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Happy Thirteenth Anniversary, BPAL!

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Mare Vaporum is live at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab!

http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/a-little-lunacy-limited-edition/mare-vaporum/

 

MARE VAPORUM

The Sea of Vapors: white sandalwood, smoky oudh, golden amber, bourbon vanilla, and black jasmine.

 

 

Also? --

 

++ IT’S BPAL’S LUCKY 13!

The Phoenixes will be live until January 6, 2015.

 

ZUT ALORS! BPAL IS A TEENAGER.

 

Thirteen years. Thirteen years of bliss and strangeness, thirteen merrily macabre years of creeps, cupcakes, and smut. Thirteen years of family and light and love… thank you all for helping us fill the past thirteen years with poetry, tales, friendship and cheer. Thank you for being with us through births, deaths, unions and rites of passage. Thank you for sharing our joys and our burdens, and for allowing us to be a part of your lives.

 

In the past thirteen years, you have been with us through so much. Thank you for your kindness, your support, and for your friendship.

 

With all of my love, and in no particular order…

 

Thank you, BRIAN, for being the best of friends. Thank you for putting up with my bullshit, thank you for being the Brain to my Pinky, thank you for being my partner in ridiculousness, thank you for everything you do. Here’s to another thirteen (thirty? three-hundred?) years of doing the crazy shit we do. I love you.

 

I love you, TED. Thank you for being my one true, perfect, eternal love. Thank you for being my Prince Charming, thank you for always being there for me, thank you for your patience, your sober counsel, your laughter, your filthy mind, your sense of humor. Thank you for being you, thank you for being mine.

 

Thank you, my LILITH, my wee little werewolf. Your laugh makes my heart sparkle, your smile brightens even the most sorrowful day. You are my tiny muse, my joy and my light, and I am very, very grateful to be your mother.

 

Thank you, CHRISSY, for being an extraordinary assistant and a true friend. Thank you for your patience and diligence, your creativity, and your kindness. Your passion and drive is an inspiration, and I love you!

 

Thank you, JACQUELYNN, for being a phenomenal general manager and a great friend. Thank you for all your tireless hard work, your dedication, your inventiveness, your sense of humor, and everything you do to keep our rickety wheels turning! You are amazing, and you are such a vital, important part of BPAL. I love you!

 

Thank you, PIOLET, for your hard work and your friendship, for your optimism, patience, and good humor, and for always being a good friend. You are wonderful, and I’m grateful for all you do!

 

Thank you, LILY, for your sweetness and your positivity! Your sunny, kind heart is an inspiration, and your cool head and equanimity is truly something to be admired. You roll with life’s hiccups in the road with so much compassion. Thank you for all that you do!

 

SABINA, CERINA, STACY, and BEN, thank you for the tremendous hard work you put into helping us get through both calm work weeks and batshit crazy seasons. Your work forms the foundation of this company, and we couldn’t do this without you.

 

Thank you to SUE and DEL at Dark Delicacies for giving us a home away from home for five wonderful years, and for hosting our crazy events! Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us, thank you for being such wonderful, wonderful friends, and thank you for being the greatest grandparents a little werewolf pup could dream of! I love you!

 

Thank you, ASHLEY and KAT, for helping so much at Trading Post! You are both amazing, sanity-saving goddesses, and I love you!

 

Thank you, SARA, for all the dedication, joy, and passion that you pour into every Black Phoenix event. I am grateful for all you do. You are a wonderful person, and a wonderful friend. Thank you!

 

KAITLIN, there are no words for how grateful I am for all that you do. Thank you for putting up with my demented requests, last-minute groveling, and extraordinarily disorganization! Thank you for your huge heart, your sharp wit, and your boundless compassion. Thank you for putting up with my Pisces’ness. You are the Most Radiant, and I love you.

 

TOM! Thank you for being my Other Voice! Thank you so much for helping us so much while we’re on the road, and thank you for all that you do to include BPAL in your projects and events! Thank you for your wit and inventiveness. Thank you for your sharing your talent and your time, thank you for always listening when I’m a screeching loon, thank you for being one of my dearest friends.

