IF YOU ARE PAYING VIA PAYPAL, please do NOT use our online credit card processor. Place your order through PayPal using the payment address paypal [at] blackphoenixalchemylab [dot] com and fill your order info in the comments field. Please note that all orders, including domestic orders, are currently taking a roughly 14-21 business days to process, pack and ship out due to a heavy workload, the process of hand-blending and the nature of our product. All oils are made once they're ordered to ensure freshness. Our shipped-through info is constantly updated in the BPAL Forums.

When placing your Trading Post order, PLEASE keep in mind that Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post are two separate entities. Orders for Trading Post items that are sent to the Lab will be refunded and cancelled. Please make sure that you send all Trading Post PayPal payments to the appropriate address. This is of particular importance when it comes to Lunacy tees; Tedwin only orders enough to fill the requests he receives, and if he does not have your order in hand, he does not enter them into the count. Sending a Trading Post order to BPAL instead of BPTP slows the process down severely on both sides, and creates more confusion than our widdle heads can handle.

BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LAB, BPAL, IMP'S EARS, A LITTLE LUNACY, CARNAVAL DIABOLIQUE and all oil names are trademarks of the Black Phoenix Partnership. All scent descriptions and original artwork © 2000-2008, Black Phoenix Partnership except for public domain works and Carnaval Diabolique artwork © 2008 Jennifer Williamson. Used with permission, all rights reserved. All characters, locations, and scent descriptions within the Carousel / Neil Gaiman and Stardust collections are the intellectual property of Neil Gaiman, and are used here with his permission. All characters, locations, and scent descriptions within the Good Omens series are the intellectual property of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and are used here with their permission. Used with permission, all rights reserved.


Updated 18 April 2008:

Holy moly, there's a lot going on at BPAL this month!

There are new Neil and Terry-inspired scents all across the board!

++ GOOD OMENS
THE BUGGRE ALLE THIS BIBLE
The book was commonly known as the Buggre Alle This Bible. The lengthy compositor's error, if such it may be called, occurs in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 48, verse five:

2. And bye the border of Dan, fromme the east side to the west side, a portion for Afher.
3. And bye the border of Afhter, fromme the east side even untoe the west side, a portion for Naphtali.
4. And bye the border of Naphtali, from the east side untoe the west side, a portion for Manaffeh.
5. Buggre all this for a Larke. I amme sick to mye Hart of typefettinge. Master Biltonn if no Gentelmann, and Master Scagges noe more than a tighte fisted Southwarke Knobbefticke. I telle you, onne a daye laike thif Ennywone half an oz. of Sense should bee oute in the Sunneshain, ane nott Stucke here alle the liuelong daie inn thif mowldey olde By-Our-Lady Workefhoppe. @*"AE@;!*
6. And bye the border of Ephraim, from the east fide even untoe the west fide, a portion for Reuben.

[The Buggre Alle This Bible was also noteworthy for having twenty seven verses in the third chapter of Genesis, instead of the more usual twenty four.

They followed verse 24, which in the King James version reads:

"So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life," and read:

25 And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying Where is the flaming sword which was given unto thee?
26 And the Angel said, I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.
27 And the Lord did not ask him again.

It appears that these verses were inserted during the proof stage. In those days it was common practice for printers to hang proof sheets to the wooden beams outside their shops, for the edification of the populace and some free proofreading, and since the whole print run was subsequently burned anyway, no one bothered to take up this matter with the nice Mr. A. Ziraphale, who ran the bookshop two doors along and was always so helpful with the translations, and whose handwriting was instantly recognizable.]

Crumbling paper and ancient cracked leather with a touch of tobacco leaf and incense.


JASMINE COTTAGE
She'd rented the cottage furnished, which meant that the actual furniture was the special sort you find in these circumstances and had probably been left out for the dustmen by the local War on Want shop. It didn't matter. She didn't expect to be here long.

If Agnes was right, she wouldn't be anywhere long. Nor would anyone else.

Camellia, jasmine, heather, orange blossom, osmanthus, wisteria, thyme, angelica, freesia, granny's nightcap, and English wildflowers.


NANNY ASHTORETH
She wore a knit tweed suit and discreet pearl earrings. Something about her might have said nanny, but it said it in an undertone of the sort employed by British butlers in a certain type of American film. It also coughed discreetly and muttered that she could well be the sort of nanny who advertises unspecified but strangely explicit services in certain magazines.

Middle Eastern flowers, amber, honey, blood red-berries, whip leather, and polished paddle wood.


PEPPER
She herself had short red hair and a face which was not so much freckled as one big freckle with occasional areas of skin.

Pepper's given first names were Pippin Galadriel Moonchild. She had been given them in a naming ceremony in a muddy valley field that contained three sick sheep and a number of leaky polythene teepees. Her mother had chosen the Welsh valley of Pant y Gyrdl as the ideal site to Return to Nature. (Six months later, sick of the rain, the mosquitoes, the men, the tent trampling sheep who ate first the whole commune's marijuana crop and then its antique minibus, and by now beginning to glimpse why almost the entire drive of human history has been an attempt to get as far away from Nature as possible, Pepper's mother returned to Pepper's surprised grandparents in Tadfield, bought a bra, and enrolled in a sociology course with a deep sigh of relief.)

There are only two ways a child can go with a name like Pippin Galadriel Moonchild, and Pepper had chosen the other one: the three male Them had learned this on their first day of school, in the playground, at the age of four.

They had asked her her name, and, all innocent, she had told them.

Subsequently a bucket of water had been needed to separate Pippin Galadriel Moonchild's teeth from Adam's shoe. Wensleydale's first pair of spectacles had been broken, and Brian's sweater needed five stitches.

The Them were together from then on, and Pepper was Pepper forever, except to her mother, and (when they were feeling especially courageous, and the Them were almost out of earshot) Greasy Johnson and the Johnsonites, the village's only other gang.

Wild English roses, French gardenia, vanilla, honey, golden ginger, blood orange, tuberose, bergamot, and geranium.


WENSLEYDALE
"My father says there's no such thing as witches," said Wensleydale, who had fair, wavy hair, and peered seriously out at life through thick black rimmed spectacles. It was widely believed that he had once been christened Jeremy, but no one ever used the name, not even his parents, who called him Youngster. They did this in the subconscious hope that he might take the hint; Wensleydale gave the impression of having been born with a mental age of forty seven.

An immaculately clean scent: well-scrubbed soapy skin and fresh cotton.


++ AMERICAN GODS
THE IFRIT
The taxi driver comes out of the shower, wet, with a towel wrapped around his midsection. He is not wearing his sunglasses, and in the dim room his eyes burn with scarlet flames.

Salim blinks back tears. "I wish you could see what I see," he says.

"I do not grant wishes," whispers the ifrit, dropping his towel and pushing Salim gently, but irresistibly, down onto the bed.

Desert sand, red musk, blackened ginger, dragon's blood resin, black pepper, cinnamon, and tobacco.


THE NORNS' FARMHOUSE
The farmhouse was dark and shut up. The meadows were overgrown and seemed abandoned. The farm roof was crumbling at the back; it was covered in black plastic sheeting. They jolted over a ridge and Shadow saw it there.

It was silver-gray and it was higher than the farm-house. It was the most beautiful tree Shadow had ever seen: spectral and yet utterly real and almost perfectly symmetrical. It also looked instantly familiar: he wondered if he had dreamed it, then he realized that no, he had seen it before, or a representation of it man, many times. It was Wednesday's silver tie pin.

The VW bus jolted and bumped across the meadow, and it came to a stop about twenty feet from the trunk of the tree.

There were three women standing by the tree. At first glance Shadow thought they were the Zorya, but no, they were three women he did not know. They looked tired and bored, as if they had been standing there a long time. Each of them held a wooden ladder. The biggest also carried a brown sack. They looked like a set of Russian dolls: a tall one - she was Shadow's height, or even taller - a middle-sized one, and a woman so short and hunched that at first glance Shadow wrongly supposed her to be a child. They looked so much alike that Shadow was certain the women must be sisters.

The smallest of the women dropped to a curtsey when the bus drew up. The other two just stared. They were sharing a cigarette, and they smoked it down to the filter before one of them stubbed it out against a root.

Dusty, ancient wood, horehound, and sage, with viper's bugloss, mugwort, chamomile, nettle, apple blossom, chervil, and ashes.


++ STARDUST
THE EAST
But there were times when the wind blew from beyond the wall, bringing with it the smell of mint and thyme and redcurrants, and at those times there were strange colors seen in the flames in the fireplaces in the village.

The scent of the winds beyond the wall: bluebonnet, passion flower, freesia, jasmine tea, mint, thyme, and redcurrant.


THE STORMHOLD
The Stormhold had been carved out of the peak of Mount Huon by the first lord of Stormhold, who reigned at the end of the First Age and into the beginning of the Second. It had been expanded, improved upon, excavated and tunneled into by successive Masters of Stormhold, until the original mountain peak now raked the sky like the ornately carved tusk of some great, grey, granite beast. The Stormhold itself was perched high in the sky, where the thunder clouds gathered before they went down to the lower air, spilling rain and lightning and devastation upon the place beneath.

Creeping moss, slick granite, murky vetiver, lightning-charged ozone, and icy rain.



As always, this is a not-for-profit project, and all proceeds from the American Gods and Stardust scents go to the CBLDF, and the proceeds from the Good Omens scents are split between the CBLDF and the Orangutan Foundation UK. We love you, Neil and Terry! Thank you!!!



Next up, we have the Loon'acy --

++ A LITTLE LUNACY
DRAGON MOON 2008
In some cultures, the Dragon is benevolent, bestowing blessings and granting wishes. In others, the Dragon is an icon of destruction and harbinger of catastrophe. In all its incarnations, both baneful and benign, the Dragon is a symbol of strength, authority, and the raw power of nature. Our Dragon Moon represents the forces of rebirth and the vigor that springtime brings: dragon's blood resin, galbanum, blue sage, lavender, peppermint, sweetgrass, frankincense, moonglow magnolia, bergamot, and green cedar.


Dragon Moon is also live at Black Phoenix Trading Post



Artwork by Jennifer Williamson!

Dragon Moon will come down from both sites on 22 April 2008 along with the Atomic Luau Lounge!


We are thrilled to present a pair of long-awaited additions to the general catalogue:

++ DOC CONSTANTINE'S PHARMACOPOEIA
BRUISED VIOLET COMPOUND
Promotes vigor in undeath, and relieves the discomforts and complaints so common to incorporeal spirits!

The learned and eminent scholar Alessandro Cagliostro once remarked, "Long experience has taught me to prize Doctor Constantine's Compounds above all others!"

Crushed violets, red currant, patchouli root, and Spanish moss.


NOSTRUM REMEDIUM
A Universal Panacea!

Revitalizes the spirit and balances the humors! Prolongs life indefinitely!

Black tea leaf, invigorating wasabi extract, sweetened by honey.

Much despair and suffering can be prevented by the discreet use of Doc Constantine's remedies!


