kebechet

Before I get started on anything else… Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett have graciously given us their permission to use Good Omens as a source of inspiration for a line of perfume. Half of the proceeds will go to the CBLDF and the other half will go to the Orangutan Foundation International. All hail Neil and Terry!!! BPAL LOVES NEIL AND TERRY!!!!! We are in the process of finalizing the first burst of scents. We’ll keep you posted! Gleeful, crazy screams of love to Penn Jillette for mentioning us a couple of times on Penn Radio. Thank you! We love you, Penn! Pink Moon is the first full moon of Spring, and, indeed, spring is rearing its flowery head at Black Phoenix. The most adorable Lunacy tee EVAH is live at Black Phoenix Trading Post. And, at BPAL, the first LE’s of the season: ++ LIMITED EDITION ARIES March 21 – April 19 Cardinal fire: the essence of identity. Black pepper, honeysuckle, opoponax, dragon’s blood, and wild ginger. THE IDES OF MARCH 2007 The Ides marked an auspicious time in the Roman calendar. Depending on the month in question, the Ides fell on the thirteenth or fifteenth, and usually marked the Full Moon. As we all know, it was not an auspicious day for Julius Caesar, nor was it fortuitous for H.P. Lovecraft, who also met his maker on this infamous day. Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi! A mixture of springtime greenery and classical Roman cologne: rosemary, bergamot, lemon rind and vervain with costus, benzoin, gray amber, cardamom, white narcissus and iris. OSTARA The Vernal Equinox. Also called Alban Eilir and the Festival of Trees. At this time, we welcome the reawakening of the Earth after winter’s long sleep. Sap flows, flowers bud, the world itself is exuberant, and the vitality of the universe’s life-force is palpable. This is a day of rebirth, but it is also a day of balance. Equal parts masculine and feminine, light and dark, mercy and severity, surrender and contemplation. Our springtime celebratory perfume is crafted with orris root, bergamot, frankincense, daffodil, orange pulp, attar of rose, jonquil, strawberry leaf, benzoin, violet leaf, copal, honey cakes, sweet cream, and the blossoms of springtime. PINK MOON A sweet and silly compliment to the first breath of Spring! Sugared carnation and phlox! ROUX-GA-ROUX Just in time for Lent, cher! A native of Louisiana, this Cajun lycanthrope stalks the swamps, forests, and fields of Acadiana and New Orleans in search of prey. It is believed that if one breaks Lent by failing to give alms, fast, or pray for seven years in a row, she will be God-cursed, and will transform into this snarling beast at every sunset, a slave to her desperate, mindless hunger until dawn. Spanish moss, swamp jessamine, bog water, cypress, hickory wood, lobelia, sweet flag, wisteria, and marsh milkweed. - - - Starting this month, the appropriate zodiacal blend of the month will be live during the time that the Lunacy is live. While we have offered astrological blends in the past, these are new incarnations for 2007. Aries, Roux-Ga-Roux, and Pink Moon will be live until March 7, 2007. The Ides of March and Ostara will be available until March 15, 2007. A gentle reminder: no imp's ears are available for Limited Edition scents. Also this month… thirteen new blends are making their debut in the general catalogue. - - - ++ BEWITCHING BREWS CALICO JACK Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, and the memory of plundered spices sprayed over worn leathers, rough musk, and the salty wooden floorboards of the Revenge. POISONED APPLE The queen stepped before her mirror: Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who in this land is fairest of all? The mirror answered: You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But Little Snow-White with the seven dwarfs Is a thousand times fairer than you. When the queen heard this, she shook and trembled with anger, "Snow-White will die, if it costs me my life!" Then she went into her most secret room -- no one else was allowed inside -- and she made a poisoned, poisoned apple. From the outside it was red and beautiful, and anyone who saw it would want it. Then she disguised herself as a peasant woman, went to the dwarfs' house and knocked on the door. Snow-White peeped out and said, "I'm not allowed to let anyone in. The dwarfs have forbidden it most severely." "If you don't want to, I can't force you," said the peasant woman. "I am selling these apples, and I will give you one to taste." "No, I can't accept anything. The dwarfs don't want me to." "If you are afraid, then I will cut the apple in two and eat half of it. Here, you eat the half with the beautiful red cheek!" Now the apple had been so artfully made that only the red half was poisoned. When Snow-White saw that the peasant woman was eating part of the apple, her desire for it grew stronger, so she finally let the woman hand her the other half through the window. She bit into it, but she barely had the bite in her mouth when she fell to the ground dead. The queen was happy, went home, and asked her mirror: Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who in this land is fairest of all? And it answered: You, my queen, are fairest of all. A perfect, lovely, gleaming red apple whose sweetness masks a swirl of narcotic opium, oleander, and hemlock. ++ LOVE POTIONS BIEN LOIN D’ICI This is the house, the sacred box, Where, always draped in languorous frocks, And always at home if someone knocks, One elbow into the pillow pressed, She lies, and lazily fans her breast, While fountains weep their soulfullest: This is the chamber of Dorothy. — Fountain and breeze for her alone Sob in that soothing undertone. Was ever so spoiled a harlot known? With odorous oils and rosemary, Benzoin and every unguent grown, Her skin is rubbed most delicately. — The flowers are faint with ecstasy. The Scarlet Woman, aglow with sensual indolence: red musk, benzoin, caramel accord, golden honey, and spiced Moroccan unguents. ++ MAD TEA PARTY CROQUET `Get to your places!' shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game began. Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches. The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed. We have some trouble managing our flamingos, too. Pink lime, pink grapefruit, white nectarine, wild rose, sage, woody patchouli, bergamot, and ornery hedgehog musk. THE DODO ‘In that case,’ said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, ‘I move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic remedies—’ ‘Speak English!’ said the Eaglet. ‘I don’t know the meaning of half those long words, and, what’s more, I don’t believe you do either!’ And the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds tittered audibly. ‘What I was going to say,’ said the Dodo in an offended tone, ‘was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.’ ‘What is a Caucus-race?’ said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that somebody ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything. ‘Why,’ said the Dodo, ‘the best way to explain it is to do it.’ (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.) First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (‘the exact shape doesn’t matter,’ it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no ‘One, two, three, and away,’ but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out ‘The race is over!’ and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, ‘But who has won?’ This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, ‘everybody has won, and all must have prizes.’ Red musk, lemon peel, sugar cane, cassia, white sandalwood, mango, and agarwood. THE KNAVE OF HEARTS `Herald, read the accusation!' said the King. On this the White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:-- `The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away!' Crushed roses and blackcurrant tarts. QUEEN ALICE At this moment the door was flung open, and a shrill voice was heard singing: `To the Looking-Glass world it was Alice that said "I've a sceptre in hand, I've a crown on my head. Let the Looking-Glass creatures, whatever they be Come and dine with the Red Queen, the White Queen, and me!"' And hundreds of voices joined in the chorus: `Then fill up the glasses as quick as you can, And sprinkle the table with buttons and bran: Put cats in the coffee, and mice in the tea-- And welcome Queen Alice with thirty-times-three!' Then followed a confused noise of cheering, and Alice thought to herself `Thirty times three makes ninety. I wonder if any one's counting?' In a minute there was silence again, and the same shrill voice sang another verse: `"O Looking-Glass creatures," quoth Alice, "draw near! `Tis an honour to see me, a favour to hear: `Tis a privilege high to have dinner and tea Along with the Red Queen, the White Queen, and me!"' Then came the chorus again: `Then fill up the glasses with treacle and ink, Or anything else that is pleasant to drink: Mix sand with the cider, and wool with the wine-- And welcome Queen Alice with ninety-times-nine!' Carnation, posies, and white amber with a hint of inky treacle, sandy cider, and wooly wine. ++ WANDERLUST 51 Luminescent, glowing, and otherworldly: green mandarin, neroli, honeydew, white amber, guava, freesia, white and green musks hovering over desert scrub, smashed wood, and the dry, biting scent of night air over the Groom Lake salt flats. ++ RAPPACCINI’S GARDEN SQUIRTING CUCUMBER Yikes! A spurt of wet, grassy greenness. VOODOO LILY Amorphallus, indeed. A breathtakingly exotic, wild, and grossly erotic spicy gold, purple-black, and burgundy lily. ++ A PICNIC IN ARKHAM BROWN JENKINS The yellowed country records containing her testimony and that of her accusers were so damnably suggestive of things beyond human experience - and the descriptions of the darting little furry object which served as her familiar were so painfully realistic despite their incredible details. That object - no larger than a good-sized rat and quaintly called by the townspeople "Brown Jenkins - seemed to have been the fruit of a remarkable case of sympathetic herd-delusion, for in 1692 no less than eleven persons had testified to glimpsing it. There were recent rumours, too, with a baffling and disconcerting amount of agreement. Witnesses said it had long hair and the shape of a rat, but that its sharp-toothed, bearded face was evilly human while its paws were like tiny human hands. It took messages betwixt old Keziah and the devil, and was nursed on the witch's blood, which it sucked like a vampire. Its voice was a kind of loathsome titter, and it could speak all languages. Of all the bizarre monstrosities in Gilman's dreams, nothing filled him with greater panic and nausea than this blasphemous and diminutive hybrid, whose image flitted across his vision in a form a thousandfold more hateful than anything his waking mind had deduced from the ancient records and the modern whispers. A small, furry, sharp-toothed scent that will nuzzle you curiously in the black hours before dawn: dusty white sandalwood and orris root, dry coconut husk, creeping musk, and the residue of ceremonial incense. THE DEEP ONES I think their predominant colour was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked. Black algae, drooping seaweed, salty brine, and crushed coral. HERBERT WEST Of Herbert West, who was my friend in college and in after life, I can speak only with extreme terror. This terror is not due altogether to the sinister manner of his recent disappearance, but was engendered by the whole nature of his life-work, and first gained its acute form more than seventeen years ago, when we were in the third year of our course at the Miskatonic University Medical School in Arkham. While he was with me, the wonder and diabolism of his experiments fascinated me utterly, and I was his closest companion. Now that he is gone and the spell is broken, the actual fear is greater. Memories and possibilities are ever more hideous than realities. Aftershave, embalming fluid, and splatterings from a panoply of reanimation reagents. - - - There have been some minor changes to the BPAL site. Propaganda, the links page, and the ‘about us’ schpeel have been updated, and (after 4 years of procrastinating) the Funereal Oils category has been renamed. This season promises to be a fruitful one, and we believe that you’re going to enjoy all the sinister, strange, and silly things that the Black Phoenix family is concocting for Spring.

