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This year, Mother Shub was commissioned to create a confection to celebrate the mesmerizing, cosmic ardor of the Green, Sticky Spawn of the Stars. In collaboration with the merry cultists at ThinkGeek, she is thrilled to present the Malignant Dreams of Cthulhu in Love: an amorphous mix of oppressive, piceous ritual incense, macerated kelp, sea salt, sticky dark ocean plants, and… mixed chocolates. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

As mentioned previously, we will be offering a selection of oils from our past trunk shows at some West Coast will calls. We’re getting started at this upcoming will call, and following will be at our North Hollywood location on January 30th: Blue Phoenix (proto) Dorian v3 Grand Guignol v4 Harvest Moon 2005 (Vintage) Harvest Moon 2006 (Vintage) Iron Phoenix (proto) Kelly Pool (Vintage) Kostnice (Vintage 2004) Litha (Vintage 2006) Melpomene (Vintage 2004) Monsterbait: Bloody Mary (Vintage) O v5 O v6 Playing With Dangerous Toys v2 PO13 Punkie Night 2006 (Vintage) RM Renfield (Vintage) Set v3 TKO v3 XCDL13 First come, first served while supplies last! Gotta move this schtuff!

Good afternoon, everyone! Posting from home because, as Kathy explained, the lines are down at the Lab. The phone lines are wet, effectively wiping out our DSL. We have called our telecommunications company, and they will not be able to come out for service until Thursday. Evidently there are eleventybillion connectivity problems in Los Angeles due to the rain and they are swamped. We are hoping our DSL will come back up on its own when Los Angeles dries out over the weekend. Until the DSL is working, we will not be able to answer customer service emails or ship. During this time we will be packing as unusual. We’ll keep you posted as the situation progresses! Thank you for understanding!

