of someone who's really working from their heart and beauty and in relationship to the earth and support the biz people and the businesses that you want to be here and that you want to stick around, I guarantee you that this is likely been a more challenging year for them. And that would be really beneficial. So side note, again, be sure to check out the show notes for the links, resources insights that we mentioned in the episode, including some amazing books. There is a PDF pamphlet mentioned in the episode that we couldn't remember the name of all speaking of. And so it's called Mapping our Roles in Social Change Ecosystems, and I have included a link to it as a PDF below. And we also wanted to mention that honeybees make less than one teaspoon of honey in their lifetime. I believe that while we were speaking in the episode live, we said that they make one teaspoon but it's actually less than that. So just wanted to note that here as a correction. All right, I'll stop talking about the episode and let you get into the episode and I hope you enjoy it. Here we are with Alicia Mozilla. So I start episodes generally by letting people introduce themselves because I think people do a much better job of doing that than I do. So would you mind telling us who you are what you find yourself doing in the world? And yeah, we can use that as a jumping off point for kind of diving in.

Alysia Mazzella: 13:06

Yeah, um, my name is Alysia Mazzella. I'm a traditional beeswax candle maker. I'm also the author of Fourfold the Oracle which is a limited edition self published Oracle deck I created based on natural cycles of four. And I'm the co founder of Backland Gardens, which is a farm project I'm working on with my partner for skill shares, education and just self sustainability.

mary grace allerdice: 13:38

Do you mind sharing it? Where do you live? Or what part of the world?

Alysia Mazzella: 13:43

I'm in Newburgh, New York, which is like lower Hudson Valley about an hour out of the city. Beautiful. I wasn't sure if you were like east or west.

mary grace allerdice: 13:53

Do you mind talking about kind of how you came into making candles and like what that journey looked like for you. Start what kind of teased you along the way or?

Alysia Mazzella: 14:05

Yeah, um, so I began candle making in 2017 it really was just a grew from a personal practice of I was burning papers, paper candles daily. And I was collecting brass candlesticks found at like thrift stores and I just became obsessed with all the unique ones and I have never seen this one and they're mostly one of a kind when you're thrifting summer kind of popular, but I got it really into candlestick, which is the holders for the candles. And then I started dipping I found a video on YouTube and I loved it and I was like, Okay, I can start making these myself. So I've always been creating and doing making, collaborating. I've always just been creative, my friends. Like that. Nothing really stuck, though. So with candlemaking, as soon as I started dipping, a lot of my friends wanted to purchase it. So I started doing that I started bringing them to markets around New York. At the time, I was doing more herbal ism, I was doing selves and tinctures and things. So I was definitely reconnecting to what I like to call just honoring secret time. And nature just became a real grounding element of that just being as close to nature as possible. So yeah, and I mean, it's just truly it felt like a resounding yes, I started making candles the world like them. And the rest has been history. I very quickly grew my production doing markets. And now I have a sustainable business. And it's truly beautiful. It's kind of something that when I first started dipping, I said, like, I can do this forever. Like if I have to do one thing for the rest of my life. Candle dipping is totally cool. Oh, it's so beautiful. I love that. When you first started dipping and making candles that were you immediately starting with beeswax or No. Yeah, it was visa wax from the beginning. And I think again, it was because I was working with myself making. So I was you know soaking herbs in jars with oils and things and alcohol to make medicine and then I was making the sound. So I had to get these bags for that. So I had some extra beeswax on hand. So yeah, again, I was just trying to like find like the source rather than the manmade just removed stuff. So beeswax and then and then I became really passionate about studying it and the history and how humans have been a relationship with these 4000 thousand thousand thousands of years. And it's not anything new. And yeah, it just made sense at that time. So I did it.

mary grace allerdice: 17:06

Yeah, I was wondering about... I wanted to ask you about kind of culturally how within that context of like, history and timeline and story like, how you see yourself situated within that. What are some of like, the really things that you love about that timeline and story? What are some of the things that you don't?