 

My love, my gratitude, and my eternal friendship goes out to my sisters, the mods and admins at bpal.org. You have been with me through so much, you are not just a part of my family, you are a part of my heart. Thank you for always being there for me in every possible way. Thank you for being with me through my wedding and my child’s birth, through so many joys and sorrows, through every hill and valley that BPAL has been through… you mean the world to me, and I love you so very much.

 

Thank you, SHANA, for your kind heart, your buoyant cheer, and effervescent enthusiasm! You are truly a force of nature, and I treasure our friendship!

 

Thank you, FOREST, for being you. Your compassion and nobility of spirit is an inspiration, and I’m truly thankful for our friendship. I love you, fartface.

 

Thank you, EM, for always having my back, for always, always being there for me, and for being one of my bestest friends. I value your wisdom and counsel so very much. Thank you for helping me navigate oft-stormy seas. I love you!

 

You know, ALI… I think I really said it best last year. You are my living, breathing Manual of Style! Thank you for cleaning up my babble, thank you for being a fountain of wit and inspiration, thank you for always being there for me. You are amazing, and I love you.

 

Thank you, DONNA, for being the bestest BPAL babysitter! You have no idea how much I love you. Thank you for always being there for me, thank you

 

Thank you, ANDRA, you are a true friend, a wonderful woman, and I love you so much!

 

Thank you to LISA, TOM, SARA, CHRISSY, MICHAEL, DONNA, ANDRA, EVA, and BERNADETTE for making this year’s travelling Snake Oil show possible. Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into the events, and for being there for us. We couldn’t do it without you.

 

Thank you, LISA T., for being the heart and soul of Dirty South Will Call. You truly are one of the most amazing, strongest women I know, and I love you.

 

Thank you, SEAN, for helping us with bpal.org. Without your efforts, the forum would have died a horrible, much-lamented death. You have no idea how grateful I am.

 

Thank you, COURTNEY, for being my New England Sister! Thank you for all of your generosity and kindness! Your love makes Black Phoenix stronger, brighter, and more suffused with joy. I love you!

 

Thank you, CAT, for being such an amazing friend. Thank you for being my co-conspirator and confidante. Our brunches are too few! I love you!

 

Huge amounts of love and HUGE amounts of gratitude to LAURA HALL and all the wonderful people at Laika studios. Your generosity and kindness is beyond measure.

 

Thank you to THOMAS, CHANDRA, MELISSA, KAT (and THOMAS JR!) at Century Guild. I love you guys!

 

Thank you, MAGGIE, for giving BPAL a home at Pretty Indulgent! Thank you for being such an amazing friend and such a gentle inspiration.

 

Thank you, AUDRA, for giving BPAL a home at Loved to Death! It is a delight working with you, and I am overjoyed by our partnership! Thank you!

 

Thank you, JILLIAN, Our Lady of Manners, and SARAH ELIZABETH, for all that you’ve done to help promote Black Phoenix. You are both amazing, radiant women, and I am blessed by our friendship. I love you both!

 

JESS, thank you! Your artistry, ethics, and joyful darkness is a constant source of inspiration. I love you!

 

Many thanks and much love to JAMIE and LISA at Legendary Pictures for their patience, indulgence, and kindness! Thank you for putting up with my millions of questions, thank you for all of your help, and thank you for making this year’s Crimson Peak project possible!

 

Thank you to NEIL GAIMAN, GUILLERMO DEL TORO, LEGENDARY PICTURES, JIM JARMUSCH, PETER S. BEAGLE, KELLY SUE DECONNICK, TERRY PRATCHETT, CAROLYN HENNESY, TERRY MOORE, MIKE AND CHRISTINE MIGNOLA, GEORGE PEREZ, PETER DAVID, MOLLY CRABAPPLE, MARK WAID, THOMAS NEGOVAN, STORM CONSTANTINE, MATT WAGNER, JIM HENSON PRODUCTIONS, BRIAN PULIDO, JOSEPH MICHAEL LINSNER, GRIS GRIMLY, GEORGE RR MARTIN, CLIVE BARKER, MARK MILLER, DAVID MACK, GAIL POTOCKI, ERIN MORGENSTERN, and YSANNE SPEVAK for giving Black Phoenix the opportunity to interpret your work.

 

Thank you to the noble souls at the COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND. The work you do helps so many, and it is an honor to work with you.

 

Thank you, CHARLES, for being an inspiration, a true friend, and a partner in occasional French Quarter debauchery!

