Empire of Wild

When Joan reaches out to Ajean for help in getting Victor back, Ajean recommends the use of bone salt. Ajean explains that some individuals grow bones out of random body parts; once those bones fall off, they can be scraped or ground to produce a fine powder. Ajean explains to Joan, “[I]f you need to contain the rogarou, you put it around him. If you need to keep your house safe, you put it around that” (147).

The bone salt symbolizes the continuity of tradition and history and the power of ancestral wisdom that is passed down through Indigenous culture. Bones are enduring and remain when the rest of the body decays. Bones thus symbolize how individuals who may have been dead for a long time still have a haunting presence and their wisdom can still be pertinent. Joan is not familiar with bone salt, how to make it, or how to use it, but Ajean passes down this wisdom to a younger generation. While all individuals are going to die eventually, something is going to remain after they are gone, and this can include their bones as well as their teachings.

Since bones persist for a long time, they are also a reminder that the past does not simply disappear: Traces of it always remain.