kebechet

+ BPAL DRAGON*CON EXCLUSIVES: DRAGONFIRE AND MOONLIGHT BAKUNAWA Ang bulan namon sang una, sang una Guin ka-on sang bakunawa Malo-oy ka man, i-uli, i-uli Korona sang amon hari. In the far-flung mists of time, long before man walked the earth, Batala, the Omnipotent Creator, set seven moons in the sky. The radiant dance of the moons enchanted the bakunawa, dread serpents of the oceans. In thrall to their gluttony and longing, the bakunawa rose out of the depths of the sea to swallow the moons whole. Hypnotic, luminous lunar herbs and blossoms radiating forth from a blend of midnight musk, jungle orchids, oakmoss, and palm. CUÉLEBRE Fond of gold, fattened cattle, and the company of the fae Xana, these indolent, slothful dragons only venture forth from their caves when tempted by food, treasure, or vengeance. Blood red pomegranate juice, gleaming leather, black myrrh, saffron, Spanish juniper, Apple of Cain, and green cognac. LINDWORM Signelil sits in her bower alone, Of her golden harp she waked the tone. Beneath her mantle her harp she played, Then in came striding the worm so laid. "Proud Signelil, if thou me wilt wed, I'll give thee store of gold so red." "Forbid the heavenly God so great That I should become the Lindworm's mate." "Since thee I may not for a wife acquire, Kiss me only and I'll retire." The linen so white betwixt she placed, And the laidly worm she kissed in haste. With his tail of serpent up strook he, From beneath her dress the blood ran free. The Lindworm down from the chamber strode, Wringing her hands behind she trode. And when she came out upon the stair Her seven bold brothers met her there. "Welcome our sister, whither dost hie? Keep'st thou the Lindworm company?" "Ah, yes! with the laidly worm I go, Because hard fate will have it so." The Lindworm into the mountain strode, Wringing her hands behind she trode. She fell on her knee, and her prayer she made, "Now son of Mary deign to aid." And when he had come to the mountain in, Off he cast his serpent's skin. His snake's appearance off he shook, And the form of a stately knight he took. "Thanks for thy trouble, proud Signelil, Now live and die with thee I will." Now is proud Signild free from fright, In a prince's arm she sleeps each night. Smoky green leather smeared with crushed grasses and wild herbs. ZMEY GORYNYCH The Zmey Gorynych were dragons of unimaginable wealth and phenomenal strength that were skilled in ancient and potent magics, and possessed of profound wisdom. These lusty, gregarious, virile dragons loved to couple with beautiful humans, and as such, they were the fathers and mothers of many of Russia’s great heroes. A robust, lewd, and powerful blend of daemonorops resin, red musk, amber incense, galbanum, frankincense, and creaking leather that has dusted with gold and limned with tunda frost. The label artwork for our dragons was created by Julie Dillon! ++ DRAGON*CON SINGLE NOTE: GEORGIA’S STATE FLOWER CHEROKEE ROSE SINGLE NOTE Following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Choctaw, Seminole, Muscogee, Chickasaw, and Cherokee tribes were driven from their homes, prompted in part by the Georgia Gold Rush. This forced westward emigration was rife with grief, suffering, and tremendous hardship, and resulted in the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Native Americans. In their sorrow, the Cherokee called upon Unetlanvhi, the Great Spirit, to give strength, succor, and comfort to their people. Whenever a mother’s tear fell upon the ground, the Creator gave life to a five-petaled white rose. In the center of each blossom, the Great Spirit placed a gold coin, symbol of the white man’s greed. Each flowering stem sprouted seven leaflets, one for each Cherokee clan. The roses were strong, beautiful, and prolific, and spread quickly along the Trail of Tears, reaching far and wide to reclaim some of the Cherokee’s lost homeland. The thorns on the stem served to defend the rose, protecting it against those who would try to move it, and symbolized the Great Spirit’s safeguarding of the Cherokee people. As the clans saw the roses spread, they felt Unetlanvhi’s love and strength, and knew that they would survive and flourish in the new Cherokee Nation. Cherokee Rose will be available at Dragon*Con while supplies last. If we have remaining stock, they will go live on the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab site a little while after we return from the Con. Proceeds from every single bottle sold will go to the Native American Youth and Family Center. Some of the upcoming Halloween blends may be available for purchase at Dragon*Con (based on availability!) along with previews of the imminent Black Phoenix Airship Fleet and Submersible Flotilla scents -- manufactured by Phoenix Steamworks! We will have the bulk of our general catalogue, plus Harvest Moon, the three Blue Moons, a smattering of Single Notes, and a few surprises. The Cherokee Rose Single Note is $24, and each of the Dragons are $23.