Ted posted some listings today. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZblackphoe...chemylabQQhtZ-1 =)

We calculated the Carousel sales for the first half of February at the end of last week, and thanks to you guys, we’ve been able to raise just over $6000 for the CBLDF so far! Thank you! =D

Hey guys! We’re having a little Phoenix Vs. Phoenix confusion on our end. =) If you are placing an order for Black Phoenix Trading Post lockets using PayPal and you’re getting one of the phoenix lockets, please specify whether it is the original BPAL logo phoenix or the new Carnaval Diabolique phoenix. Thanks!

At last, the new lockets are here! Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations of the Mad Hatter and White Rabbit have been cast in silver, along with Carnaval Diabolique’s Phoenix, Calico Jack Rackham’s Jolly Roger (a new shape!), and the brimstone symbol (dainty and round!). http://www.blackphoenixtradingpost.com/jewelry.html Also new this month… some damn fine environmentally-friendly, free-trade-lovin’, handmade skin-butterin’ soap created as a joint venture between the Black Phoenix Family and Silk Road Trading Company. Sud your buns in good conscience! The first seven soaps are Bliss, Carnal, Dorian, Kumiho, Miskatonic University, Shub-Niggurath, and Snake Oil. http://www.blackphoenixtradingpost.com/suds.html These gloriously luxuriant soaps were created with the finest environmentally-responsible ingredients, including Palm Kernel oil farmed from organic, fair-trade farms in Brazil (on reclaimed, replanted mixed-use rainforest) and organic Jojoba Oil grown in Arizona. The soaps are made by hand, from scratch, are generously scented with Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab brews. They are completely free of artificial colors or preservatives, and are blissfully lacking in petroleum, silicone, or other unwholesome fillers. As always, no animals were harmed during the creation of this soap, and all products were tested on friends and family. With the exception of Bliss (that guy contains goat’s milk!), these are all vegan. In order to really wake your ass up for your Dreamland Physics course or a droning morning lecture in Medieval Metaphysics 101, our Miskatonic University soap has an extra shot of coffee butter!

Crow Moon is live at Black Phoenix Trading Post! Get down with the Morrigan, 'cuz these guys are taking flight on February 5, 2007.