Love, lust, and tentacles are in the air at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab! To celebrate our favorite manufactured holiday, Valentine’s Day, we present a vast and varied selection of scents that are sure to please the most ardent romantic and the filthiest libertine. This is, in part, a dirtybird update. There are naughty words in the Limited Edition section, and naughty pictures in the Novel Ideas For Secret Amusements Salon exhibit. Please exercise discretion. But first… The following is a paid advertisement from the Miskatonic Valley Tourism Board: ++ THE MISKATONIC VALLEY IS FOR LOVERS! From the decaying waterfronts of Innsmouth to the sagging gambrel roofs and crumbling Georgian balustrades of Arkham, the Miskatonic Valley is a haven for lovers. This Valentine’s Day, take your sweetheart on a stroll through the Valley’s picturesque sites of natural beauty, including Billington’s Wood, Devil’s Reef, the sweeping Cliffs of Kingsport and Hangman’s Brook, or dine at one of our many fine upscale restaurants. The Strange High Bistro in the Mist carries a 93 point rating from the Blackwood Survey, and offers marvelous wines from the Zadok Allen Vineyard. Looking for something a little different? The curious cuisine and desolate view at the Steeple are sure to make an impression! In search of the perfect gift? The Miskatonic Valley has much to offer! Dreamy arrangements are the house specialty at Enchanted Wood Florist, and no Valentine’s Day is complete without a traditional box of chocolates from the Sugared She-Goat. Need something shiny to catch your mate’s eye? Bijou Y’ha-Nthlei and Inganok Jewelers are masters of their craft, and can outfit your loved one with everything from engagement rings to custom-made thousand-pronged blackened Nyarlathotopic atef crowns. Single? Visit Dark Aeons Matchmakers! Now offering speed dating every full moon! Love may be fleeting, but madness is forever! Arkham Sanitarium’s visiting hours have been extended for the holiday. Please phone the reception desk for details. This information has been provided by the Miskatonic Valley Tourism Board and the Miskatonic Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn! Promotional artwork provided by Miskatonic University's Professor Julie Dillon, DFA. BIJOUX Y'HA-NTHLEI Innsmouth, MA New England’s most exclusive jewelers since 1778. The Darlings first opened their shop in 1772 under the name Lower Innsmouth Ritual Implement and Fancy Goods Emporium, constructing sturdy household wares and cultists tools in their workshop and importing strange and fanciful items from all over the globe and points beyond. In 1777, Prudence Marsh, matriarch of the venerable Marsh family, came to the Darling twins with a request. She had obtained a sizable quantity of a strange metal alloy that her brother had acquired from an extraterrestrial ocean trench by mysterious means. She asked Absalom and Zephania Darling, twin brothers, favored disciples of Dagon, and youngest of the Darling clan—who happened to dabble in metalwork—if they could fashion a set of diadems for ceremonial use in a very important high festival honoring Mother Hydra. The brothers complied, and found that they had found that they had unparalleled natural skill with jewelry crafting, particularly with rare and strange materials. Within a generation, their graceful, fantastic, odd, and provocative bangles, bracelets, pendants, and tiaras were prized the world over by the most illustrious and nefarious princes and priests. To this day, Bijoux Y’ha-Nthlei is still family-owned and operated. Mathematically impossible, curiously irregular adornments fit to please the most discerning collector. A strangely proportioned, opulent, lustrous scent: neroli, Hawaiian ginger, white musk, tarragon, beeswax, heliotrope, yellow rose, oud, coriander, amber, and lime peel. ENCHANTED WOOD FLORIST Arkham, MA Unmatched artistry! Skilled in terrestrial, extra-terrestrial, and dreamscape floristry, these are the only artisans on Earth that are qualified to work with Moon-trees. Please note: the Enchanted Wood Florist will not deliver to any residence or place of business where cats are present. A burst of sweet, strange flowers, luminous Moon-tree sap, and ornamental grasses. THE GILMAN HOUSE HOTEL Innsmouth, MA The quintessential Valley vacation destination! With its distinctive bulging cupola pushing into the Massachusetts skyline, surrounded by gorgeous views of the majestic Manuxet River on the south and captivating swampland on the west, the Gilman House Hotel is an Innsmouth landmark. Built in 1750, this hotel is rich in Miskatonic Valley history, and is heralded as one of the Valley’s most romantic getaways. By day, sail with the croaking, baying entities that lurk in the wharves, then come back to your room and bask in the many amenities that the hotel has to offer. Rest under the watchful eye of the Sleeping God, stroll through the boggy, vaporous central gardens, or unwind with your partner at the Gilman’s House’s renowned 4-star spa, famous for its sea salt scrubs and unique tentacle massage. The Gilman House’s central location puts it easy reach of Innsmouth’s open confluence of streets, its bustling downtown area, and the wharves, and it is a hop, skip, and jump from the Innsmouth Colony for the Insane. Banquet, convention, and ritual space available! Musty, dilapidated furnishings, peeling paint, swamp gas, and decay. INGANOK JEWELERS Arkham, MA Are you looking for the perfect ring to express your everlasting love? How about an amulet representing your sweetheart’s devotion to Zo-Kalar, Hargag Ryonis, Tamash, or Nyarlathotep? Inganok Jewelers carries a vast selection of onyx jewelry, mined in Inganok, designed by the natives of Y'Pawfrm e'din Leng, and crafted by the skilled artisans of Celephaïs! Each piece is as unique as your last psychotic break! Gleaming stone and silver. THE STEEPLE Aylesbury, MA Specializing in mycological delights and housed in a converted church that was once dedicated to Saint Anthony the Abbot, this charming hideaway sits high atop Zaman’s Hill and boasts a lovely view of the abandoned village below. Otherworldly fungus, Provençal herbs, and dark, shadowy woods. THE SUGARED SHE-GOAT CHOCOLATIER Arkham, MA Maddeningly addictive! This Valentine’s Day, melt your lover’s heart, figuratively, with a gift from the Miskatonic Valley’s premiere boutique chocolatier! This season’s specialty truffles are handmade by subjugated monks from Ghatanothoa’s monestary at Mount Yaddith-Gho, under the watchful eye of Mother Shub’s high priests. Imported to Arkham from Mu, they are distributed exclusively through the Sugared She-Goat. Iä, Shub-Niggurath, the Malefic She-Goat of Many Sugary Treats! Please note: each truffle is sold separately. Specify which truffle/s you are requesting when ordering if remitting payment via PayPal. DARK CHOCOLATE AND KEY LIME TRUFFLE DARK CHOCOLATE, WHISKEY, AND COGNAC TRUFFLE MILK CHOCOLATE AND MATCHA GREEN TEA GANACHE TRUFFLE MILK CHOCOLATE, COCONUT, CARDAMOM, RUM, AND GINGER TRUFFLE WHITE CHOCOLATE, BLACK RASPBERRY, AND APRICOT CORDIAL TRUFFLE WHITE CHOCOLATE, STRAWBERRY, AND WHITE PEPPER TRUFFLE THE ZADOK ALLEN VINYARD Innsmouth, MA Ut Sementem Feceris Ita Metes. Founded by the Esoteric Order of Dagon, and named after the man encased within the foundation of the winery, this fertile bastion of haphazard viticulture has been providing superb wines to the Miskatonic Valley since 1927. The site of the vineyard has been used for hundreds of years as an abattoir, and this environment lends a peculiar and exceptional terroir to all their wines and liquors. Visitors are welcome to observe Fishmen priests engaged in pigeage once a month. Please contact the vineyard for information on this as well as their scheduled wine tasting events. A deep velvety Cabernet Sauvignon with hints of plum, black cherry, rose petals, coffee bean, and smoky oak. Barrel and bottle aged, with a smooth and spicy hit mid-palate. Hints of Dagon’s tarry black incense and clotted blood complete this well-rounded, robust indulgence. And now, back to your regularly scheduled update. Congratulations and be prosperous! METAL TIGER A new year's blessing! Peony, China's national flower, with bamboo for flexibility, plum blossom for perseverance, courage, and hope, tangerine for wealth, orange for happiness, lychee for household peace, pine resin for constancy, golden kumquat and quince for prosperity, narcissus and King mandarin for good fortune, cypress for longevity, and peach fruit and hemp to represent the fourth phase of Wu Xing, with a splash of blazing red of dragon's blood... to help you scare away the rampaging Nian. To counterbalance last year’s Ode to Aphrodite, we present an Ode to her lover, the God of War: a series of eleven emboldening, strengthening, aggressive scents that embody dominance, power, conflict, vitality, wrath, vengeance, and sexual potency. The Ode was illustrated by the fearsome Jennifer Williamson. ++ ODE TO ARES AATOS POLEMOIO Insatiate of War Cedar, black currant, and saffron. ANDREIPHONTÊS Destroyer of Men Tonka, benzoin, black sandalwood, and nutmeg. BROTOLOIGOS Murderous Tobacco, wenge, rose geranium, and myrrh. ENKHESPALOS Spear-Wielding Elder wood, leather, blonde tobacco, and cognac. ENYALIOS Lord of War Patchouli, frankincense, olibanum, thyme, cocoa absolute, Peru balsam, oakmoss, and juniper. KHALKOKORUSTÊS Armed With Bronze Champaca, pear, cedar, black pepper, jasmine, and red sandalwood. KHRYSOPÊLÊX Helmed in Gold Caraway, amber, saffron, bergamot, and neroli. MIAIPHONOS Blood-Stained Clove, anise, mandarin, and cumin. RHINOTOROS Skin-Piercing Vetiver, patchouli, white pepper, and grapefruit. THOOS Swift Tangerine, cypress, and white musk. THOUROS Furious Rose otto, lychee, and cistus absolute. From the passion of war, we move to the passion of love and sexual gratification – plus a few paeans to onanism. As always, our offerings during this Season of Schtupping contain adult material, and by clicking through to view the images and purchase our products, you are agreeing that you are a dirty bird who is 18 or older, and that you are permitted by law to view suggestive imagery. Blessed Lupercalia, everyone! The Season of Schtupping is here! ++ LUPERCALIA 2010 ANACTORIA 2010 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. LUPERCI 2010 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. OLISBOS As for old flames and lovers—they're none left. And since Milesians went against us, I've not seen a decent eight-fingered dildo. Yes, it's just leather, but it helps us out. The ancient Greeks sure weren’t shy about taking care of business. The port city of Miletus was once famed throughout the Mediterranean as a source of excellent stone, wood, and padded leather dildos. This scent is the celebration of an age-old pastime: polished wood, well-loved leather, and olive oil. THE PERFUMED GARDEN 2010 Under her neck my right hand Has served her for a cushion, And to draw her to me I have sent out my left hand, Which bore her up as a bed. The Perfumed Garden for the Soul's Recreation. This scent is based on a venerable Tunisian perfume that was used to excite the senses, inspire sensuality and inflame passion. Myrrh and Moroccan jasmine with apple peel, Indian sandalwood, myrtle, quince, citron, and thyme poured over soft musk. SAINT FOUTIN DE VARAILLES Echoing the worship of ancient fertility gods, some early Christians attributed the power to grant blessings of reproductive fruitfulness to Christian saints through accidents of folk-etymology. A syncretic saint of questionable origin, he is possibly the result of a merging of the deity Priapus, or Mutinus Mutunus, and the sainted, semi-mythical first bishop of Lyons, Ponthius, often pronounced Fontin by the common folk of France where his veneration was concentrated. Saint Foutin’s name is an amalgamation of Pothinus and the verb foutre, which means “to fuck”, effectively granting this saint the prerogatives and powers of his predecessor, Priapus. Saint Foutin was said to cure venereal diseases and other genital maladies, grant fruitfulness to women, and restore potency to men. Scrapings of stone from the groin of one of the saint's statues in France was said to cure all sexual ailments. At other shrines, offerings of wine were poured onto the saint’s penis, and worshippers molded ex votos in wax shaped to represent their afflicted body parts to leave in his care, either at the foot of his statue or hanging from the roof of his shrine. Beeswax, frankincense, dried rose petals, and a dribble of wine. SIGNIOR DILDO With thanks to Sir John Wilmot. This signior is sound, safe, ready, and dumb As ever was candle, carrot, or thumb; Then away with these nasty devices, and show How you rate the just merit of Signior Dildo. Count Cazzo, who carries his nose very high, In passion he swore his rival should die; Then shut himself up to let the world know Flesh and blood could not bear it from Signior Dildo. A rabble of pricks who were welcome before, Now finding the porter denied them the door, Maliciously waited his coming below And inhumanly fell on Signior Dildo. Nigh wearied out, the poor stranger did fly, And along the Pall Mall they followed full cry; The women concerned from every window Cried, 'For heaven's sake, save Signior Dildo.' The good Lady Sandys burst into a laughter To see how the ballocks came wobbling after, And had not their weight retarded the foe, Indeed't had gone hard with Signior Dildo. A scent of pearls and ivory: orris, violet leaf, narcissus, and Madagascar vanilla. SMUT 2010 After all these years, BPAL is smuttier than ever. Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes. TWO LOVES I dreamed I stood upon a little hill, And at my feet there lay a ground, that seemed Like a waste garden, flowering at its will With buds and blossoms. There were pools that dreamed Black and unruffled; there were white lilies A few, and crocuses, and violets Purple or pale, snake-like fritillaries Scarce seen for the rank grass, and through green nets Blue eyes of shy peryenche winked in the sun. And there were curious flowers, before unknown, Flowers that were stained with moonlight, or with shades Of Nature's willful moods; and here a one That had drunk in the transitory tone Of one brief moment in a sunset; blades Of grass that in an hundred springs had been Slowly but exquisitely nurtured by the stars, And watered with the scented dew long cupped In lilies, that for rays of sun had seen Only God's glory, for never a sunrise mars The luminous air of Heaven. Beyond, abrupt, A grey stone wall. o'ergrown with velvet moss Uprose; and gazing I stood long, all mazed To see a place so strange, so sweet, so fair. And as I stood and marvelled, lo! across The garden came a youth; one hand he raised To shield him from the sun, his wind-tossed hair Was twined with flowers, and in his hand he bore A purple bunch of bursting grapes, his eyes Were clear as crystal, naked all was he, White as the snow on pathless mountains frore, Red were his lips as red wine-spilith that dyes A marble floor, his brow chalcedony. And he came near me, with his lips uncurled And kind, and caught my hand and kissed my mouth, And gave me grapes to eat, and said, 'Sweet friend, Come I will show thee shadows of the world And images of life. See from the South Comes the pale pageant that hath never an end.' And lo! within the garden of my dream I saw two walking on a shining plain Of golden light. The one did joyous seem And fair and blooming, and a sweet refrain Came from his lips; he sang of pretty maids And joyous love of comely girl and boy, His eyes were bright, and 'mid the dancing blades Of golden grass his feet did trip for joy; And in his hand he held an ivory lute With strings of gold that were as maidens' hair, And sang with voice as tuneful as a flute, And round his neck three chains of roses were. But he that was his comrade walked aside; He was full sad and sweet, and his large eyes Were strange with wondrous brightness, staring wide With gazing; and he sighed with many sighs That moved me, and his cheeks were wan and white Like pallid lilies, and his lips were red Like poppies, and his hands he clenched tight, And yet again unclenched, and his head Was wreathed with moon-flowers pale as lips of death. A purple robe he wore, o'erwrought in gold With the device of a great snake, whose breath Was fiery flame: which when I did behold I fell a-weeping, and I cried, 'Sweet youth, Tell me why, sad and sighing, thou dost rove These pleasent realms? I pray thee speak me sooth What is thy name?' He said, 'My name is Love.' Then straight the first did turn himself to me And cried, 'He lieth, for his name is Shame, But I am Love, and I was wont to be Alone in this fair garden, till he came Unasked by night; I am true Love, I fill The hearts of boy and girl with mutual flame.' Then sighing, said the other, 'Have thy will, I am the love that dare not speak its name.' Love beyond reach: sunset tones of amber, red musk, and blood orange with three chains of roses, velvet moss, white lilies, crocuses, violets, poppies, blue musk, neroli, angel's trumpet, frankincense, benzoin, and night-blooming flowers. WOMB FURIE In the middle of the flanks of women lies the womb, a female viscus, closely resembling an animal; for it is moved of itself hither and thither in the flanks, also upwards in a direct line to below the cartilage of the thorax and also obliquely to the right or to the left, either to the liver or spleen; and it likewise is subject to falling downwards, and, in a word, it is altogether erratic. It delights, also, in fragrant smells, and advances towards them; and it has an aversion to fetid smells, and flees from them; and on the whole the womb is like an animal within an animal. -- Aretaeus the Cappadocian Oh, that wily womb! Hippocrates and his followers considered the womb a mobile creature, causing mayhem as it writhed its way through a woman’s body. Sometimes this ornery organ, due to lack of sexual activity, would create conflicts within a woman’s system or would become blocked itself, causing anxiety, nervousness, water retention, and sleeplessness. With the assistance of doctors, nursemaids, hand tools, or, occasionally, self-manipulation, this vexing condition could be alleviated through hysterical paroxysms. Or, as we call it nowadays: orgasm. An itch that needs to be scratched: Snake Oil and three types of honey. Keep on scratching those itches with our third installment of Novel Ideas For Secret Amusements: Lupercalia, Metal Tiger, Iteru, Yule and Miskatonic Valley scents are $17.50 each, and the Anniversary, Resurrected, and Shunga scents are $20 each. The Anniversary and Yule scents will be live until February 2, 2010. Metal Tiger, The Lupercalias, Ode to Ares, and Valentine's Day in the Miskatonic Valley will be live until March 31, 2010. The Shungas will be live until April 30, 2010. They are the Pictures of Spring, after all. The Dark Delicacies / Black Phoenix Valentine’s Day scents are live on the Dark Delicacies web site, and are also available at their brick and mortar shop in Burbank, CA! Black Lace, Black Heart, and Black Death are all vastly different but utterly complementary scents. They can be worn alone, or layered with one another seamlessly. BLACK HEART Sweet pea, vanilla-infused sandalwood, bourbon vanilla, white honey, carnation, pomegranate, Vitis riparia, plum, and cognac. BLACK DEATH East African patchouli, bay, tobacco, golden amber, blackened sandalwood, orange peel, lemon verbena, clove, and a touch of lime. Adorably spooky label artwork by Manda Lander! Dark Delicacies 4213 W. Burbank Blvd. Burbank, CA 91505 888-DARKDEL We are also thrilled to present Black Phoenix collaborations with the Mütter Museum and Space15Twenty! The Mütter Museum was founded to educate future doctors about anatomy and human medical anomalies. Today, it serves as a valuable resource for educating and enlightening the public about our medical past and telling important stories about what it means to be human. The Mütter Museum embodies the College of Physicians of Philadelphia's mission to advance the cause of health, and uphold the ideals and heritage of medicine. Their one-of-a-kind treasures include: The plaster cast of the torso of world-famous Siamese Twins, Chang & Eng, and their conjoined livers Joseph Hyrtl's collection of skulls Preserved body of the "Soap Lady" Collection of 2,000 objects extracted from people's throats Cancerous growth removed from President Grover Cleveland Tallest skeleton on display in North America The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Mütter Museum 19 South 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103. The Mütter Museum is carrying Ü in their store. Created for the Mütter Museum by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, this scent is a mélange of balsams, leathers, and raw vanilla designed to evoke images of unearthed secrets and dusty, ancient libraries. Located in Los Angeles, Space 15 Twenty is a unique retail setting, which creates an opportunity for Urban Outfitters to collaborate with creative brands that they find inspiring and interesting. Within the 12,690 square foot Urban Outfitters store, they showcase distinctive designers with a new pop-up shop every month. Each store is connected by an outdoor courtyard, which includes a performance space and adjacent gallery, both of which encourage participation in the curated environment. Aligning with local music, film and art venues, the courtyard and gallery present a rotating cast of musicians and artists. Space15Twenty 1520 N. Cahuenga Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90028 Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has created two scents exclusively for Space15Twenty: Sweet Life, a luxurious blend of gardenia, pikaki, ylang ylang, and Casablanca lily, and Banshee Beat, a tousled, sexy mix of patchouli, vanilla, and hemp. Due to component issues, Loviatar is being discontinued, effective immediately. We apologize for the suddenness of this pull, but we have no choice. Please accept our sincerest apologies! Once component issues stabilize, we will be able to confidently resume work on the general catalogue. General catalogue projects will be released once we’re sure that any component issues are stable. Thank you for your patience during this challenging time! And last, but certainly not least -- the Black Phoenix Trading Post anniversary update is coming soon! Happiest of Happy Schtupping Days!

Two Valentine's Day scents are live now on the Dark Delicacies web site! Created for Dark Delicacies by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab! Black Lace, Black Heart, and Black Death are all vastly different but utterly complementary scents. They can be worn alone, or layered with one another seamlessly. Black Heart Sweet pea, vanilla-infused sandalwood, bourbon vanilla, white honey, carnation, pomegranate, Vitis riparia, plum, and cognac. Black Death East African patchouli, bay, tobacco, golden amber, blackened sandalwood, orange peel, lemon verbena, clove, and a touch of lime. Adorably spooky label artwork by Manda Lander!

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab will be adding proceeds from all January sales of the Orisha blends (in the Excolo category) to the Red Cross fund. The following scents apply: Elegba Obatala Ochosi Ogun Olokun Osun Oya Shango Yemaya This is in addition to the proceeds from January sales of Port-Au-Prince. The auctions for the bottles of Abe Sapien that have been signed by Doug Jones will resume this week. We will post details as soon as they are available.

Today, a devastating 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti ten miles west of Port-Au-Prince. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab will be donating proceeds from all of January’s Port-Au-Prince sales to the Red Cross, and Black Phoenix Trading Post will be donating proceeds from all general catalogue bath oil sales to UNICEF. You can help, too: AMERICAN RED CROSS INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE FUND UNICEF

.details here.