SLIPPERY POPPY TINCTURE
Supports psychic health and strengthens the astral body! Dissolves and expels telepathic blockage!

Every medium should have it! Use before every séance!

Poppy flowers, acai berry, and honey.


STIMULATING SASSAFRAS STRENGTHENER
Valuable in relieving the vapors and in reversing depraved conditions of the system!

Doc Constantine's tonics will make you happy, hale, and hearty!

Sassafras, vanilla extract, oak leaf, CO2 butter extract, and onycha.


While these blends certainly do soothe the mind and bolster the spirit, they are sold as curios only. They are not to be taken internally, or used in any capacity other than that of a perfume. These are tributes to quack medicines of yore and were created in the spirit of nostalgia. This is all tongue-in-cheek, friends. Please do not consider these serious pharmaceuticals.

The illustrations for Doc Constantine's series were hand-drawn by the inimitable Madame Talbot. Please pay her site a visit to see more of her astounding artwork, fascinating curio exhibitions, and beautiful handmade dolls.


++ PHOENIX STEAMWORKS AND RESEARCH FACILITY
PHOENIX STEAMWORKS
Glowing liquid passes through the fogged retorts of ancient alembics, sparks fly from behind a massive workbench, and a cloud of thick incense smoke hangs low, all casting strange and surreal flashes of light and shadow on tall bolted-steel walls. The chug and hum of gargantuan machines echo through the chamber.

Burnished gold and oiled bronze notes with Abramelin incense and sage.


AELOPILE
Smoldering coals heat the device from below, and steam hisses through two curved pipes, rotating the shining brass sphere.

Glowing amber and citrus, labdanum, verbena, cedar, and oud.


THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM
Bronze gears spin inside a polished wooden case, and an entire universe dances within.

Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco.


THE COIL
The walls reverberate with a resounding boom as the mechanism is activated, and the boom settles into a hum with a deep, growling buzz. Purple-white and lightning-yellow streamers of electricity cavort over enameled copper wires and through gleaming glass globes; the room is set afire with corona spray, and bare fluorescent bulbs mounted on the walls blaze to life.

Ozone, eucalyptus and mint with purple orchid, passionflower, white ginger, and purple lotus.


ETHER
Glass globes fill with sweet vitriol, and the gas passes lazily through slim tubes. A misty fog veils the senses, and the world fades to hazy, opaque nothingness.

Translucent blooms, ethereal white resins, and davana.


GALVANIC GOGGLES
Golden goggles fitted with zinc and copper plates dangle heavily by their leather straps from a hook mounted to the wall. Its crystal lenses are effulgent with residual electric energy.

Metallic notes with Indian musk, tobacco flower, and African balsam.


NO. 93 ENGINE
Beeswax candles reflect flickering light onto a brass-coated boiler engraved with the words "Solve Et Coagula". The gargantuan boiler sends torrents of steam into rigid pipes that exert force onto innumerable pistons and turbine blades. The motion is harnessed to propel energy into gargantuan cogs and gears that move liquid metals, herbs, and resins into a series of alembics.

Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage.


THE OBSIDIAN WIDOW
Tinkling tiny feet scuttle across a massive oak desk, navigating through a flurry of papers and a maze of discarded books, wires, and bolts. Glistening green venom beads at its chelicerae, and a ruby hourglass flashes from the creature's underbelly as it begins to weave.

Pinot noir, dark myrrh, red sandalwood, black patchouli, night-blooming jasmine, and attar of rose.


THE ROBOTIC SCARAB
Pinpoints of red light beaming from its eyes scan the room, and in a flutter of leather wings, it scuttles across the wooden floorboards.

Polished metallic notes, glossy leather, frankincense, star anise, and thin lubricating oils.


SMOKESTACK
Grey-brown flue gasses belch from colossal steel and concrete monoliths, forming bloated clouds in the dusk-dark sky.

Creosote, coal, and industrial waste.


VIOLET RAY
Though the doctor continued to assure her that the treatment was therapeutic, her anxiety increased. Ignoring her feeble protestations, the doctor produced a pair of glass wands, and set to work.

As the machine hummed to life, her misgivings were dissolved in a haze of unexpected pleasure. Warmth, contrasted sharply with a million white-hot pinpricks and a strangely cooling blast of electricity, surged through her thighs. The metal electrodes secured beneath her corset flared as the electrical current swelled through her nerve endings.

White mint, purple musk, violet, lilac, ylang ylang, lavender moss, and sandalwood.



Illustrations by the phenomenal Mlle. Julie Dillon!


Don't forget! - Its baseball season, boys and girls!




And that's it for now! Please keep an eye out for the next Carnaval Diabolique update coming soon!



From the 20 March 2008 update:

April first is coming, and at BPAL, that means foolishness. Last year we brought you the Dogs Playing Poker Salon Series. This year, we are thrilled to present:

++ ATOMIC LUAU LOUNGE
In the spirit of Polynesian Pop and Tiki Culture, we present Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Atomic Luau Lounge: the Exotica Collection.

Tiki Culture became a phenomenon in the late 50's, likely inspired by Hawaii's admission to the union in 1959 and by the memories of World War II veterans that were stationed in the South Pacifi. Tiki enthusiasts were influenced by a panoply of Polynesian themes, and they embraced pop renditions of island artwork, dress, and music, revamping them with a distinctly campy Western flair.

This is our tribute to Donn Beach, a true Pisces if there ever was one. Light the torches, bust out the leis, and bust out the Martin Denny LPs! Without you, Donn, we wouldn't pu pu platters to gorge on, or Zombies to chug!


TIKI QUEEN
Monoi de Tahiti, vanilla, white coconut, tuberose, ylang ylang, white musk, red hibiscus, and neroli.

TIKI KING
Black coconut, black musk, lemon blossom, and ironwood bark.


++ ATOMIC LUAU LOUNGE: THE BAR
BLUE FIRE
Papaya, blueberry, lemongrass, and gin.

GOLDEN WAVE
Tangerine, gin, passion fruit, guava, and tonic.

RANGOON RIPTIDE
Pineapple, mandarin orange, raspberry, passion fruit, and rum.

SCREECHING PARROT
Golden rum, apricot liquor, pineapple, pomegranate, ginger, brandy, grapefruit, and pink lime.

TE PO
Jamaican rum, almond liquor, orange water, sugar syrup, lime peel, black cherry, vodka, and mint.

UPA UPA
Spiced rum, coconut, pineapple, and vanilla.


++ ATOMIC LUAU LOUNGE: FLOTSAM
BOO BAM
Bamboo reed, palm frond, and hibiscus.

MARAE
Vanilla orchid, Monoi tiare, gardenia, and light incense.

MOAI
Volcanic ash and Easter Island palm.

MOANA
Seaweed, awapuhi, and sea foam.

OPUHI
Ginger blossom and vanilla orchid.

TUPAPAU
White sandalwood, pikaki, 'umi'umi-o-dole, and plumeria.


This month's Lunacy also falls prey to our April shenanigans:

WORM MOON
Do not smirk as a hearse goes by,
For you may be the next to die.
They wrap you up in a big white sheet
And throw you down six feet deep.
They put you in a big black box,
And cover you up with dirt and rocks.

All goes well for a week or two,
Then things start changing; all is new.
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle on your snout.

A big green worm with rolling eyes,
Crawls in your stomach and out your eyes.
Til your blood turns mossy green
And oozes out like Devonshire cream.

Worm Moon marks the season of rains, when the worms scuttle forth, aerating the earth with their movements and enriching the soil by digesting waste in organic material, which creates organic fertilizer.

Since April is Black Phoenix's Month of Absurdity, we present a melding of Victorian Grotesquery and springtime fecundity: mold-crusted dirt, decomposing organic matter, coffin wood, drooping funeral flowers, congealed blood, gloomy lunar oils, cuckoo flower, and a gruesome burst of overripe red fruits.


Also featured in our LE section:

APRIL FOOL
The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year. - Mark Twain

The Fool is many things, but rarely is he foolish. He is the inscrutable zero, he is innocence perfected, and he is the nothing from which all things are created. It is the Fool that reveals truth and brings wisdom to King Lear, and it is the Fool that finally finds the Holy Grail.

Huckleberry, white rose, tangerine, nicotiana, lemon blossom, and Fool's Parsley.


BELTANE 2008
One of the holiest days in the Pagan calendar, Beltane [May Day, Cetsamhain, Floralia and Roodmas... also, Beltaine, Bealtaine, Bealtuinn, Beletene, La Bheltine] is the Day of Baal's Fire, and marks the midpoint of Sol's path between the Vernal Equinox and Summer Solstice. In Druidic tradition, need-fires were set atop hills in a symbolic gesture of bringing the Sun's light down to Earth. Celebrants danced around the fires in harmony with the Sun's seeming movement through the sky, and passed eadar dà theine Bhealltuinn, between the Fires of Beltane, to purify themselves. In Scotland, all hearth fires were extinguished, and the flames from the need-fires were used to rekindle their flames, bringing blessings and good fortune into the household. It doesn't matter where your faith lies, Beltane is sacred to us simply because we're human. It is a celebration of new growth, rebirth, of the fertility of our land, our spirits and our bodies, and is a reminder of the joy in simply being alive. Celebrate life! Wind some flowers into your hair, dab a little oil behind each ear, toss the first petals of springtime onto your yard, and bless your garden the old fashioned way!

Mugwort, French rose, Lily of the Valley, broom, frankincense, myrrh, benzoin, foxglove, woodruff, rowan wood, ivy, sandalwood, spring mint, thyme, iris, copal, and night blooming jasmine.


HEXENNACHT 2008
The Night of the Witches. In the Teutonic calendar, April 30, not October 31, was the night that the witches congregated to celebrate their Work through ecstatic dance, wild music and revelry. The witches fêted with spirits, fairies, and a bevy of otherworldy creatures atop Brockenberg peak in the Harz region of Germany, where they lit an enormous bonfire and cavorted naked until midnight... at which point they donned their robes, boarded their brooms, flying rams and sacred goats, scooped up their cat familiars, and sped off into the night. In later days, it was believed that on this night the witches conjured the devil, who would then select one of them for his bride. This perfume is the scent of the witches' revel: German fir and forest herbs, incense and bonfire smoke, infernal flora, glowing amber, and the wet, glimmering scent of skin warmed by dance.


The formulas for Beltane and Hexennacht are new for 2008.

April Fool, Worm Moon, Hexennacht 2008, Beltane 2008, Earth Rat and Parentalia are $17.50 each.

All of our Atomic Luau Lounge and Lupercalia blends are $17.50, with the exception of Tiki Queen and Tiki King, which are $23.00 each.

The Salon Limited Edition series, Novel Ideas For Secret Amusements, are $27.50 each.

The Lupercalia blends, April Fool, Worm Moon, Hexennacht 2008, Beltane 2008, Earth Rat, and Parentalia, will be available until March 23, 2008. The Aromic Luau blends will be available until April 22, 2008.


