wickedgoddess

Two Limited Edition Lupercalia Massage Oils are available! BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE MASSAGE OIL An exercise is unabashed sensuality: cacao absolute and a hint of oude. BOURBON VANILLA MASSAGE OIL Deceptively sweet: bourbon vanilla oleoresin and benzoin resinoid. Our gentle, balancing massage oils were created with the finest environmentally-responsible and body-friendly ingredients. Both oils are vegan, blissfully devoid of harsh chemicals or unwholesome fillers, paraben and formaldehyde free, and do not contain sodium lauryl or sodium laureth sulfate. These luxurious oils absorb well, granting you the power of the aromatherapeutic properties of the essential oils, as well as the healing and soothing aspects of the base oils’ health-affirming properties. The smooth, even texture of the blends are easy on your massage therapist’s hands! Handmade by Black Phoenix. These massage oils have corresponding bath oils as well! There are two Lupercalia atmosphere sprays that were inspired by Aphrodite as patroness: APHRODITE KYPRIA ATMOSPHERE SPRAY Egyptian musk, Ceylon cinnamon, cassia, and bourbon vanilla. APHRODITE EYRKINÊ ATMOSPHERE SPRAY Blood orange, ylang ylang, red musk, jasmine, and mimosa. And also! – the Eros Inquisition… The Eros Inquisition + The Eros Inquisition: Limited Edition Lupercalia 2012 Love, unconquerable, Waster of rich men, keeper Of warm lights and all-night vigil In the soft face of a girl: Sea-wanderer, forest-visitor! Even the pure immortals cannot escape you, And mortal man, in his one day’s dusk, Trembles before your glory. The Eros Inquisition! An examination of love in all its glory and horror. Show the world the quintessence of your heart. If you participate in the Inquisition by sharing a tale, song, poem, or original piece of artwork expressing infatuation, love, lust, loss, or madness, you will receive a perfume oil (L’essence) and bath oil (L’eau) set, plus a small atomizer filled with L’essence du Cœur Libéré des Ténèbres (L’extrait). You can bypass the Inquisition and purchase the perfume oils and bath oils separately, but you will only receive the extrait if you submit to the Inquisition. How do you woo the imps and goblins? You may plead your case in the comments field of your order. Time permitting, all entries will be published on the Black Phoenix Trading Post web site as they come in, unless you request otherwise. When making your order, please indicate whether you wish to remain anonymous. If you would like your name published, specify how you wish for it to appear. Spin your narrative, from life or fantasy, and let Eros decide; or simply pick your poison, and indulge in love-dappled scents that will wrap you in the warmth of true love, inspire flirty dalliances, rouse raging passion, delve into the depths of madness, and evoke heartrending memories of love lost. + Ecstasy: Intoxication of the First Kiss L’ESSENCE DE L’ENGOUEMENT French vanilla, pink candies, strawberry sugar, and orange blossom. L’EAU DE L’ENGOUEMENT Pink strawberries, sugar cane, and candy floss. + The Radiant Glory of Love: Devotion, Understanding, and Unity L’ESSENCE DE L’ARDEUR Centifolia rose absolute, tea rose, bourbon vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, champaca resinoid, myrrh, nutmeg, pomegranate, and benzoin. L’EAU DE L’ARDEUR French vanilla, tea rose, champaca flower, and white chocolate. + The All-Consuming Flames of Passion L’ESSENCE DE LA PASSION Red musk, carnation, myrrh, and honey. L’EAU DE LA PASSION Carnation, orange blossom honey, myrrh, and neroli. + The Depths of Despair L’ESSENCE DU CHAGRIN White chypre, French lavender, rose geranium, opopponax, Peru balsam, bois de rose, lime, and vanilla absolute. L’EAU DU CHAGRIN French Lavender, rose geranium, white rose, vanilla orchid, benzoin, and carrot seed. + The Cacophony of Madness L’ESSENCE DE LA FOLIE Pink pepper, black pepper, clove, myrrh, dark chocolate, labdanum, and Daemonorops draco. L’EAU DE LA FOLIE Cacao, frankincense, gurjum balsam, red tea, vetiver, and myrrh. L’essence du Cœur Libéré des Ténèbres Extrait Sweet vanilla orchid, red sandalwood, and ylang ylang emerging from a dark shroud of fossilized amber, East Indian black patchouli, black pomegranate, guaiac wood, Peru balsam, and oudh. For $46US, you will receive a full Inquisition set: a 4 oz. love-themed bath oil concocted by Black Phoenix Trading Post, a coordinating 5 ml Eros-touched perfume from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and a small atomizer filled with extrait of L’essence du Cœur Libéré des Ténèbres. In order to receive L’essence du Cœur Libéré des Ténèbres, you must submit a story, poem, or piece of artwork to Black Phoenix Trading Post illustrating an aspect of love. You may order the perfume oils and bath oils individually, bypassing the Inquisition process, but you will not receive the extrait. L’essence du Cœur Libéré des Ténèbres is not sold separately. You may place an order for multiple sets, or place multiple orders; in either case, each plea will be considered separately in the course of the Inquest process. If you are placing an order for more than one set, you may submit multiple tales, applicable to each order. Please indicate which work of art pertains to which order.