Alysia Mazzella: 17:29

Um, so I really like to look back to the beginning, which for me, in my studies, I've just found like Egyptian times Ancient Egypt, which is the beginning, so they kept bees and they used all the byproducts of the royal jelly is something that's fed to the Queen's to grow them quickly, highly nutritious in the hive. And they use that on their skin, because you know, Egyptians are all about beauty and longevity. So they use royal jelly. bees wax has been found in cave drawings. I know in ancient Spain, I think as well in, in Egypt. Yeah, they used it. Yeah, they use it there too. And then the resin within the hive. They found within the mummification process of Egypt. So all of these things. And it's funny because actually honeybees do that. So say in a hive, a mouse enters, which happens in like the winter, things like that. And there are certain bees in charge of cleaning out the hive. And they can't lift the mouse like they will, they will kill the mouse, but they can't lift and remove the mouse. So they'll actually involvement with the resin so that as it decomposes, or it doesn't decompose so that it protects it and it doesn't bring in disease, and things like that. So I feel like that's where probably the Egyptians may have witnessed and replicate it. Because I mean, it's Yeah, it's always it's mimicry. biomimicry, right. My friend studies that and yeah, replicating nature. And that's where we find that's where the truth is, you know, like, we don't have to own it. You know, it's we can be students.

mary grace allerdice: 19:23

Yeah, I was listening to someone speak to this earlier, they were talking about fungi and genes and basically how genetically humans have the amount of genes kind of in between, like a fruit fly and a flea, you know, so it's like, we're not bees like. So basically something else is making up all the complexity that we see. But also it was comparing it to like fungi and fungi or however you want to say it like, how they just like reproduce and reproduce and reproduce. And it's like, you know, we're really here to just like, observe and learn and witness. Fungi are making stuff. We're just watching stuff. That was such a big reorientation for me because we have so much pressure to like, make and like own like you were saying. And I think that's a beautiful example of just like Egyptians like watching bees and like embalm a mouse. And it's like, you know, that could probably work. Like we could do that. I love that. don't know if that's true, by the way, but I like it,

Alysia Mazzella: 20:18

Yeah, I

mary grace allerdice: 20:21

We will pretend that it's true.

Alysia Mazzella: 20:27

We'll never know.

mary grace allerdice: 20:27

No, we'll never know. So we might as well we can choose what we like, um, I think, you know, I do think of like the Egyptian culture especially as like great observers, especially with like this, of course, with the sky and Nature and Science in general. I would love to talk about you mentioned talking about bees and bees wax as like a source for inspiration or what we can look to for models for sustainability. And yeah, I'm interested in like, how that inspires you. And what particularly about the kind of these wax be culture really calls to that in you?

Alysia Mazzella: 21:10

Yeah, so I think like one of the, it might be one of the most popular honeybee fun facts, but one honeybee only makes about a teaspoon of honey and their entire lifetime. And if you think at the rate of how one person could consume, honey, that's mind blowing, you know, like we get it in, you know, pounds pot sometimes. Yeah, like tops. Exactly. So if one honey bee only makes one teaspoon of honey in their lifetime, how does this happen? And it's because it's by the numbers, everything they do is by the numbers, they work together, they're truly selfless in that way. And it's also important to know that they're a matriarchy, we know that there's a queen, right and the hive, but the queen is it who's in charge, who's in charge is the worker bees. And every single worker bee is a female bee. And then the male bees are called drones. And they're truly their only their only responsibilities to mate. And after they mate, they die. Like physically they die because they go the Queen mates during a flight with them. And after they are done mating, essentially their their balls explode. Like if we look at this, because it detaches from them. And so they die because they've been ripped open, basically. And I mean, you know, it's not i'm not saying men are useless or anything, but it's just that it's interesting how they get the job done. And even in the winter, before they close up the hive, they'll kick out all the drones because they're useless. They can't meet in the winter. And they just eat up all the honey. And it's really hilarious. If you look at it, it's very in queue made will in be made whatever. Like it's just, it's what they do to the male. But anyways, the point i'm saying is that they're very selfless in the way that all the work of these are all women, they all are females, they all have a job and a duty. And it depends on their time of their life. So at different ages, they do different things. They control, when a queen gets born, they control when a queen has to get overthrown, they're like you're not doing your job, I'm birthing a new queen, and the Queen will actually lay the egg. But the worker bees nurture it until it reaches maturity. And then that's when the showdown happens. Sometimes very rarely, there could be two queens the very rarely. And I think like even there's, there's nurse bees, there's fighter bees, there's cleaner beings, like they all do their job. And it just it's not for me, it doesn't feel like a hierarchy. And even as you watch them, they're all worker bees, they're all doing something. And as they without one, they wouldn't be able to complete the whole thing. So it's really beautiful that they all have a role. And that's actually something I've been thinking about a lot in this time because it feels a lot like pick your side, pick your side, pick your side. And what's happening is a divide, right? Like, that's just 100% what's happening. And yeah, pick your side, but at the same time, it's more in my studies and what I'm reading and looking at, it's more like what's your role, you know, and there's actually there's actually a really beautiful pamphlet. I don't remember the name of the person who wrote it, but I will, I will share it. But they made a graph about all the different roles in society and in activism, and how you don't have to be on the front line screaming and yelling, you don't have to be whatever like you. There's so many different ways to assist the revolution for you, no, and all I'm talking about is decency. And being a human it's not about right and wrong. And republicans number is not all liberal and conservative. It's not that. It's just about being a decent human. But yeah, so I feel like as the bees, what they really model is working together and and doing their part. And they have very short lifespans most bees you know, on average, a worker bee will live a few months, a queen will live a few years, a drone will live a few weeks, the only time a worker bee or queen lives very long is usually because of when they're born. And if they're born right before the winter, they'll be kept in the hive and protected for those extra three months, therefore their life is lengthened, but on average, you know, a worker bees a few months, and then they die. Doing whatever they're meant to be doing. It's just like it's kind of it's very purposeful.

