When the Bear Calls: The Story of Our Grizzly Fat Soap
A ceremonial offering. Limited to 20 bars. Currently curing. Available March 16, 2026.
May 8th, 2025
We were in Cranbrook for an event when someone mentioned it: your cousin has grizzly fat.
Our hearts stopped for a second.
Grizzly fat. Kǂawǂa.
In Ktunaxa knowledge, the Grizzly Bear Spirit (Kⱡawⱡa Tukⱡuⱡakʔis) is born at Qat'muk, goes there to heal, and returns to the spirit world from that sacred place. The bear represents strength, healing, introspection, transformation.
To work with grizzly medicine is ceremony. Not casual. Not commercial. An honor.
We reached out to family. Started the conversation. The fat stayed on our minds and in our hearts for months.
August 27th, 2025
We finally made it back to Cranbrook and received the grizzly fat.
What a gift. What responsibility.
During that same trip, we visited Qat'muk. Stood in that sacred space where the Grizzly Bear Spirit lives. Felt its medicine. (We had put together a proposal for work there, but the path took a different direction. That's okay. The bear had other plans for us.)
On the way home, we connected with family and were gifted a recording of the Grizzly Bear family song.
The fat. The song. The sacred site. The memories being made.
Everything aligned in ways we couldn't have planned.
Why We Do This Work
We could have just kept the grizzly fat. Used it privately. Made medicine for family only.
But that's not what the bear taught us.
The bear taught us: When you receive medicine, you offer it forward.
This is how ceremony and calling work. The spirit knows before the heart does. Sometimes we're just catching up to where our spirit has already been, where it's been waiting for us all along.
We make bear soap when we have the medicine and the spirit calls for it. The medicine sets the pace, not the market.
So we made products:
Devil's Club Menthol Muscle Rub with grizzly fat
Hucklebeary Lotion with grizzly fat
Healing salves and balms
And now, Bear Fat Soap
They don't stay on the shelves long. People feel the medicine. They know when something is made with love and ceremony.
This is why we do this work. Not to build a business empire. To honor what we've been given and pass it forward.
Bear Fat Soap: A Ceremonial Offering
Made with black bear and grizzly bear fat. Solar-infused plant oils. Traditional cold-process method.
This batch is 20 bars only.
We're not trying to scale grizzly soap. We're not making it a regular product line.
This soap comes out when:
We have the medicine on hand
The spirit calls for the offering
We can honor the process properly
It won't be restocked soon. The next batch might be six months. Might be a year. Might be when the next bear comes into our lives through ceremony and relationship.
We don't control that timeline. The bear does.
What Makes This Different
Elk and bison soaps (coming soon) will be more readily available. Steady production. Accessible pricing at $12 to $18 per bar. These are our workhorses, the soaps you can use daily and restock regularly.
Bear fat soap is different. Ceremonial. Limited. Rare. $18 to $24 per bar.
One can go a lifetime without feeling the essence of bear on their skin.
This is a gift. An invitation to work with bear medicine: strength, healing, transformation, introspection.
If you're called to it, you'll know.
The Process
Ingredients:
Black and grizzly bear fat, rendered using traditional methods
Solar-infused plant oils: rose, Devil's Club, sweetgrass, sage, bear root, cottonwood bud
Lye (sodium hydroxide)
Naturally scented with earthy notes
Method:
Cold-process soap (traditional method, no shortcuts)
Currently in 6-week cure (transformation takes the time it takes)
During cure, the soap hardens, water evaporates, pH drops to skin-safe levels
This process cannot be rushed. We won't sell soap before it's ready.
Small batch (20 bars total)
Hand-cut, hand-poured with gratitude
Size: Regular bar size (approximately 2.5" x 2.75-3")
Price: $18 to $24 per bar
How to Honor This Medicine
When you use this soap, remember:
It came through ceremony
It was given with gratitude
It carries the strength of the bear
It asks you to honor your own healing journey
This isn't everyday soap. This is medicine you hold in your hands.
Availability
20 bars currently curing.
The soap was made February 2, 2026 and needs its full 6-week cure before it's ready. This can't be rushed. Transformation takes the time it takes.
Available starting: March 16, 2026
Pre-order now to reserve your bar: Here
Or email us to get on the waitlist: info@kotstek.com
When they're ready, they'll go fast.
What Comes Next
We're launching elk and bison tallow soaps in the coming weeks. More accessible, more available, still made with ceremony and traditional methods.
But the bear? The bear stays rare. That's how it should be.
Written by Darcy & Jenny Fisher
6 | Twenty and Keepers of the Seasons, LLC
Hu sukiⱡq̓ukni
P.S.
This journey reminded us why we do this work. Not for contracts. Not for institutional approval. For the medicine. For the people who need it. For the seven generations yet to come.
The bear knew what it was doing all along.