"Good-night, ladies; good-night, sweet ladies; good-night, good-night." Sadly, Ophelia has said her good-nights, and, effective immediately, has been discontinued.

Happy Friday the 13th, all! 13 13 is significant, whether you consider it lucky, unlucky or just plain odd. Many believe it to be unfortunate… …because there were 13 present at the Last Supper. …Loki crashed a party of 12 at Valhalla, which ended in Baldur’s death. …Oinomaos killed 13 of Hippodamia’s suitors before Pelops finally, in his own shady way, defeated the jealous king. …In ancient Rome, Hecate’s witches gathered in groups of 12, the Goddess herself being the 13th in the coven. Concern over the number thirteen echoes back beyond the Christian era. Line 13 was omitted form the Code of Hammurabi. The shivers over Friday the 13th also have some interesting origins: …Christ was allegedly crucified on Friday the 13th. …On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and sixty of his senior knights. …In British custom, hangings were held on Fridays, and there were 13 steps on the gallows leading to the noose. To combat the superstition, Robert Ingersoll and the Thirteen Club held thirteen-men dinners during the 19th Century. Successful? Hardly. The number still invokes trepidation to this day. A recent whimsical little serial killer study showed that the following murderers all have names that total thirteen letters: Theodore Bundy Jeffrey Dahmer Albert De Salvo John Wayne Gacy And, with a little stretch of the imagination, you can also fit “Jack the Ripper” and “Charles Manson” into that equation. More current-era paranoia: modern schoolchildren stop their memorization of the multiplication tables at 12. There were 13 Plutonium slugs in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apollo 13 wasn’t exactly the most successful space mission. All of these are things that modern triskaidekaphobes point to when justifying their fears. For some, 13 is an extremely fortuitous and auspicious number… …In Jewish tradition, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy. Also, there were 13 tribes of Israel, 13 principles of Jewish faith, and 13 is considered the age of maturity. …The ancient Egyptians believed that there were 12 stages of spiritual achievement in this lifetime, and a 13th beyond death. …The word for thirteen, in Chinese, sounds much like the word which means “must be alive”?. Thirteen, whether you love it or loathe it, is a pretty cool number all around. …In some theories of relativity, there are 13 dimensions. …It is a prime number, lucky number, star number, Wilson Prime, and Fibonacci number. …There are 13 Archimedean solids. AND… …There were 13 original colonies when the United States were founded. Says a lot about the US, doesn’t it? In our paean to all the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic number, there are thirteen lucky and unlucky components in this fragrance: cacao absolute, Holy basil, Jamaican ginger, High John the Conqueror root, lucky hand root, manzanilla, nutmeg, Queen of the Meadow, star anise, thyme, frankincense, Irish moss, and huckleberry leaf. WATER DRAGON A new year’s blessing! Peony, China’s national flower, with bamboo for flexibility, Buddha’s Hand for introspective spiritual growth, plum blossom for perseverance, courage, and hope, coconut for camaraderie, chrysanthemum for a life free of grief and struggle, tangerine and orchid for wealth, orange for happiness, lychee for household peace, pine resin for constancy, golden kumquat, pussy willow, and quince for prosperity, sesame for sweetness, 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. Love is in the air at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and we’re celebrating the Season of Schtupping in myriad ways! SMUT 2012 Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes. WOMB FURIE 2012 In the middle of the flanks of women lies the womb, a female viscus, closely resembling an animal; for it is moved of itself hither and thither in the flanks, also upwards in a direct line to below the cartilage of the thorax and also obliquely to the right or to the left, either to the liver or spleen; and it likewise is subject to falling downwards, and, in a word, it is altogether erratic. It delights, also, in fragrant smells, and advances towards them; and it has an aversion to fetid smells, and flees from them; and on the whole the womb is like an animal within an animal. – Aretaeus the Cappadocian Oh, that wily womb! Hippocrates and his followers considered the womb a mobile creature, causing mayhem as it writhed its way through a woman’s body. Sometimes this ornery organ, due to lack of sexual activity, would create conflicts within a woman’s system or would become blocked itself, causing