In addition to much of the BPTP general catalogue, the 'Post will also be featuring the following products at Dragon*Con: MECHANICAL DRAGON MANUFACTORY ATMOSPHERE SPRAY Molten gold, well-oiled gears, coal dust, dragon’s blood incense, flame-retardant leather, and precious resins. AUNT ROSIE’S ALL-PURPOSE CEPHALOPOD BATH OIL Makes washing eight tentacles as easy as washing one! NOW SUITABLE FOR BIPEDS, TOO! Keep those suckers and knobs squeaky clean and smelling fresh! Lush coconut, ambergris accord, sweet rice milk, Siamese benzoin, white ginger, and orange pekoe. Shea oil, olive oil, apricot kernel oil, fractionated coconut oil, rosehip seed, evening primrose oil, vitamin E, isopropyl myristate, glycereth-7-cocoate (derived from coconut), oleth 3, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume blends. Label artwork for Mechanical Dragon Manufactory Atmosphere Spray and Aunt Rosie’s All-Purpose Cephalopod Bath Oil by Brian Kesinger! These ‘con stress-alleviating blends will also be available at Dragon*Con! -- EXHIBIT HALL FATIGUE BATH OIL A bracing, invigorating blend of lemon, lime, pink grapefruit, Italian bergamot, and peppermint will replenish your senses, refresh your mind, alleviate stress, and banish exhaustion! Shea oil, olive oil, apricot kernel oil, fractionated coconut oil, rosehip seed, evening primrose oil, vitamin E, isopropyl myristate, glycereth-7-cocoate (derived from coconut), oleth 3, Citrus limon, Mentha piperita, Citrus aurantifolia, Citrus paradisi, Citrus bergamia and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume blends. CON CRAMP RELIEF MASSAGE OIL Our therapeutic, anti-inflammatory blend of lavender, gingergrass, clary sage, eucalyptus, turmeric root, ashwagandha and peppermint will help relieve muscle strain, cramps, and fatigue! Rub it out and get yer ass back into that ‘Con! Almond oil, refined rice bran oil, fractionated coconut, rosehip seed oil, evening primrose, vitamin E, Ashwagandha/Bala oil, Mentha piperita, lavender 40/42, Eucalyptus globulus, Vetiveria zizanoides, Salvia sclarea, Curcuma longa, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume. All of these are 4oz, and are 25 bucks each! Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s D*C exclusives and whatnot will be announced soon!

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post will be vending at Dragon*Con this year! Sorry for the short notice – we came in under the wire! Dragon*Con is a massive popular culture convention that spans sci fi, fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and cinema. This year, D*C will be held August 31 - September 3 (Labor Day weekend!) in Atlanta, GA. Please join us! http://dragoncon.org/ Info on the host hotels: http://dragoncon.org/location.php#Host_Hotels We’ll be posting info on our booth location and exclusives soon. Stay tuned!