mary grace allerdice: 26:14

Yeah, the way that I've been dealing with an inexhaustible amount of climate grief lately is just planting a lot of pollinator bushes and plants. And I'm like, I'm crying and I can't stop, Let's plant a bush that like that bees like and butterflies like. So because of this, every morning, I go out and I like sit with my flowers. And I just like, you know, look at them and talk to them, whatever. But we've had like way more bees and butterflies lately, which makes me so happy. And I just have just been observing them and I haven't nerded out as hard as I will and want to on bees and bee culture. But they're just so dear, like there's just something so gentle about them, like the way that they just kind of like hold the flower with both hands and like kiss it to get whatever, it's so sweet. And I swear to God, one day he just comes up looks at me swims by me just lift a little hand is like"hey." So I'm super in love. And so on that note of being in love with bees, from varying degrees of expertise, I'm interested in kind of what personal shifts bees honey candles, the practice of candle making, have inspired in your life, like what are some of the things that have really kind of kicked in for you being in relationship to these stories and these ways of being?

Alysia Mazzella: 27:34

Okay, so I think in relation to that question for me and my like I have a livelihood based on beeswax, which can get very icky, right, so you can order beeswax from overseas really cheap. I don't even want to say the number because I don't want to entice people, but it's really really really cheap dollars. Versus here if you go to your local beekeeper, they might charge you 10 2015 you know a pound for beeswax which is rightfully so because to harvest beeswax, you only can get about one pound of beeswax to about eight pounds of honey. So if you go back to this teaspoon thing of a honey bee makes when there's this is it takes a lot of time a lot of energy on the honeybees part but also the beekeepers part to harvest these things. So I as my business grows, I'm forced to wonder and and to ground myself in the sustainability and also the ethical nature of like what am I doing here? How How can I sustainably grow How can I ethically grow? How can I measure my growth in a way that feels right? Because it is my livelihood and it is my passion but at the same time this is nature we're talking about says of natural resource. So for me how I source my beeswax is very important. Because what I'm thinking about is sustainability because that's really what the honeybees are showing me and making me think about and how they work and how they do their job because a normal beekeeper or an average beekeeper would we harvest the honey right like that's the job you harvest the honey and you sell the honey but what that means is after they take the honey from the hive usually it's not all of it but it's a large majority. They give the honey bees sugar water which is definitely not honey it doesn't have the micro by bacterial properties. It doesn't have the antibacterial like it has all of the the goodness of honey it doesn't have sugar doesn't have that we know this. So I am working with a beekeeper who's regenerative beekeeper, which means he only harvest a certain amount of honey so that the honeybees can survive on honey because that's what they eat. honeybees eat honey during the winter, to keep the hive warm, they literally will shiver their bodies. And they can heat their hive up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit just by they, they can they rotate the Queens at the center, and they'll just rotate around the queen. All the worker bees, remember, the drones already kicked out

mary grace allerdice: 30:33

Not enough heat for you.