anxiety, nervousness, water retention, and sleeplessness. With the assistance of doctors, nursemaids, hand tools, or, occasionally, self-manipulation, this vexing condition could be alleviated through hysterical paroxysms. Or, as we call it nowadays: orgasm. An itch that needs to be scratched: Snake Oil and three types of honey. And also – a celebration of the language of love: + LOVE POEMS THE BALCONY Mother of memories, mistress of mistresses, O thou, my pleasure, thou, all my desire, Thou shalt recall the beauty of caresses, The charm of evenings by the gentle fire, Mother of memories, mistress of mistresses! The eves illumined by the burning coal, The balcony where veiled rose-vapour clings— How soft your breast was then, how sweet your soul! Ah, and we said imperishable things, Those eves illumined by the burning coal. Lovely the suns were in those twilights warm, And space profound, and strong life’s pulsing flood, In bending o’er you, queen of every charm, I thought I breathed the perfume in your blood. The suns were beauteous in those twilights warm. The film of night flowed round and over us, And my eyes in the dark did your eyes meet; I drank your breath, ah! sweet and poisonous, And in my hands fraternal slept your feet— Night, like a film, flowed round and over us. I can recall those happy days forgot, And see, with head bowed on your knees, my past. Your languid beauties now would move me not Did not your gentle heart and body cast The old spell of those happy days forgot. Can vows and perfumes, kisses infinite, Be reborn from the gulf we cannot sound; As rise to heaven suns once again made bright After being plunged in deep seas and profound? Ah, vows and perfumes, kisses infinite! - Charles Baudelauire Voluptuous darkness: Bourbon vetiver, red patchouli, honey, helichrysum, and black rose. BODY, REMEMBER Body, remember not only how much you were loved, not only the beds on which you lay, but also those desires for you that glowed plainly in the eyes, and trembled in the voice–and some chance obstacle made futile. Now that all of them belong to the past, it almost seems as if you had yielded to those desires–how they glowed, remember, in the eyes gazing at you; how they trembled in the voice, for you, remember, body. - Constantine Cavafy translated by Rae Dalven Profoundly sensual. The echo of caresses: raw black coconut, ambergris accord, ambrette seed, champaca flower, and sugar cane. THE DOOM OF BEAUTY Choice soul, in whom, as in a glass, we see, Mirrored in thy pure form and delicate, What beauties heaven and nature can create, The paragon of all their works to be! Fair soul, in whom love, pity, piety, Have found a home, as from thy outward state We clearly read, and are so rare and great That they adorn none other like to thee! Love takes me captive; beauty binds my soul; Pity and mercy with their gentle eyes Wake in my heart a hope that cannot cheat. What law, what destiny, what fell control, What cruelty, or late or soon, denies That death should spare perfection so complete? - Michelangelo Buonarroti An opulent, bittersweet Renaissance-inspired fragrance: Hungary water, parma violets, and roseated oil. ELIZABETH of BOHEMIA You meaner beauties of the night, That poorly satisfy our eyes More by your number than your light, You common people of the skies; What are you when the moon shall rise? You curious chanters of the wood, That warble forth Dame Nature’s lays, Thinking your passions understood By your weak accents; what’s your praise When Philomel her voice shall raise? You violets that first appear, By your purple mantles known Like the proud virgins of the year, As if the spring were all your own; What are you when the rose is blown? So, when my mistress shall be seen In form and beauty of her mind, By virtue first, then choice, a Queen, Tell me, if she were not design’d Th’eclipse and glory of her kind? - Sir Henry Wotton Incomparable loveliness: the perfect rose oude. THE FACE OF ALL THE WORLD IS CHANGED, I THINK The face of all the world is changed, I think, Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul Move still, oh, still, beside me, as they stole Betwixt me and the dreadful outer brink Of obvious death, where I, who thought to sink, Was caught up into love, and taught the whole Of life in a new rhythm. The cup of dole God gave for baptism, I am fain to drink, And praise its sweetness, Sweet, with thee anear. The names of country, heaven, are changed away For where thou art or shalt be, there or here; And this …this lute and song…loved yesterday, (The singing angels know) are only dear Because thy name moves right in what they say. - Elizabeth Barrett Browning Absinthe accord, opoponax, green cardamom, olibanum, honey, prickly juniper, and rockrose. THE FIRST ENCOUNTER