Join us after the ‘Con! Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab will be showcasing the CBLDF benefit blends at the CBLDF Comic-Con Welcome Party, starting at 8pm on Thursday July 12th at the Westgate Hotel! We will have all of the Neil Gaiman-inspired blends from the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab catalogue, Black Phoenix Trading Post tees inspired by Neil Gaiman’s 15 Painted Cards From a Vampire Tarot, and a selection of discontinued CBLDF fragrances. At this event, we will be debuting two scents from the upcoming Coraline line. Happy 10th Anniversary, Coraline! BUTTERSCOTCH AND BLACKBEETLES The other mother sat down on the big sofa. She picked up a shopping bag from beside the sofa and took out a white, rustling, paper bag from inside it. She extended the hand with it to Coraline. “Would you like one?” she asked politely. Expecting it to be a toffee or a butterscotch ball, Coraline looked down. The bag was half filled with large shiny blackbeetles, crawling over each other in their efforts to get out of the bag. “No,” said Coraline. “I don’t want one.” “Suit yourself,” said her other mother. She carefully picked out a particularly large and black beetle, pulled off its legs (which she dropped, neatly, into a big glass ashtray on the small table beside the sofa), and popped the beetle into her mouth. She crunched it happily. “Yum,” she said, and took another. “You’re sick,” said Coraline. “Sick and evil and weird.” “Is that any way to talk to your mother?” her other mother asked, with her mouth full of blackbeetles. Butterscotch candies flecked with dirt, encased in a shiny black shell of myrrh, patchouli, and anise seed. MOUSE CIRCUS In the flat above Coraline’s, under the roof, was a crazy old man with a big mustache. He told Coraline that he was training a mouse circus. He wouldn’t let anyone see it. “One day, little Caroline, when they are all ready, everyone in the whole world will see the wonders of my mouse circus. You ask me why you cannot see it now. Is that what you asked me?” “No,” said Coraline quietly, “I asked you not to call me Caroline. It’s Coraline.” “The reason you cannot see the mouse circus,” said the man upstairs, “is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed. Also, they refuse to play the songs I have written for them. All the songs I have written for the mice to play go oompah oompah. But the white mice will only play toodle oodle, like that. I am thinking of trying them on different types of cheese.” A toodle oodle of pink cotton candy noses, vanilla spun sugar fur, scattered kernels of popcorn, and a touch of polished golden wood. Coraline label artwork by the inimitable Vera Brosgol! Butterscotch and Blackbeetles is extremely limited: only 288 bottles were made, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Mouse Circus will be available on the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab website this summer, and Butterscotch and Blackbeetles will go online at the same time if any bottles remain. SINGLE NOTE: INDIA INK To celebrate the CBLDF’s event and celebrate our love of comics, we created an India Ink single note: a lot inky, a little papery, a little resinous, and strangely wearable. India Ink will only be available at the party, while supplies last. In addition to our American Gods, Anansi Boys, Good Omens, Graveyard Book, Neverwhere, Stardust, and 15 Painted Cards From a Vampire Tarot, and Lemon Scented Sticky Bat perfumes, we will have very limited stock of the following discontinued scents on-hand: LA MANO DEL DESTINO Powerful Sumatran patchouli and enigmatic Brazilian copaiba with pao d’arco, cacao absolute, bourbon vanilla, Ceylon cinnamon, and tobacco. EL NUEVO PURITANO The wicked wrath of moral panic: unmoving, rigid oak, dry leather, tonka, gunpowder tea, and pious olibanum with a core of perverse and furtive vanilla bean, bay leaf, clove bud, and lime. Artwork for La Mano del Destino and El Nuevo Puritano by J. Gonzo! COHEN V. CALIFORNIA In April of 1968, Paul Robert Cohen was arrested for wearing a jacket emblazoned with "Fuck the Draft" inside a Los Angeles County Courthouse. He was convicted of violating California Penal Code § 415, prohibiting "maliciously and willfully disturb[ing] the peace or quiet of any neighborhood or person [by] offensive conduct," and was sentenced to thirty days imprisonment. The California Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, and the California Supreme Court denied review: On April 26, 1968, the defendant was observed in the Los Angeles County Courthouse in the corridor outside of division 20 of the municipal court wearing a jacket bearing the words 'Fuck the Draft' which were plainly visible. There were women and children present in the corridor. The defendant was arrested. The defendant testified that he wore the jacket knowing that the words were on the jacket as a means of informing the public of the depth of his feelings against the Vietnam War and the draft. In affirming the conviction, California's Court of Appeal held that offensive conduct translates to "behavior which has a tendency to provoke others to acts of violence or to in turn disturb the peace," and that "it was certainly reasonably foreseeable that such conduct might cause others to rise up to commit a violent act against the person of the defendant or attempt to forcibly remove his jacket." However, the US Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari, and the case went off to the highest court in the land. In essence, the Supreme Court had to decide whether or not Cohen's unseemly speech was punishable or protected under the auspices of the First Amendment. The Court held, by a vote of 5[en dash]4, that "Absent a more particularized and compelling reason for its actions, the State may not, consistently with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, make the simple public display of this single four-letter expletive a criminal offense." Cohen, by way of his "Fuck the Draft" jacket, was not tossing out "fighting words," and was not provoking violence through his jacket [sartorial display]. The Court denied the State the broad power to censor its citizens in the name of creating a clean, civil society through the censorship of public discourse: "[T]he