This update thrills me. It thrills me so much that I, for once, am almost at a loss for words. We are inexpressibly proud to present the debut of the Carousel, the Neil Gaiman Collection. Neil has been an inspiration to me since I first came upon a copy of Sandman #1 in 1996, in more ways than I can explain. He is a wonderful man, a passionate and profound author, and one hell of a clever guy. I am extremely grateful to him for the opportunity to interpret his characters and stories through scent. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Neil, we love you. Going live tonight in the Carousel… THE CAROUSEL: AMERICAN GODS BILQUIS The Queen of Sheba, half-demon, they said, on her father's side, witch woman, wise woman, and queen, who ruled Sheba when Sheba was the richest land there ever was, when its spices and its gems and scented woods were taken by boat and camel-back to the corners of the earth, who was worshipped even when she was alive, worshipped as a living goddess by the wisest of kings, stands on the sidewalk of Sunset Boulevard at 2:00 A.M. staring blankly out at traffic like a slutty plastic bride on a black-and-neon wedding cake. She stands as if she owns the sidewalk and the night that surrounds her. Honey, myrrh, lily of the valley, rose otto, fig leaf, almond, ambrette, red apple, and warm musk. MAD SWEENEY "Coin tricks is it?" asked Sweeney, his chin raising, his scruffy beard bristling. "Why, if it's coin tricks we're doing, watch this." He took an empty glass from the table. Then he reached out and took a large coin, golden and shining, from the air. He dropped it into the glass. He took another gold coin from the air and tossed it into the glass, where it clinked against the first. He took a coin from the candle flame of a candle on the wall, another from his beard, a third from Shadow's empty left hand, and dropped them, one by one, into the glass. Then he curled his fingrs over the glass, and blew hard, and several more golden coins dropped into the glass from his hand. He tipped the glass of sticky coins into his jacket pocket, and then tapped the pocket to show, unmistakably, that it was empty. "There," he said. "That's a coin trick for you." Barrel-aged whiskey and oak. MAMA-JI Shadow saw the old woman, her dark face pinched with age and disapproval, but behind her he saw something huge, a naked woman with skin as black as a new leather jacket, and lips and tongue the bright red of arterial blood. Around her neck were skulls, and her many hands held knives, and swords, and severed heads. Spices, cardamom, nutmeg, and flowers. MR. IBIS The smoke stung Shadow’s eyes. He wiped the tears away with his hand, and, through the smoke, he thought he saw a tall man in a suit, with gold-rimmed spectacles. The smoke cleared and the boatman was once more a half-human creature with the head of a river bird. Papyrus, vanilla flower, Egyptian musk, African musk, aloe ferox, white sandalwood. MR. JACQUEL Shadow looked up at the creature. "Mr. Jacquel?" he said. The hands of Anubis came down, huge dark hands, and they picked Shadow up and brought him close. The jackal head examined him with bright and glittering eyes; examined him as dispassionately as Mr. Jacquel had examined the dead girl on the slab. Shadow knew that all his faults, all his failings, all his weaknesses were being taken out and weighed and measured; that he was, in some way, being dissected, and sliced, and tasted. We do not remember the things that do no credit to us. We justify them, cover them in bright lies or with the thick dust of forgetfulness. All of the things that Shadow had done in his life of which he was not proud, all the things he wished his had done otherwise or left undone, came at him then in a swirling storm of guilt and regret and shame, and he had nowhere to hide from them. He was as naked and as open as a corpose on a table, and dark Anubis the jackal god was his prosector and his prosecutor and his persecutor. "Please," said Shadow. "Please stop." But the examination did not stop. Every lie he had ever told, every object he had stolen, every hurt he had inflicted on another person, all the little crimes and the tiny murders that make up the day, each of these things and more were extracted and held up to the light by the jackal-headed judge of the dead. Golden amber, hyssop, North African patchouli, and embalming spices. THE CAROUSEL: ANANSI BOYS MR. NANCY Before Fat Charlie's father had come into the bar, the barman had been of the opinion that the whole karaoke evening was going to be an utter bust; but then the little old man had sashayed into the