She was only half-dressed And equally bare trees tossed Their few leaves against the window pane Playfully and with reckless abandon. Sprawling half naked in my desk chair, Hands pressed modestly against her pale breasts, She tapped small, delicate feet on the floor Betraying sweet anticipation. Her body was the colour of wax, and I watched As an eager little ray of light Fluttered across her laughing lips, Across her peeking breast, like an insect on the rose-bush. I knelt and kissed her little ankles. She laughed softly and produced A perfect string of clear trills, A delightful crystal laugh. Her delicate feet disappeared Underneath her: “Stop! You’re so naughty!” Yet the first act of daring permitted, She pretended to punish me only with a laugh! I rose and kissed her eyelids softly. They trembled beneath my lips, poor things: And she tossed her head back, eyes shining… “You’re not trying to take advantage of me…are you? “If you are, darling, you know I’ll have to–” But I silenced the protest, dipping my mouth to her breast, Which caused an explosion of ringing laughter And she opened herself willingly… She was only half-dressed And equally bare trees tossed Their few leaves against the window pane Playfully and with reckless abandon. - Arthur Rimbaud Candied apricot and orange blossom honey with grandiflorum jasmine, orris C02, tonka, patchouli, quince, and skin musk. LIAISON A big bud of moon hangs out of the twilight, Star-spiders spinning their thread Hang high suspended, withouten respite Watching us overhead. Come then under the trees, where the leaf-cloths Curtain us in so dark That here we’re safe from even the ermin-moth’s Flitting remark. Here in this swarthy, secret tent, Where black boughs flap the ground, You shall draw the thorn from my discontent, Surgeon me sound. This rare, rich night! For in here Under the yew-tree tent The darkness is loveliest where I could sear You like frankincense into scent. Here not even the stars can spy us, Not even the white moths write With their little pale signs on the wall, to try us And set us affright. Kiss but then the dust from off my lips, But draw the turgid pain From my breast to your bosom, eclipse My soul again. Waste me not, I beg you, waste Not the inner night: Taste, oh taste and let me taste The core of delight. - DH Lawrence The loveliest darkness, the core of delight: Moroccan black musk, white tea leaf, Indonesian black sandalwood, frankincense, honeycomb, jonquil, and clove. MY SWEEETEST LESBIA My sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love, And though the sager sort our deeds reprove, Let us not weigh them. Heaven’s great lamps do dive Into their west, and straight again revive. But, soon as once set our little light, Then must we sleep one ever-during night. If all would lead their lives in love like me, Then bloody swords and armor should not be; No drum or trumpet peaceful sleeps should move, Unless alarm came from the camp of Love: But fools do live and waste their little light, And seek with pain their ever-during night. When timely death my life and fortune ends, Let not my hearse be vext with mourning friends, But let all lovers rich in triumph come And with sweet pastimes grace my happy tomb: And, Lesbia, close up thou my little light, And crown with love my ever-during night. - Caius Valerius Catullus Osmanthus, hay absolute, ambergris accord, catnip, and Egyptian musk. ON THE DEATH OF HIS MISTRESS Dost thou wonder that I flew Charm’d to meet my Leila’s view? Dost thou wonder that I hung Raptur’d on my Leila’s tongue?— If her ghost’s funereal screech Thro’ the earth my grave should reach, On that voice I lov’d so well My transported ghost would dwell: If in death I can descry Where my Leila’s relics lie, Saher’s dust will flit away, There to join his Leila’s clay. - Abu Sahet Alhedhily Plum musk, ambergris accord, matcha tea, oakmoss, patchouli, violet leaf, and cypress. THE ROSE IN THE DEEPS OF HIS HEART All things uncomely and broken, all things worn-out and old, The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart, The heavy steps of the ploughman, splashing the wintry mould, Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart. The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told; I hunger to build them anew and sit on a green knoll apart, With the earth and the sky and the water, remade, like a casket of gold For my dreams of your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart. - William Butler Yeats Golden amber, red rose, frankincense, Egyptian musk, galbanum, and immortelle. THE SORROW OF LOVE The quarrel of the sparrow in the eaves, The full round moon and the star-laden sky, And the loud song of the ever-singing leaves, Had hid away earth’s old and weary cry. And then