 

Thank you, CP, for being an incredible friend. Your kind soul and radiant spirit illuminates everything and everyone you touch.

 

Love and thanks to the artists that have lent us their talent: ADAM HUGHES, ALICIA DABNEY, JULIE DILLON, EMMA RIOS, MADAME TALBOT, QUIQUE ALCATENA, JENNIFER RODGERS, MANDA LANDER, KERI NEWTON, NICK PAVIK, ROBERT KRAIZA, ARISTOTLE PRAMAGIOULIS, TANYA BJORK, ANDREW FOGEL, BRIAN KESSINGER, ABIGAIL LARSON, AIDAN CASSERLY, and SARAH COLEMAN!

 

Love and thanks to THINK GEEK, CENTURY GUILD, LOVED TO DEATH, the MÜTTER MUSEUM, HAUTE MACABRE, HERETIC SALON, WHOLE FOODS, PRETTY INDULGENT, HEALTHY LIVING, and DARK DELICACIES 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.

 

And last but certainly not least, I’d like to thank my ANCESTORS, all the GODS (both celestial and infernal), the HOUSE GHOST, and anyone else that might be looking out for me.

 

I wrote this many years ago, and it’s just as true today as it was then:

‘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.’

 

- - -

 

Doceat nos igitur hec avis vel exemplo sui resurrectionem credere que et sine exemplo et sine rationis perceptione ip sa sibi insignia resurrectionis instaurat, et utique aves propter hominem sunt non homo propter avem. Sit igitur exemplum nobis quia auctor et creator avium sanctos suos imperpe tuum peri re non pas sus, resur gentem eam sui semine voluit reparari. Quis igitur huic annunti at diem mortis ut faciat sibi thecam et impleat eam bo nis odoribus atqe ingrediatur in eam et moriatur illic, ubi odoribus gratis fetor funeris possit aboleri?

 

++ BPAL’S THIRTEENTH ANNIVERSARY

http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/limited-edition/phoenix-2015/

 

AELIAN’S PHOENIX

The Phoinix knows how to reckon five hundred years without the aid of arithmetic, for it is a pupil of all-wise nature, so that it has no need of fingers or anything else to aid it in the understanding of numbers. The purpose of this knowledge and the need for it are matters of common report. But hardly a soul among the Aigyptoi knows when the five-hundred-year period is completed; only a very few know, and they belong to the priestly order. But in fact the priests have difficulty in agreeing on these points, and banter one another and maintain that it is not now but at some date later than when it was due that the divine bird will arrive. Meantime while they are vainly squabbling, the bird miraculously guesses the period by signs and appears. And the priests are obliged to give way and confess that thy devote their time ‘to putting the sun to rest with their talk’; but they do not know as much as birds. But, in God's name, is it not wise to know where Aigyptos is situated, where Heliopolis whither the bird is destined to come, and where it must bury its father and in what kind of coffin?

 

Golden amber and patchouli with fiery peppercorn, cocoa, white cedar, neroli, vanilla pod, and frankincense.

 

 

BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS’ PHOENIX

Phoenix is a bird, and there is but one of that kind in all the wide world. Therefore lewd men wonder thereof, and among the Arabs, there this bird is bred, he is called singular--alone. The philosopher speaketh of this bird and saith that phoenix is a bird without make, and liveth three hundred or five hundred years: when the which years are past, and he feeleth his own default and feebleness, he maketh a nest of right sweet-smelling sticks, that are full dry, and in summer when the western wind blows, the sticks and the nest are set on fire with burning heat of the sun, and burn strongly. Then this bird phoenix cometh willfully into the burning nest, and is there burnt to ashes among these burning sticks, and within three days a little worm is gendered of the ashes, and waxeth little and little, and taketh feathers and is shapen and turned to a bird. Ambrose saith the same in the Hexameron: Of the humours or ashes of phoenix ariseth a new bird and waxeth, and in space of time he is clothed with feathers and wings and restored into the kind of a bird, and is the most fairest bird that is, most like to the peacock in feathers, and loveth the wilderness, and gathereth his meat of clean grains and fruits. Alan speaketh of this bird and saith, that when the highest bishop Onyas builded a temple in the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, to the likeness of the temple in Jerusalem, on the first day of Easter, when he had gathered much sweet-smelling wood, and set it on fire upon the altar to offer sacrifice, to all men's sight such a bird came suddenly, and fell into the middle of the fire, and was burnt anon to ashes in the fire of the sacrifice, and the ashes abode there, and were busily kept and saved by the commandments of the priests, and within three days, of these ashes was bred a little worm, that took the shape of a bird at the last, and flew into the wilderness.