The Blue Moon will soon be high in the sky, and to celebrate we are presenting the second Blue Moon scent of the month. This one was created by Brian Constantine, and the emphasis is on the moon’s influences on the mysteries of the dreamscape. BLUE MOON 2009: BRIAN'S CREATION The spirit of the full moon is capricious, intense and passionate, yet still distant, aloof and cold. Luna herself governs glamours, bewitchments and dream-work, innocent wonder, transient pleasure and delight, the Moment, impulse, mystery and veils. The Blue Moon is one of her rarest manifestations, and this scent is formulated to encapsulate her most complex and profound nature: Mugwort, for psychic sensitivity... Yarrow, for divination through dreams... Styrax and frankincense, for wisdom and noscere... ... with a potent lunar-charged, oneirongenic blend of tolu balsam, moonflower, white musk, delicate woods, star anise, Florentine iris, Clary sage, Roman chamomile, Greek cypress, juniper berry, night-blooming cereus, and a touch of cardamom. This fragrance has been infused with Neptune's pine and grains of paradise to help part veils and spark the imagination. This year, we have two interpretations of Blue Moon. This is Brian’s Moon. This scent is $17.50, and will be live until January 2, 2010. The Anniversary and Yule blends will come down about a week after Lupercalia goes live. Dates TBA. We hope that the blue moon will be a harbinger of amazing, wondrous things to come for all of you – and all of us! -- in this new year, and that 2010 is overflowing with joy, bursting with good fortune, punctuated by moments of true peace and tranquility… and that it contains just enough filthiness to make things interesting! Happy New Year, everyone! (Is that howling I hear coming from the nursery? How odd.)

The Whirling Wind Lunacy tee is live! And the Blue Moon 2009 tee is also live! Whirling Wind was illustrated by Alicia Dabney, and Blue Moon's goblin party was illustrated by Jennifer Williamson! Whirling Wind will be live until December 5, 2009, and Blue Moon will be live until January 5, 2009.

HOLIDAY SHIPPING NOTICE: In order to receive your Alchemy Lab package by Christmas Eve... Internationals! Please place your order by midnight PST December 2nd. Domestics! Please place your order by midnight PST December 7th. In order to receive your Trading Post Package by Christmas Eve… Internationals! Please place your order by midnight PST December 5th. Domestics! Please place your order by midnight PST December 7th. Black Phoenix Trading Post orders that include the Whirling Wind Moon tee and/or the Blue Moon tee are not guaranteed to arrive in time for Christmas. Lunacy tees and most LE tees do not go into production until we’re done taking orders for them, and they take a few weeks to be made. Please bear in mind that we are not responsible for USPS shenanigans. We do promise that we will bust our asses to get you your orders asap. Please do not take offense at our using Christmas, specifically, as a date marker. Without further ado… Happy Yuletide, everyone! Whirling Wind is live at BPAL, as are the next scents in the Nile series! WHIRLING WIND MOON Swiftly walk o'er the western wave, Spirit of Night! Out of the misty eastern cave, Where, all the long and lone daylight, Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear, 'Which make thee terrible and dear, -- Swift be thy flight! Dreams of joy and fear: swirling dark and airy musks, mogra, plumeria, hyacinth, lily of the valley, dry white sandalwood, gardenia, pale amber, and oakmoss. SEASON OF THE EMERGENCE Month after month the gathered rains descend Drenching yon secret Aethiopian dells, And from the desert's ice-girt pinnacles Where Frost and Heat in strange embraces blend On Atlas, fields of moist snow half depend. Girt there with blasts and meteors Tempest dwells By Nile's aereal urn, with rapid spells Urging those waters to their mighty end. O'er Egypt's land of Memory floods are level And they are thine, O Nile--and well thou knowest That soul-sustaining airs and blasts of evil And fruits and poisons spring where'er thou flowest. Beware, O Man--for knowledge must to thee, Like the great flood to Egypt, ever be. During Peret the Nile’s waters retreat, leaving a lush, fertile black silt behind. This is the time of plowing and seeding: crops and herbs were planted and cultivated, and prayers and sacrifices were offered to ensure a bountiful harvest later in the year. The seeds and the seedlings as the sprout forth from the deep black silt: cucumber, flax, wheat, radishes, leeks, sesame, and beans, with thyme, frankincense, chamomile, coriander, spikenard, cumin, hyssop, and juniper. HATMEHIT The Egyptian fish goddess, orginally a deification of the Nile River, the Great Flood, and the Waters of Creation. The scent of the depths of the River, teeming with aquatic life, sanctified by holy herbs. The Blue Moon will be manifesting this December, and we will be offering two interpretations of the event this time around. First, my take on it: BLUE MOON The spirit of the full moon is capricious, intense and passionate, yet still distant, aloof and cold. Luna herself governs glamours, bewitchments and dream-work, innocent wonder, transient pleasure and delight, the Moment, impulse, mystery and veils. The Blue Moon is one of her rarest manifestations, and this scent is formulated to encapsulate her most complex and profound nature: Mugwort, for psychic sensitivity... Calea Zacatechichi, for divination through dreams... Orchid and frankincense, for complexity, wisdom and noscere... ... with a potent lunar-charged, oneirongenic blend of blue musk, exquisite woods, moonflower, Madagascan ylang ylang, Florentine iris, Greek cypress, green tea absolute, palmarosa, cucumber, Clary sage, lavender, lemon balm, and passion fruit. At the end of the month, Brian’s expression of the Blue Moon will be going live! The Whirling Wind and Blue Moon tees will be going live at Black Phoenix Trading Post tomorrow, and the next Vampire Tarot scent and card set and matching tee will be going live at BPAL and BPTP later this month! Whirling Wind Moon and all of the Iteru, Yule and Miskatonic Valley scents are $17.50 each, and Blue Moon and the Anniversary and Resurrected scents are $20 each. The anniversary and Yule scents will be live until January 2010. Blue-Moon-Beth-Style and Whirling Wind Moon will be live until December 5, 2009. Blue-Moon-Brian-Style will appear at the end of the month along with December's second full moon. The four Dark Delicacies Yule scents are live on the Dark Delicacies web site, and are available at their brick and mortar shop in Burbank, CA!

:rofl: :rofl:

The following BPTP products, protos, and previews will be available at the Black Phoenix Trunk Show at Dark Delicacies on Sunday, November 29th, from 12-3pm: PROTOTYPE BATH OILS AND ROOM SPRAYS $25 each Revenge Room Spray Lola Montez Bath Oil Grace Elliot Bath Oil Champagne Bath Oil RETIRED BATH AND ATMOSPHERE SPRAYS $25 each Lupanar Room Spray Glacies Bath Oil Jingu Bath Oil Zenobia Bath Oil Tomoe Gozen Bath Oil Hua Mulan Bath Oil RETIRED PERFUME OILS $20 each Boadicea Perfume Jingu Perfume Zenobia Perfume Hua Mulan Perfume Ysabel Perfume PREVIEWS: PILLBOXES $25 each Courtesan Pillboxes (Four courtesans to choose from!) PREVIEWS: THE DISTRICT / MOLLY CRABAPPLE ROOM SPRAYS Proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity: New Orleans! $30 each Gertrude Dix’s Pete Lala’s Café Mahogany Hall GC Shot Glasses $15 each Clocket $70 each Triple Dagger Locket $70 each Snow, Glass, Apples Locket $75 each Brimstone Pendant $35 each Triple Dagger Pendant $35 each Bat-Woman Card Case $45 each Triple Dagger Card Case $45 each Salome Card Case $45 each Dressed Thus Card Case $45 each Leather Wrist Cuff $35 each Where and when is this happening? Dark Delicacies 4213 W. Burbank Burbank, CA 91505 U.S.A. Sunday, November 29 12pm - 3pm 1-888-DARKDEL 1-818-556-6660 darkdel *at* darkdel *.* com On December 3rd, Dark Delicacies will be celebrating their 15th anniversary! 30% off most items (sale & consignment items not included) in the store… and CAKE! Bring in a new toy valued at $10 or more and get 40% off a single item that day. =) The four new BPAL Dark Delicacies scents are live now on the DD web site! http://bit.ly/A640O

On Sunday, November 29th, Dark Delicacies will be hosting Black Phoenix’s last trunk show of 2009. We will be bringing back some scents we still have stock of from previous 2009 shows, plus some bottles that we tapped for this event. In addition, there are four new Dark Delicacies scents that will be debuting at the event! - - - Upon being discharged from his restful stay at Arkham Sanitarium, Del Howison and his wife, Sue, the former archivist and curator of the Cabot Museum in Beacon Hill, opened up a bookstore in Arkham specializing in hard-to-find grimoires, occult treatises, and mystical antiquities. They also cater to the lighter interests of the Valley’s cultists, and carry a vast selection of macabre books, DVDs, and ceremonial memorabilia. Every Saturday at midnight, Sue hosts Tiny Terror Story Time -- including interactive ritual indoctrination for tots AND milk and cookies! Each week features the songs, stories, and rites of a different Outer God or Great Old One! Fifteen years later, they have twelve stores across the Miskatonic Valley, and one in sunny Burbank, CA! STORY TIME AT DARK DELICACIES Heavy oak shelving, cracked leather bindings, incense-soaked parchment, ancient inks, baneful aromatic herbs, and crumbs of spilled sugar-glazed lemon butter cookies that have been accidentally dragged from the kiddie section of the store. SUE’S GREAT OLD PUPPET SHOW Sue’s adorable Cthulhu hand puppets and whirling Nyarlathotep marionettes help kids learn about ancient and terrible extraterrestrial beings! A wacky way to introduce your little ones to forbidden blood-chilling rites! Hot cocoa, tiny marshmallows, white glue, stick-on googly eyes, and felt! In 2000, Del Howison opened the Nameless City Drive-In theatre in Arkham, and eventually expanded to Innsmouth, Dunwich, and Kingsport. While Del focuses on blockbuster horror hits in his theatres, he also shows documentaries of local interest, and hosts the Dylath-Leen Film Festival which showcases the work of both prominent and up-and-coming Miskatonic Valley filmmakers. As a public service, Del provides shuttle transportation to Arkham Sanitarium at the conclusion of each film festival. Classic comedies are shown at the Nameless City Drive-In on the first Monday of every month! Abbot and Costello vs. the Lurking Ineffable Horror from the Depths of Space and Time is always a hit! Due to increased Mi-Go activity in recent months, convertibles and Minis are gently discouraged at the drive-in. THE NAMELESS CITY DRIVE-IN THEATRE Chrome bumpers gleaming in cold, exhaust-fume laden night air. Soggy foliage and crushed grass dotted with popcorn that has been crushed under rubber tires. Leather seats moist with skin musk and the sweat of groping hands fumbling under ceremonial robes. THE SNACK HUT Hot popcorn covered in a glowing golden liquid substance, fried things, and artificially flavored cherry frozen carbonated beverages, extra-loaded with high-fructose corn syrup. During this year’s Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire, Sue will be running the kid’s crafts booth, and Del will be showing holiday cinematic favorites throughout the season, including “It’s a Gibbering, Seething Life”, “All I Want For Yuletide is Bleating Madness”, and “’Twas the Night Before the Profane Horror Manifested”! (The oils are devoid of felt, googly eyes, high fructose corn syrup, artificial cherry flavoring, glue, and tentacles. Don’t be silly!) - - - The following oils are this trunk show’s new offerings: Absinthe v5 Absinthe v7 AF18 AF22 AF24 AF25 B.B2 B.B3 Black Orchid v3 BOBN1 BRA11 BTCS BTLS1 BTMEM BTOD1 BTOD2 BTPQ BTPU1 BTPU2 BTSB Dirty v3 Dorian v3 Dragon Pecker v2 Grand Guignol v4 HARLOT V2 Hel v6 HR1 HR2 Mason & Jenkins Port Jelly 2 MVJHL Bake Sale v3 Nepthys v2 Nepthys v4 NGAGL5 NGG023 NVF02 NVF10 NVL1 NVMA1 NVP1 NVP2 NVPR4 O v5 O v6 Playing With Dangerous Toys v2 Poisoned Apple v2 Poisoned Apple v3 PP416 PPH81 PSX54 Soothing System 1 XCDL13 XCDW5 YAR7 Zombie Apocalypse 4 The following oils from previous trunk shows will be brought back: A Bachelor's Dog A Bold Bluff Albedo Android V2 Aphrodite V7 Blue Phoenix Capela dos Ossos V5 CD023 Dorian V2 Gossamer Hellion V2 Hermes Trimegistus V2 Holly King Ice Queen Jingo Kogo V6 Lamia V3 Lust V7 MB: Underbed Medb V4 NYE in Dogville 2007 Oak King Orange Phoenix Osiris v4 Pediophobia V1 Pink Phoenix PO13 Purple Phoenix PX117 Red Phoenix Riding the Goat Scurvy Sekhmet V5 Set V3 Sitting up w/a Sick Friend Smut 2007 St. Lucia Strawberry Moon Tetramorph v2 TKO V3 Vishpala Please note: this list is subject to change. Very, very subject to change. Scents may be added as time permits, or deleted if circumstances dictate. If we can swing it, Trading Post will be bringing room spray and bath oil protos. List forthcoming. Each bottle of BPAL oil is $20. No preorders will be accepted for the perfumes and room sprays at the Cobwebs event. Bottles will be sold on a first-come basis, and there is a limit of three bottles per person until 30 minutes before the end of the event, at which point, the limit is lifted. The Vintage scents will, as always, be sportin’ a new label that was created for this event. You will not be getting the original label used for this scent. Where and when is this happening? Dark Delicacies 4213 W. Burbank Burbank, CA 91505 U.S.A. Sunday, November 29 12pm - 3pm 1-888-DARKDEL 1-818-556-6660 darkdel *at* darkdel *.* com On December 3rd, Dark Delicacies will be celebrating their 15th anniversary! 30% off most items (sale & consignment items not included) in the store… and CAKE! Bring in a new toy valued at $10 or more and get 40% off a single item that day. =)

The 'aught nine Naughty & Nice Inquisition is live at Black Phoenix Trading Post!

