Jingle what?

[kebechet]

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

 

ANGERONALIA

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

 

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

 

 

ARCHANGEL WINTER

In the dread circle hemmed by glaciers,

Pallid waste where no radiant fathomers,

Columbuses or Gamas, ever pass,

In realms of dingy gloom and deep crevasse

Seized from creation by nonentity,

Beyond ice floe and berg and ice-bound sea,

Deep in the fog that quenches every ray,

In stone waves and rock waters, far from day,

Amid the gloom, there, on the pole, stands black

Archangel Winter, darkness on his back

And trumpet at his lips; nor does he cast

One flash of eye, or blow one clarion-blast;

He never even dreams, being sheer snow;

The winged winds, captives of that age-old foe

Silence, are in his hand-birds in a snare;

His sightless eyes horribly watch the air;

Hoarfrost is in his bones and on his head,

And he is swathed in ever-petrified dread;

He terrifies the Vast, he seems so wild;

He is harsh, dismal, ice-that is, exiled;

The earth beneath his feet, in its dark cape,

Is dumb; he is the mute white stony shape

Set on that tomb in the eternal night;

Never does any motion, sound, or light

Brush the lone giant in that somber pall.

But when, on the timepieces that we call

Stars, the last day, endless and centerless,

Will sound, then the Lord's face will luminesce

And melt the spirit; his mouth will distend

Suddenly, in a savage, dreadful bend,

And the worlds-skiffs rudderless, rolling on --

Will hear the storm-blast of his clarion.

 

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

 

 

CHANUKKIYAH

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Ma'oz tzur yeshu'asi

Lecha na'eh leshabe'ach

Tikone bais tefilasi

Ve'sham todah nezabe'ach

Le'es Tachin Mabe'ach

Mitzar ham'nabe'ach

Az egmor beshir mizmor

Chanukas hamizbe'ach.

 

 

CHRISTMAS ROSE

Bruise-tinted hellebore blossoms pushing through snowdrifts.

 

 

DIWALI

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

EGG NOG 2007

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

 

 

EL DIA DE REYES

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

 

Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar.

 

 

THE FRUIT OF PARADISE

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

 

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

 

 

GINGERBREAD POPPET 2007

Warm, cozy gingerbread spiced with nutmeg, clove and cinnamon.

 

 

HALOA 2007

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

 

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

 

 

JOLASVEINAR 2007

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

 

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

 

 

KRAMPUS 2007

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

 

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

 

 

LA BEFANA

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

 

La Befana vien di notte

Con le scarpe tutte rotte

Col vestito alla Romana

Viva, Viva La Befana!

 

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

 

La Befana comes by night

With her shoes old and broken

She comes dressed in the Roman way

Long life to the Befana!

 

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

 

 

LICK IT ONE MORE TIME

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

 

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

 

 

MIDWINTER'S EVE 2007

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

 

 

MISTLETOE 2007

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

 

 

NOCHE BUENA

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

 

 

NOVEMBER

Yet one smile more, departing, distant sun!

One mellow smile through the soft vapoury air,

Ere, o'er the frozen earth, the loud winds ran,

Or snows are sifted o'er the meadows bare.

One smile on the brown hills and naked trees,

And the dark rocks whose summer wreaths are cast,

And the blue Gentian flower, that, in the breeze,

Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last.

Yet a few sunny days, in which the bee

Shall murmur by the hedge that skim the way,

The cricket chirp upon the russet lea,

And man delight to linger in thy ray.

Yet one rich smile, and we will try to bear

The piercing winter frost, and winds, and darkened air.

 

Autumn leaves damp beneath the first snowfall.

 

 

PEACOCK QUEEN 2007

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

 

 

ROSE RED 2007

The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut.

 

 

THE SHIVERING BOY

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

 

 

THE SNOW STORM

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky

Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven,

And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.

The steed and traveller stopped, the courier's feet

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come, see the north wind's masonry.

Out of an unseen quarry evermore

Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer

Curves his white bastions with projected roof

Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.

Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work

So fanciful, so savage, naught cares he

For number or proportion. Mockingly

On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;

A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;

Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,

Maugre the farmer's sighs, and at the gate

A tapering turret overtops the work.

And when his hours are numbered, and the world

Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,

Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art

To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone

Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,

The frolic architecture of the snow.

 

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

 

 

SNOW WHITE 2007

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

HOLIDAY SHIPPING INFORMATION

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

 

 

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

 

Whole Foods Market

aka Harry's Farmer's Market

1180 Upper Hembree Rd.

Roswell, GA

770.664.6300

 

Located in the Whole Body Department

 

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

 

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

 

 

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