room, walked past the table of several blonde women with the fresh sunburns and smiles of tourists...He had tipped his hat to them, for he wore a hat, a spotless green fedora, and lemon-yellow gloves, and then he walked over to their table. They giggled....He was older than they were, much, much older; but he was charm itself, like something from a bygone age when fine manners and courtly gestures were worth something. The barman relaxed. With someone like this in the bar, it was going to be a good evening. Sugar cookies with bay rum, tobacco, and lime. SPIDER There was a family resemblance between the two men. That was unarguable, although that alone did not explain the intense feeling of familiarity that Fat Charlie felt on seeing Spider. His brother looked like Fat Charlie wished he looked in his mind...Spider was taller, and leaner, and cooler. He was wearing a black-and-scarlet leather jacket, and black leather leggings, and he looked at home in them...There was something larger-than-life about him: simply being on the other side of the table to this man made Fat Charlie feel awkward and badly consructed, and slightly foolish. It wasn't the clothes Spider wore, but the knowledge that if Fat Charlie put them on he would look as if he were wearing some kind of unconvincing drag. It wasn't the way Spider smiled--casually, delightedly--but Fat Charlies's cold, incontrovertible certainty that he himself could practice smiling in front of a mirror from now until the end of time and never manage a single smile one half so charming, so cocky, or so twinklingly debonair. White ginger, artemesia, vetiver, nutmeg, King mandarin, bergamot, and lime. For more information on his work, please take a gander at the following links: Neil Gaiman's Official Site Neil Gaiman's Official Online Store This is a charitable, not-for-profit venture: proceeds from every single bottle go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which works to preserve and protect the First Amendment rights of the comics community. Each bottle is $25.00, and imps are not available for this series. Crow Moon is shining over the Limited Edition section. Beneath him, the transformation into werebeast begins: LIMITED EDITION: LUNACIES CROW MOON This is the final Full Moon of winter. The call of the crow signals the end of the frost, and their scent, of vervain, black violet, white musk, and Chinese cedar, is brushed by the last cold wind of winter on their wings, and the scent of evergreen boughs touched by the season’s final flowers and the first blossoms of spring: wintersweet, green-barked dogwood, primrose, snowdrop, and lenten rose hellebore bouquet. OBOROT A scent of transformation. He who desires to become an oborot, let him seek in the forest a hewn-down tree; let him stab it with a small copper knife, and walk round the tree, repeating the following incantation: On the sea, on the ocean, on the island, on Bujan, On the empty pasture gleams the moon, on an ashstock lying In a green wood, in a gloomy vale. Towards the stock wandereth a shaggy wolf, Horned cattle seeking for his sharp white fangs; But the wolf enters not the forest, But the wolf dives not into the shadowy vale, Moon, moon, gold-horned moon, Check the flight of bullets, blunt the hunters' knives, Break the shepherds' cudgels, Cast wild fear upon all cattle, On men, all creeping things, That they may not catch the grey wolf, That they may not rend his warm skin! My word is binding, more binding than sleep, More binding than the promise of a hero! Then he springs thrice over the tree and runs into the forest, transformed into a wolf. Balkan fir sap, dark mosses, Greek Mountain tea flower, black pine, salty ocean spray, deep black earth, and a moon-touched magickal incense of sandarac, frankincense, and ravensara. Gongxi facai! Congratulations, and be prosperous! As we enter a new lunar year, Fire Pig dances through the Lab: LIMITED EDITION FIRE PIG 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, pussy willow, and quince for prosperity, narcissus and King mandarin for good fortune, and peach blossom for longevity, with a splash of blazing red of dragon’s blood… to help you scare away the rampaging Nian. The Yuletide scents and Oborot will leave us when Crow Moon takes flight on February 4, 2007. Fire Pig will boogie on out of here on March 14, 2007. The illustration of Neil on the Carousel page was doodled by the Goddess of Doodling, Jennifer Williamson. =D A trillion hugs for Jennifer! +++ IN ADDITION... There is a new forum scent available. http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/forumscents.html