Happy birthday, BPAL! Holy shit: we're seven years old! The past seven years have been some of the best years of my life, and I owe much of that to the family that has grown around Black Phoenix. Thank you to my brother and partner, Brian, who spearheads Production, and without whom Black Phoenix would not exist. I love you! Thank you to my husband, Teddy o'the Trading Post. Your love and support keeps me afloat, and you inspire me like no other. I love you! Thank you, Kathy, my right hand woman. You keep me sane, and you find my head for me when its not screwed on properly, and truly, I don't know what I'd do without you. I love you! Thank you, Jacquelynn, our general manager, whose gentle Virgo whip cracking ensures that the wheels of our strange machine run smoothly. I love you! Thank you to Bill, the patron saint of customer service. Your beautiful heart shines through your emails. I love you! Thank you to our production staff, who form the backbone of this company. You enable us to share our creations with the world, and I am eternally grateful. I love you! Thank you to the mods and administrators of bpal.org for being the best friends anyone could ask for. You take on a difficult, often thankless, job with love and dedication beyond the call of duty. Thank you for being my proofreaders, my sanity check, and my foundation. You are amazing women, and I love you! Thank you to Sue and Del at Dark Delicacies for giving BPAL a home away from home, for always being there for us, and for being wonderful grandparents to the Little Demoness. I love you! (And so does Lilith!) Thank you to the artists that work with us, Jennifer Williamson, Alicia Dabney, Julie Dillon, Madame Talbot, Quique Alcatena, Jennifer Rodgers, and Sarah Coleman, for bringing our scents to life! I love you! Thank you to Lisa and the crew at Whole Foods in Roswell, GA for giving their all to Dirty South will call! You are amazing people, and I love you! Thank you to the Mütter Museum, Le Pink, Whole Foods, Urban Outfitters, Wildilocks, and Healthy Living for giving our products a home in your stores! Thank you to the bloggers, journalists, magazines, and other media outlets that have shown interest in Black Phoenix, and have taken the time to do writeups on our shops! Thank you for your time and energy; it means the world to us! Thank you to Neil Gaiman for affecting me like no other author, for being such a supportive friend, and for allowing me the pleasure of interpreting your beautiful, witty, soul-moving stories through scent. I love you! Thank you to Amanda Palmer, Terry Pratchett, Terry Moore, Mike and Christine Mignola, George Perez, Peter David, Molly Crabapple, Mark Waid, Ross Ritchie, Jill Thompson, Brian Pulido, and Gris Grimly for giving us such all such joy through the beauty of your art, and for giving Black Phoenix the opportunity to interpret your work. Thank you to the kind people at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Hero Initiative. You help those who cannot help themselves, and you are an inspiration to us all. Thank you to all our clients. Thank you for being there for us, and for each other, throughout all these years. Thank you for sharing our happiness and holding our hands through times of grief, loss, and transition. Thank you for celebrating pivotal points in our lives with us… the challenges of our rites of passage and difficult times of change… beautiful moments… weddings and births… and comforting us in times of sorrow. Thank you for wit, your kind hearts, and your friendship. Without the amazing, beautiful people we have met through and because of Black Phoenix, this would all be ashes. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share all that I love, all that I fear, and all I desire with all of you. I love you! Now, before I start weeping like a loon, let's get on with the new stuffs… The BPAL 7th Anniversary scents are live! ++ THE ALCHEMICAL PHOENIXES GOLD PHOENIX La Lumiere sortant des Tenebres. The noblest of the alchemical metals, representing the splendor of the Sun. It is the essence of pure consciousness and represents the divine, creative force present in all spirit and all matter. It is the symbol of the goal of perfection, and is capable of radiating all the colors of dawn and dusk while still retaining its unblemished purity. Three ambers representing common gold, astral gold, and elementary gold, with verbena, angelica, and heliotrope that has been purified by frankincense and Gum Arabic. SILVER PHOENIX Lustrous, pliable, delicate, and malleable, silver is as mysterious and radiant as the moon. Silver requires darkness in order to react, and receives light passively. Opalescent orris shimmering through a blend of mallow, moonflower, wild pear, iris, starwort, juniper, and mugwort. COPPER PHOENIX Copper's lustrous, rose-tinted Venusian energy inspires creativity and assists in balancing spiritual polarities. It can be utilized as a literal mirror, and a mirror reflecting the beauty of the soul. Rose-infused dark amber, with sweet orange, honey, cardamom, patchouli, apricot, pink pepper, and red sandalwood. IRON PHOENIX Blood and fire: a magnetic metal that burns brightly and easily. Iron illustrates the metabolic process and the need to control primal, brutal urges without quelling the fire of passion. Dragon's blood and dark, dense metal, black pepper, clove, red ginger, basil, and myrrh. TIN PHOENIX A malleable, pale metal with a flexible, crystalline structure that speaks out with a thunderous voice when bent or shaken. It is representative of the breath of life and the storminess of the spirit. Pale metals, crackling ozone, hyssop, white mint, tonka, and lemongrass. QUICKSILVER PHOENIX Mercury exists in three states of matter, just as Hermes, its patron, was the one deity that could move freely through the three classical worlds. In one of the alchemical processes, nitric acid, also called aqua fortis, is combined with Mercury, which then separates into a bed of red crystals and a cloud of red vapor. This experiment symbolizes the soul's transcendence over the polarities of mercy and severity, heaven and earth, light and darkness, life and death. Mercury is capable of forming complex compounds and amalgamating with elements that normally will not bind with others. Combined with phosphor and charged with electricity, it produces light. Cinnabar and silvery liquid droplets of mastic, white sandalwood, elemi, and lavender. LEAD PHOENIX Solid, heavy, and resistant to corrosion, lead is the first and oldest of the Seven Metals. It is the metal of ammunition and tombs, radiation shields and solder. Though it represents limitations and boundaries, it also transcends them when combined with other elements to create Philosophical Mercury. A dark and lusterless scent that contains the potential for limitless spiritual radiance: tobacco absolute, hemlock, plum, cypress, styrax, olibanum, and wild lettuce. And this year's resurrected scents… ++ 2009 RESURRECTED BLENDS HOD Glory and Majesty, Kokab, God's Judgement. SPOOKY A maddeningly festive blend of warm, buttery rum, cocoa, coconut, vanilla and a jolt of peppermint. It's a sweet, decadent, slightly silly scent, reminiscent of rum-laced holiday cookies. Much is also new at Black Phoenix Trading Post! Several new claw polishes are live at the 'Post, inspired by BPAL's Bordello, Croquet, Malediction, Sed Non Satiata, and two Phoenix Steamworks-inspired colors: Smokestack and Robotic Scarab. A tee commemorating BPAL's annual Resurrection of the Smells is live! Artwork by Jennifer Williamson! And last, but not least, Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples locket is live! Based on illustrations by Julie Dillon for the Snow, Glass, Apples chapbook produced by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. We are tying up one remaining loose end with the Inquisition, and it will be live later this week! Please mark it on your calendars: Dark Delicacies will be hosting the final Black Phoenix trunk show of 2009 on November 29, 2009 from 12pm til 3pm! Details to come!