Alysia Mazzella: 30:36

And they'll rotate and they'll move and then so they'll they'll it's like a spiral because the ones on the inside will eventually end outside of the circle. The ones on the outside eventually end up inside, again, this selfless nature of taking turns. And as they rotate there on the hive, they'll be eating the honey. And the honey is what gives them what they need to survive the winter. So again, if we go back to taking all the honey and giving them only sugar, this is what's adding to decline in beekeeping. And you know where they're not. It's not they need biodiversity, they need the medicinal properties of what the food they're making. They have other food in the hive, but just generally speaking, honey. So I just I try it for me, I think about what the honeybees Teach me, it's all about self. It's about sustainability. And it's about finding an ethical way to work with them a respectful way, one that has a give and receive, it's not just one way. And I again, I think back to Egyptian times, like if you want your hive to survive, you can't just take it all. You can't just take take take take take it will it will collapse. Um, there's also a really beautiful documentary called honey land. It's on Hulu, definitely watching that. Oh my god, it's about this native beekeeper in Macedonia. She's a woman, a single woman, and she's taking care of her mother. And she's keeping bees in a very natural way. And it's the arc of the movie, I will not say it but it makes you cry. It makes you angry because these other people come in. But anyway, she's a great example of how she's like one of the lines, she's like I told you to only take half, I told you to only take half of the honey, because she understands that reciprocity that's required for this relationship. I do not keep bees right now. But I am planning on next spring to begin. And that's something I want to practice is that just that give and take it's not just one way and like you said like, like be speaking away. Sometimes these come in my my studio. And it's funny, I could tell them just without even looking. I can tell they're in here because of how they sound. They really speak through how they fly. And they have a louder buzz like, like they're really loud. Like if a hornet comes in here. I can't hear it. It's completely silent. It's flight. Um, but if a honeybees in here I can hear when it's agitated at the windows I like he's like, get me out of here. What is happening? I thought this was a hive. And it's not. Um, so I do save them. I'll put them in one cup and put them out. It's like my duty, right. But anyways, yeah, I think it's just what they've they're teaching me and Okay, so the other element is that going slow? They make it one teaspoon of honey in their entire lifetime, like productivity, capitalism, you know, like, we have to find this equilibrium in there. And not. It's not just about being it's not about high volume. Yeah, like I'm saying as much as you can all the time at all costs. Yeah, exactly. And that's, again, it's when I think about scaling my business, it's, it's there to like, I want to be the one that makes my candles, I don't want to just keep hiring people. I have someone who helps me with packaging, and orders and labeling and things like that. And that's fine. But I want to be the one making my candles. I think that's also another sustainable way for me to measure my business because when something sold out, sold out, you just got to wait so I can make it again. And it's still you know, it's sustainable. For me, it's good for my livelihood. And then it's good for the bees. It's good for the world. And it's a great it's a great example of there's a lot of other be beeswax candle companies where maybe their growth isn't as sustainable. And I wonder, you know, where is this beeswax coming from? Is it you know, for me, it's all local. It's all new york i sourced from family owned eight areas in New York and I think that's the only way I can make sure it's good. I know these foods I meet these people, I shake their hands. And that's what the The best I can do. That's the best I can do. So I keep it there.

mary grace allerdice: 35:03

The past couple, I guess, like year and a half, two years, I've just become completely obsessed with regenerative agriculture and just regenerative ecos, like, ecosystem restoration and all of that. And yeah, I think bees really hold all of that well, and just make it like what it is. And I think Robin wall kimmerer was just, I was just listening to a podcast with her to just like coming back to this idea of reciprocity, like we all feel so like guilty about being on the planet, and like, maybe the planet hates us. And it's like, well, you have things you can give to it, you know, like putting us back into this language of reciprocity, like you're talking about. I think that's really beautiful. Besides buying your candles, which I'm going to tell everyone to do in the intro, what are things that we should be conscious of when we're interacting with honey with, with candles, like, whether they're beeswax candles? Or not? Like how can we be more ethical and more conscious and the things that we're using and interacting with in this area.

Alysia Mazzella: 36:06

Um, I like to just preach about local, you know, I think that local economy is so important. And that doesn't mean don't buy from someone you know, online, you know, it's just more about, it's about sourcing from real people who have real dreams and real families and have real life that you can relate to. I think that's one of the most important thing and you know, sometimes we can't do that. That's okay. But to the best of our ability, supporting real people that we actually connect with, there's some authenticity there. I think sourcing honey and beeswax just in general because i a lot of people ask me that. I think it's again, I think that's specifically local, go find your local beekeeper. Don't buy honey from the store, your Price Chopper, whatever the heck you have. Don't buy it from online, don't buy it from somewhere you don't know go to find out there's a beekeeper near you, I promise you, you might not know they exist. But there's someone even if it's someone keeping bees for fun. Try it. You know, and I think that's the best way to source honey specifically. And also the benefits of having that local pollen in your system. Right? When we talk about allergies. That's another thing people may not know the benefit of but it's you know, having that polit taking that dose of your local policy helps against your your seasonal allergies if you have those versus getting pollen from Who the heck knows across the country or not even from this country, and also the biggest scam in imported food was honey. There's also a documentary about that because people were importing honey. And they someone tested it and found out it wasn't even honey. It was like mostly sugar and syrups and all this fake stuff. And it was being sold and marketed as honey. Oh, um, but it's one of the biggest frauds of ever happening United States importing food. What is the documentary? I'll make sure it's in the show? I don't know off the top again. I did. Yeah. And I can probably find it for you. Because I know you list. Um, so yeah, but things like this happen. And again, like we can, I think as a whole, we're all I mean, at least in my, my vicinity, my friends and my family, I'm seeing that people are less, less drawn to buying from corporate and more interested in buying from people and that's beautiful. There's that meme going around. It's like, support your friend and pay full price like for do it. And buy less like if that means you buy less like fine. Exactly. Do whatever is necessary to have a sustainable local economy with people you love, you know. But otherwise, I think so. My whole brand is 100% beeswax only. And that's because bees wax. Salt solves a lot of problems that manmade waxes have. So in the beginning of time before electricity, we were mostly burning animal fat candles, which worked and they burned but they burned quick and they really stunk as you burn them. Think about burning animal fat like yeah, like and

