The Thunderstorm - One-Time Box Purchase

In July 2025, subscribers encountered the Thunderstorm.

Usually, the summer air is balmy in Birdmoss. This year, the heat is oppressive, and tempers are worn thin.  In some cities, interlopers disturb the peace, interrupting everyone’s sleep and disrupting the flow of food and goods.

The stories tell of a bird, or perhaps a woman, who can awaken thunder and lightning. She can puncture the haze and release the long-awaited rain. A Thunderstorm is a moment of catharsis. Atmospheric pressures are released. The soothing rain is spiked with thorns of lightning. An occasional flash renders the landscape harsh and pale.

Then, after the storm passes through, the leaves on the trees are left bedraggled but rinsed clean, shiny and green.

The Thunderstorm Box includes an abundance of beautiful objects; hints and additions to expand the story; a mysterious document; and a lore card.  

Some items are available for individual purchase.

• Mysterious Document
• An instructional document is augmented with marginalia which will help you interpret clues. It is available only in the Thunderstorm Box.

• Lore Card
• The Thunderstorm are introduced in a full-color collectible 4x6 inch lore card. The artwork for this month's lore card was created by Joanna Rzepecka, a Warsaw, Poland-based illustrator. She says, "My work is inspired by biodiversity, mainly animals. Through my work, I'm trying to capture moments where nature is untouched by humans. Peaceful scenery, colors, and rough textures are some things that I enjoy the most."

• Embarking Bundle
• Prepare to Dream to Birdmoss by hanging this bundle in your shower or soaking it in your bathwater. The Foxes, who practice a kind of herbal alchemy, have sent this gift to prepare you for the work ahead.  It contains frankincense, to strengthen the connection between earthly and spiritual spaces; rosehips, to support development and transformation; and white willow bark, to welcome ancestral wisdom. These elements will guide you to Stormswift.

• Rain-Charming Salamander
• Stormswift says: “I called you; now you will call the Salamanders, and they’ll call the rain.” Hearing your voice, the salamanders emerge from their burrows. You spot one with a small stone sphere made of polished carnelian. “That is the lapis manalis. Spinning it invigorates the coming storm.”  Wear this stone to summon energy, passion, and vigor.

• Large Raindrop
• Stormswift takes to the sky in a chaos of wings. You are left on the ground, surrounded by a dozen Salamanders rolling their lapis manalis stones. The air pressure begins to change and you hear thunder rumbling. Soon, a few oversized raindrops land with soft pats. Then the Thunderstorm begins in earnest. You can no longer see your surroundings clearly. The raindrops are crystal clear, but through them, the world is rippled and upside down. Hang your raindrop in a window so you always have another perspective at hand.

• Rainwater Vial
• When Stormswift returns, she gives you a small blown-glass vial to collect a bit of rainwater. She uses Thunderstorm water to anoint the Salamanders on hot days, so they can breathe easily through their dampened skin. Use your bottle to store your tiniest treasures. Or, gather Thunderstorm water for quickening your bathwater or newly-sprouted plants. (You’ll only need a drop or two.)

• Banishing Paper
  • The Thunderstorm is cooling the air and hydrating the Salamanders, but some things still need to be righted. Stormswift produces banishing paper, so that you can number the things that menace you and then wash them away. Picture your troubles sinking beneath glassy water. They are reduced to mineral components that can do no harm. They dissolve and disappear, just like the paper.

• Lightning from the Desert
  • You receive one more treasure: a piece of fulgurite, sometimes called “petrified lightning.” It is an irregularly-shaped specimen which was created by lightning in the Crystal Desert. In a split-second, the lightning strike melted the sand, which then cooled into a naturally-formed glass tube. In Birdmoss, a fulgurite is seen as an earthly manifestation of the spiritual, a reminder of the power of intention and belief. Contemplate it when you need to remember your own abilities. 

Photo props are not included.