And with that, let's take a peep at what's new at Black Phoenix Trading Post:

The Worm Moon tee is live! This dapper deceased dandy was drawn by our beloved Jennifer Williamson! Available until March 23, 2008.

Also new this month:



The Phoenix Steamworks tee!

Artwork by the phenomenal Julie Dillon. Rubbed bronze, gold, and sky blue shimmer ink on black tee.

For a limited time, a preview of of next month's steampunk-inspired scent line will be available: the Phoenix Steamworks flagship oil with its accompanying tee! You will receive a tee in the size and style of your choice, plus a 5ml bottle of Phoenix Steamworks: Burnished gold and oiled bronze notes with Abramelin incense and sage.


Also new at the Post: three new locket designs -- Cheshire Cat, Clockwork, and the Queen of Hearts. Clockwork was designed by Alicia Dabney, and is 925 sterling silver that has been partially gold washed using a method popularized in the 19th century. Portions of the face of the Clockwork locket have been deliberately tarnished.


An addition has been made to the House of Phoenix's yoga line: the Hemlock pant --



The Trading Post is proud to introduce the first in our home fragrance line: Atmospheric Room and Linen Sprays. Use these sprays to establish a distinctive ambiance in your living spaces. Each spray possesses a unique essence, dedicated to a specific type of location. Turn your bedroom into a bordello, your rec room into a dungeon, or your library into the Queen's Croquet Ground with a few quick schpritzes!

The scents were created by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab for the Trading Post. These sprays are generously scented with copious amounts of Black Phoenix perfume oil and disperse beautifully. A little goes a long way.

The labels are printed on an Earth-friendly corn biopolymer, and as always, the Black Phoenix Partnership does not test on animals. We test on friends and family, and on the linens of friends and family!

Please note:
The sprays are not for use on the body. Do not use near an open flame. Please do not shoot these sprays into your eyes, or attempt to use them as perfume. Do not drink the sprays, or use them for any other unforeseen funnybusiness.

These mists may stain pale and delicate fabrics. Don't pour the sprays onto granny's antique linens, that's fer sure!


And last, but not least… Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab notepads. Handy lil' pads that are perfect for taking to a meet & sniff or Will Call, doodling, or making into very small paper airplanes!





From the 19 February 2008 update:

Good evening, all! Your faithful narrator is recovering from a challenging first trimester and the rigors of Mercury retrograde, so this update is a small one.

SUGAR MOON
No way to see him
on this moonless night ---
I lie awake longing, burning,
breasts racing fire,
heart in flames.

Sugar cane, blue musk, mahogany, black orchid, black currant, violet, blackberry leaf, teak, strawberry, and dusky rose.


HANAMI
Sleeping under the trees on Yoshino mountain
The spring breeze wearing cherry blossom petals

In Japan, the advent of spring is heralded by a blanket of pink and white that spreads gently from the South to the North to cover the islands. Hana-mi translates to "flower watching", and it is a sport of leisure that has been enjoyed since the Heian Period.


MORT DE CESAR
The essence of intrigue, betrayal, and impending doom.

Well, then, Antony, who was a friend of Caesar's and a robust man, was detained outside by Brutus Albinus, who purposely engaged him in a lengthy conversation; but Caesar went in, and the senate rose in his honour. Some of the partisans of Brutus took their places round the back of Caesar's chair, while others went to meet him, as though they would support the petition which Tillius Cimber presented to Caesar in behalf of his exiled brother, and they joined their entreaties to his and accompanied Caesar up to his chair. But when, after taking his seat, Caesar continued to repulse their petitions, and, as they pressed upon him with greater importunity, began to show anger towards one and another of them, Tillius seized his toga with both hands and pulled it down from his neck. This was the signal for the assault. It was Casca who gave him the first blow with his dagger, in the neck, not a mortal would, nor even a deep one, for which he was too much confused, as was natural at the beginning of a deed of great daring; so that Caesar turned about, grasped the knife, and held it fast. At almost the same instant both cried out, the smitten man in Latin: "Accursed Casca, what does thou?" and the smiter, in Greek, to his brother: "Brother, help!"

So the affair began, and those who were not privy to the plot were filled with consternation and horror at what was going on; they dared not fly, nor go to Caesar's help, nay, nor even utter a word. But those who had prepared themselves for the murder bared each of them his dagger, and Caesar, hemmed in on all sides, whichever way he turned confronting blows of weapons aimed at his face and eyes, driven hither and thither like a wild beast, was entangled in the hands of all; for all had to take part in the sacrifice and taste of the slaughter. Therefore Brutus also gave him one blow in the groin. And it is said by some writers that although Caesar defended himself against the rest and darted this way and that and cried aloud, when he saw that Brutus had drawn his dagger, he pulled his toga down over his head and sank, either by chance or because pushed there by his murderers, against the pedestal on which the statue of Pompey stood. And the pedestal was drenched with his blood, so that one might have thought that Pompey himself was presiding over this vengeance upon his enemy, who now lay prostrate at his feet, quivering from a multitude of wounds. For it is said that he received twenty-three; and many of the conspirators were wounded by one another, as they struggled to plant all those blows in one body.

Conspiracy and murder in the Theatre of Pompey: balsam of Peru, bitter clove, motia attar, amber musk, opoponax, cypress, red wine grapes, tagetes, spikenard, and blood accord.


Sugar Moon and Hanami are $17.50 per 5ml, and Mort de Cesar is $20. All three will be live until February 22, 2008.

At Black Phoenix Trading Post, the Sugar Moon tee is live!



A design inspired by classic tattoo art, doodled by Ms. Jennifer Williamson.

The Sugar Moon tee will be live at Trading Post until February 22, 2008.



From the 24 January 2008:

Per our announcement on December 17th, the following scents were discontinued today:

Asphodel
Calliope
Clio
Erato
Euterpe
Goneril
Hamadryad
Kostnice
Melpomene
Penthus
Phantom
Polyhymnia
Rage
Shroud
Terpsichore
Thaleia
Urania
Vinland
Yerevan
LVRH: Ahathoor
LVRH: Khephra
LVRH: Ra
LVRH: Tum

Thank you for understanding!



From the 20 January 2008 update:

There is a whole lot of Lunacy this month!

At Black Phoenix Trading Post:

Two new bath oils!

LUXURIA BATH OIL
Lust's passion will be served; it demands, it militates, it tyrannizes. -- the Marquis de Sade
Red musk, patchouli, pomegranate, red currant, bourbon vanilla, nutmeg, sweet orange.

CASTITAS BATH OIL
Chastity - the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions. -- Aldous Huxley
Rice flower, vanilla, and cream.


Also, two new BPAL tees have been added to the permanent catalogue!





And, the Lunacies:





Moon of Ice and Cheshire Moon will be live at Black Phoenix Trading Post until January 24, 2008.


And at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab…

MOON OF ICE
The Moon of Ice shines its pale white light on snow-blanketed hills and barren fields. Icicles dangle from skeletal branches, and the desperate howl of starving men and beasts echo through the darkness.

Frost-crusted winter flowers, white pine, eucalyptus, and traditional lunar oils.


PISCES
Mutable water: the essence of faith.
Hemp, opium poppy, sarsaparilla, grains of paradise, passion flower, wisteria, Irish moss, and gentian.


CHESHIRE MOON
The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good- natured, she thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

`Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

`I don't much care where --' said Alice.

`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

`-- so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.

`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'

Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. `What sort of people live about here?'

`In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.'

`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.

`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'

`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.

`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'

A lunatic's blend of lunar herbs and blossoms, with lemongrass, guava, pink grapefruit, banyan fruit, hibiscus, and cherry blossom.


LUNAR ECLIPSE
Skoll the wolf who shall scare the Moon
Till he flies to the Wood-of-Woe:
Hati the wolf, Hridvitnir's kin,
Who shall pursue the Sun.

Red musk, black currant, violet leaf, wild frankincense, lavender, black orchid, Darjeeling tea, vetiver, red moss, myrrh, Moroccan spices, blackened fruit gums, and tobacco.



Cheshire Moon and Moon of Ice are $17.50 each.

Pisces 2008 is $20, and Lunar Eclipse is $23.

Moon of Ice and Pisces vanish on January 24, 2008. Cheshire Moon and Lunar Eclipse will be live until February 22, 2008.



And just in time for Valentine's Day -

A double feature tribute to B-movie sci-fi horror romance brought to you by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Dark Delicacies!

The scentmasters of the WEIRD
In their LATEST and most TERRIFYING!



++ DIARY OF A LOVESTRUCK TEENAGE CANNIBAL
The NIGHTMARE TERROR of TEENAGE love gone GRISLY!
She's HELL-BENT on romance, THRILL-CRAZED, and HUNGRY!
There's NO ESCAPE from her clutches!

A deranged darling, sweet and sociopathic! Clotted vanilla cream, pink pepper, grapefruit, blood lily, red ginger, English pear, and lemon-squeezed candyfloss!


++ I MARRIED A VAMPIRE FROM PLANET X
Unspeakable HORROR and SHOCKING supernatural space SEX!
Can they find MARITAL BLISS on EARTH?

A blend of blood-soaked daemonorops, black amber, dark musk, glistening leather, caraway, smoky myrrh, cinnamon, and clove that is glowing with a luminescent, space-addled coating of clary sage, lemon balm, white grapefruit rind, mandarin, green melon, and white musk.



Available solely through those wacky kids at Dark Delicacies. Shipping of the B-Movie scents will begin after January 25, 2008.



IMP REMINDER!
Imps are not available for the following categories of scents:

Limited Edition
Carnaval Diabolique
Lunacy Blends / Astrological Blends
The Neil Gaiman Series
The Stardust Series
The Good Omens Series
The Shojo Beat scents
Any Twilight Alchemy Lab oils
Any oils offered at Black Phoenix Trading Post


The following imps are sold only in pre-packaged full sets:

Panacea
The Chakras
The Salon


If you request a sample of a limited edition scent, we will swap for a random general catalog scent.


And, with the rising of Pisces, this cycle's Suspiciendo Despicio series is concluded. Thanks, everyone! Happy Loonacee!



From the 14 January 2008 update:
Love is in the air at Black Phoenix, and it has suffused both our Limited Edition section and the general catalogue.

First things first: the Love Potions section is now "Ars Amatoria". Why? Because we're a little mercurial here at the Lab, and it seemed like a good idea. New to Ars Amatoria…

++ GENERAL CATALOGUE: ARS AMATORIA
DEEP IN EARTH
Deep in earth my love is lying
And I must weep alone.

Rose geranium, Spanish moss, Irish yew, and graveyard dirt.


DEFUTUTA
Good Gods, what a night that was,
The bed was so soft, and how we clung,
Burning together, lying this way and that,
Our uncontrollable passions
Flowing through our mouths.
If I could only die that way,
I'd say goodbye to the business of living.

Olive blossom, honey, smoky vanilla, cinnamon, jasmine, sandalwood, and champaca flower.