issue flushed by this case stands out in bold relief. It is whether California can excise, as 'offensive conduct,' one particular scurrilous epithet from the public discourse, either upon the theory . . . that its use is inherently likely to cause violent reaction or upon a more general assertion that the States, acting as guardians of public morality, may properly remove this offensive word from the public vocabulary." The whole of Justice John Marshall Harlan II's closing arguments were eloquent and compelling, but there is one phrase that strikes to the core of what I feel is the essence of the First Amendment: "For, while the particular four-letter word being litigated here is perhaps more distasteful than most others of its genre, it is nevertheless true that one man's vulgarity is another's lyric." One man's vulgarity is another's lyric: black tea, apricot, honey, saffron, apple blossom, tolu balsam, ginger grass, white ginger root, and vetiver. LIBERTY Liberty was created for the CBLDF, inspired by Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People: frankincense, beeswax, olive blossom, chamomile, sampaguita, magnolia, apple blossom, gunpowder, and smoke. BANNED IN BOSTON Banned in Boston was a phrase coined in the 19th century that was used to describe material, be it a motion picture, photograph, literary work, or other work of art, that contained objectionable or obscene content. Boston city officials and the Watch and Ward Society took their lead from the Comstock Law, which prohibited obscene materials from being distributed via the US Mail service, and formed their own strict censorship guidelines. Provocative or offensive material was prohibited from distribution or exhibition within Boston city limits. The effect was much like that of the RIAA Parental Advisory tags: if something was Banned in Boston, it only served to pique interest and spike sales or attendance. Obscene, lewd, lascivious, and decidedly objectionable. A filthy, post-coitus scent: sweaty and sweet, laced with laudanum, splashed with booze, and stained by tobacco. SUNBIRD Inspired by Neil Gaiman’s short story, Sunbird. They were all so hungry the following morning. Zebediah T. Crawcrustle had a comedic apron on, with the words KISS THE COOK written upon it in violently green letters. He had already sprinkled the brandy-soaked raisins and grain beneath the stunted avocado tree behind the house, and he was arranging the scented woods, the herbs, and the spices on the bed of charcoal. Mustapha Stroheim and his family had gone to visit relatives on the other side of Cairo. "Does anybody have a match?" Crawcrustle asked. Jackie Newhouse pulled out a Zippo lighter, and passed it to Crawcrustle, who lit the dried cinnamon leaves and dried laurel leaves beneath the charcoal. The smoke drifted up into the noon air. "The cinnamon and sandalwood smoke will bring the Sunbird," said Crawcrustle. "Bring it from where?" asked Augustus TwoFeathers. "Why, where it always is, third lane after the old market in the Suntown district, just before you reach the old drainage ditch that was once an irrigation canal, and if you find yourself outside One-eye Khayam's carpet shop you have gone too far, "began Crawcrustle. "But I see by the expressions of irritation upon your faces that you were expecting a less succinct, less accurate description. Very well. It is in Suntown, and Suntown is in Cairo, in Egypt, where it always is, or almost always." Label illustrated by Julie Dillon. In Neil's words, "'Sunbird' smells like resin and deserts and the phoenix." 413 U.S. 15 / Miller Vs California In 1974, a court ruling established a litmus test for obscenity in the United States. Does the First Amendment protect dirty birds? Yes, and no; it depends on where you are and what your neighbors perceive as naughty. The Court's majority opinion stated that material could only be defined as obscene if "(a) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; [and] ( the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and © the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" If all three conditions are satisfied, voila - your work is obscene. But is it art? Although a work considered to have literary, artistic, political, or scientific value cannot, in theory, constitutionally be found to be obscene regardless of whether it appeals to prurient interest or is patently offensive, the question lies in how we can possibly determine with certainty whether or not a film, photograph, tale, or limerick has social value when philosophical and moral compasses vary so wildly from person to person and community to community. Is a perfume inspired by an 18th Century painting of a dildo obscene? What would your friends and neighbors say? Leather, cognac, fig, ripe berry, and cream, stuffed into a plain brown paper bag. SNOW GLASS APPLES Inspired by Neil Gaiman’s short story, Snow, Glass, Apples. In Neil's words, 'It smells like green apples and like sex and vampires, all at the same time. (Actually, it smells like sexy vampire apples.)' Label artwork by Julie Dillon! Proceeds from every single sale go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Don’t just come for the BPAL stuff! A bevy of Image Comics stars will be there! – Ales Kot, Amanda Conner, Ben McCool, Ben Templesmith, Brandon Seifert, Charles Soule, Chris Giarrusso, Cory Walker, Dan Brereton, Darick Robertson, Deborah Vankin, Dexter Weeks, Dirk Manning, Edwin Huang,Eric Shanower, Eric Stephenson, Erik Larsen, Gerry Duggan, Glen Brunswick, Jim Mahfood, Jim McCann, Jim Valentino, Jim Zub, Jimmy Palmiotti, Joe Keatinge, John Layman, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Joshua Williamson, Kody Chamberlain, Kurtis Wiebe, Mark Poulton,Matt Hawkins, Michael Moreci, Moritat, Nate Bellegarde, Nathan Edmondson, Phil Noto, Richard Starkings, Ron Marz, S. Steven Struble, Scott Tuft, Sina Grace, Steve Seeley There’s a Threadless fashion show! Badass gift bags! Auction items on display! Come down, have a drink with us, and support free speech in the process! The CBLDF Comic-Con Welcome Party Thursday, July 12th 8pm – 11pm The Westgate Hotel 1055 Second Avenue San Diego, CA 92101 This party is FREE for CBLDF Members. Non-Members, suggested $10 - $20 donation at the door, please!