Meabh, Beenzie is a mutt cat. =D 100% pure rescued alley cat!

The Dark Delicacies scent is available now on the Dark Delicacies web site! It is located under Dark Delicacies' Own. =)

Moddiewenches, please move this if I've posted it in the wrong place! Me dUm! Some people have been asking, so here's the scoop... Bean, the Demon Queen (the Lab Cat), is the model on the Bakeneko label. You can't see it well on the label, but Teddy managed to catch her sitting on a huge stuffed bat that's hanging on the loft in the warehouse during one of the recent will calls. BeanPic BeanPic Links fixed~Morrighana

The Forum-Only BPTP / BiggerKrissy Critter sign up starts at 6pm PST tonight. =)

When the fizzies went live, we neglected to update the shipping grid. Its been a little out of whack for a while, as we never updated the shipping cost after the USPS prices went up, and as a result, we lost a bit of money on the first boom orders, especially the internationals. My bad. =( Totally my fault. We have updated the shipping grid on CcNow to reflect the updated costs: DOMESTIC SHIPPING FOR BPTP: Up to 1lb: 5.00 1lb – 3lbs: 10.00 3lbs – 5lbs: 14.00 5lbs – 7lbs: 16.00 7lbs – 10lbs: 21.00 10lbs +: 30.00 Free shipping for orders over $300.00 still applies, and will as long as the shipping cost doesn't kill us. Heh. Sincerest apologies. You know we never want prices to go up, but the hits we're taking are too hard. Thank you for understanding!

BPAL & BPTP will be at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA on Saturday, February 10th for a mutual Valentine’s Day event! We’ll be there from 3-5pm, and will have the whole of the Lupercalia, Carnaval Diabolique, and the Eight Heroines in tow, as well as an exclusive scent that we created for Dark Delicacies. Much of our general catalogue will be available, as well as a few surprises. Black Phoenix’s Dark Delicacies blend is the embodiment of sinister sensuality. It is a heady and darkly romantic blend of devil’s trumpet accord, black orchid, tonka, coconut meat, fruit gums, osmanthus, smoky resin, myrtle, and Indonesian patchouli. Dark Delicacies is the best damn horror-focused bookstore on the planet. They have a phenomenal selection of ghoulish books, many signed by the authors, as well as a great selection of cd’s, dvd’s, and a stupefyingly cool collection of spooky tchotch. There really is nothing like DD in all of earth and hell, and even if you cannot join us on the 10th, please visit the shop or poke around their site! Dark Delicacies is located at: 4213 W. Burbank Boulevard Burbank, CA 91505 (818)556-6660 http://www.darkdel.com/ Also on February 10th… Dark Delicacies is having a signing, starting at 2pm, for the Hellboy Animated dvd. Composer Chris Drake, Doug Jones and creator Mike Mignola (schedule permitting) will be there, so you really don’t want to miss out! Please join us on February 10th, and support both your neighborhood diabolical bookshop and Alchemist’s Local 93!

I just have three things to say… Hunger Moon fizzyBOOM Inquisition

Holy Mother of Disco Balls, is it really already 2007?! I know what you’re all here for, and so as not to be a pain, I’ll get on with the good stuff, and leave the gushing for last: Carnaval Diabolique’s Act III is live. Black Phoenix is proud to present the Magnificent Miracles of our Unhallowed Midway: the Parliament of Monsters! For your pleasure, ALIVE on the INSIDE: THE 13-IN-1! Images captured by the Devil’s own portrait artist: the inimitable, infernal, mystifying Mistress of the Brush and Palette, Gennivre. Hunger Moon is high in the sky, and Bakeneko, this month’s shapeshifter, is prowling the halls. They will both be available until January 5th, 2007. Also new this month: our canticle to the complexities of love and lust – the Lupercalia series. We also present a Valentine’s Day subseries: an olfactory dissertation on the mysteries of spiritual and earthly love – Ashtanyika: the Faces of the Heroine. Both of these collections can be found on our Limited Edition page. Since the winter season can be so brutal, we have also added three therapeutic blends to the Panaceas, our aromatherapy collection. Because the holidays are boiling bundles of chaos, the Black Phoenix Trading Post Update will not be live until January 2, 2007. Tees, fizzies, a new Inquisition… I’m so stupefyingly thrilled about what Teddy has to offer this month… I hope that you all end up as jazzed as I am! There are many perfumes that we had tagged for 2006 -- and years prior to it! -- that we hope we’ll be able to go forward with in 2007. There are a myriad of new scents in the works, plus four more acts in Carnaval Diabolique. At least one new category will be introduced to the general catalogue, and things will be popping, fizzing, glooping, and schmearing all over Black Phoenix Trading Post. All in all, I think aught seven will be a fine year. Happy New Year’s, one and all! Though many, many wonderful things happened during 2006, I’m really looking forward to a new year devoid of nutty landlords, broiler-hot temporary warehouses, and imploding imp vials. The cliché says that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right? Welp, we’ve gone through quite a few years of emotional buffing up – I’ll be grateful for a little more rest and a lot more fun! May 2007 bring us all, the entirety of the BPAL family -- both Lab Rat and our beloved clients, a reprieve from stress and grief. May the year bless us with prosperity and peace, and shower every single one of us with just enough excitement to keep our hearts racing while leaving our sanity intact!