 

The fire of the sacrifice: scorched, honeyed cedar and carob wood aflame with amber, cinnamon, and red sandalwood.

 

 

CLAUDIAN’S PHOENIX

There is a leafy wood fringed by Oceanus' farthest marge beyond the Indes and the East where Dawn's panting coursers first seek entrance; it hears the lash close by, what time the watery threshold echoes to the dewy car; and hence comes forth the rosy morn while night, illumined by those far-shining wheels of fire, casts off her sable cloak and broods less darkly. This is the kingdom of the blessèd bird of the sun where it dwells in solitude defended b the inhospitable nature of the land and immune from the ills that befall other living creatures; nor does it suffer infection from the world of men. Equal to the gods is that bird whose life rivals the stars and whose renascent limbs weary the passing centuries. It needs no food to satisfy hunger nor any drink to quench thirst; the sun's clear beam is its food, the sea's rare spray its drink--exhalations such as these form its simple nourishment. A mysterious fire flashes from its eyes, and a flaming aureole enriches its head. Its crest shines with the sun's own light and shatters the darkness with its calm brilliance. Its legs are of Tyrian purple; swifter than those of the Zephyrs are its wings of flower-like blue dappled with rich gold.

 

Never was this bird conceived nor springs it from any mortal seed, itself is alike its own father and son, and with none to recreate it, it renews its outworn limbs with a rejuvenation of death, and at each decease wins a fresh lease of life. For when a thousand summers have passed far away, a thousand winters gone by, a thousand springs in their course given to the husbandmen that shade of which autumn robbed them, then at last, fordone by the number of its years, it falls a victim to the burden of age; as a tall pine on the summit of Caucasus, wearied with storms, heels over with its weight and threatens at last to crash in ruin; one portion falls by reason of the unceasing winds, another breaks away rotted by the rain, another consumed by the decay of years.

 

Now the Phoenix's bright eye grows dim and the pupil becomes palsied by the frost of years, like the moon when she is shrouded in clouds and her horn beings to vanish in the mist. Now his wings, wont to cleave the clouds of heaven, can scarce raise them from the earth. Then, realizing that his span of life is at an end and in preparation for a renewal of his splendour, he gathers dry herbs from the sun-warmed hills, and making an interwoven heap of the branches of the precious tree of Saba he builds that pyre which shall be at once his tomb and his cradle.

 

On this he takes his seat and as he grows weaker greets the Sun with his sweet voice; offering up prayers and supplications he begs that those fires will give him renewal of strength. Phoebus, on seeing him afar, checks his reins and staying his course consoles his loving child with these words: ‘Thou who art about to leave thy years behind upon yon pyre, who, by this pretence of death, art destined to rediscover life; thou whose decease means but the renewal of existence and who by self-destruction regainest thy lost youth, receive back thy life, quit the body that must die, and by a change of form come forth more beauteous than ever.’

 

So speaks he, and shaking his head casts one of his golden hairs and smites willing Phoenix with its life-giving effulgence. Now, to ensure his rebirth, he suffers himself to be burned and in his eagerness to be born again meets death with joy. Stricken with the heavenly flame the fragrant pile catches fire and burns the aged body. The moon in amaze checks her milk-white heifers and heaven halts his revolving spheres, while the pyre conceives the new life; Nature takes care that the deathless bird perish not, and calls upon the sun, mindful of his promise, to restore its immortal glory to the world.

 

Straightway the life spirit surges through his scattered limbs; the renovated blood floods his veins. The ashes show signs of life; they begin to move though there is none to move them, and feathers clothe the mass of cinders. He who was but now the sire comes forth from the pyre the son and successor; between life and life lay but that brief space wherein the pyre burned.