FASCINUM
Hic habitat felicitas! The penis was a potent and popular symbol of good fortune, strength, power, and fertility in ancient Rome. Images of phalluses adorned Roman homes and shops, bringing the positive energy that the symbol represents into the lives of the inhabitants.

Golden amber, golden musk, litsea cubeba, cedar, and saffron.


L'ECOLE DES FILLES
We sang till almost night, and drank my good store of wine; and then they parted and I to my chamber, where I did read through L'Escholle des Filles; a lewd book, but what doth me no wrong to read for imagination's sake… and after I had done it, I burned it, that it might not be among my books to my shame.

Published around 1655, this is considered to be the origin of modern pornography in France. It is a discourse between two young ladies, the elder instructing the younger in the ways of passion.

This is a libertine's celebration of decadence, debauchery, and sexual freedom: orange blossom, ambergris, orris root, white rose, lemon balm, jonquil, carrot seed, and benzoin.


LOVE'S TORMENTS
Love's torments sought a place of rest,
Where all might drear and lonely be;
They found ere long my desert breast,
And nestled in its vacancy.

White sandalwood, neroli, and vetiver.


TO A WOMAN
Thy fatal shafts unerring move,
I bow before thine altar, Love.
I feel thy soft resistless flame
Glide swift through all my vital frame.

For while I gaze my bosom glows,
My blood in tides impetuous flows;
Hope, fear, and joy alternate roll,
And floods of transports whelm my soul.

My faltering tongue attempts in vain
In soothing murmurs to complain;
My tongue some secret magic ties,
My murmurs sink in broken sighs.

Condemned to nurse eternal care,
And ever drop the silent tear,
Unheard I mourn, unknown I sigh,
Unfriended live, unpitied die.

Benzoin, cassis bud, patchouli, rose otto, and petitgrain.



And, the new Limited Edition scents…



++ LUNAR NEW YEAR
EARTH RAT
A new year's blessing! Peony, China's national flower, with bamboo for flexibility, plum blossom for perseverance, courage, and hope, tangerine for wealth, lychee for strong family relationships and peace in the home, orange for happiness, pine resin for constancy, golden kumquat and quince for prosperity, narcissus and King mandarin for good fortune, coconut for longevity, and candied melon for good health, with a splash of blazing red of dragon's blood... to help you scare away the rampaging Nian.


PARENTALIA
The Day of the Fathers. A festival of remembrance, honoring family that has passed into the next life.

Cypress, rose, violet, frankincense, ambrette, marjoram, and Lebanese cedar.



++ LUPERCALIA 2008 UPDATE
ANACTORIA
I feel thy blood against my blood; my pain
Pains thee, and lips bruise lips, and vein stings vein.
Let fruit be crushed on fruit, let flower on flower
Breast kindle breast, and either burn one hour.
Why wilt thou follow lesser loves? are thine
Too weak to bear these hands and lips of mine?

The scent of the throes of violent passion: entangled limbs, teeth on flesh, furiously grasping hands, the taste of blood and sweat. Golden amber, white honey, red currant, daemonorops, kush, and Arabian musk.


KHAJURAHO 2008
The fabled Khajuraho temples of India are shrines of love in all its myriad forms. They are a celebration of love itself -- transcendental, spiritual and erotic. This is a rejection of sorrow, spiritual ennui and despair. The sexual motifs that adorn the temples, and the temples themselves, are monuments to ecstasy and to passion, and through that, they are also monuments to spiritual fulfillment. It is believed that the realization of moksha by dedicating oneself to adhyatma and dharma can be attained only by first experiencing sexual satisfaction. In the midst of the drudgery and struggle that we sometimes endure during the course of our Earthly lives, it is vitally important that we remember the joy found in kama, and that in kama we can achieve transformation of the body and soul. This is a blissful, euphoric blend based on an ancient Indian love potion: honey, date palm, tuberose, davana blossom, amber, white sandalwood, vanilla bean, Damask rose, and champaca flower.


LUPERCI 2008
Piss off, Saint Valentine! Lupercalia is an ancient Roman celebration, held on February 15th, that kicked in the advent of Spring with a very, very festive purification, fertility and sexuality ritual. The ritual began near the cave of Lupercal on the Palatine, an area sacred to Faunus, as well as Ruminia, Romulus and Remus. During Lupercalia, Vestal Virgins first made offerings of sacred cakes to the fig tree under which the she-wolf suckled the Sacred Twins. A dog and two goats were then offered in sacrifice to Faunus. The blood of the sacrifice was smeared onto two naked patrician youths, who were assisted by the Virgins, and the blood was wiped clean with sacred wool dipped in milk. The youths donned the skins of the sacrificial goats, wielding whips made from the goat skins, and then led the priests and the Virgins around the pomarium, and around the base hills of Rome. This was a ceremony of great happiness and merriment, and was of particular interest to young women: being touched by the goat-whips young men that led the procession ensured their fertility in the coming year. It is believed that, after the initial rite, male participants would draw the name of an available maiden, with whom he spent the rest of the night. This scent is for the Luperci, the Chosen of Faunus, the Brothers of the Wolf: raw, down and dirty patchouli, Gurjam balsam, and essence of Sampson Root sweetened with the heightened sexuality of beeswax, virile juniper, oakmoss, ambrette seed over honey and East African musk.


PARLEMENT OF FOULES 2008
For the Valentine's Day purists.

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his mate.

Medieval romance and courtly love. White rose and soft resins.


RED LANTERN 2008
A tribute to the opium den cum bawdyhouses of Shanghai in the 1930's. Golden amber, blonde tobacco, Sudanese black coconut, rich caramel, black currant, white opium and delphinium laced with a sensual blend of Asian spice.


SMUT 2008
Smut! Smut! Smut! Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes.


VALENTINE OF ROME
Many legends surround St. Valentine, and history has yet to show, conclusively, which ones are true and which are fiction. One tale claims that Valentine was a 3rd century Christian priest. When Emperor Claudius II declared that his soldiers were never to marry - the emperor believed that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and children - Valentine continued to perform wedding ceremonies in secret. When the emperor learned of Valentine's disobedience, he imprisoned the priest. The emperor chose to interrogate the priest himself, and despite his fury at his orders being flagrantly disobeyed, he was impressed with the priest's intelligence, wisdom, and passion. He attempted to convert the priest to the Roman faith, and was furious when he failed.

While incarcerated, Valentine fell in love with his jailor's blind daughter. Through God's grace and the power of Valentine's pure and true love for this woman, he was able to cure her blindness with a touch. Before he was beaten and beheaded, he sent her a letter expressing his feelings for her, signed 'From Your Valentine'.

Ecclesiastical incense, Roman flora, and the fruits of martyrdom: cypress, olive blossom, frankincense, myrrh, and blood accord.



++ LUPERCALIA: LOVE POEMS
A FAREWELL TO FALSE LOVE
Sir Walter Raleigh
Farewell, false love, the oracle of lies,
A mortal foe and enemy to rest,
An envious boy, from whom all cares arise,
A bastard vile, a beast with rage possessed,
A way of error, a temple full of treason,
In all effects contrary unto reason.

A poisoned serpent covered all with flowers,
Mother of sighs, and murderer of repose,
A sea of sorrows whence are drawn such showers
As moisture lend to every grief that grows;
A school of guile, a net of deep deceit,
A gilded hook that holds a poisoned bait.

A fortress foiled, which reason did defend,
A siren song, a fever of the mind,
A maze wherein affection finds no end,
A raging cloud that runs before the wind,
A substance like the shadow of the sun,
A goal of grief for which the wisest run.

A quenchless fire, a nurse of trembling fear,
A path that leads to peril and mishap,
A true retreat of sorrow and despair,
An idle boy that sleeps in pleasure's lap,
A deep mistrust of that which certain seems,
A hope of that which reason doubtful deems.

Sith then thy trains my younger years betrayed,
And for my faith ingratitude I find;
And sith repentance hath my wrongs bewrayed,
Whose course was ever contrary to kind:
False love, desire, and beauty frail, adieu.
Dead is the root whence all these fancies grew.

Pale lavender, sweet violet, balsam of Peru, and paperwhite narcissus.


THE CLOD AND THE PEBBLE
William Blake
Love seeketh not Itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care;
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hells despair.

So sang a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet;
But a Pebble of the brook,
Warbled out these metres meet.

Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to Its delight:
Joys in anothers loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heavens despite.

Rose otto, clove, patchouli, Indian sandalwood, nutmeg, and cedar.


THE FLOWER SONG
Unknown, Written during Egypt's New Kingdom
To hear your voice is pomegranate wine to me:
I draw life from hearing it.
Could I see you with every glance,
It would be better for me
Than to eat or to drink.

Pomegranate wine, lotus root, river reeds, hyssop, and barley.


HER VOICE
Oscar Wilde
The wild bee reels from bough to bough
With his furry coat and his gauzy wing.
Now in a lily-cup, and now
Setting a jacinth bell a-swing,
In his wandering;
Sit closer love: it was here I trow
I made that vow,

Swore that two lives should be like one
As long as the sea-gull loved the sea,
As long as the sunflower sought the sun --
It shall be, I said, for eternity
'Twixt you and me!
Dear friend, those times are over and done,
Love's web is spun.

Look upward where the poplar trees
Sway and sway in the summer air,
Here in the valley never a breeze
Scatters the thistledowns, but there
Great winds blow fair
From the mighty murmuring mystical seas,
And the wave-lashed leas.

Look upward where the white gull screams
What does it see that we do not see?
Is that a star? or the lamp that gleams
On some outward voyaging argosy, --
Ah! can it be
We have lived our lives in land of dreams!
How sad it seems.

Sweet, there is nothing left to say
But this, that love is never lost.
Keen winter stabs the breasts of May
Whose crimson roses burst his frost,
Ships tempest-tossed
Will find a harbour in some bay,
And so we may.

And there is nothing left to do
But to kiss once again, and part,
Nay, there is nothing we should rue,
I have my beauty, -- you your Art.
Nay, do not start,
One world was not enough for two
Like me and you.

Hyacinth, beeswax, wild roses, vanilla amber, lily of the valley, tiger lily, honeysuckle, carnation, and heliotrope.


LA VITA NUOVA
Dante Alighieri
In that book which is
My memory...
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words...
Here begins a new life

Apple blossom, white rose, lemon balm, and champagne grape.


LONGING
Matthew Arnold
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again.
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me.

Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth.
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say My love! why sufferest thou?

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again.
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

Rose geranium, frankincense, Ceylon cinnamon, golden musk, bay rum, and bois du rose.


LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY
Percy Bysshe Shelley
The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever,
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle; --
Why not I with thine?

See! the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven,
If it disdained it's brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea; --
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

Vanilla, saffron, and cream.


NIGHT THOUGHTS
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Stars, you are unfortunate, I pity you,
Beautiful as you are, shining in your glory,
Who guide seafaring men through stress and peril
And have no recompense from gods or mortals,
Love you do not, nor do you know what love is.
Hours that are aeons urgently conducting
Your figures in a dance through the vast heaven,
What journey have you ended in this moment,
Since lingering in the arms of my beloved
I lost all memory of you and midnight.