mary grace allerdice: 39:34

whenever I think of people like killing whales to make like oil, whale oil lamps, I'm just like, no, like, I just die like, instantly.

Alysia Mazzella: 39:42

Yeah, exactly. And I mean, I think at that time, I don't know about whale oil, but at least animal fat people were wearing animals. They had farms. It was way more popular for a family to have a farm or know someone with a farm. So it was available and it was there and it was waste. If usually You know, so it made sense, you know you nothing went to waste at that time. But yeah, so it had those issues. What beeswax does is it burns longer, it burns cleaner, and it burns brighter. So it burns longer meaning that it has a slower burn than other waxes, you get the bang for your buck buck. So that's why these wax candles are a little more expensive because your candles not going to burn out real quick, it's going to your it's going to last it has most candles list there our time. And you're going to get that if not longer, depending on how you burn it. And it burns cleaner because it's hypoallergenic. So beeswax emits negative ions, which are found at beach fronts or at the top of mountains or even after a storm. And that's why we feel so good in these places because there's no there's no pollution in the air, there's little to no pollution in the air. And so a negative ion is cleaner. positive ion is anything taking up space in the air, dust, dander, smoke, whatever. So it actually neutralizes the air as you burn it. And that's a benefit. I know a lot of people when they burn candles depending on the scent and the wax, they'll have allergic reaction. So I think that's very important aspect of it. And because it's 100% natural, naturally has that beautiful pollen infused yellow color, and it naturally has a floral sweet scent. That's all indicated by whatever the hive has pollinated. So that's the beauty of these wax to is it varies, um, you can have like a deeper sense of like right now, a lot of the hives are a lot of the bees pollinate at linden tree with the wax I'm using now. They're wild, so they pollinate the other things too. But linden tree is a big tree and when it flowers as a lot of flowers, so they stay there for a while getting it all and so it has this really like cinnamon nice scent to it. Like it's really beautiful. And my the wax I worked with before this was mostly wildfires, golden rods, so it had a very smell just like honey like it didn't even smell like anything else. So it just it has this benefits too. It's not just one thing, it varies depending on the season and the time and the the hive. So I think that's a beautiful benefit of it. And so if we compare this to other waxes, soy is highly unsustainable as a crop because it's industrialized. How they grow if you're growing soy in your backyard, it's a lot different than if you're growing soy in the large scale. It's usually a model crop, which is an issue for biodiversity is sprayed with a shit ton of chemicals. Exactly. Yeah, how they harvest um they I want to say plow yeah wait,

Unknown: 43:07

but tilling, tilling tilling yeah most industrial agriculture they're like will spray Yes. destroying the planet one at a time. Yeah, exactly. So especially with mono crops right Any mono crop, you till. So that adds to the degredation of the soil once you because of how nutritious soy is, when it grows, it takes all the nutrients off the ground, therefore you cannot grow again. So as a mono crop... These are big sections of, of land that's left with no cover crop, no nutrients, probably no worms or any any micro organisms. And so it's dead it's it's done. So as a large on a large scale, if you're gonna you know that and so I actually I did a little research and I think it said like only 3% of all the soy in the world is grown sustainably. When you're buying soy wax, it's 90% sure to be coming from one of these unsustainable farms. Because again, this is man made. This is where it's all about production production production and you really can't ensure unless you're working directly with the soy crop grower that this way you're working with is ethical or ethically grown and sustainably grown. So that's an issue right so if we're buying a soy candle, we're supporting climate change, we're supporting global warming all these the co2 right you're there all the co2 is coming out the ground, there's no protection, there's no regenerative act at all. Yeah, it's like nice depleting essentially. Exactly, yeah, um and then so if we look at the other alternative which is paraffin. And again, so paraffin was introduced after electricity was introduced, because that's when candles lost their purpose. Their function. They were no longer need it to light at night to light the house. Now you drive past the house, you might see, you know, those those fake colonial candle sticks and each window just like Christmas. Yeah, exactly. It's just like a battery operated candle like this is where we've gone now, we're so far gone from understanding what a good candle is. Actually, I make a lot of videos of these on my Instagram page. When I talked about this. We started putting candles in jars, we started adding colors and dyes to it, we started adding sense to it, like crazy sense, like pumpkin and apple pie, like even natural, just like the craziest like and it and then again, pouring it in maybe specific shapes that a candle can only burn well in a cylinder shape. Like if you have a triangle or if you have a person or whatever, you're going to waste so much wax, it's not going to burn cleanly you're going to have it's going to tunnel it's going to drip it's gonna. So again, the original candle is the hand of taper. It's dripless Burns long it burns clean and it provides light because of a taper candles a long, slender one. You put in a candlestick, which is a long, a tall candle holder. And it will actually illuminate the room it will actually illuminate while you're reading or working or doing whatever. See if you have a bunch of them. So paraffin candles were introduced after electricity, because they're cheaper. They're quicker. And they're manmade, they actually are a byproduct of the oil industry. They're like, yeah, it's just, it just, it's I mean, some