Dragon Moon is high in the sky over Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post! Art by Julie Dillon! DRAGON MOON 2012 In some cultures, the Dragon is benevolent, bestowing blessings and granting wishes. In others, the Dragon is an icon of destruction and harbinger of catastrophe. In all its incarnations, both baneful and benign, the Dragon is a symbol of strength, authority, and the raw power of nature. This Dragon Moon represents the forces of rebirth and the vigor that springtime brings: dragon's blood resin, galbanum, coriander, patchouli, wild arbor vitae, blue sage, lavender, peppermint, sweetgrass, frankincense, moonglow magnolia, bergamot, Terebinth pine, fire-blackened wood, and green cedar. Also? Big. Happy. Golden. Balls. ++ PON POKO PON NO PON Sho-sho- Shojo-Ji Shojo-Ji no niwa wa Tsu-tsu-tsuki yo de minna dete koi koi koi! Oira no tomodacha Pon poko pon no pon. Makeru na, makeru na Oshosan ni makeru na Koi koi koi koi koi koi Minna dete koi koi koi! Sho-sho-shojo-Ji Shojo-Ji no hagi wa Tsu-tsu-tsuki yo ni Hanazakari. Oira wa ukarete Pon poko pon no pon. Stuffed full of beans and sake, the magical, shapeshifting Tanuki are harbingers of joy, prosperity, and change. These big-bellied, big-balled raccoon dogs are clever schemers and irrepressible tricksters. They conjure illusions and play pranks on the unwary, often raising up the downtrodden and casting foolish, prideful, and despotic people low. Bring a little more light and laughter into your life with our Pon Poko series! The garden is bright under the moonlit night! Let’s thump a snazzy little beat on our golden drums together! JIBIKI DANUKI Casting a fishing net. Purple sage and oakmoss with black and white musks. TANUKI NO AMIUCHI Catching birds. Sandalwood incense, patchouli, matcha, cumin, white cedar, white gardenia, ti leaf, and vetiver. TANUKI NO DÔKE DARUMA A raccoon dog having his scrotum painted in imitation of a Daruma doll. Red currant, champaca flower, apple blossom and apple pulp, goma, tomato leaf, and brown grasses. TANUKI NO HIKIFUNE Towing a scrotum boat. Honeydew, honey, and sparkling golden-green musk. TANUKI NO KANBAN Tanuki shopkeepers putting out their signboards. Golden musk, ginkgo nut, persimmon rind, and bitter almond. TANUKI NO ÔRAI Comings and goings. White peach, golden peach, mango, persimmon, lotus petal, osmanthus, and shishito. TANUKI NO SENKIMOCHI Afflicted with senki. Anise seed, furry brown musk, cypress sap, myrrh, and smoky woods. TANUKI NO YÛDACHI Seeking shelter from an evening rainstorm. Lilium speciosum, rice wine, white grapefruit, lotus root, bourbon vanilla, and vanilla orchid. Three new comic scents are going live, benefiting Hero Initiative! So much love and thanks to Jim McLauchlin, Matt Wagner, Joseph Michael Linsner, and all the wonderful people at Top Cow Productions! Proceeds from every bottle sold of Dawn: Mourning Victory, Grendel: Cyborg, and Magdalena go to Hero Initiative, the first federally recognized not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping comic book creators, writers and artists in need. Founded in late 2000 by a consortium of comic book and trade publishers including Marvel Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Wizard Entertainment, CrossGen Comics and Dynamic Forces Inc., the 501©(3) charity aims to assist comic creators with health, medical, and quality-of-life assistance. ++ HERO INITIATIVE DAWN: MOURNING VICTORY Red sandalwood, night-blooming jasmine, white tea, hyacinth, rosehips, and tuberose. GRENDEL: CYBORG Gleaming metal and black leather over a khus-darkened bay rum. MAGDALENA Frankincense, myrrh, leather, ti leaf, saint wood, benzoin, and labdanum absolute. And last, but zomg not least… THE LABYRINTH SERIES IS LIVE. A million, trillion thanks to the Jim Henson Company and Labyrinth Enterprises for enabling us to interpret the fantastical world of Labyrinth to life through scent! It is both an honor and a pleasure to work with a company that we respect so tremendously, and with a story that we cherish so fondly. We are thrilled to present the first in our Labyrinth series… ++ LABYRINTH Frustrated with babysitting on yet another weekend night, Sarah, a teenager with an active imagination, summons the Goblins to take her baby stepbrother away. When little Toby actually disappears, Sarah must follow him into a fantastical world to rescue him from the Goblin King. Guarding his castle is the labyrinth itself, a twisted maze of deception, populated with outrageous characters and unknown dangers. JARETH I ask for so little. Just let me rule you... and you can have--everything that you want. Just fear me... ...love me... ...do as I say and I will be your slave. Ethereal lilac fougere and gleaming leather with ti leaf, tonka absolute, white musk, and oudh. HOGGLE I ain't never been no one's friend before. Fermented pumpkin, brown leather, dust, tobacco leaf, and dark woods. GOBLIN CIDER A dark, earthy ginger cider. 13 HOURS You have 13 hours in which to solve the Labyrinth...before your baby brother becomes one of us...forever. A scent of profound foreboding: dusty black stone, dried rosehips, black moss, and creeping ivy. FAIRY BITE "It bit me!" "What did you expect fairies to do?" "I thought they did nice things. Like -- like granting wishes." "Shows what you know, don't it?" Osmanthus and honey with lavender, chamomile, white peppermint, raspberry, honeysuckle, thyme, raw honey, and Dracula orchid.