Lilac, blue musk, dianthus, cedar, neroli, ozone, and luminous Eastern herbs.


THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE
Christopher Marlowe
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills and fields,
Woods or steepy mountains yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair-lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

Heather, clover, Irish moss, English ivy, tea rose, and carnation.


THE PRESENCE OF LOVE
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
And in Life's noisiest hour,
There whispers still the ceaseless Love of Thee,
The heart's Self-solace and soliloquy.

______________________

You mould my Hopes, you fashion me within;
And to the leading Love-throb in the Heart
Thro' all my Being, thro' my pulses beat;
You lie in all my many Thoughts, like Light,
Like the fair light of Dawn, or summer Eve
On rippling Stream, or cloud-reflecting Lake.
And looking to the Heaven, that bends above you,
How oft ! I bless the Lot, that made me love you.

White musk, rose-swirled amber, pink grapefruit, and jasmine.


SAPPHICS
Algernon Charles Swinburne
All the night sleep came not upon my eyelids,
Shed not dew, nor shook nor unclosed a feather,
Yet with lips shut close and with eyes of iron
Stood and beheld me.

Then to me so lying awake a vision
Came without sleep over the seas and touched me,
Softly touched mine eyelids and lips; and I too,
Full of the vision,

Saw the white implacable Aphrodite,
Saw the hair unbound and the feet unsandalled
Shine as fire of sunset on western waters;
Saw the reluctant

Feet, the straining plumes of the doves that drew her,
Looking always, looking with necks reverted,
Back to Lesbos, back to the hills whereunder
Shone Mitylene;

Heard the flying feet of the Loves behind her
Make a sudden thunder upon the waters,
As the thunder flung from the strong unclosing
Wings of a great wind.

So the goddess fled from her place, with awful
Sound of feet and thunder of wings around her;
While behind a clamour of singing women
Severed the twilight.

Ah the singing, ah the delight, the passion!
All the Loves wept, listening; sick with anguish,
Stood the crowned nine Muses about Apollo;
Fear was upon them,

While the tenth sang wonderful things they knew not.
Ah the tenth, the Lesbian! the nine were silent,
None endured the sound of her song for weeping;
Laurel by laurel,

Faded all their crowns; but about her forehead,
Round her woven tresses and ashen temples
White as dead snow, paler than grass in summer,
Ravaged with kisses,

Shone a light of fire as a crown for ever.
Yea, almost the implacable Aphrodite
Paused, and almost wept; such a song was that song.
Yea, by her name too

Called her, saying, "Turn to me, O my Sappho;"
Yet she turned her face from the Loves, she saw not
Tears for laughter darken immortal eyelids,
Heard not about her

Fearful fitful wings of the doves departing,
Saw not how the bosom of Aphrodite
Shook with weeping, saw not her shaken raiment,
Saw not her hands wrung;

Saw the Lesbians kissing across their smitten
Lutes with lips more sweet than the sound of lute-strings,
Mouth to mouth and hand upon hand, her chosen,
Fairer than all men;

Only saw the beautiful lips and fingers,
Full of songs and kisses and little whispers,
Full of music; only beheld among them
Soar, as a bird soars

Newly fledged, her visible song, a marvel,
Made of perfect sound and exceeding passion,
Sweetly shapen, terrible, full of thunders,
Clothed with the wind's wings.

Then rejoiced she, laughing with love, and scattered
Roses, awful roses of holy blossom;
Then the Loves thronged sadly with hidden faces
Round Aphrodite,

Then the Muses, stricken at heart, were silent;
Yea, the gods waxed pale; such a song was that song.
All reluctant, all with a fresh repulsion,
Fled from before her.

All withdrew long since, and the land was barren,
Full of fruitless women and music only.
Now perchance, when winds are assuaged at sunset,
Lulled at the dewfall,

By the grey sea-side, unassuaged, unheard of,
Unbeloved, unseen in the ebb of twilight,
Ghosts of outcast women return lamenting,
Purged not in Lethe,

Clothed about with flame and with tears, and singing
Songs that move the heart of the shaken heaven,
Songs that break the heart of the earth with pity,
Hearing, to hear them.

Tonka, oakmoss, tolu balsam, grey amber, myrrh, and muguet.


THE RAGGED WOOD
William Butler Yeats
O, hurry, where by water, among the trees,
The delicate-stepping stag and his lady sigh,
When they have looked upon their images
Would none had ever loved but you and I!

Or have you heard that sliding silver-shoed
Pale silver-proud queen-woman of the sky,
When the sun looked out of his golden hood?
O, that none ever loved but you and I!

O hurry to the ragged wood, for there
I will drive all those lovers out and cry
O, my share of the world, O, yellow hair!
No one has ever loved but you and I.

Lily of the Valley, star jasmine, benzoin, vanilla, plumeria, bergamot, Terebinth pine, juniper berry, and tea rose.


TO HELEN
Edgar Allan Poe
I saw thee once - once only - years ago:
I must not say how many - but not many.
It was a July midnight; and from out
A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,
Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven,
There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,
With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber,
Upon the upturned faces of a thousand
Roses that grew in an enchanted garden,
Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
That gave out, in return for the love-light,
Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted
By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence.

Clad all in white, upon a violet bank
I saw thee half reclining; while the moon
Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses,
And on thine own, upturn'd - alas, in sorrow!
Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight
Was it not Fate, (whose name is also Sorrow,)
That bade me pause before that garden-gate,
To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses?
No footstep stirred: the hated world an slept,
Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven! oh, God!
How my heart beats in coupling those two words!)
Save only thee and me. I paused - I looked
And in an instant all things disappeared.
(Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!)

The pearly lustre of the moon went out:
The mossy banks and the meandering paths,
The happy flowers and the repining trees,
Were seen no more: the very roses' odors
Died in the arms of the adoring airs.
All - all expired save thee - save less than thou:
Save only the divine light in thine eyes
Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes.
I saw but them - they were the world to me!
I saw but them - saw only them for hours,
Saw only them until the moon went down.
What wild heart-histories seemed to he enwritten
Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres!
How dark a woe, yet how sublime a hope!
How silently serene a sea of pride!
How daring an ambition; yet how deep
How fathomless a capacity for love!
But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight,
Into a western couch of thunder-cloud;
And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees
Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained;
They would not go - they never yet have gone;
Lighting my lonely pathway home that night,
They have not left me (as my hopes have) since;
They follow me - they lead me through the years.
They are my ministers - yet I their slave.
Their office is to illumine and enkindle
My duty, to be saved by their bright light,
And purified in their electric fire,
And sanctified in their elysian fire.
They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope),
And are far up in Heaven - the stars I kneel to
In the sad, silent watches of my night;
While even in the meridian glare of day
I see them still - two sweetly scintillant
Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!

Electric ozone, opaline notes, moonflower, white amber, beeswax, and three roses.


And last, but not least, a temporary wing has been added to the Salon. Novel Ideas For Secret Amusements is a Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Salon Limited Edition series celebrating the joy, humor, playfulness, and thrill of sexual intercourse through scent interpretations of Edo era Japanese erotic art. This exhibit contains explicit depictions of sexual acts and nudity, and viewer discretion is advised.


Earth Rat, Parentalia, and all of our Lupercalia blends are $17.50, with the exception of the Salon Limited Edition series, Novel Ideas For Secret Amusements, which are $27.50 each.

The Yule, Anniversary, and Resurrected blends will be available until January 15, 2008. The Lupercalia blends, Earth Rat, and Parentalia, will be available until March 23, 2008.


The Black Phoenix Trading Post update will be live soon, and we'll be back for Lunacy!




From the Midwinter 2007 update:
Happy Yuletide, boys and girls!

We have two offerings for this month's Lunacy:

OLD MOON
The cold earth slept below;
          Above the cold sky shone;
                  And all around,
                  With a chilling sound,
From caves of ice and fields of snow
The breath of night like death did flow
                  Beneath the sinking moon.

The wintry hedge was black;
          The green grass was not seen;
                  The birds did rest
                  On the bare thorn's breast,
Whose roots, beside the pathway track,
Had bound their folds o'er many a crack
                  Which the frost had made between.

Thine eyes glow'd in the glare
          Of the moon's dying light;
                  As a fen-fire's beam
                  On a sluggish stream
Gleams dimly-so the moon shone there,
And it yellow'd the strings of thy tangled hair,
                  That shook in the wind of night.

The moon made thy lips pale, belov'd;
          The wind made thy bosom chill;
                  The night did shed
                  On thy dear head
Its frozen dew, and thou didst lie
Where the bitter breath of the naked sky
                  Might visit thee at will.

A dark, still winter's night. The cold, white moon shines on frozen ground dusted with silent snow: evergreen, juniper, winterberry holly, bayberry, Viking black chokeberry, hemlock, and yew, ice-rimed, gilded by traditional lunar herbs and flowers.

AQUARIUS 2007
Fixed air: the essence of idealism.
Wisteria, myrrh, anise, galbanum, bryony, and pomegranate.


The Wheel of the Julian/Gregorian Year is completed, and with 2007's passing went the last of our shapeshifter LE's.

And new at Black Phoenix Trading Post:



Both the Lunacy scents and the Lunacy tee will be live until December 26, 2007.


In order to make room for several upcoming series and single shot additions to portions of our general catalogue, we are forced to cull the herd. The following blends are being discontinued. They will be offline when the January Lunacy comes down on January 24, 2008.

Ahathoor
Asphodel
Calliope
Clio
Erato
Euterpe
Goneril
Hamadryad
Kostnice
Melpomene
Penthus
Phantom
Polyhymnia
Rage
Shroud
Terpsichore
Thaleia
Urania
Vinland
Yerevan
LVRH: Ahathoor
LVRH: Khephra
LVRH: Ra
LVRH: Tum

Have a safe, sane, and sexy winter season, everyone!



From the 21 November 2007 update:

Blue Moon threw us for a loop this year, so this month we are doing something a little different for Lunacy.

Old skool Lunacies will resume, as scheduled, next month.


SEA OF TRANQUILITY
Look how the pale Queen of the silent night
doth cause the ocean to attend upon her,
and he, as long as she is in sight,
with his full tide is ready here to honor;

But when the silver waggon of the Moon
is mounted up so high he cannot follow,
the sea calls home his crystal waves to morn,
and with low ebb doth manifest his sorrow.

Silver-dusted lotus, white amber, rose otto, passion flower, white sandalwood, buttonweed, and white poppy.


TANUKI
Tan Tan Tanuki no kintama wa,
Kaze mo nai no ni,
Bura bura!

The mischievous sake-swigging, debt-riddled shapeshifting raccoon dog. These creatures carry a fistfuls of counterfeit cash and wear leaves from Buddha's sacred lotus atop their heads. Their kin-tama -- golden balls -- are so large that they can swing them over their shoulders like backpacks, and are so taut that they can play them like drums. They are masters at the art of transformation, and live to overindulge in wine and women.