His first delight is to consecrate his father's spirit by the banks of the Nile and to carry to the land of Aegyptus the burned mass from which he was born. With all speed he wings his way to that foreign strand, carrying the remains in a covering of grass. Birds innumerable accompany him, and whole flocks thereof throng in airy flight. Their mighty host shuts out the sky where'er it passes. But from among so vast an assemblage none dares outstrip the leader; all follow respectfully in the balmy wake of their king. Neither the fierce hawk nor the eagle, Jove's own armour-bearer, fall to fighting; in honour of their common master a truce is observed by all. Thus the Parthian monarch leads his barbarous hosts by yellow Tigris' banks, all glorious with jewels and rich ornament and decks his tiara with royal garlands; his horse's bridle is of gold, Assyrian embroidery embellishes his scarlet robes, and proud with sovereignty he lords it o'er his numberless slaves.

There is in Aegyptus a well-known city celebrated for its pious sacrifices and dedicated to the worship of Ra. Its temples rest on a hundred columns hewn from the quarries of Thebes. Here, as the story tells, the Phoenix is wont to store his father's ashes and, adoring the image of the god, his master, to entrust his precious burden to the flames. He places on the altar that from which he is sprung and that which remains of himself. Bright shines the wondrous threshold; the fragrant shrine is filled with the holy smoke of the altar and the odour of Indian incense, penetrating even as far as the Pelusiac marshes, fills the nostrils of men, flooding them with its kindly influence and with a scent sweeter than that of nectar perfumes the seven mouths of the dark Nile.

 

Happy bird, heir to thine own self! Death which proves our undoing restores thy strength. Thine ashes give thee life and though thou perish not thine old age dies. Thou hast beheld all that has been, hast witnessed the passing of the ages. Thou knowest when it was that the waves of the sea rose and o'erflowed the rocks, what year it was that Phaëthon's error devoted to the flames. Yet did no destruction overwhelm thee; sole survivor thou livest to see the earth subdued; against thee the Fates gather not up their threads, powerless to do thee harm.

 

Sole survivor thou livest to see the earth subdued; against thee the Fates gather not up their threads, powerless to do thee harm: red patchouli, sweet frankincense, and the figs and pomegranates of the seven mouths of the dark Nile.

 

 

CLEMENT I’S PHOENIX

Let us consider the strange sign which takes place in the East, that is in the districts near Arabia. There is a bird which is called the Phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives 500 years; and when the time of its dissolution in death is at hand, it makes itself a sepulchre of frankincense and myrrh and other spices, and when the time is fulfilled it enters into it and dies. Now, from the corruption of its flesh there springs a worm, which is nourished by the juices of the dead bird, and puts forth wings. Then, when it has become strong, it takes up that sepulchre, in which are the bones of its predecessor, and carries them from the country of Arabia as far as Egypt until it reaches the city called Heliopolis, and in the daylight in the sight of all it flies to the altar of the Sun, places them there, and then starts back to its former home. Then the priests inspect the registers of dates, and they find that it has come at the fulfilment of the 500th year.

 

A sepulchre of frankincense and caramelized myrrh.

 

 

ISIDORE’S PHOENIX

The phoenix is a bird of Arabia, which gets its name from its purple color; or because it is singular and unique in the world and the Arabs call singular and unique phoenix. It lives for 500 years or more. When it sees that it has grown old it builds a pyre for itself from spices and twigs, and facing the rays of the rising sun ignites a fire and fans it with its wings, and rises again from its own ashes.

Feathers of deep plum and wild violet darkly gleaming with myrrh, black amber, and benzoin.

 

 

 

LE CLERC’S PHOENIX

There is a bird named the phoenix, which dwells in India and is never found elsewhere. This bird is always alone and without companion, for its like cannot be found, and there is no other bird which resembles it in habits or appearance. At the end of five hundred years it feels that it has grown old, and loads itself with many rare and precious spices, and flies from the desert away to the city of Leopolis. There, by some sign or other, the coming of the bird is announced to a priest of that city, who causes fagots to be gathered and placed upon a beautiful altar, erected for the bird. And so, as I have said, the bird, laden with spices, comes to the altar, and smiting upon the hard stone with its beak, it causes the flame to leap forth and set fire to the wood and the spices. When the fire is burning brightly, the phoenix lays itself upon the altar and is burned to dust and ashes. Then comes the priest and finds the ashes piled up, and separating them softly he finds within a little worm, which gives forth an odor sweeter than that of roses or of any other flower. The next day and the next the priest comes again, and on the third day he finds that the worm has become a full-grown and full-fledged bird, which bows low before him and flies away, glad and joyous, nor returns again before five hundred years.