Happy birthday, BPAL! Holy shit: we're seven years old! The past seven years have been some of the best years of my life, and I owe much of that to the family that has grown around Black Phoenix. Thank you to my brother and partner, Brian, who spearheads Production, and without whom Black Phoenix would not exist. I love you! Thank you to my husband, Teddy o'the Trading Post. Your love and support keeps me afloat, and you inspire me like no other. I love you! Thank you, Kathy, my right hand woman. You keep me sane, and you find my head for me when its not screwed on properly, and truly, I don't know what I'd do without you. I love you! Thank you, Jacquelynn, our general manager, whose gentle Virgo whip cracking ensures that the wheels of our strange machine run smoothly. I love you! Thank you to Bill, the patron saint of customer service. Your beautiful heart shines through your emails. I love you! Thank you to our production staff, who form the backbone of this company. You enable us to share our creations with the world, and I am eternally grateful. I love you! Thank you to the mods and administrators of bpal.org for being the best friends anyone could ask for. You take on a difficult, often thankless, job with love and dedication beyond the call of duty. Thank you for being my proofreaders, my sanity check, and my foundation. You are amazing women, and I love you! Thank you to Sue and Del at Dark Delicacies for giving BPAL a home away from home, for always being there for us, and for being wonderful grandparents to the Little Demoness. I love you! (And so does Lilith!) Thank you to the artists that work with us, Jennifer Williamson, Alicia Dabney, Julie Dillon, Madame Talbot, Quique Alcatena, Jennifer Rodgers, and Sarah Coleman, for bringing our scents to life! I love you! Thank you to Lisa and the crew at Whole Foods in Roswell, GA for giving their all to Dirty South will call! You are amazing people, and I love you! Thank you to the Mütter Museum, Le Pink, Whole Foods, Urban Outfitters, Wildilocks, and Healthy Living for giving our products a home in your stores! Thank you to the bloggers, journalists, magazines, and other media outlets that have shown interest in Black Phoenix, and have taken the time to do writeups on our shops! Thank you for your time and energy; it means the world to us! Thank you to Neil Gaiman for affecting me like no other author, for being such a supportive friend, and for allowing me the pleasure of interpreting your beautiful, witty, soul-moving stories through scent. I love you! Thank you to Amanda Palmer, Terry Pratchett, Terry Moore, Mike and Christine Mignola, George Perez, Peter David, Molly Crabapple, Mark Waid, Ross Ritchie, Jill Thompson, Brian Pulido, and Gris Grimly for giving us such all such joy through the beauty of your art, and for giving Black Phoenix the opportunity to interpret your work. Thank you to the kind people at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Hero Initiative. You help those who cannot help themselves, and you are an inspiration to us all. Thank you to all our clients. Thank you for being there for us, and for each other, throughout all these years. Thank you for sharing our happiness and holding our hands through times of grief, loss, and transition. Thank you for celebrating pivotal points in our lives with us… the challenges of our rites of passage and difficult times of change… beautiful moments… weddings and births… and comforting us in times of sorrow. Thank you for wit, your kind hearts, and your friendship. Without the amazing, beautiful people we have met through and because of Black Phoenix, this would all be ashes. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share all that I love, all that I fear, and all I desire with all of you. I love you! Now, before I start weeping like a loon, let's get on with the new stuffs… The BPAL 7th Anniversary scents are live! ++ THE ALCHEMICAL PHOENIXES GOLD PHOENIX La Lumiere sortant des Tenebres. The noblest of the alchemical metals, representing the splendor of the Sun. It is the essence of pure consciousness and represents the divine, creative force present in all spirit and all matter. It is the symbol of the goal of perfection, and is capable of radiating all the colors of dawn and dusk while still retaining its unblemished purity. Three ambers representing common gold, astral gold, and elementary gold, with verbena, angelica, and heliotrope that has been purified by frankincense and Gum Arabic. SILVER PHOENIX Lustrous, pliable, delicate, and malleable, silver is as mysterious and radiant as the moon. Silver requires darkness in order to react, and receives light passively. Opalescent orris shimmering through a blend of mallow, moonflower, wild pear, iris, starwort, juniper, and mugwort. COPPER PHOENIX Copper's lustrous, rose-tinted Venusian energy inspires creativity and assists in balancing spiritual polarities. It can be utilized as a literal mirror, and a mirror reflecting the beauty of the soul. Rose-infused dark amber, with sweet orange, honey, cardamom, patchouli, apricot, pink pepper, and red sandalwood. IRON PHOENIX Blood and fire: a magnetic metal that burns brightly and easily. Iron illustrates the metabolic process and the need to control primal, brutal urges without quelling the fire of passion. Dragon's blood and dark, dense metal, black pepper, clove, red ginger, basil, and myrrh. TIN PHOENIX A malleable, pale metal with a flexible, crystalline structure that speaks out with a thunderous voice when bent or shaken. It is representative of the breath of life and the storminess of the spirit. Pale metals, crackling ozone, hyssop, white mint, tonka, and lemongrass. QUICKSILVER PHOENIX Mercury exists in three states of matter, just as Hermes, its patron, was the one deity that could move freely through the three classical worlds. In one of the alchemical processes, nitric acid, also called aqua fortis, is combined with Mercury, which then separates into a bed of red crystals and a cloud of red vapor. This experiment symbolizes the soul's transcendence over the polarities of mercy and severity, heaven and earth, light and darkness, life and death. Mercury is capable of forming complex compounds and amalgamating with elements that normally will not bind with others. Combined with phosphor and charged with electricity, it produces light. Cinnabar and silvery liquid droplets of mastic, white sandalwood, elemi, and lavender. LEAD PHOENIX Solid, heavy, and resistant to corrosion, lead is the first and oldest of the Seven Metals. It is the metal of ammunition and tombs, radiation shields and solder. Though it represents limitations and boundaries, it also transcends them when combined with other elements to create Philosophical Mercury. A dark and lusterless scent that contains the potential for limitless spiritual radiance: tobacco absolute, hemlock, plum, cypress, styrax, olibanum, and wild lettuce. And this year's resurrected scents… ++ 2009 RESURRECTED BLENDS HOD Glory and Majesty, Kokab, God's Judgement. SPOOKY A maddeningly festive blend of warm, buttery rum, cocoa, coconut, vanilla and a jolt of peppermint. It's a sweet, decadent, slightly silly scent, reminiscent of rum-laced holiday cookies. Much is also new at Black Phoenix Trading Post! Several new claw polishes are live at the 'Post, inspired by BPAL's Bordello, Croquet, Malediction, Sed Non Satiata, and two Phoenix Steamworks-inspired colors: Smokestack and Robotic Scarab. A tee commemorating BPAL's annual Resurrection of the Smells is live! Artwork by Jennifer Williamson! And last, but not least, Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples locket is live! Based on illustrations by Julie Dillon for the Snow, Glass, Apples chapbook produced by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. We are tying up one remaining loose end with the Inquisition, and it will be live later this week! Please mark it on your calendars: Dark Delicacies will be hosting the final Black Phoenix trunk show of 2009 on November 29, 2009 from 12pm til 3pm! Details to come!

The Yule label theme is All Krampus, All the Time. The Pink Snowballs label is also Krampus-themed; some of the Krampus'ee labels don't have red backgrounds, is all. =) Glad you guys like them! I had a lot of fun making the Krampus ones, and Julie did an amazing job with the Miskatonic Valley artwork!

Just wanted to let November WCWC attendees know that E! will be filming a segment of That Morning Show at the NoHo will call. =) Don't want anyone coming unawares!

Hey guys! I would LOVE to see everyone's Halloween costumes this year. If you don't mind showing us, please email your photos to halloween @ blackphoenixalchemylab . com, and let us know if its ok to repost them, what your forum name and / or IRL name is, what scent you're wearing, and anything else you'd like to share!

Peach Moon is ripening early at Alchemy Lab and Trading Post! Both will be live on their respective sites until November 5, 2009! PEACH MOON Smoke hangs on the stream, The peach-trees shed bright leaves in the water, Sound drifts in the evening haze Dew-covered peach blossom, white tea, moonlit musk, night-blooming jasmine, ho wood, and chrysanthemum. Artwork by our little peach pie, Alicia Dabney! Two peach-toned shimmer inks on white tee! Black Phoenix Trading Post has gone live with the next installment of Neil Gaiman's 15 Painted Cards From a Vampire Tarot: the Magician! Bring home your memories of this year's Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire with a stylish commemorative tee! Doubles as a cultist robe in a pinch, and machine washable, too! The Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire Official Event Tee Merrily macabre holiday artwork by Jolly Julie Dillon, the honorary emcee at this year's Faire! Mouldering green, sepulcheral white, malignant orange, and gnashing red inks on black tee! What else is new at Black Phoenix Trading Post? The Yule Bath Oils and Yule Atmosphere Sprays are back! - with a new addition! ++ YULE BATH OILS ICE PRINCE BATH OIL As beautiful and cold as a December storm. Crystalline musk, winter lily, bergamot, plum, and frozen pine boughs. PROSERPINA BATH OIL For thine came pale and a maiden, and sister to sorrow; but ours, Her deep hair heavily laden with odour and colour of flowers, White rose of the rose-white water, a silver splendour, a flame, Bent down unto us that besought her, and earth grew sweet with her name. The emergence of light in darkness. Frozen pomegranate and a hint of nocturnal blossoms. WINTER MAIDEN BATH OIL Ice-rimed innocence. The blush of youth, frozen for eternity. Snow-laden woods, iced blackberry and bergamot, white rose, and crystallized amber. HOLIDAY STRESS RELIEF BATH OIL Relax, revive, restore. Peppermint, spearmint, geranium bourbon, lavender, clary sage, white amber, juniper berry, laurel leaf, coriander, opoponax, and mandarin. ++ YULE ATMOSPHERE SPRAYS KRAMPUSUMZÜGE Dirt-spattered rags, rusted chains, and dry switches against a backdrop of black fir and snow. SNOW WHITE A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers. Snow White and Krampusumzüge are $25 each. Ice Prince, Proserpina, and Winter Maiden are $30 each, and Holiday Stress Relief is $40. The Yule sprays and bath oils are available until December 15, 2009. BPTP's District collaboration with Molly Crabapple will be ready to go live in a few weeks time, and the Inquisition is coming up as soon as we iron out some of the kinks! Black Phoenix Trading Post customer service will be offline from Thursday, October 28 til Tuesday, November 3. Ted will be able to resume answering your questions and flirting long-distance on the 3rd. I, personally, will be offline, too, but BPAL customer service will be available and production and shipping at both BPAL and BPTP will continue as usual. A gentle reminder: West Coast Will Call will not be on the full moon in November, as many of our will call staffers will be out of town for the holiday. WCWC has been moved to Wednesday, November 4, 7-10pm. The theme this month is Dia de los Muertos! Costumes welcome and encouraged! We will be holding a canned food drive this month, so if you bring canned food, we will give you something in return. East Coast Will Call is at Whole Foods Market, aka Harry's Farmer's Market, in Roswell, GA on November 8, from 5-8. If you have any questions, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com. Please note: there is a slight delay in shipping for BPAL and BPTP orders at this time. We're experiencing the holiday crunch, but we are endeavoring to get everything you order into your hands as quickly as possible!