A scent of hedonistic, uninhibited joy: bamboo reed, plum blossom, persimmon, magnolia, black pine, sweet osmanthus, flowering cherry, mandarin orange, wisteria, and yuzu.


CAPRICORN 2007
Cardinal earth: the essence of control.
Solomon's Seal, pine, amaranth, ambrette, cypress, wild tobacco, and hemp.


Sea of Tranquility and Tanuki are $17.50 each, and Capricorn 2007 is $20.00. The Lunacy (both BPAL and BPTP) will be live until approximately 9pm PST on Monday, November 26, 2007.


Tonight, there's a gigantic BPTP update. Check out the Trading Post New Schtuff Page!

Happy holidays, everyone!



From the 18 November 2007 update:

As of November 25, 2007, the Poe Collection will be available at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA. We will be kick-starting it with them at the Dark Delicacies shop from 2-5pm on that day.

Dark Delicacies
4213 W. Burbank Blvd
Burbank, CA 91505
818-556-6660
888-DARKDEL

This month marks DD's 13th Anniversary, and to commemorate it, we have created Black Lace: the embodiment of Victorian funereal elegance. A delicate sugar-spun vanilla cream cotton, stained by tobacco and incense smoke, Indian musk, and drops of cognac. Black Lace will be available through Dark Delicacies as of November 25th, and will be on sale during our trunk show that day.


The Salon: Traveling Exhibition is available at the following fine shops:

Le Pink & Co.
3820 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
323-661-PINK

Nail Polish Etc.
1140 Cocoa Ave
Hershey, PA 17033
717-312-0444

Whole Foods Market
aka Harry's Farmer's Market
1180 Upper Hembree Rd.
Roswell, GA
770-664-6300


Our links page is in a constant state of flux. Check it out, if you have some spare time. There's some pretty nifty stuff there. =)


Aaaaaaaand…

Happy friggin' birthday, BPAL!

To celebrate five glorious years of depravity, debauch, and decadence, we present our anniversary scents: two chromatic phoenixes, Blood Phoenix, Mechanical Phoenix, and one resurrected blend!

The four phoenixes represent some of what we strive for at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

++ 5TH ANNIVERSARY
BLOOD PHOENIX
Blood: expressing passion, will, and a sensual aesthetic.
Dragon's blood resin, helichrysum, burgundy wine grape, red musk, opoponax, red poppy, myrrh, carnation, tonka, almond, mimosa, jonquil, and neroli.

GREEN PHOENIX
Green, for growth, expansion, prosperity, and stability.
Sage, white mint, grey amber, papaya pulp, crushed grass, cucumber, green musk, green tea, and lime rind.

MECHANICAL PHOENIX
A mechanical construct: illustrating strong work ethic, determination, creativity, and innovation.
Copper gears, brass cogs, fused wiring, scorched iron, and motor oil.

WHITE PHOENIX
White, for acting in good conscience and doing our best to give back to the community.
Frangipani, magnolia, cotton flower, osmanthus, crystal musk, ambrette, white orchid, sugar cane, davana, white sandalwood, petitgrain, lavender, and lotus root.


++ RESURRECTED
MIDWAY RESURRECTED
From our dead and buried 2005 / 2006 Carnaval Noir line.
A bombardment of edible carnival indulgences. Funnel cake, caramel apple, cotton candy, salt water taffy and sugar tart.

All of our Anniversary blends are $20.00 each, and Midway: Resurrected is $17.50. They will be live until January 15, 2008.

Five years? Holy crap! A million thanks to our beloved customers for making this possible. We look forward to the opportunity to share our dreams, nightmares, and desires with you until Kingdom Come!



From the 24 October 2007 update:

Praise to the Neil! Praise to the Terry! We are thrilled to present four new Good Omens scents, and two new Stardust scents!

++ GOOD OMENS
FAMINE
It was not surprising that she had recognized him, for his dark grey eyes stared out from his photo on the foil-embossed cover. Foodless Dieting: Slim Yourself Beautiful, the book was called; The Diet Book of the Century!

Sleek black tea, tobacco leaf, frankincense, lilac, and white musk.


MADAME TRACY

Newt had been amazed to find that Madam Tracy was a middle-aged, motherly soul, whose gentleman callers called as much for a cup of tea and a nice chat as for what little discipline she was still able to exact.

A coquettish blend of tea rose, ume blossom, geranium, lily of the valley, violet, and heliotrope.


POLLUTION
"Excuse me," barked Tyler. "Is that your crisp packet?"

"Oh, it's not just mine," said the boy. "It's everybody's."

R.P. Tyler drew himself up to his full height. "Young man,' he said, "how would you feel if I came over to your house and dropped litter everywhere?"

Pollution smiled, wistfully. 'Very, very pleased,' he breathed.

"Oh, that would be wonderful."

Beneath his bike an oil slick puddled a rainbow on the wet road.

A toxic chypre: radioactive green musk, davana, and oozing white amber.



It wasn't a dark and stormy night.

It should have been, but that's the weather for you. For every mad scientist who's had a convienient thunderstorm just on the night his Great Work is finished and lying on the slab, there have been dozens who've sat around aimlessly under the peaceful stars while Igor racks up the overtime.

But don't let the fog (with rain later, temperatures dropping to around forty-five degrees) give anyone a false sense of security. Just because it's a mild night doesn't mean that dark forces aren't abroad. They're abroad all the time. They're everywhere.

They always are. That's the whole point.

Two of them lurked in a ruined graveyard. Two shadowy figures, one hunched and squat, the other lean and menacing, both of them Olympic-grade lurkers. If Bruce Springsteen had ever recorded "Born to Lurk," these two would have been on the album cover. They had been lurking in the fog for over an hour now, but they had been pacing themselves and could lurk for the rest of the night if necessary, with still enough sullen menace left for a final burst of lurking around dawn.

Finally, after another twenty minutes, one of them said: "Bugger this for a lark. He should have been here hours ago."

The speaker's name was Hastur. He was a Duke of Hell.


HASTUR
Smoky-sour labdanum, black patchouli, wet tobacco, and brimstone.


"What's this Crowley like?" said Ligur.
Hastur spat. "He's been up here too long," he said. "Right from the Start. Gone native, if you ask me. Drives a car with a telephone in it."

Ligur pondered this. Like most demons, he had a very limited grasp of technology, and so he was just about to say something like, I bet it needs a lot of wire, when the Bentley rolled to a halt at the cemetery gate.


LIGUR
Dry olibanum, black moss, soggy ti, khus, and opoponax.



++ STARDUST
FAIRY WINE
Mr. Bromios had set up a wine-tent and was selling wines and pasties to the village folk, who were often tempted by the foods being sold by the folk from Beyond the Wall but had been told by their grandparents, who had got it from their grandparents, that it was deeply, utterly wrong to eat fairy food, to drink fairy water and sip fairy wine.

An ethereal vintage, steeped with dandelion, honey, and red currants.


LADY UNA
"Why, you are crying."

She said nothing. Dunstan pulled her toward him, wiping ineffectually at her face with his big hand; and then he leaned into her sobbing face, and, tentatively, uncertain of whether or not he was doing the correct thing given the circumstances, he kissed her, full upon the burning lips.

There was a moment of hesitation, and then her mouth opened against his, and her tongue slid into his mouth, and he was, under the strange stars, utterly, irrevocably, lost.

Honey musk, green tea leaf, blackberry leaf, vanilla bean, and fae spices.



As always, these are not-for-profit scents. The proceeds from the Stardust series benefit the noble Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and the proceeds from the Good Omens series are split between the CBLDF and the Orangutan Foundation UK.


The Lunacies and Suspiciendo Despicio blends are live, and will be up until October 27, 2007.

++ LIMITED EDITION
LONG NIGHT MOON
The nights are at their longest, the sky is at its darkest. The air is still with reflective silence.

A bouquet of night-blooming flowers, petals dusted with frost. Cereus, moonflower accord, night phlox, honeysuckle, silver thyme, white mint, and blue musk.


SAGITTARIUS
Mutable Fire: the essence of striving.
Sage, clove, dandelion, balm of gilead, fig, and chamomile.


IVANUSHKA
Soft, velvety fur and warm musk, brushed by forest woods and dusted by dry leaves.



At BPTP, the Long Night Moon tee is live:



The tee will be up until October 27, 2007.


Because of many factors - not the least of which is the upcoming nuptials - the bulk of what was going to go live at BPTP is on hold for a few weeks. Thank you for understanding!

I know I'm usually more loquacious than this, but the Z-pack is giving me a bellyache, so I'm off to drool a bit on the couch while I watch everything that's been building up on my tivo for the past month!

By next update, your faithful narrator will be a married woman. Eek!

Cheers!





From the 12 October 2007 update:

The weather is getting blissfully gloomy, and to help usher in the delightful chill, we are thrilled to present the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Yuletide scents!

ANGERONALIA
Angeronalia, also called Divalia, is a Roman festival that takes place at the Winter Solstice. This celebration honors the Goddess Angerona. The Lady of Silence and Secrets is also She Who Stands As the Protector of Rome, and she is represented with her mouth bound, or with her index finger held over her mouth, commanding silence. On this day, the Goddess was implored to grant her children strength and protection. And, as it was believed that Angerona and Voluptia, the Goddess of Joy and Pleasure, were one and the same, sacrifices were made at the temple to Voluptia in order to drive sorrow, regret, and pain from the hearts of the people.

Strength, passion, and the cleansing fire of joy: olive blossom, white nectarine, vibrant blood orange, honey absolute, lemongrass, elemi, sensual patchouli, and the quiet purity of gardenia.


ARCHANGEL WINTER
In the dread circle hemmed by glaciers,
Pallid waste where no radiant fathomers,
Columbuses or Gamas, ever pass,
In realms of dingy gloom and deep crevasse
Seized from creation by nonentity,
Beyond ice floe and berg and ice-bound sea,
Deep in the fog that quenches every ray,
In stone waves and rock waters, far from day,
Amid the gloom, there, on the pole, stands black
Archangel Winter, darkness on his back
And trumpet at his lips; nor does he cast
One flash of eye, or blow one clarion-blast;
He never even dreams, being sheer snow;
The winged winds, captives of that age-old foe
Silence, are in his hand-birds in a snare;
His sightless eyes horribly watch the air;
Hoarfrost is in his bones and on his head,
And he is swathed in ever-petrified dread;
He terrifies the Vast, he seems so wild;
He is harsh, dismal, ice-that is, exiled;
The earth beneath his feet, in its dark cape,
Is dumb; he is the mute white stony shape
Set on that tomb in the eternal night;
Never does any motion, sound, or light
Brush the lone giant in that somber pall.
But when, on the timepieces that we call
Stars, the last day, endless and centerless,
Will sound, then the Lord's face will luminesce
And melt the spirit; his mouth will distend
Suddenly, in a savage, dreadful bend,
And the worlds-skiffs rudderless, rolling on --
Will hear the storm-blast of his clarion.