The long-awaited Carnaval Diabolique update (on BPAL) and fizzyBOOM update (on BPTP) will be going live some time on New Year's Day, barring holiday-related incident. As I'm sure you guys know, things get weird when the holiday season rolls around, and many unforeseen hiccups occur. As long as sailing remains smooth, we'll be ready to rock on January 1st, 2007. Keep all yer available digits crossed! In the meantime, we demand that you all have a wonderful, safe, and glorious new year's eve!

Merry Christmas, Blessed Yule, Happy Kwanzaa, belated Happy Hanukkah, and early Happy New Year to everyone! Thank you for making every difficult day worthwhile, and for making every beautiful day that much brighter! We truly hope that the holiday season is peaceful and that Krampus, Saint Rupert, and Pere Fouettard go easy on you.

BLACK PHOENIX TRADING POST NEWS http://www.blackphoenixtradingpost.com/ Happy holidays, everyone! Two new metal imp cases have been added to the catalogue: Bosch’s Seven Deadly Sins (hand-poured resin) and Witches Dancing on the Sabbath (distressed leather). We are also proud to present the first in a series of Black Phoenix wrist bands, and by popular demand, we are now offering perfume pouches and magnets. Very soon, the fizzing and bubbling will commence. More kritters will be live near the first full moon of the Julian calendar, and many new scent locket designs will be ready to bling up a storm by Valentine’s Day. If you have reserved a Kritter and have received your confirmation email, and you are making your purchase through the web site (as opposed to PayPal) please go to http://www.blackphoenixtradingpost.com/kritter.html A purchase link is beneath each kritter that will enable you to add it to your cart. Please add only the one(s) that you have reserved. If you are paying by PayPal, please go ahead and remit payment. Please make sure you note in the comments field your name, your forum name, and the name of the kritter that you have purchased. Thank you all! TWILIGHT ALCHEMY LAB UPDATE http://www.twilightalchemylab.com Conjure bags are now available at Twilight Alchemy Lab! Conjure bags can be used in a variety of ways: as a point of focus, worn on your person, hung in your personal space, stored with material objects that reflect the mojo bag’s purpose. Each bag is created and tailored to the individual. Planetary oils have also gone live at TAL. Please note: the formula for TAL’s planetary blends are not the same as the BPAL perfume oils that represent those celestial bodies. These are oils that are specifically calibrated for ritual work.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present auctions to benefit the Humane Society. All profits will go to the Humane Society. Please bid and help a good cause. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZblackphoe...chemylabQQhtZ-1

Was that crass? Anyway... Wolf Moon is live at Black Phoenix Trading Post! Artwork by our beloved Jennifer Williamson! 3X is now available in both the long-sleeved Alchemists Local 93 tee and the long-sleeved Demon of Vanity tee. In my totally unbiased opinion... these are the BEST FREAKIN' TEES EVER. I've worn my Local 93 shirt so often since we received them that its almost gross, and people are wondering if maybe the rest of my wardrobe caught on fire, as I haven't really been wearing anything else. I'm getting too personal, right? Hee.