A very merry early Yule to all! First things first… while the Alchemy Lab update is going live now, the Trading Post update, including the Inquisition, winter seasonal offerings, the District Atmosphere Sprays, and the District tee, and the Vampire Tarot Magician tee, is slightly delayed. In the interests of staying sane, we're separating the two by a few days, but I'm planning to have the BPTP update live by the weekend. Fear not -- we'll be working our asses off getting all the Trading Post stuff ready to go! And without further adieu… the Yuletide LE's are here! ++ YULETIDE 2009 BUT MEN LOVED DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT The world's light shines, shine as it will, The world will love its darkness still. I doubt though when the world's in hell, It will not love its darkness half so well. The world will love its darkness: cistus labdanum, ginger, East Indian patchouli, pimento berry, oakmoss, saffron, smoky vanilla, sage, myrrh, and bitter blove. DED MOROZ Grandfather Frost! Accompanied by his granddaughter, Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, he bestows gifts to virtuous and hard-working people, rewarding their decency and integrity, and punishes those who are lazy, shiftless, and unkind, killing their fields with frost, cracking the trunks of their trees, and destroying their homes. The first incarnation of Father Frost was not at all benevolent. He was the personification of the darkest aspects of winter, winter's destruction incarnate. He kidnapped unruly children, and slew people capriciously by freezing them to death. Light, darkness, kindness, and malice: golden amber, white amber, redwood, teak, bois du rose, sage, tree moss, and snow. DIABLE EN BOÎTE The crickets sing, and man's o'er-labour'd sense Repairs itself by rest. Our Tarquin thus Did softly press the rushes, ere he waken'd The chastity he wounded. Cytherea, How bravely thou becomest thy bed, fresh lily, And whiter than the sheets! That I might touch! But kiss; one kiss! Rubies unparagon'd, How dearly they do't! 'Tis her breathing that Perfumes the chamber thus: the flame o' the taper Bows toward her, and would under-peep her lids, To see the enclosed lights, now canopied Under these windows, white and azure laced With blue of heaven's own tinct. But my design, To note the chamber: I will write all down: Such and such pictures; there the window; such The adornment of her bed; the arras; figures, Why, such and such; and the contents o' the story. Ah, but some natural notes about her body, Above ten thousand meaner moveables Would testify, to enrich mine inventory. O sleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her! And be her sense but as a monument, Thus in a chapel lying! Come off, come off: As slippery as the Gordian knot was hard! 'Tis mine; and this will witness outwardly, As strongly as the conscience does within, To the madding of her lord. On her left breast A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops I' the bottom of a cowslip: here's a voucher, Stronger than ever law could make: this secret Will force him think I have pick'd the lock and ta'en The treasure of her honour. No more. To what end? Why should I write this down, that's riveted, Screw'd to my memory? She hath been reading late The tale of Tereus; here the leaf's turn'd down Where Philomel gave up. I have enough: To the trunk again, and shut the spring of it. Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning May bare the raven's eye! I lodge in fear; Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here. One, two, three: time, time! - Iachimo, Cymbeline Act II, Scene 2 There are few things more disturbing than a Jack in the Box. A strangely sinister, unnerving holiday scent: redwood, bitter clove, tonka, hemp accord, and tobacco with peach blossom, black currant, and red musk. EL DIA DE LOS REYES 2009 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. EVENING CICADAS AND RED PEPPERS It is so, so cold! A cicada in the eaves With the red peppers. Frost-limned, ice-bejeweled branches, scattered blood-red maple leaves, a few camellia petals, red peppers, and nacreous, multi-colored musks that shimmer like gently-beating cicada wings. FAUNALIA Held on December 5th, this is the festival of the Horned God of the Forest, one of the di indigetes of Rome, god of cattle, fertility, wild, untamed nature, and prophecy through dreams. The scent of a thick, starlit, unspoiled forest, with a burst of wild musk, opobalsamum, black bryony, mandragora, and hemlock. THE FIRST SOFT SNOW The first soft snow! Enough to bend the leaves Of the jonquil low. Heavy drifts of snow blanketing winter's narcissus. THE FRUIT OF PARADISE 2009 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. GACELA OF THE DARK DEATH I want to sleep the sleep of the apples, I want to get far away from the busyness of the cemeteries. I want to sleep the sleep of that child who longed to cut his heart open far out at sea. I don't want them to tell me again how the corpse keeps all its blood, how the decaying mouth goes on begging for water. I'd rather not hear about the torture sessions the grass arranges for nor about how the moon does all its work before dawn with its snakelike nose. I want to sleep for half a second, a second, a minute, a century, but I want everyone to know that I am still alive, that I have a golden manger inside my lips, that I am the little friend of the west wind, that I am the elephantine shadow of my own tears. When it's dawn just throw some sort of cloth over me because I know dawn will toss fistfuls of ants at me, and pour a little hard water over my shoes so that the scorpion claws of the dawn will slip off. Because I want to sleep the sleep of the apples, and learn a mournful song that will clean all earth away from me, because I want to live with that shadowy child who longed to cut his heart open far out at sea. Terebinth pine, pitch, and clove. HYPOTHERMIA Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm! How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides, Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you From seasons such as these? Bone-chilling, heart-stopping cold. IN WINTER IN MY ROOM In Winter in my Room I came upon a Worm -- Pink, lank and warm -- But as he was a worm And worms presume Not quite with him at home -- Secured him by a string To something neighboring And went along. A Trifle afterward A thing occurred I'd not believe it if I heard But state with creeping blood -- A snake with mottles rare Surveyed my chamber floor In feature as the worm before But ringed with power -- The very string with which I tied him -- too When he was mean and new That string was there -- I shrank -- "How fair you are"! Propitiation's claw -- "Afraid," he hissed "Of me"? "No cordiality" -- He fathomed me -- Then to a Rhythm Slim Secreted in his Form As Patterns swim Projected him. That time I flew Both eyes his way Lest he pursue Nor ever ceased to run Till in a distant Town Towns on from mine I set me down This was a dream. Pink, lank, and warm: grapefruit, yuzu, tuberose, peony, violet leaf, pikaki, Indian frankincense, and tonka. JOULUMUORI Old Lady Christmas, the sweet, smiling wife of Finland's Joulupukki. Her scent invokes the comforts of Christmastime and the warmth of love and cheerful companionship: a glowing hearth, luumukiisseli, riisipuuro, and sima. LICK IT TIL IT'S STICKY The stickiest thing you shouldn't lick this winter. Peppermint candy cane with 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.) MIDNIGHT MASS 2009 I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord: That I may hear the voice of thy praise: and tell of all thy wondrous works. I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth. Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men: In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with gifts. But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord. In Roman Catholic tradition, the Christmas season begins liturgically on Christmas Eve, though it is forbidden to celebrate the Christmas Mass before midnight. The most devout attend Midnight Mass, celebrating both the Eucharist and the drama of the Nativity. This perfume is a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense, most often used during a Solemn Mass. Traditionally, five tears of this incense, each encased individually in wax that has been fashioned into the shape of a nail, are inserted into the paschal candle. This is, of course, represents the Five Wounds of Our Risen Savior. Symbolically, the burning of the incense signifies spiritual fervor, the fragrance itself inspires virtue, and the rising smoke carries our prayers to God. Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri; per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est, et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas, et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos, cuius regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per prophetas. Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen. NES GADOL HAYA SHAM But not long after the king sent a certain old man of Antioch, to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and of God: And to defile the temple that was in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympius: and that in Gazarim of Jupiter Hospitalis, according as they were that inhabited the place. And very bad was this invasion of evils and grievous to all. For the temple was full of the riot and reveling of the Gentiles: and of men lying with lewd women. And women thrust themselves of their accord into the holy places, and brought in things that were not lawful. The altar also was filled with unlawful things, which were forbidden by the laws. And neither were the sabbaths kept, nor the solemn days of the fathers observed, neither did any man plainly profess himself to be a Jew. But they were led by bitter constraint on the king's birthday to the sacrifices: and when the feast of Bacchus was kept, they wore compelled to go about crowned with ivy in honour of Bacchus. And there went out a decree into the neighboring cities of the Gentiles, by the suggestion of the Ptolemeans, that they also should act in like manner against the Jews, to oblige them to sacrifice: And whosoever would not conform themselves to the ways of the Gentiles, should be put to death: then was misery to be seen. For two women were accused to have circumcised their children: whom, when they had openly led about through the city with the infants hanging at their breasts, they threw down headlong from the walls. And others that had met together in caves that were near, and were keeping the sabbath day privately, being discovered by Philip, were burnt with fire, because they made a conscience to help themselves with their hands, by reason of the religious observance of the day. - The Second Book of the Maccabees, 6:1-11 In order to consolidate his power in Jerusalem and Hellenize the area, the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed Judaism and ordered the population to worship Zeus and the Hellenic pantheon. As this was anathema to the Jews, they refused, and Antiochus moved to enforce his religious decree by extreme force. Some origin tales say that the dreidel was used at this time as a method by which the Jewish people were able to continue to study the Talmud in secret under the guise of gambling. Now, in addition to being a light gambling game, the dreidel is also a reminder of the strength, devotion, and perseverance of the Jewish people and the mercy of God. One scent in four parts: Nun, the Snake: nuun, nothing. Naḥš, in modern Arabic, means bad luck. Represented by scents of loss and remembrance: opoponax and lemon verbena. Gimel, the Camel: the Ship of the Desert. Represented by scents of abundance, fortitude, and determination: patchouli, heliotrope, pomegranate, and almond. He, the Window: sometimes used to represent the Unutterable Name of God, this is the window in our souls through which God's light touches us. Represented by scents of clarity and piety: frankincense, myrtle, and hyssop. Shin, the Tooth: also stands for Shaddai, one of the names of God. The hand formed into shin acts as a priestly blessing. Represented by scents of strength, generosity, kindness, and benediction: carnation, myrrh, red poppy, and hibiscus. The essences of Nun, Gimel, He, and Shin are blended to become Nes Gadol Haya Sham. NOW WINTER NIGHTS ENLARGE Now winter nights enlarge The number of their hours, And clouds their storms discharge Upon the airy towers. Let now the chimneys blaze, And cups o'erflow with wine; Let well-tuned words amaze With harmony divine. Now yellow waxen lights Shall wait on honey love, While youthful revels, masques, and courtly sights Sleep's leaden spells remove. This time doth well dispense With lovers' long discourse; Much speech hath some defence, Though beauty no remorse. All do not all things well; Some measures comely tread, Some knotted riddles tell, Some poems smoothly read. The summer hath his joys And winter his delights; Though love and all his pleasures are but toys, They shorten tedious nights. Shorten those tedious nights with a surge of body heat: vanilla-infused red musk, champaca, petitgrain, ylang ylang, patchouli, nutmeg, honey, galbanum, and traces of caramel. ON DARKNESS 2009 You darkness, that I come from, I love you more than all the fires that fence in the world, for the fire makes a circle of light for everyone, and then no one outside learns of you. But the darkness pulls in everything; shapes and fires, animals and myself, how easily it gathers them! -- powers and people -- and it is possible a great energy is moving near me. I have faith in nights. An embrace: black poppy, lavender, thick black incense, black amber, rose geranium, Brazilian rosewood, and benzoin. THE PEACOCK QUEEN 2009 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. PINK SNOWBALLS A lighthearted winter scent: chilly vanilla rose snowballs! Dainty, soft, and certainly unfit for flinging! THE SEASON OF GHOSTS In Latvia, the Ziemassvetki, or Winter Party, is a celebration of the birth of Dievs, the Sky God and Supreme Ruler of the Latvian pantheon. The two weeks prior to the Ziemassvetki is Ve?u laiks: the Season of Ghosts. Candles are lit to honor the gods and a fire is kept burning throughout the Season, burning away the unhappiness of the previous year so men's spirits can be renewed. At the feast of the Ziemassvetki, places are left as a courtesy to the ghosts, who arrive by sleigh. A scent created to burn away sorrow: bergamot, frankincense, rose geranium, ginger, lemongrass, and blood orange. THE SHIVERING BOY 2009 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. SLEIPNIR At Yule, Odin leads a divine hunting party through the heavens. On Yule Eve, children would fill their boots with sugar, carrots, and straw and place them by the chimneys for Odin's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, to eat. To repay the children's kindness, Odin would refill the children's boots with sweets or small gifts. Confections spun of hazelnuts, honey, elderberries, and