 

Assyrian cypress and cedar with cinnamon, black cardamom, cassia, Egyptian balsam, acanthus leaves, and frankincense.

 

 

LUCAN’S PHOENIX

Then copious poisons from the moon distils

Mixed with all monstrous things which Nature's pangs

Bring to untimely birth; the froth from dogs

Stricken with madness foaming at the stream;

A lynx's entrails and the knot that grows

Upon the fell hyaena; flesh of stags

Fed upon serpents and the sucking fish

Which holds the vessel back though eastern winds

Make bend the canvas; dragon's eyes; and stones

That sound beneath the brooding eagle's wings.

Nor Araby's viper, nor the ocean snake

Who in the Red Sea waters guards the shell,

Are wanting; nor the slough on Libyan sands

By horned reptile cast nor ashes fail

Snatched from an altar where the Phoenix died

 

Copious poisons from the moon distils: frankincense, mugwort, toxic moonseed, lemon balm, pale yellow musk seed, and elemi.

 

 

MANDEVILLE’S PHOENIX

In Egypt is the city of Heliopolis, that is to say, the city of the Sun. In that city there is a temple, made round after the shape of the Temple of Jerusalem. The priests of that temple have all their writings, under the date of the fowl that is clept phoenix; and there is none but one in all the world. And he cometh to burn himself upon the altar of that temple at the end of five hundred year; for so long he liveth. And at the five hundred years' end, the priests array their altar honestly, and put thereupon spices and sulphur vif and other things that will burn lightly; and then the bird phoenix cometh and burneth himself to ashes. And the first day next after, men find in the ashes a worm; and the second day next after, men find a bird quick and perfect; and the third day next after, he flieth his way. And so there is no more birds of that kind in all the world, but it alone, and truly that is a great miracle of God. And men may well liken that bird unto God, because that there ne is no God but one; and also, that our Lord arose from death to life the third day. This bird men see often-time fly in those countries; and he is not mickle more than an eagle. And he hath a crest of feathers upon his head more great than the peacock hath; and is neck his yellow after colour of an oriel that is a stone well shining, and his beak is coloured blue as ind; and his wings be of purple colour, and his tail is barred overthwart with green and yellow and red. And he is a full fair bird to look upon, against the sun, for he shineth full gloriously and nobly.

 

Sulphur and myrrh crackling with clove, Himalayan cedar, and red sandalwood.

 

PHILOSTRATUS’ PHOENIX

‘And the Phoinix,’ Iarkhas said, ‘is the bird which visits Aigyptos every five hundred years, but the rest of that time it flies about in India; and it is unique in that it gives out rays of sunlight and shines with gold, in size and appearance like an eagle; and it sits upon the nest; which is made by it at the springs of the Nile out of spices. The story of the Aigyptoi about it, that it comes to Aigyptos, is testified to by the Indians also, but the latter add this touch to the story, that the Phoinix which is being consumed in its nest sings funeral strains for itself. And this is also done by the swans according to the account of those who have the wit to hear them.’

 

Rays of sunlight, shining with gold: amber glittering with orange blossom, Calabrian lemon, warm saffron, golden vegetal musk, and honeyed incense.

 

 

STATIUS’ PHOENIX

Isis, once stalled in Phoroneus’ caves, now queen of Pharos and a deity of the breathless East, welcome with sound of many a sistrum the Mareotic bark, and gently with thine own hand lead the peerless youth, on whom the Latian prince hath bestowed the standards of the East and the bridling of the cohorts of Palestine, through festal gate and sacred haven and the cities of thy land. Under thy protection may he learn whence comes the fruitful license of marshy Nile, why the waters abate and are hemmed within the banks that the Cecropian bird has coated with clay, why Memphis is jealous, why the shore of Therapnean Canopus makes wanton revel, why the warden of Lethe guards the Pharian shrines, why vile beasts are held equal to mighty gods; what altars the long-lived Phoenix prepares for his own death, what fields Apis, adored by trembling shepherds, deigns to graze, and in what waters of Nile he bathes.

 

Pomegranate root, honey, white cedar, and frankincense.

 

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