Sorry if this shiny and new plug is a little disjointed. The holiday season is a crazymaker, and I am ass-dragging tired! Wolf Moon is live at BPAL. The Black Phoenix Trading Post Wolf Moon update will go live tomorrow night. Starting this Lunacy, we will be celebrating the full moon twice-over by offering a therianthropic blend in tandem with the Lunacy perfume. This month’s A Lot of Lunacy blend is dedicated to our Hellenic representative from the werewolf caucus: Lycaon. WOLF MOON This pale and glittering moon hangs high over the deep snows and freezing winds of midwinter. January’s full moon has been named the Wolf Moon by many cultures, as the nights are filled with the howls of ravenous wolf packs, and the danger of falling prey to the animal’s desperate hunger is at its peak. This scent is that of unending, unquenchable hunger and feral madness. This is the dead of winter: a frozen night, chill wind, and the sharp, warm perfume of blood, fur, fang, and claw. Winter air, Terebinth pine, juniper berry, dusty orris, deep amber, white sandalwood, black musk, blue cedar, and tonka. LYCAON Lycaon was the first king of Arcadia, and though his country prospered under his rule, he possessed a streak of viciousness that earned him the great god Zeus’ ire. Zeus had heard tales of Lycaon’s impiety and cruelty, and in order to find out the truth about the King of Arcadia, he disguised himself as a beggar and sought hospitality in the king’s court. Lycaon and his fifty equally sadistic sons discovered the identity of their guest, and foolishly served Zeus a meal of soup that contained sheep and goat entrails, and the flesh of Lycaon’s fifty-first son, Nictimos. Zeus, consumed with rage and disgust, struck the king’s home with a lightning bolt, and transformed Lycaon and his sons into creatures more suited to their savage natures: werewolves. A monstrous, brutal, and bloodthirsty blend: blackened myrrh, crushed olive leaf, black musk, spikenard, frankincense, cypress wood, opoponax, white ginger, and patchouli. The Halloweenies, Order of the Dragon, and Anniversary scents have been given a brief reprieve. They will remain live until Wolf Moon comes down on December 7, 2006. Also new this update… a new exhibit in the Salon! 16 new artistic interpretations are available for your perusal. A new imp set is also available there, and covers all sixteen of the new perfumes. The next Carnaval Diabolique act will be live in December, along with a few other surprises that will span BPAL, BPTP, and TAL. Whoops! Almost forgot... Shub-Niggurath is back. We sincerely hope that everyone’s winter is glittering, and is as painless and drama-free as possible!

Hi all! Sorry I’ve been a little out of communication. As much as we love winter, this time of year is always a little nutty for retailers. We’ve been busting our butts to make sure order-to-ship time narrows, and we’ve been hard at work on the new scents for the Dead of Winter: the new Carnaval installment, new imp cases and lockets for Trading Post, ouanga bags for Twilight, fizzy and bubbly this and that, and the Lunacies for the first half of 2007. In addition, Lupercalia is just around the corner, and if there’s one thing we go apeshit over here at the Lab… its love and sex. The Carnaval update is going to go live a week or so later than projected. It is a very intense series to work on, and between the scents themselves, the artwork, and the tchotch… it is taking a little longer than projected to get it perfected. Thank you all for your patience. The freak show segment of this series is very complex, and means a great deal to us. We just want to make it as stupendous as inhumanly possible. Some labors of love are simply very laborious! For 2007’s Lunacy series, we’ve decided to go back to basics. We’ll be jumping around like mad like we did for the first several years, instead of going with a specific theme like 2006’s Chinese Moons. My Piscean brain just can’t stick with a specific theme for another twelve months! We’re going to do what we do best, and that’s go with what inspires us, regardless of convention. January 3: Wolf Moon February 2: Hunger Moon March 3: Crow Moon April 2: Pink Moon May 2: Milk Moon June 1 & 30: Rose Moon and… What ho?! Two moons in June? Well, you know what that means…

Our mailing list is kaput, and I had to finally admit defeat... so we're now using a mailing list service. We searched high and low, and the one we're working with is an opt-in, spam-free, privacy-loving extravaganza. So, if you'd like to be kept abreast of BPAL-related news, updates, gossip, and the occasional rant, please hit up: http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/mailinglist.html ... and give us your info. If you signed up on the old mailing list, you're going to have to sign up again. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience! Thank you for your interest in BPAL. =D

Thanks to the Great Hard Drive Crash of '06, we lost the media kit and all the related files. We have to redo it, and we are being asked to put together a compilation of our customer's BPAL-related stories, commentaries, anecdotes, etc for the media kit again. So, if you have anything you'd like to say about BPAL that you don't mind us placing in our media kit, please shoot your thoughts to: bpalbackup [at] gmail [dot] com Thanks to the Great Hard Drive Crash of '06, we lost the media kit and all the related files. Apologies for doing this all over again; it has been a chaotic year technologically. Thanks for your time, guys! We appreciate the assistance. =)

Thank you. =)