Crystalline, glassy ice whipped by a snowstorm. Piercing ozone, winter darkness.


CHANUKKIYAH
Baruch ata Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech ha'olam, Asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel Chanukah.

Baruch ata Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech ha'olam, She'asah nisim la'avoseinu, bayamim ha'hem baz'man hazeh.

Baruch ata Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech ha'olam, She'hecheyanu, vekiyemanu vehigi'anu laz'man hazeh.

Olive oil, beeswax, glowing amber, sweet sufganiyot, pomegranate, and fig.

Ha'Neiros halalu anachnu madlikin al hanisim ve'al hanifla'os, ve'al hat'shu'os ve'al hamilchamos, sh'asisa la'avoseinu bayamim hahem baz'man hazeh, al yedei kohaneicha hakedoshim. Vechol sh'monas yemei Chanukah, haneiros halalu kodesh hem. Ve'ein lanu reshus le'hishtamesh ba'hem, eh'la lir'osam bilvad, ke'dei le'hodos u'lehalel leshimcha hagadol al nisecha ve'al nifle'osecha ve'al yeshu'oshecha.

Ma'oz tzur yeshu'asi
Lecha na'eh leshabe'ach
Tikone bais tefilasi
Ve'sham todah nezabe'ach
Le'es Tachin Mabe'ach
Mitzar ham'nabe'ach
Az egmor beshir mizmor
Chanukas hamizbe'ach.


CHRISTMAS ROSE
Bruise-tinted hellebore blossoms pushing through snowdrifts.


DIWALI
The Festival of Lights, a celebration of life, prosperity, and the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. The first day, Dhanvantari Triodasi, honors Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, Good Fortune, and Splendor, and Yama, Lord of Death and the Keeper of the Book of Destiny. The second day, Narak-Chaturdashi, celebrates Lord Krishna's victory over the demon lord, Narkasur. On this day, fierce Kali, the Great and Terrible Mother, is venerated, and she is entreated to grant her children strength. Narak-Chaturdashi also commemorates the birth of Hanuman, the vanara who helped Lord Rama rescue Sita from Ravana, the Rakshasa king. The third day, called Diwali, is wholly devoted to the worship and propitiation of Lakshmi, She Who is as Beautiful as a Lotus. The fourth day, Annakut, is the first day of the lunar New Year. Old accounts are settled, new ventures begin. On the fifth and final day of Diwali, Bhayiduj, sibling love is celebrated.

It is a time to banish ignorance and hate, and to dissolve jealousy. It is a time to renew our spirits through light and understanding, and to ask for blessings of prosperity and joy for the upcoming year.

It is a time where we embrace our friends and forgive our enemies.

Lotus root, mango, tamarind, cardamom, clove, almond milk, cashew, rice flower, coconut, supari, raisins, and incense crafted from aloeswood, red sandalwood, cedar, and spikenard.


EGG NOG 2007
Sweet brandy, dark rum, heavy cream, sugar, and a dash of nutmeg.


EL DIA DE REYES
The Day of Kings, the Celebration of the Magi. In Mexico, on January 6th, children place their shoes by their windows. If they have been good during the previous year, the Wise Men tuck gifts into their shoes during the night.

Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar.


THE FRUIT OF PARADISE
While Persephone visited the realm of Hades, she tasted one single pomegranate seed, an act which compelled her to remain connected to the Land of the Dead for all eternity. Demeter's grief over her beloved daughter's absence that brings on the bleakness and barrenness of the winter months.

The Fruit of Paradise, the Nectar of Death: bittersweet pomegranate, nurtured and cultivated in the hollow darkness of the Underworld.


GINGERBREAD POPPET 2007
Warm, cozy gingerbread spiced with nutmeg, clove and cinnamon.


HALOA 2007
Sacred to both Demeter and Dionysus, this is a celebration of the of the pruning of the vines, the first fermentation of the year's wine, and of the consecration of the next year's planting. The service was lead by the heterai and the Eleusinian Arkhontes, and began with the preparation of a banquet that honors Demeter's bounty and the fertility aspect of Dionysus with pudenda- and phallus-shaped cakes. After the preliminary feast, the magistrates departed, and the heterai held a second rite that consisted of copious wine consumption, ritual symbolic fornication, and formal offerings of incense, grain, and cakes to sacred statues of the deities and to clay images of genitalia. Finally, the magistrates and priests were permitted to rejoin the ritual. A Priest and Priestess bore torches that symbolize Demeter and her daughter Persephone presided over the final ceremony, which culminated in the ultimate celebration of fertility: an orgy that lasted til dawn.

Wine grapes, myrrh, frankincense and olive leaf, and the warm scent of offertory cakes.


JOLASVEINAR 2007
The Jólasveinar are the seventy-some offspring of Grýla and Leppalúði, an ogre couple with a taste for chomping naughty children. This impish brood delights in causing discomfort, sowing confusion, and all-out raising hell during the Yule season. Their names are indicative of their malicious intentions -- Strap Loosener, Door Slammer, Window Peeper, Sausage Snatcher, Doorway Sniffer, Icebreaker -- and their creepy natures -- Lamp Shadow, Smoke Gulper, Crevice Imp. The devillish Jólasveinar finally cease their mischief and head for home at Þrettándinn.

Their scent is a mishmash of snow, dirt, Icelandic moss, marsh felwort, and the smushed petals of buttercups and moorland spotted orchids, with the barest hint of the scent of pilfered Christmas pastries.


KRAMPUS 2007
Anything BUT jolly! Draped with chains and bells, wielding both whip and rod, this rag-clad, horned, red-skinned, soot-covered leering creature is both the companion and the antithesis of rosy-cheeked and ebullient Kris Kringle. He is called by many names, and, in a myriad of cultures, he is seen with different robes and faces, but he is nevertheless always a sinister and fearsome instrument of Santa's wrath: he wields a switch on all irredeemably naughty children before tossing them into his large black sack and whisking them away.

Be good, or Krampus will toss you in a river! Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches.


LA BEFANA
On the night of the Epiphany, a joyful, broomstick-riding hag clad in a tattered shawl drops into chimneys all over Italy, bestowing gifts to good children, and dropping coal into the stockings of naughty kiddies.

La Befana vien di notte
Con le scarpe tutte rotte
Col vestito alla Romana
Viva, Viva La Befana!

As the Three Wise Men searched for the house of the Christ child, they found themselves lost. Eventually, they stopped at a small house and knocked on the door. A small, wizened woman opened the door, holding a broom in her hand. The Astrologers asked the woman if she knew the location of the child, but, unfortunately, she did not know who these men were looking for, and could not aid them in their search. It was deep into the night, and the air was chilly, so the kindly woman offered the three men her hospitality. They spent the night in her warm, comfortable home, and shared bread and stories with one another. The Astrologers explained to the woman why they were looking for this blessed infant, and invited her to join them in their search come morning. Though she was touched by their tale, she declined, as she had a great deal of housework to do. At daybreak, the Astrologers awoke. They thanked the woman for her generosity, gathered their things, and prepared to leave. Before they departed, they, again, asked the old woman if she would like to join them on their journey. Again, she declined, and sent them on their way. After they had left, she regretted her decision, and she set off to find the Three Wise Men. After many long and frustrating hours of searching, she still could not find them. Saddened, yet still filled with hope, she stopped to give a gift to every good child she passed.

La Befana comes by night
With her shoes old and broken
She comes dressed in the Roman way
Long life to the Befana!

Candy charcoal, winter lilies, parma violet, a sprig of cypress, a poof of chimney dust, and holiday sweets.


LICK IT ONE MORE TIME
Every holiday season should be full of lewd suggestions and filthy double entendres, right? This is a new take on Lick It and Lick It Again -- a peppermint candy cane with a flash of vanilla and an extra jolt of sugar.

(As always, we have to state: don't lick perfume. Don't eat it, drink it, cook with it, or use it in any strange and unforeseen way. Black Phoenix is not responsible for that sort of irresponsible funnybusiness.)


MIDWINTER'S EVE 2007
A melancholy, deep scent, poignant and brimming with nostalgia. The perfume of sugared plums over a breeze of winter flowers.


MISTLETOE 2007
The plant of peace in Norse tradition. If enemies met in the forest and came upon a sprig, they laid down their arms and observed a truce until the next sunrise.


NOCHE BUENA
A celebration of the Nativity: the light, uplifting incense of the Misa de Noche Buena, purple sage, and a vibrant bouquet of plumeria, chrysanthemum, tuberose, Angel's Trumpet, Mexican tiger lily, dahlia, and azucenas.


NOVEMBER
Yet one smile more, departing, distant sun!
One mellow smile through the soft vapoury air,
Ere, o'er the frozen earth, the loud winds ran,
Or snows are sifted o'er the meadows bare.
One smile on the brown hills and naked trees,
And the dark rocks whose summer wreaths are cast,
And the blue Gentian flower, that, in the breeze,
Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last.
Yet a few sunny days, in which the bee
Shall murmur by the hedge that skim the way,
The cricket chirp upon the russet lea,
And man delight to linger in thy ray.
Yet one rich smile, and we will try to bear
The piercing winter frost, and winds, and darkened air.

Autumn leaves damp beneath the first snowfall.


PEACOCK QUEEN 2007
In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Haughty and imperious, vain, yet incomparably lovely to the eye, but thick with thorns of jealousy, pride and hatred.


ROSE RED 2007
The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut.


THE SHIVERING BOY
Cold, cold forever more. A winter storm roaring through empty stone halls, bearing echoes of despair, desolation, and death on its winds. The scent of frozen, dormant vineyards, bitter sleet, and piercing ozone, hurled through labdanum, benzoin, and olibanum.


THE SNOW STORM
Announced by all the trumpets of the sky
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The steed and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.
Come, see the north wind's masonry.
Out of an unseen quarry evermore
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves his white bastions with projected roof
Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.
Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work
So fanciful, so savage, naught cares he
For number or proportion. Mockingly
On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;
A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;
Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,
Maugre the farmer's sighs, and at the gate
A tapering turret overtops the work.
And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone
Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.

Winter aconite, balsam fir, cedar leaf, and white mint.


SNOW WHITE 2007
A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.



All of our Yule seasonal blends are $18.00 each. Rose Red, Snow White, and the Peacock Queen can be purchased together for $52.00US.

The Halloween blends will be available until November 15, 2007, and the Yule blends will be available until January 15, 2007.

A portion of every sale of our Yule holiday perfumes will benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles.

AIDS Project Los Angeles is dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by HIV disease, reducing the incidence of HIV infection, and advocating for fair and effective HIV-related public policy.

On the topic of charitable causes, on October 25th, the next Lunacy set will be live, along with Sagittarius and the newest Gaiman and Gaiman / Pratchett scents! As you know, the Neil Gaiman series and the Stardust series are a not-for-profit project whose proceeds go to the CBLDF, and the Good Omens series is a not-for-profit project that benefits the Orangutan Foundation UK.

To date, we have raised over $22,000 for the CBLDF and over $3000 for the orangutans!