Black Phoenix Trading Post’s customer service department will be closed from today, March 16th, until March 26th. If your question requires immediate attention, please contact answers @ blackphoenixalchemylab.com during that time, and they will do their best to help out! Thank you so much!

Something is amiss with the BPTP email at the moment, and we're unable to respond to any customer service inquiries until we're able to get it fixed. Thank you so much for your patience while we sort this out!

Happy New Year, everyone! Here’s to a 2012 filled with mirth, sweetness, love, excitement, and light! WARAIZOME BPAL’s First Laughter of 2012 is inspired by an image of Tanuki merchants honoring the first transaction of the year by thumping a huge testicle taiko! This is an airy, cheerful prosperity-themed scent talisman that celebrates the creation of wealth through joy, creativity, kindness, honesty, and community: German chamomile, red sandalwood, oakmoss, sassafras, verbena, and aniseseed. Waraizome will be bangin' away until February 10, 2012.

We received the Krampus tees today, and the tissue tees are not what we expected. They’re a scoop-neck babydoll in a standard cotton blend, not tissue material. If you’d like a refund or have any questions, please email Ted at tradingpost (at) papow (dot) net. Thanks so much!

Due to a series of unforeseen, craptacular incidents that include exploding label printers (our label printer, our backup label printer, and the Black Phoenix Trading Post printer have all died), components disappearing in transit, and other Small Curses), we’re running at about 28 days from order-to-shipment. We’re working like mad to get everything out as quickly as possible, and I believe that we’ll be able to start shrinking that gap by midweek next week. We are truly sorry for this delay. We tried to do everything in our power to make sure that we didn’t run into issues that would back us up at the holiday time. We’ll be including extra frimps in each order by way of apology. Thank you so much for your patience and for your understanding.

I’ve been stuck trying to write an introduction to tomorrow’s update. Tomorrow is Black Phoenix’s birthday, y’see, and at the moment I’m all flubbled up. I don’t have writer’s block, per se; I just don’t know how to articulate the depth of my gratitude. I decided about 34 seconds ago to stop agonizing over how to say things, and just talk. (Grammar be damned!) I’m trying to thank everyone but words are failing me. How do I explain how much Brian and Ted mean to me? How do I put into words how much I love Kathy and Jacquelynn? How do I tell the world how much I appreciate all the hard work that Bill, Will, Piolet, and Norman put in every single day at BPAL? How do I put into words how grateful I am for the friendship and sisterhood I have with the moderators at bpal.org? Or how enriched my life has become because of the friendships that have been formed with our customers? Jesus. You guys make my world a whole lot better every single fucking day. There are no words for how grateful I am for Neil and Amanda, Peter and Connor, the Henson crew, Matt Wagner… I’ve tried before… every year… and the words never seem to be enough. With genuine love and gratitude… Thank you, Brian, for being the best business partner and best brother anyone could ask for. Thank you, Ted, for being my muse, my light, and my strength. Thank you, Kathy, for pulling me out of that damned fiery house in a past life. I know we ended up a pair of Roman candles, but at least we went out with a bang! Thank you, Jacquelynn, for all of your dedication, for your friendship, and for your insight. Come to think of it…. extra thanks to Brian, Ted, Kathy, and Jax for always putting up with my shit. Thank you, Bill, for your patience, your kindness, and your resolve. Thank you, Will, Piolet, and Norman, for your hard work and dedication. Thank you to Sue and Del at Dark Delicacies for giving housing our schtuff, for always being there for us, and for being the best. damn. grandparents. ever. Thank you, Lisa, for being our knight in shining armor. Thank you, Lori and Sarah, for all the love that you guys put into every will call. We are all very, very grateful. Thank you to the mods and administrators of bpal.org. Fuck, I love you. Thank you for being my sisters, and thank you for being there for me and holding my hand even when I’m too muddled, overwhelmed, and lost to be fully present. Thank you to Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, Peter S Beagle, Terry Pratchett, Terry Moore, Mike and Christine Mignola, George Perez, Peter David, Molly Crabapple, Mark Waid, Storm Constantine, Matt Wagner, Jim Henson Productions, Brian Pulido, Joseph Michael Linsner, Eva Hopkins, Gris Grimly, and Richard Matheson for giving Black Phoenix the opportunity to interpret your work. Thank you to the noble souls at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Hero Initiative. You are an inspiration. Much thanks to Peter S. Beagle and Connor Cochran for participating in the Last Unicorn Screening. You bring so much joy to so many people! Love and thanks to the artists that have lent us their talent: Adam Hughes, Alicia Dabney, Julie Dillon, Madame Talbot, Quique Alcatena, Jennifer Rodgers, Manda Lander, and Sarah Coleman! Love and thanks to the Mütter Museum, knows perfume, Whole Foods, Pretty Indulgent, and Healthy Living for giving our products a home in your stores! Love and thanks to the bloggers, journalists, magazines, and other media outlets that taken the time to write about Black Phoenix. Honestly, I cannot thank you enough. Much love and many thanks to Wow Insider for profiling Brian and inviting us down to the WOW Insider Meet-Up at BlizzCon, and to Lance Horne for inviting us to participate in his November show in Los Angeles. Huge thanks to Geek Girl Diva, Theresa Wollenstein, and Lauren Rothman