Alysia Mazzella: 46:58

people, there's some studies, there's not a lot of studies on this, but there are some studies that they put out carcinogens. That's the highest.

mary grace allerdice: 47:06

I heard that. I was gonna ask you about it. But yeah, it's something that you find on the internet.

Alysia Mazzella: 47:13

Yeah, exactly. And I mean, there are some studies on it. And that's the thing is like, why would the FDA or whoever Why would they? You know, they don't? You're not eating it. They don't really care.

mary grace allerdice: 47:21

Yeah. And even if you are, depending on who's paying them, they may not care. So...

Alysia Mazzella: 47:27

Exactly, yeah. So and then the scents they put in it, it's just highly unregulated. So, you know, what's that? Like, Yankee Candle things like,

mary grace allerdice: 47:39

Oh, I would go there in high school.

Alysia Mazzella: 47:41

Me too. And it was like a thing, you know, and it's, it's all about the sense that's what they marketed as and the more colors the more sense you have, the better they've they've, they've totally reversed the idea of what a good candle is, and they've taught us a wrong world, you know, and it's like, again, it's when you burn these candles, they emit toxins 100% they make toxins if you're burning a paraffin candle. Because there's nothing normal, there's nothing natural about it. Even when you put it out you'll notice the smoke as it burns and a beeswax candle will smoke a little bit too but you can see it's a different type if you really sat down and compare them it's a different type of smoke and as you're burning them you know like I said, beeswax is hypo allergenic it's actually cleansing the air this is this is actually putting toxins into the air it's really interesting and again, it's because we have been so far removed from purpose from function from from knowing what a good tool is. Because and you know, this is what technology technology is great right? But at the same time are we getting better are we getting dumber? You know, we're forgetting we're not we're not in connection with with the true reason why we do things we just do things we just go to Yankee Candle and buy whatever they bring a sale five candles, but we don't understand what's in it. There's no ingredient list needed on them. Um, yeah, it's it's a problem.

mary grace allerdice: 49:19

Yeah, I agree. And like how it's like it pulls us out of relationship and context. And those relationships and contexts of the natural world are actually how we survive. So the more we get out of relationship with that, the more chronic disease we have, the more unhealthy we get, the more depressed we get. And like also, the more extinct we get. So it's Yeah, it's just a really big conversation. And I think like you were one of the things I was thinking about when you were talking about how a bee makes one teaspoon it's like, you know, each of us doesn't have to carry the whole load of change. And how even if that were true, like that wouldn't even be the web. That's not the web of success for the natural world. Like how interdependence and connectivity is kind of built into what that looks like. So I love these like templates and what kind of lessons for how we can do that even just like how we interact with candles which a lot of people listening to this podcast probably do um, what is your personal practice with using candles? Do you use them to light your home Do you use them for spiritual practices or to honor certain moments? What are some of the ways that you use them in your own life?