HOLIDAY SHIPPING INFORMATION
Orders placed after November 15, 2007 are not guaranteed to arrive before Christmas. Please understand that the mention of Christmas, as opposed to Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, or any other winter holiday is in now way a slam on faiths other than Christianity or a snub of the winter holidays of other cultures. For the sake of retail sanity, we simply have to mention ship-times during this season with relation to Christmas. Please do not tar and feather us.


SOUTHERN BELLES AND GENTLEMEN! Please visit our newest retailer, Whole Foods in Roswell, GA.

Whole Foods Market
aka Harry's Farmer's Market
1180 Upper Hembree Rd.
Roswell, GA
770.664.6300

Located in the Whole Body Department

At this time, they are currently they are carrying 12 of our general catalog scents.

If you get the chance, please pay them a visit. We love the guys at Whole Foods. They're wonderful people, a joy to work with, and we are proud to work with a company that espouses such a high ethical standards and gives so much back to the community. We will be working with them to try and accommodate BPAL and BPTP special orders, so stop by WF, say hello, and sniff some BPAL in person!

A quick shout out before I collapse and / or start playing WOW: love and adoration for Julia at Arcana Soaps from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab! She is a wonderful woman with a hell of a kick-ass product line. Between Arcana and Black Phoenix, no little kid will go without coal and candy in their stockings this year!





From the 25 September 2007 update:

The Beaver Moon update is live!

BEAVER MOON
Traditionally, Beaver Moon is named thus for a very obvious reason: during this time of year, beavers are hard at work building their dams and preparing for the onset of winter. However, we at BPAL rarely let an opportunity for sleazy campiness pass us by! For your pleasure and amusement, we present this year's incarnation of Beaver Moon: wild cherry with vanilla cream accord, and a hint of strawberry.


SWAN MAIDEN
Silent, 0 Moyle, be the roar of thy water;
Break not, ye breezes, your chain of repose,
While, murmuring mournfully, Lir's lovely daughter
Tells to the night-star the tale of her woes.
When shall the swan, her death-note singing,
Sleep with wings in darkness furl'd?
When will heaven, its sweet bells ringing,
Call my spirit from this stormy world?
Sadly, 0 Moyle, to thy winter-wave weeping,
Fate bids me languish long ages away;
Yet still in her darkness doth Erin lie sleeping,
Still doth the pure light its dawning delay.
When will that day-star, mildly springing,
Warm our isle with peace and love?
Call my spirit to the fields above?

White gardenia, white iris, sandalwood, calla lily, French magnolia, muguet, jonquil, and orchid.


SCORPIO 2007
Suspiciendo Despicio: Scorpio 2007 - 5ml
Fixed Water: the essence of passion.

Dark musk, wormwood, basil, dragon's blood resin, galangal, and opoponax.



Also live this month, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab scents inspired by Shojo Beat!


MIDNIGHT KISS
Eternal desire, unquenchable passion: red musk, cocoa absolute, Nepalese amber, red sandalwood, aged patchouli, nicotiana, and blood wine.


VAMPIRE TEARS
Regret born from ceaseless longing: wisteria, white grapefruit, neroli, green tea, jasmine, white ginger, honeysuckle, iris, and tonka.


The Shojo Beat scents, Midnight Kiss and Vampire Tears, will be available while supplies last.


Four new pirate-themed scents have been added to the general catalogue:

++ WANDERLUST
ÎLE DE LA TORTUE
Home to the Brethren of the Coast and a notorious safe-haven for pirates, this island was once described as the common place of refuge for all sorts of wickedness, the seminary of pirates and thieves.

Damp air trapped in limestone caverns, heady greenery, hothouse orchids, nicotiana blossoms, bois de chandel, elemi, palm wine, garambullo, pega-pega, flame of the forest, and a swirl of Haitian vetiver.


WINDWARD PASSAGE
Breezes blowing off of the waters of the Caribbean: marine accord, seaweed, and bladderwrack.



++ BEWITCHING BREWS
KILL-DEVIL
"Rum punch is not improperly called Kill-Devil; for thousands lose their lives by its means. When newcomers use it to the least excess, they expose themselves to imminent peril, for it heats the blood and brings on fevers, which in a very few hours send them to their graves."

Sugar cane, molasses, oak wood, and honey.


PLUNDER
The scent of a pirate's bumboat, overflowing with stolen wares: tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg.



There will be an update in early October that will feature the Yuletide scents, new scents for the Neil Gaiman collections, new products at Black Phoenix Trading Post, and a little more this and that. The next act of Carnaval Diabolique will be up and running soon, likely midwinter.



From the 26 August 2007 update:

Happy Halloween, ladies and gents! New, for the holiday season…

++ LUNACY
HUNTER MOON
As the winter encroaches, the time comes to embark on the last Great Hunts of the year. The deer are fattened, the fields have been reaped, and the light of the full moon illuminates the wild creatures that have come out to glean. This scent is redolent of night skies, falling leaves, and the high-pitched tension and release associated with the Hunt. Dry leaves, autumn bonfires, blood red wine, feral, animalistic notes and the chill of approaching winter.


AEAEA
This is her island squared in cypress lines;
With cedar ranks about her alley walks
Set frequent, and the faces of the boles
Are crimson, deep as sunset stains of cloud.
The floor between them, rank and overgrown,
Is tangled with luxuriant heads of bloom,
All in a mat together, mixed with sedge.
There are bells of some wide wine-deep flowers,
Great apple fruits and tawny orange globes;
And bunchy cactus tipped in fire-bright buds.
Grey aloe spikes and heavy curling vines,
And speckled poison berries intertwined.
Her groves lead down upon the light free waves;
Her foam-heads dance and ripple into sound.
The laughter of many birds is in her elms
Jays, owls, sea-crows, larks, lapwings, nightingales,
As jumbled as the flowers beneath their notes.
The isle-grove ends abruptly on the sea,
A stranded star-fish neighbors by the sward,
Where the snail toils beneath his painted walls.
Small seaward gust irresolute breathe near;
And sweeter waftings, sent from the middle brine,
Stir the deep grasses at her perfect feet,
Where Circe, shining down the gaudy flowers,
Leans centre-light of all this paradise.
One ankle gleams against the margin turf,
Just beyond where the wave-teeth cease to bite.
And the sea-pinks grow less rosy at her feet.

But this enchantress, island-queen, herself
Bears on her head a bright tire marvelous,
And for a girdle one of many dyes
Woven and traced with curious pattern-spells.
Her face is not at first so beautiful,
That one should say 'Fear her, she will slay men
And draw them into deaths by her strange ways,
And some soft snare hid under all of her.'
We must consider well upon her face,
And the silent beauty of it all
Begins upon us, grows and greatens on,
Like sweet increasing music, chord on chord,
Till all our being falters overthrown;
And she lures out our soul into her hands,
As faint and helpless as a new-born babe,
To have her will and way with all of it.

O, she, this Circe mage, is strange and great,
And deadlier than those terrible bright forms,
That beam out on us with their grace.
Her love eats deeper to the core of men,
Scathing and killing, fierce and unappeased;
Until not only the divine in us,
But all the human also (which indeed
Are one, tho' this less perfect) fade and change,
And fall corrupted into alien forms.
Till we resemble those strange-headed things,
Herded away behind her island throne,
Chimaeras, tiger-apes, and wolfish swine.

A dark ocean breeze, electric with adrenaline, magic, and fear, clashing with the thick scent of poisoned berries and spiny aloe, against a backdrop of snowdrop, cedar, and cypress.


LIBRA 2007
Cardinal air: the essence of balance.
Rose, black cherry, carnation, fig, honey, plum, and black currant.



++ HALLOWEEN BLENDS
ALL SOULS 2007
A day of remembrance and intercession. Without the prayers and sacrifices of their families and loved ones, the faithful departed may not be cleansed of their venal sins, and thereby cannot attain beatific vision. On November 2nd, prayers are sung and offerings are made to aid lost souls in transcending purgatory. An incense blend that invokes the higher qualities of mercy and compassion, mingled with the soft, sugared currant scent of offertory soul cakes.


BONFIRE NIGHT
Guy Fawkes, Guy;
Stick him up on high!
Hang him on a lamp post
And there let him die!
Guy, Guy, Guy!
Poke Him in the eye!
Put him on the fire,
And there let him die!
Burn his body from his head:
Then you'll say
Guy Fawkes is dead!
Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Beer, woodsmoke, tar, and treacle.


THE DEATH OF AUTUMN
When reeds are dead and a straw to thatch the marshes,
And feathered pampas-grass rides into the wind
Like aged warriors westward, tragic, thinned
Of half their tribe, and over the flattened rushes,
Stripped of its secret, open, stark and bleak,
Blackens afar the half-forgotten creek, --
Then leans on me the weight of the year, and crushes
My heart. I know that Beauty must ail and die,
And will be born again, -- but ah, to see
Beauty stiffened, staring up at the sky!
Oh, Autumn! Autumn! -- What is the Spring to me?

Dark amber, dead leaves, khus, saffron, bitter clove, chrysanthemum, camellia, galangal, and a drop of oud.


DIA DE LOS MUERTOS 2007
A joyous celebration of La Catarina, La Flaca, La Muerte… Glorious, Beautiful Death. In Mexico, death is not something to be feared or hated; She is embraced, loved, and adored. La Muerte is fêted, as the celebrant "…chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love." This is a Mexican paean to La Huesuda: dry, crackling leaves, the incense smoke of altars honoring Death and the Dead, funeral bouquets, the candies, chocolates, foods and tobacco of the ofrenda, amaranth, sweet cactus blossom and desert cereus.


OCTOBER
AY, thou art welcome, heaven's delicious breath!
When woods begin to wear the crimson leaf,
And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief
And the year smiles as it draws near its death.
Wind of the sunny south! oh, still delay
In the gay woods and in the golden air,
Like to a good old age released from care,
Journeying, in long serenity, away.
In such a bright, late quiet, would that I
Might wear out life like thee, 'mid bowers and brooks
And dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks,
And music of kind voices ever nigh;
And when my last sand twinkled in the glass,
Pass silently from men, as thou dost pass.

Dry, cold autumn wind. A rustle of red leaves, a touch of smoke and sap in the air.


SAMHAIN 2007
Truly the scent of autumn itself -- damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein.


SAMHAINOPHOBIA 2007
The fear of Halloween. Menacing Haitian vetiver, patchouli, and clove with a shock of bourbon geranium, grim oakmoss, and dread-inspiring balsams pierce the innocuous scent of autumn leaves.



++ HALLOWEEN: the HAUNTED HOUSE
We're going back to our campy, spooky roots with the Haunted House Collection! Seven Guignolesque, chilling atmospheric blends are being offered for your pleasure and amusement.

THE ATROCIOUS ATTIC
A shadowy shrine filled with forgotten toys, broken dolls. The altar: a collapsing trunk distended by a rotted wedding gown. The air of the room is dusty, laced with the scent of a child's perfume and the remnan