for helping us initiate new projects! Thank you to our clients – you truly are our extended family. I said this last year, and it holds just as true now: ~ Thank you for sharing our joy and for standing with us during difficult times. The family that has grown around BPAL is like no other in the world. Every time I wander into the forum, I see people supporting one another in times of need, showing selfless kindness and offering support to one another… to me, you all are models of emotional generosity and true friendship, and it is truly an honor to be a part of your lives. I cannot express my gratitude enough. Thank you for celebrating the beauty of living with us, and for holding our hands during times of stress and sorrow. This year has been turbulent for just about everyone we know. It’s been a hard year filled with challenges and hidden lessons, but none of it is insurmountable because we all have this tremendous, genuinely loving family. Thank you. ~ Last year was turbulent, yes, but fuck, this year has been tough as hell, too. Just about everyone I know, IRL and online, has been going through a rough patch. The fucking economy is disemboweling most of us, so many people I know and love are dealing with terrible health issues or tremendous blows of grief and loss. There’s a lot of despair, a lot of fear, and a lot of instability. A lot of the time, it feels to me like we’re all playing a game of Perfection. I fucking hated Perfection when I was a kid. I hate being startled. I really believe that love and friendship are only things that can sustain us through tough times, and I don’t know how to express how thankful I am for the family that I have because of Black Phoenix. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Gratitude is a funny thing. Really, there aren’t words that can express it fully. I just hope that I, and that we as a company, are able to show how grateful we are to everyone that we work with and all of our customers through our actions day to day. Before I get so choked up that I can’t write out scent notes, on with the anniversary update! ++ ODE TO THE DAY: BPAL ANNIVERSARY 2011 THE PHOENIX AT DAWN Ecstatic bird songs pound the hollow vastness of the sky with metallic clinkings– beating color up into it at a far edge,–beating it, beating it with rising, triumphant ardor,– stirring it into warmth, quickening in it a spreading change,– bursting wildly against it as dividing the horizon, a heavy sun lifts himself–is lifted– bit by bit above the edge of things,–runs free at last out into the open–!lumbering glorified in full release upward– songs cease. The pearly, opalescent flames of the morning: pink rose, apricot, orange blossom, carnation, red sandalwood, lemon blossom, rose musk, Madagascar vanilla, white wine grape, pink grapefruit, and white patchouli. This Phoenix embodies liberty, renewal, vitality, and creativity. THE PHOENIX AT MIDDAY Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass, – The finger-points look through like rosy blooms: Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms ‘Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass. All round our nest, far as the eye can pass, Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edge Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge. ‘Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass. Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky: – So this wing’d hour is dropt to us from above. Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower, This close-companioned inarticulate hour When twofold silence was the song of love. The blazing fires of nona hora: blood orange, mimosa, gingergrass, golden amber, saffron, tonka absolute, pomegranate, neroli, and bourbon geranium. This Phoenix embodies vitality, ferocity, determination, passion, and strength of will. THE PHOENIX AT DUSK Dreams in the dusk, Only dreams closing the day And with the day’s close going back To the gray things, the dark things, The far, deep things of dreamland. Dreams, only dreams in the dusk, Only the old remembered pictures Of lost days when the day’s loss Wrote in tears the heart’s loss. Tears and loss and broken dreams May find your heart at dusk. The muted flame of in-between time, the stillness of the gloaming: blue chamomile, green tea, Spanish moss, champaca flower, white sage, jonquil, wisteria, and white honey. This Phoenix embodies the strange beauty of the dreamscape, the force of the imagination, and the power of the spirit. THE PHOENIX AT MIDNIGHT THIS is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless, Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done, Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best. Night, sleep, death and the stars. The cold fire of distant stars: indigo musk, black iris, orris root, rosewood, night-blooming jasmine, and honeysuckle. This Phoenix embodies introspection, reflection, spiritual freedom, and hope springing eternal. And, because I’ve been waiting a long time for this… LEATHER PHOENIX In 2005, I was messing around with some of our rarer oils while creating a blend for personal use. It contained a small bit of wardh taifi, some 22-year old oudh, golden champaca CO2, and narcissus absolute. It was a strange and lovely creation, and jokingly, I called it Leather Phoenix. “Ha ha! Leather Phoenix. BDSM Phoenix. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we actually saw our leather anniversary?” Lord, it seemed so far away. Holy shit, here we are. (ZOMGWTF?!) And here’s Leather Phoenix: matcha tea, wild frankincense, champaca, petitgrain, star anise, aged oudh, rose taifi, narcissus, Himalayan cedar, 11-year aged patchouli, and black leather accord. Only 213 bottles of Leather Phoenix exist, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Holy. Shit. Here we are! Thank you so much to every single person that has made this possible. Happy anniversary, BPAL.