bilberries with a dusting of hay and a bit of carrot. SNOW-FLAKES 2009 Out of the bosom of the Air, Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, Over the woodlands brown and bare, Over the harvest-fields forsaken, Silent, and soft, and slow Descends the snow. Even as our cloudy fancies take Suddenly shape in some divine expression, Even as the troubled heart doth make In the white countenance confession, The troubled sky reveals The grief it feels. This is the poem of the air, Slowly in silent syllables recorded; This is the secret of despair, Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded, Now whispered and revealed To wood and field. The radiance and desolation of winter. THE SNOW MAIDEN 2009 The Snow Maiden is the daughter of Spring and Frost: as lovely as the first snowfall, and as striking as a sliver of icicle. Isolated because of her chilly otherworldly nature, and unable to know love, she longed for the companionship and warmth of mortals. One bright, white winter's day, the Snow Maiden came upon a gentle, handsome shepherd named Lel. She grows fond of him, and beseeches Mother Spring to grant her the ability to feel. Her mother is moved by her daughter's plight, and blesses her, but the moment the Snow Maiden is struck by the depth of love she feels for Lel, her heart warms, and she melts. SNOW WHITE 2009 A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers. SNOWBALL FRACAS This means war. A scent tight with delirious adrenaline. Muddy dirt and frost-covered moss from the trenches rubbed into winter clothes and snow impact overspray. This scent hits like the sting from those dang icy hard snowballs... the ones that have been packed too hard by someone who is not playing nice... nailing you right in the face. SOL INVICTUS 2009 Sane, sol et in cloacam radios suos defert nec inquinatur. A radiant blend of solar oils: golden amber, saffron, heliotrope, hibiscus, citron, frangipani, frankincense, tangerine, mock orange, and orange blossom. WHEN THE WINTER CHRYSANTHEMUMS GO When the winter chrysanthemums go, there's nothing to write about but radishes. Lest the next few updates be dedicated solely to radishes, we've created this scent to keep the winter chrysanthemums alive. A gentle flurry of snow dusting the season's last chrysanthemums, illuminated by pale rays of winter's amber-tinted sunlight. YULE CAT The Yule Cat is a gargantuan Icelandic feline that feasts on indolent people who shirk their community responsibilities. Don't be lazy! - idle hands make for a very unpleasant Yule! Malevolent musk, a drop of infernal civet, vetiver, club moss, birch, goosefoot, and rowan. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing… er… Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! The Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire is here! ++ THE MISKATONIC VALLEY YULETIDE FAIRE Welcome to Innsmouth, the Pearl of New England! Every December, the Esoteric Order of Dagon hosts the Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire, a holiday marketplace at the former Masonic Temple at New Church Green in Innsmouth. Mayor Obed Marsh, may the Deep Ones bless his eternal governance, lights the community sacrificial pyre on the first of the month, and the festivities begin! Amidst holiday entertainments, local artisans and craftspeople ply their wares. The Voices of Azathoth, our local children's choir, and the Servitor Flautists perform on the Grand Stage of Malignity throughout the month! "Dread Hymns Ancient and Modern" and the canonical cult scriptures are always lovingly reprinted and distributed by the kind folks at the Wilbur Whateley Memorial Library so that residents and visitors can sing and chant with the carolers, Esquimaux wizards, Louisiana swamp-priests, and local cultists. At midnight on Midwinter Eve, the liturgical play "the Adoration of the Mi-Go" is performed under the lights of a synathroesmus of iridescent globes by Arkham's world-famous acting troupe, the Haunters in the Dark, on the Great Stage. Get ready for holiday parties and ritual feasts with the help of our local farmers, bakers, and candymakers! Every year since 1928, Mother Shub has set up her tempting pastry and confections stand, the Yule Goat, and this year is no exception! Mason & Jenkin's Pantry will be selling their home made preserves, and the Innsmouth Canning Company will be offering a selection of fresh fish, true to their motto: You Are What You Eat! Shopping for holiday gifts is a breeze at the Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire! Old Man Ackerman, proprietor of Miskatonic Valley's renowned toy store and antiquities dealership, Elder Things, brings hand-crafted clockworks and tin machines that spout iridescent, prolately spheroidal bubbles to delight the wee ones. Old Man Ackerman's educational toys make non-Euclidean calculus fun! Curwen Imports brings a selection of exotic merchandise and antiquities from all over the globe and points beyond, including authentic 12th century illuminated manuscripts crafted by Bartolomeo Corsi. There's no better time to get a pet magah bird for little Billy or a new set of yellow Carcosan robes for yourself! Bargains galore! (For the pleasure of the adults, the Black Temple Burlesque Troupe performs nightly through January at the Vault of Zin in Innsmouth's Red Light District.) And that's just a sampling of what the Faire has to offer! Fun for the whole family! May this Yule season bring madness and the void's wild vengeance to all! THE ADORATION OF THE MI-GO The time-honored ecclesiastical drama that illustrates the piety of the Fungi and First Coming of the Crawling Chaos to the majestic black stone terraces of Yuggoth! Recapture the magic! Luminous, otherworldly wet and piquant odors mingling with black incense, the pitch-stench of Yuggoth, and fungal lichens. MOTHER SHUB'S SPICED LAIT DE CHÈVRE Nothing warms the cockles like a mug of Mother Shub's egg nog! Goat's milk egg nog with coffee liqueur and spices imported from the Crimson Desert! MOTHER SHUB'S PFANCY PFEFFERNEUSSE Fit for the finest oblation -- and your holiday table, too! Sugar-sprinkled pepper nuts with a bit of cinnamon, a bit of clove, a little cardamom, and a hint of nutmeg. MOTHER SHUB'S TOOTHSOME BANKETSTAAF A treat sure to please even the most finicky cultist! Tubular pastries oozing with spijs, glazed with apricot jam, and dotted with glace cherries. MASON & JENKIN'S PORT JELLY Red and sticky! From a genuine Old Salem recipe! OLD MAN ACKERMAN'S INSTRUCTIONAL TOYS Educational toys for tots! Learn non-Euclidean calculus, catoptric theory, quantum physics, and the mysteries of Elder magic the fun way! An ancient baetylus floating within an array of bizarre trapezoidal figures, glimmering tubes, rusting spheres, and whirling gogs formed from peculiar metals, glowing tektites, strangely suspended lead mirrors, and eerie driftings of meteoric dust. THE SMILIN' SERVITORS' HYPERDIMENSIONAL HOLIDAY HITS As seen on tv! A musical extravaganza of madness, terror, and woe! Twenty-three insane interstellar holiday hits from everyone's favorite amorphous toad pipers, including "Doom to the World" and "Here We Go to Sacrifice"! A discordant scent, silvery and strange like a lunatic's tinsel garland: freesia, eucalyptus, and yuzu, with sicilian lemon, massoia, opoponax, night-blooming jasmine, white bergamot, and copaiba oleoresin. PET MAGAH BIRD Every kid wants a pet magah bird! A prism of scent, an explosion of multi-colored feathers: blood orange, black plum, sugar cane, guava, frangipani, coconut, pimento berry, violet, caramel, and pear. THE BLACK TEMPLE BURLESQUE TROUPE Straight from the pits of black, lightless N'kai: the voluptuous bat-winged vixens of the Black Temple Burlesque Troupe! Cacao, black musk, and tobacco absolute. The Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire was illustrated the eldritch and diabolical Julie Dillon! The next card in Neil Gaiman's Vampire Tarot is also here! -- the Magician! ++ 15 PAINTED CARDS FROM A VAMPIRE TAROT: THE MAGICIAN They asked St. Germain's manservant if his master was truly a thousand years old, as it was rumored he had claimed. "How would I know?" the man replied. "I have only been in the master's employ for three hundred years. Burmese rosewood, olibanum, benzoin, turmeric, currant leaf, and oude. And finally, the latest addition to the GC… the District! A collaboration between Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Black Phoenix Trading Post, and Molly Crabapple that benefits Habitat For Humanity: New Orleans! ++ THE DISTRICT Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense Shame to Him Who Evil Thinks Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post are proud to present a scent series representing the people, places, and culture of New Orleans' Storyville, featuring artwork by the inimitable Molly Crabapple. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is pandering the perfumes, and Black Phoenix Trading Post is offering District-themed atmosphere sprays and a gorgeous District tee illustrated by Molly! Lavish bordellos and shady cribs, dazzling jazz, and swinging saloons: bounded by Basin, Iberville, Robertson, and St Louis, Storyville, known to locals as the District, was New Orleans' legal red light district from 1897 to 1917. This is a charitable, not-for-profit venture. Proceeds from every bottle go to Habitat for Humanity: New Orleans. Habitat for Humanity builds houses in partnership with sponsors, volunteers, communities, and homeowner families, whereby families are empowered to transform their own lives, and aids in eliminating poverty housing in the New Orleans area while serving as a catalyst to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Molly Crabapple is an award winning illustrator, and the founder of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School. Molly has drawn for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Marvel Comics, the Bloomberg Corporation, the Coagula Art Journal, and Playgirl, and she has illustrated eight books including Scarlett Takes Manhattan. She has also turned her talents to 30-foot theatrical backdrops, children's books, parade installations, burlesque posters, critically acclaimed webcomics, pornographic comic books, art writing, and gallery shows around the world. More about the lovely Miss Molly can be found through a feature on her in the Art & Design section of the New York Times. Thank you, Molly, for inspiring this series! COUNTESS WILLIE Sophisticated, dramatic, well-traveled, glamorous, and worldly, Countess Willie V. Piazza, owner of the French Studio, was a trendsetter in style and fashion. Countess Willie was an educated woman, a patron of the arts, and possessed an impressive library of rare volumes. She featured many historic jazz musicians in her House, including Tony Jackson and Jelly Roll Morton. Unlike many of her counterparts, she was known for having a kind heart and a generous, loving nature. She was fiercely protective: when a patron of her establishment, the nephew of a prominent New Orleans cleric, committed a heinous act of sadism against one of her ladies, Countess Willie shot him dead. Chocolate plum musk, red musk, amaretto, candied fruits, and red ginger. CRIB GIRLS Situated on of the lowest rungs in the Red Light District's hierarchy, the crib girls solicited from their windows and doorways, entertaining their clients in sparsely furnished, dingy two-room apartments. Seven honeys under one unkempt roof, with fiery-tart cubeb and dusty cardamom. EMMA Better known as the "Parisian Queen of America," needs little introduction in this country. Emma's "House of all Nations," as it is commonly called, is one place of amusement you can't very well afford to miss while in the Tenderloin District. Everything goes here. Fun is the watchword. Business has been on such an increase at the above place of late that Mdme. Johnson had to occupy an "Annex." Emma has never less than twenty pretty women of all nations, who are clever entertainers. Remember the name, Emma Johnson 331 and 333 Basin Street Vanilla bourbon, tea rose, jasmine, pink pepper, and patchouli. FLORA Everybody in the sporting world knows Miss Flora Meeker and she knows everybody worth knowing. So it is unnecessary at this time to make any introductory remarks about Miss Meeker, suffice it to say she is still at her same old place where she has been for a number of years past, doing a boss business which deserves, Miss Flora is well thought of by all and her house is patronized by the best element. Carnival visitors should not overlook this swell mansion where the cream of female loveliness will be found which is situated at No. 211 Basin avenue. Miss Flora Meeker's Palace of Mirth Sweet, wet fruits, sibilant Eastern musk, apple blossom, tuberose, calla lily, osmanthus, wild orchid, amber, and sandalwood. HILMA The amiable, ebullient proprietor of the Mirror Ballroom, where Jelly Roll Morton got his first gig. Miss Burt, while very young, is of a type that pleases most men of today - the witty, pretty, and natty - a lady of fashion. Her managerial possibilities are phenomenal, to say the least, and her success here has proven itself beyond a doubt. Miss Burt has been with us but a short while but has won all hearts. Her palace is second to none. It is good for one who loves the beautiful to visit Miss Burt's handsome palace. There are no words for the ladies - one can only realize the grandeur of feminine beauty and artistic settings after an hour or so in the palace of Hilma Burt. Miss Burt, aside from having two handsome homes here, has one in St. Louis and one in Kansas City, Mo., where, it is said, she is as popular as in New Orleans. Don't forget to converse with her, as she is very clever, jolly, and cultured. 205 N. Basin Honeysuckle, Bulgarian rose, night blooming jasmine, sweet clove, cedarwood, black tea, and nectarine. JOSIE The brooding, raucous, and hot-blooded proprietress of the Château Lobrano d'Arlington, the gaudiest bordello in the District. Miss Josie had a true talent for hype, and promoted her ladies in an effusively romanticized, over-the-top fashion. La Belle Stewart, who was in actuality a circus hoochie koochie girl from Chicago, was billed as "a bona-fide baroness, direct from the court of St. Petersburg." Heady magnolia and honeyed peaches. LULU The Diamond Queen. An expert showman and entrepreneur, the eccentric Miss Lulu was the Mistress of Mahogany Hall until 1917. She invested heavily, but not always successfully, and at the end of her career as a madam, wanted to fund production houses for the budding movie industry in California. The 1934 Mae West film, "the Belle of the Nineties", was loosely based on Lulu's exploits. Tobacco flower, white gardenia, bergamot, and bourbon geranium. The Magician is $30 for the card and scent set, all scents in the District series are $25 per bottle, and all the Yules (including the Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire scents) are $17.50 each. And that's it for now! Please stay tuned for the upcoming Black Phoenix Trading Post update!