Alysia Mazzella: 50:44

Um

Unknown: 50:46

for all of those reasons I use candles definitely for it all began for on my altar. Just my it was I was aligning with the moon cycles that was like my entryway into reconnecting with my higher self. And so is it my alter my monthly altar, I would change I have my my candles, candlesticks, and you know, whatever else I needed on there. And yes, still, that's what I use is, I use my traditional hand of tapers on my altar, because they have a long burning too. It's like the short one for six, the long ones burned for nine. So it really lasts throughout the whole month, as I meditate and things, set intentions. And in my house as well, usually at night, especially. I always have a candle burning even while I make candles out like one. And I feel like it's important symbolically. Like if I'm not burning them who will you know. So I usually have when I was at markets, I would even light some candles if I could get away with it. But in my house, I have a candlestick by my bedside, I keep that lit, I usually read at night next to it. When I go to eat family or dinner with my family, I'll bring my candlestick out and put in the table. Definitely, it's just something I think symbolically that flame. And again, we look back to fire has always been a place. You know, we sat around the fire pit and told stories or we danced around it and celebrate it. We prayed around the fat fire, or we the fire protected us from things animals or whatever that may or may not have heard us. So it's about protections about prayer. It's about celebration, there's, there's so much in a flame and the fire pit went into the torch, we walked around a little torch and you know, and then it went into the candle. I mean, I'm sure there's things in between, but in general, went to the taper candle went to the lamp went to the light bulb, you know, so it's like, but the light bulb doesn't give you the same energy as a fire. So I think that fire is just something very primitive and something true. And we remember something when we light a candle, and it really does hold. It's all about holding that sacred time to say I'm doing this right now. Like I'm, I'm focusing it helps clarify whatever is going on the mind. Set your intention. And yeah, I think for me, that's why I like like them all the time. Yeah.

mary grace allerdice: 53:31

No, I like how you kind of are illustrated like demarcating sacred time. It's like now I'm sitting here, practicing fire. And I've been doing a lot of thinking lately because we have all these, like pagan holidays that we're now into celebrating, again, based on everyone's different lineages. And I've been researching my own and it's like, oh, they're all like, they're all agricultural in their purpose. You know, like, of course, they're interacting with, you know, the mystical, but they're also deeply practical. They're like "shit's about to get cold, we should have a party." Or "we're going to need help harvesting. Let's have a party." You know, this is this way that it's like it's all actually indigenous to the land, regardless of where you come from. People have been interacting with the land and in a way and so all of these rituals are how we understand sacred time or appreciate being together like it all again has to go back to I guess we're just gonna talk about reciprocity with the earth and this episode, like over and over again, which is fine with me. But it all goes back to that and now we're relating to it together. I think but,

Alysia Mazzella: 54:39

and practicing, right, I guess that's what else this time like, I know a lot of people like Oh shit, like, do I have seeds? Like, do I even know how to grow a seed? Like there's so much of that happening? And you know, with the suit, the stores being sold out or low stock? years, we're starting to realize what is Natural and what is near? And what is like not supposed to be here? And what is it natural and what systems just like don't work?

mary grace allerdice: 55:07

Yes, exactly. I totally agree this big this year has been a huge we planted a garden in March. Like I come from a long generation of really poor farmers in Tennessee. So I was familiar with it, but I've never done it for myself and just being like, oh, food comes from the ground, you don't actually need money for food, like, you know, like this. It's been really healthy and deeply healing on so many levels just interacts directly to that which sustains me. And like. Yeah, and like how important food sovereignty is. And it's more, and it has a whole other meaning for food deserts and, like economic distribution, how that it's like a what we need to see, it's what we need as gardens, what we need is like this return, like what actually sustains us, which is food and seeds in the ground. I think it's where I'm going with them. But I've been feeling that a lot this year. Is there before we kind of start the downward spiral into wrapping up...Do you have anything else that you would really like to bring up or talk about in the world? Like you haven't had space to or?

Alysia Mazzella: 56:20

No, I love this conversation. I think it was really beautiful. There is one more thing I want to say about these words, candles. Oh, oh, do it. Yeah. Okay. So beeswax candles burns on the same spectrum as the sun. And I think that's very important to note too, because, you know, there's so many studies on the cell phone and that blue light yet it does to you yet. At night, specifically, totally. It's unnatural. Again, it messes up your endocrine system and yes, and that, like, why, you know, blue light can mess up my internal bodily system.

mary grace allerdice: 57:01

But like of course it can because evolution, right? Like if we evolved with these processes, and now we're not using those processes, like oh,

Alysia Mazzella: 57:09

Exactly. But I think looking back to that, like fire and how it makes us feel, you could sit around a fire and we all could get lost and you don't even look at and you just like in the fire and you're talking you're thinking you're wondering, and I think so, there's there are some studies on this, that beeswax activates your pineal gland because of how it burns on that spectrum. Well, I mean, it makes sense because again, like we're, it's an inward thing. It's it's natural, the color, the the glow, the sun. It's, it's mimicking the sun essentially. And again, that's this isn't man made a man, human can never replicate beeswax or make anything near it that could activate such things. It's, and we should never try our bee job. Yeah, exactly. It's here. And that's it makes sense. Again, like there's so many structures of these wax that is so healing and on a molecular level, like you're the air that goes in your body to your brain to all of your organs. And then the pineal gland activating clarity, vision, ideas, wisdom intuition, like there's so many so much there. Which if you look at a fire I feel like that's exactly what happens. That's when people say crazy things and have crazy thoughts and or remember something that they haven't remembered for a long time. Yeah, so I want to add that.

mary grace allerdice: 58:54

I love that. I actually did not know that and I I knew about the light disruption but I didn't know that about beeswax light.