Please welcome Lisa to the Black Phoenix family! She’ll be helping out the customer service department during the holiday season. Many thanks to everyone for their patience while we wiggle some stuff around in order to make that department move more smoothly during crunch time!

BATTY This year's Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Halloween scent for Dark Delicacies! Dark and fuzzy, yet also dapper and debonair! If Fred Astaire was a werebat, he'd totally smell like this: dark chocolate, black oudh, tonka absolute, cassia, white oleander, sandalwood, and free-tailed bat musk. Artwork by Manda Lander! Clickie!

Ted posted a bottle of Black Lack and a bottle of Dark Delicacies on ebay today on behalf of Dark Delicacies as part a fundraiser to help our friend, Scream Queen Jewel Shepard, pay for her breast cancer treatments. BPAL is also auctioning the first prototype of Black Lace to help Jewel with her medical bills. The original prototype is sweeter, with a more pronounced vanilla quality, and possesses a headier incense note. 100% of the proceeds from these three auctions will go to Jewel. http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=blackphoenixalchemylab Thanks for lookin’, and thanks for helping Jewel out!

Because of a slight logistics hiccup, the Lunacy won’t be going live until tomorrow. Thank you very much for your patience!

NEW YORK REPRESENT! Belladonnastrap, Silvertree, and LiberAmoris will be helping Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post distribute pizzas in support of #occupywallstreet! If you’d like to join them in bringing food to the protesters, meet them at Liberatos Pizza (17 Cedar Street) tomorrow at 12:30 pm. Pizza for the People! Other Ways You Can Help!

Help us feed the #occupywallstreet protesters! You don’t need to do it out of the kindness of your heart: true to the capitalist nature of the good ol’ US of A, we’re not asking you to give something for nothing. You send us money, you get a bottle of perfume and the protesters get some chow. All the money after manufacturing costs that we generate from sales of #OCCUPYWALLSTREET will go to purchasing pizzas for the protesters. #OCCUPYWALLSTREET Rock the protester cliché! This is a filthy friggin’ patchouli, dark, deep, rooty, and strangely sexy, with cocoa absolute, tobacco absolute, and bourbon vanilla. For more information, clickie.

HALLOWEEN: MONTREAL When Halloween comes to Montreal, winter doesn’t lag far behind. Trick-or-treating is done in mad, giddy dashes between houses, an exhilarated rush in the darkness. The air is crisp, sometimes biting, and more than one toddler waddles through the eve, bundled in a snowsuit beneath their inevitably rotund costumes. Chimney smoke and woodstove fires, and all the classic scents of Halloween – loads of candy, leaves, cold earth, smashed pumpkins left over from Mat Night’s debauchery – are sharp and clear in the frosty air. - Maggie Stepien La fumée de cheminée et toutes les odeurs de l'Halloween - bonbons en masse, feuilles mortes, terre gelée, citrouilles écrasées - parfument l'air glacial. http://www.prettyindulgent.com/products/halloween-montreal-perfume

Sorry for the delay, all! The Black Phoenix Trading Post Halloween update will be going live tomorrow. We're having some technical difficulties with the upload, and they won't be solved until Tuesday. Maybe it was just meant to go live /on/ the full moon? Thank you so much for your patience! We just want to make sure it goes up without a hitch!

First things first! - the BPTP Halloweenie / Blood Moon update won't be live until the beginning of next week. Trading Post will be going live at Regularly Scheduled Lunacy Time. Another quick announcement - Halloween: Montreal will be coming to Pretty Indulgent soon. Keep your eyes peeled! Lookie here. And here. Also here. And then go here. And maybe here, too. And for the whole shebang in Shiny and New format, scoot on over here. I hope everyone enjoys the Halloween update as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

Happy birthday, BPAL Virgos! Brian, you are the best goddamn brother that I girl could ask for! BPAL couldn’t function without you, Bry…. and I, m’self, probably couldn’t, either! Jacquelynn, you are a wonderful friend and a phenomenal general manager. I treasure our friendship, and I appreciate everything you do! Norman, thank you for working so hard to ensure that the orders are packed and ready to go! And Lilith… well, happy birthday to you, too, angel…

Today, we present a Twilight Alchemy Lab Limited Edition blend. This liquid talisman was created over the days of August 15th through 17th during the conjunction of Mercury, Venus, and Sol in Leo. This oil endeavors to capture the energy of the Leo Stellium: it is an oil of rediscovering yourself, and achieving a better understanding of who you really are. Filtered through the splendid golden majesty of Leo, Venus is manifested in this oil as an internal mirror and a reminder of the immortality of the soul. Mercury manifests in this blend as a force for dynamic movement and change, and as a roadmap illustrating all possibilities. Mercury also manifests in its Trickster aspect, forcing us to confront self-delusion as exposed by the bright light of Sol. In this Stellium blend, Sol itself shows us how to bolster our self-esteem, confidence, and courage by confronting, understanding, and accepting our true will. Through working with this energy, we can reinvent ourselves through serious and profound reflection regarding who we want to be and how we want the world to see us. 283 bottles of Leo Stellium oil were created. In an attempt to make things a bit easier for everyone, stock has been split between the BPAL site and TAL’s etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/twilightalchemylab Also on TAL’s etsy shop: Leo Stellium incense, an Exodus-inspired Anointing oil, a non-cosmetic Samhain oil, Samhain incense, and Honey of Love bath oil. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.

During San Diego Comic Con, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab will be on half staff, and Twilight Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post will be on a brief hiatus. We will be back to normal on 7/25. Thank you for understanding!

Ted's working on the Zocket update on the BPTP etsy site now. It'll be up in a little bit. I think he's going to post them Aries - Pisces. http://www.etsy.com/shop/bptradingpost

Brian (corinthian on .org) and I (kebechet on .org) are still working on the questions that were sent in to Teddy (puddin on .org) over the last couple of weeks. I don't know if we're going to be able to get through all of them... we'll do our best!