Antique Lace is temporarily unavailable. =( There is a possibility that it may have to be discontinued due to component issues, but we’re holding onto hope. The AL dilemma does not affect anything else in the GC; the component in question has been in past LE’s. Over the next few days, we will be contacting those of you that have orders pending that contain Antique Lace to make arrangements for either a refund or substitution. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding through this challenging time. =/

Happy Halloweenie Month, everyone! The Lunacy this month is from the Algonquin calendar, Raven Moon, and the scent itself is inspired by a quote by Edgar Allan Poe: RAVEN MOON The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance: shining, moonlit ebony musk with benzoin, myrrh, smoky vanilla, patchouli, nutmeg, and dried red chili. The gorgeous accompanying tee was drawn by Jennifer Williamson, and is available at Black Phoenix Trading Post. Both the scent and the tee will be live until 6 October 2009. This month, we are also presenting a scent dedicated to our beloved friend, Pa-pow… PA-POW Such glorious faith as fills your limpid eyes, Dear little friend of mine, I never knew. All-innocent are you, and yet all-wise. (For Heaven's sake, stop worrying that shoe!) You look about, and all you see is fair; This mighty globe was made for you alone. Of all the thunderous ages, you're the heir. (Get off the pillow with that dirty bone!) A skeptic world you face with steady gaze; High in young pride you hold your noble head, Gayly you meet the rush of roaring days. (Must you eat puppy biscuit on the bed?) Lancelike your courage, gleaming swift and strong, Yours the white rapture of a winged soul, Yours is a spirit like a Mayday song. (God help you, if you break the goldfish bowl!) "Whatever is, is good" - your gracious creed. You wear your joy of living like a crown. Love lights your simplest act, your every deed. (Drop it, I tell you- put that kitten down!) You are God's kindliest gift of all - a friend. Your shining loyalty unflecked by doubt, You ask but leave to follow to the end. (Couldn't you wait until I took you out?) -- Verse For a Certain Dog, Dorothy Parker Pa-Pow, Ted’s best friend and companion for 17 years, passed away on September 1st, 2009. To celebrate her life and the joy she brought to all of us, we have created a scent evocative of bright days running through the grass and sun-warmed puppy fur dusted with California wildflowers. The proceeds from the sale of this scent will go to the Pasadena Humane Society so she can help care for the animals that were displaced and injured during this summer’s Station Fires. To find out more about the Pasadena Humane Society, please visit: http://www.pasadenahumane.org/. Pa-Pow, we love you so much. At long last, there are some additions to the general catalogue… ++ MARCHEN: GODFATHER DEATH GODFATHER DEATH He went onwards, and then came Death striding up to him with withered legs, and said, "Take me as godfather." The man asked, "Who art thou?" "I am Death, and I make all equal." Then said the man, "Thou art the right one, thou takest the rich as well as the poor, without distinction; thou shalt be godfather." Death answered, "I will make thy child rich and famous, for he who has me for a friend can lack nothing." The man said, "Next Sunday is the christening; be there at the right time." Death appeared as he had promised, and stood godfather quite in the usual way. Olibanum, elemi, Bulgarian rose, yew, and oppoponax. THY GODFATHER’S PRESENT When the boy had grown up, his godfather one day appeared and bade him go with him. He led him forth into a forest, and showed him a herb which grew there, and said, "Now shalt thou receive thy godfather's present. I make thee a celebrated physician. When thou art called to a patient, I will always appear to thee. If I stand by the head of the sick man, thou mayst say with confidence that thou wilt make him well again, and if thou givest him of this herb he will recover; but if I stand by the patient's feet, he is mine, and thou must say that all remedies are in vain, and that no physician in the world could save him. But beware of using the herb against my will, or it might fare ill with thee." A bruised purple bundle of herbs with hyssop and life-everlasting. THE LIGHTS OF MEN’S LIVES When Death saw that for a second time he was defrauded of his own property, he walked up to the physician with long strides, and said, "All is over with thee, and now the lot falls on thee," and seized him so firmly with his ice-cold hand, that he could not resist, and led him into a cave below the earth. There he saw how thousands and thousands of candles were burning in countless rows, some large, others half-sized, others small. Every instant some were extinguished, and others again burnt up, so that the flames seemed to leap hither and thither in perpetual change. "See," said Death, "these are the lights of men's lives. The large ones belong to children, the half-sized ones to married people in their prime, the little ones belong to old people; but children and young folks likewise have often only a tiny candle." "Show me the light of my life," said the physician, and he thought that it would be still very tall. Death pointed to a little end which was just threatening to go out, and said, "Behold, it is there." The wax and smoke of millions upon millions of candles illuminating the walls of Death’s shadowy cave: some tall, straight, and strong, blazing with the fire of life, others dim and guttering. ++ MARCHEN: VASILISSA THE BEAUTIFUL THE LITTLE WOODEN DOLL "My little Vasilissa, my dear daughter, listen to what I say, remember well my last words and fail not to carry out my wishes. I am dying, and with my blessing, I leave to thee this little doll. It is very precious for there is no other like it in the whole world. Carry it always about with thee in thy pocket and never show it to anyone. When evil threatens thee or sorrow befalls thee, go into a corner, take it from thy pocket and give it something to eat and drink. It will eat and drink a little, and then thou mayest tell it thy trouble and ask its advice, and it will tell thee how to act in thy time of need." So saying, she kissed her little daughter on the forehead, blessed her, and shortly after died. Little Vasilissa grieved greatly for her mother, and her sorrow was so deep that when the dark night came, she lay in her bed and wept and did not sleep. At length she be thought herself of the tiny doll, so she rose and took it from the pocket of her gown and finding a piece of wheat bread and a cup of kvass, she set them before it, and said: "There, my little doll, take it. Eat a little, and drink a little, and listen to my grief. My dear mother is dead and I am lonely for her." Then the doll's eyes began to shine like fireflies, and suddenly it became alive. It ate a morsel of the bread and took a sip of the kvass, and when it had eaten and drunk, it said: "Don't weep, little Vasilissa. Grief is worst at night. Lie down, shut thine eyes, comfort thyself and go to sleep. The morning is wiser than the evening." So Vasilissa the Beautiful lay down, comforted herself and went to sleep, and the next day her grieving was not so deep and her tears were less bitter. Gently carved wood warm with a maternal love that reaches beyond death: rose-infused amber and soft golden sandalwood. THE WHITE RIDER The wood was very dark, and she could not help trembling from fear. Suddenly she heard the sound of a horse's hoofs and a man on horseback galloped past her. He was dressed all in white, the horse under him was milk-white and the harness was white, and just as he passed her it became twilight. White leather and sandalwood. THE RED RIDER She went a little further and again she heard the sound of a horse's hoofs and there came another man on horseback galloping past her. He was dressed all in red, and the horse under him was blood-red and its harness was red, and just as he passed her the sun rose. Red leather, red moss, and balsam. THE BLACK RIDER As she stood there a third man on horseback came galloping up. His face was black, he was dressed all in black, and the horse he rode was coal-black. He galloped up to the gate of the hut and disappeared there as if he had sunk through the ground and at that moment the night came and the forest grew dark. But it was not dark on the green lawn, for instantly the eyes of all the skulls on the wall were lighted up and shone till the place was as bright as day. When she saw this Vasilissa trembled so with fear that she could not run away. Black leather, oppoponax, tobacco, and black amber. THE CHICKEN-LEGGED HUT But at evening she came all at once to the green lawn where the wretched little hut stood on its hens' legs. The wall around the hut was made of human bones and on its top were skulls. There was a gate in the wall, whose hinges were the bones of human feet and whose locks were jaw-bones set with sharp teeth. The sight filled Vasilissa with horror and she stopped as still as a post buried in the ground. Creaky wood and sun-dried thatching, clacking bones, leering skulls, burnt herbs, and enormous magical chicken feet. BABA YAGA Then suddenly the wood became full of a terrible noise; the trees began to groan, the branches to creak and the dry leaves to rustle, and the Baba Yaga came flying from the forest. She was riding in a great iron mortar and driving it with the pestle, and as she came she swept away her trail behind her with a kitchen broom. Spell-soaked herbs and flowers, cold iron, broom twigs, bundles of moss and patchouli root, and moth dust. THE WITCH’S REPAST "Well," said the old witch, "I know them. But if I give thee the fire thou shalt stay with me some time and do some work to pay for it. If not, thou shalt be eaten for my supper." Then she turned to the gate and shouted: "Ho! Ye, my solid locks, unlock! Thou, my stout gate, open!" Instantly the locks unlocked, the gate opened of itself, and the Baba Yaga rode in whistling. Vasilissa entered behind her and immediately the gate shut again and the locks snapped tight. When they had entered the hut the old witch threw her self down on the stove, stretched out her bony legs and said: "Come, fetch and put on the table at once everything that is in the oven. I am hungry." So Vasilissa ran and lighted a splinter of wood from one of the skulls on the wall and took the food from the oven and set it before her. There was enough cooked meat for three strong men. She brought also from the cellar kvass, honey, and red wine, and the Baba Yaga ate and drank the whole, leaving the girl only a little cabbage soup, a crust of bread and a morsel of suckling pig. Kvass, honey-drizzled bread, roasted meat, and wine. FIRE FOR THY STEPMOTHER’S DAUGHTERS Vasilissa ran to the yard, and behind her she heard the old witch shouting to the locks and the gate. The locks opened, the gate swung wide, and she ran out on to the lawn. The Baba Yaga seized from the wall one of the skulls with burning eyes and flung it after her. "There," she howled, "is the fire for thy stepmother's daughters. Take it. That is what they sent thee here for, and may they have joy of it!" Flaming coals, hellfire, and blackened bone. VASILISSA "Take it, then," the Tsar said, "and bid her do it for me." The old woman brought the linen home and told Vasilissa the Tsar's command: "Well I knew that the work would needs be done by my own hands," said Vasilissa, and, locking herself in her own room, began to make the shirts. So fast and well did she work that soon a dozen were ready. Then the old woman carried them to the Tsar, while Vasilissa washed her face, dressed her hair, put on her best gown and sat down at the window to see what would happen. And presently a servant in the livery of the Palace came to the house and entering, said: "The Tsar, our lord, desires himself to see the clever needlewoman who has made his shirts and to reward her with his own hands." Vasilissa rose and went at once to the Palace, and as soon as the Tsar saw her, he fell in love with her with all his soul. He took her by her white hand and made her sit beside him. "Beautiful maiden," he said, "never will I part from thee and thou shalt be my wife." So the Tsar and Vasilissa the Beautiful were married, and her father returned from the far-distant Tsardom, and he and the old woman lived always with her in the splendid Palace, in all joy and contentment. And as for the little wooden doll, she carried it about with her in her pocket all her life long. She herself had cheeks like blood and milk and grew every day more and more beautiful: creamy skin musk and blushing pink musk with soft sandalwood, white amber, dutiful myrrh, and star jasmine. ++ WANDERLUST EL DORADO Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado. But he grew old This knight so bold And o'er his heart a shadow Fell as he found No spot of ground That looked like Eldorado. And, as his strength Failed him at length, He met a pilgrim shadow "Shadow," said he, "Where can it be This land of Eldorado?" "Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied "If you seek for Eldorado!" Copal resin incense blowing through halls of dazzling gold. OGYGIA On to Pieria he stepped from the upper air, and swooped down upon the sea, and then sped over the wave like a bird, the cormorant, which in quest of fish over the dread gulfs of the unresting sea wets its thick plumage in the brine. In such wise did Hermes ride upon the multitudinous waves. But when he had reached the island which lay afar, then forth from the violet sea he came to land, and went his way until he came to a great cave, wherein dwelt the fair-tressed nymph; and he found her within. A great fire was burning on the hearth, and from afar over the isle there was a fragrance of cleft cedar and juniper, as they burned; but she within was singing with a sweet voice as she went to and fro before the loom, weaving with a golden shuttle. Round about the cave grew a luxuriant wood, alder and poplar and sweet-smelling cypress, wherein birds long of wing were wont to nest, owls and falcons and sea-crows with chattering tongues, who ply their business on the sea. And right there about the hollow cave ran trailing a garden vine, in pride of its prime, richly laden with clusters. And fountains four in a row were flowing with bright water hard by one another, turned one this way, one that. And round about soft meadows of violets and parsley were blooming. There even an immortal, who chanced to come, might gaze and marvel, and delight his soul; and there the messenger Argeiphontes stood and marvelled. Sea air, kelp, and climbing vines, flame-singed cedarwood and juniper branches, cypress boughs, alder wood, violets, selino, parsley, glistritha, and white sage. PAÍS DE LA CANELA The legendary Valley of Cinnamon located east of Quito, deep in the Selva Amazónica. A thick tangle of deep green leaves, wild orchids, soft lichen, Patauá and Babassu palm spiced by the scent of deep, rich cinnamon. The bad news: De Sade is the latest to fall victim to misfortune. He’s being discontinued as of today. Pending orders will still be filled, but we do not have enough stock to accept new orders for this scent. The good news: later this month, a Vampire Tarot card enters the deck, we take you on a trip through the red light district, a sticky bat flits into the house, and snow falls early in New England. (The Stars Are Right!) At Black Phoenix Trading Post, they’re oiling the racks and heating up the pokers for an upcoming Inquisition!

Live now at Post War Trade! All scents are bottled in 5ml vials and each features a detail from an image in the book on the label. BATHROOM INCIDENT Soap residue, tile, and surface cleaner. BLACKBERRY JAM & SCONES Blackberry jam and… scones. CONSERVATORY TABLEAUX Lacquered beech wood and old books. CUPCAKE SPATTER PATTERN ANALYSIS Frosted chocolate cupcakes and filth. DAYLILIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS Varnished oak flooring and flattened daylilies. FLOATER Murky water, rotting leaves, and silt. JOYEUX NOËL Douglas fir, tinsel, metallic swag garlands, arc flash, and the ozone smell of electrical discharge. LEAF-STREWN COUCH Dust, decaying fabric, dead leaves, and concrete. MANUS DEI (or the TYPEWRITER INCIDENT) Weeds, dirt, red clay, scattered groceries, inked fabric ribbon, machine oil, and cast steel. OCCURANCE AT THE DINER House salad, no dressing. UNEXPECTED GOLF HAZARD A freshly mowed teeing ground. UNFORTUNATE SHOPPING CART Powder-coated steel, caster wheels, cling wrap, and blood. Buy the set of 12, and the wonderful people at PWT will throw in a treat. http://www.postwartrade.com/