Alysia Mazzella: 59:00

Yeah, I I mentioned began because it's the brightest burning candle. Yeah. And that's why it's on that spectrum.

mary grace allerdice: 59:07

No, I love that makes me excited. I just ordered some candles from me a couple days ago, and I'm really excited to get them. who or what is really like inspiring you or teaching you right now.

Alysia Mazzella: 59:23

Yeah, so Well, I'm reading books that are very inspiring to me right now. Actually, one of my followers messaged me and she's like, You remind me of this character, Honey Barbara and this book, and it's called Bliss and it's by this Australian author. I don't remember names, but again, I can let you know but it's called bliss and I just finished the book. Honey Barbara is a whore. She's a beekeeper, and she uses candles and she's a healer an energy worker. She's so beautiful! Um, but it's a really messed up beautiful book. But um, I think what hearing people and and interacting people has been so inspiring. So things like that, like little nuggets she did. She just told me that and I ordered the book immediately, I was like, I need this book. But that book, I would highly recommend it's fiction, and I don't ever read fiction, I'm always nonfiction. And that was beautiful. I'm reading a book called Conflict is Not Abuse, which I also highly suggest I'm only on page like 80 something and mind blown it is. It's talking about how we overstate harm, and how we don't know how to deal with conflict as people anymore. Yeah. And how that's replicated in the state, in our homes, in ourselves how we're in the shunning culture, where if you don't agree with someone, you just shut them out. And again, this is I think, I used to study Oh, I still study I just used to work for a nonprofit, the restorative center, and we did restorative justice circles. And this book, she hasn't said the word restorative justice, but it is 100% restorative justice. And it really encourages self criticism rather than point point, point, scapegoat, scapegoat scapegoat. Like you're really looking at yourself. And it's it's challenging sometimes in the book. But conflict is Not Abuse by Sarah Schulman. Cool. And yeah. And then thirdly, I read the book on Farming While Black by Leah Penniman and whether or not you're black, you should definitely read that

mary grace allerdice: 1:01:41

It's on my list, actually.

Alysia Mazzella: 1:01:43

And I think Leah pediment is just a dream. They are beautiful. And I think that book is very helpful, because not only do they talk about farming, but they talk about history, and there's so much history. And I love that when you're not just again, coming from this one angle of benefit, but understanding the holistic nature of a practice. And she are they, they think she's a she or they actually, but anyways, they source it back to black people and black history. And it's so much so what regenerative farming a CSA is, and how these were all started by black people. And it's like, what, because in our everyday culture, it's largely owned by white people. Yeah. And it's very interesting how an even like how certain crops were growing during when people were enslaved. It was from the enslaved people, they had the wisdom there the reason things could grow. It wasn't just like, they were given the tools, they had the tools, they came with the tools. And I think that's very, that's very beautiful. There's a quote in that book by Wendell Berry. Just, this isn't the exact quote, but basically, he's saying the, the biggest error of the white man was was putting black people in charge of the land, because they became closer and they became more in connection to their higher self. And the white man went further and further by by refusing to go so low. Yeah. It's very beautiful. So those are some areas that are very inspiring to me.

mary grace allerdice: 1:03:36

No, I love all of that. And it's funny, I just like, this week was just like, I haven't read Wendell Berry in a while, and I like picked it up. So that's funny. Where can we find you? What platforms do you prefer? How do you like people to interact or not interact with you? Buy your candles?

Alysia Mazzella: 1:03:57

Yeah. alysiamazzella.com That's where you'll find me. I have a contact form. I prefer emails over dm. So email me. Yeah. And on Instagram. It's @alysiama zella, as well. Two Z's two L s Mazzella. But I'm sure it'll e in writing. Yeah, for sure.'ll make sure it's all spelled orrectly.

mary grace allerdice: 1:04:17

Is there anything that you would like to leave us with or do you feel? Do you feel good?

Alysia Mazzella: 1:04:24

I feel good. Thank you.. so much Mar

mary grace allerdice: 1:04:25

Yeah, that's My pleasure. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed the conversation, please leave us a five star review. Subscribe to the show. And consider sharing the episode. I would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to tag me on Instagram or send me a DM I would love to meet you and hear what you thought about the conversation. And we'll see you next week.