you came with those red mournful lips, And with you came the whole of the world’s tears, And all the sorrows of her labouring ships, And all the burden of her myriad years. And now the sparrows warring in the eaves, The curd-pale moon, the white stars in the sky, And the loud chaunting of the unquiet leaves, Are shaken with earth’s old and weary cry. - William Butler Yeats Stargazer lily, white musk, white gardenia, white rose, stephanotis, delphinium, orris root, white sandalwood, bergamot, and magnolia. THE VINE I dream’d this mortal part of mine Was Metamorphoz’d to a Vine; Which crawling one and every way Enthralled my dainty Lucia. Me thought, her long small legs & thighs I with my Tendrils did surprize; Her Belly, Buttocks, and her Waste By my soft Nerv’lits were embrac’d: About her head I writhing hung, And with rich clusters (hid among The leaves) her temples I behung: So that my Lucia seem’d to me Young Bacchus ravisht by his tree. My curles about her neck did craule, And armes and hands they did enthrall: So that she could not freely stir, (All parts there made one prisoner.) But when I crept with leaves to hide Those parts, which maids keep unespy’d, Such fleeting pleasures there I took, That with the fancie I awook; And found (Ah me!) this flesh of mine More like a Stock, than like a Vine. - Robert Herrick Bradford pear, honey, and vanilla cream. And finally, the porn. Black Phoenix Trading Post‘s Lupercalia update will be live early next week. Keep your eyes peeled! Coming soon to Dark Delicacies: Pink Lace and Mourning Lace! They will be available in store and at www.darkdel.com in early February.

As part of today's very special West Coast Will Call event, Ysanne Spevack (@ilovestrings) will be playing a free acoustic concert, to celebrate the successful launch of her Kickstarter campaign and BPAL collaboration. Ysanne's Kickstarter.

BLACKBEAR MOON The bear puts both arms around the tree above her And draws it down as if it were a lover And its chokecherries lips to kiss good-by, Then lets it snap back upright in the sky. Her next step rocks a boulder on the wall (She’s making her cross-country in the fall). Her great weight creaks the barbed wire in its staples As she flings over and off down through the maples, Leaving on one wire tooth a lock of hair. Such is the uncaged progress of the bear. The world has room to make a bear feel free; The universe seems cramped to you and me. In February, black bears give birth to their cubs, nurturing and protecting them as the snow melts, the days grow warmer, and winter gives way to spring. Hazelnuts, acorns, black cherries, wild winter berries, and warm black fur dusted by moonlight, honey, and pine needles. Blackbear Moon is available for a limited time. The Blackbear Moon T-shirt from Black Phoenix Trading Post features art by Julie Dillon. Lupercalia will be here next week, alongside a new 13. Visitors to our upcoming lunacy events will have a chance to test out many of the upcoming Lupercalia scents, as well as a few upcoming suprises! Where/When: West Coast Will Call at Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Ave Burbank, CA 91505 Sunday, January 8th, 4:00 to 7:00pm Seattle Will Call at knows perfume 4536 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98116 Saturday, January 14th, 6:00 to 9:00pm New England Will Call at Healthy Living Market (inside the Learning Center) 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 Sunday, January 15th, 3:00 to 6:00pm

The west coast will call event will be held on Sunday, January 8th from 4 to 7pm at Dark Delicacies. Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Blvd (1 block east of Hollywood Way) Burbank, CA 91505 ____ New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, January 15th from 3:00 to 6:00pm, in the Learning Center. Healthy Living Market 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 — The blends that will be available for purchase include those that went live on the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab website up to and including the Old Moon update. This includes the Yules and Anniversary scents Forum only scents will not be available at Will Call. We will no longer be accepting preorders at West Coast Will Call, with the exception of orders for Twilight Alchemy Lab oils. We will do our best to accommodate all orders, but sales will be based on availability. At this time, Twilight Alchemy Lab oils will only be available at Dark Delicacies via preorder. Items from Black Phoenix Trading Post will be available at Dark Delicacies, subject to stock on hand. If you have any questions, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com. Where/When: West Coast Will Call at Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Ave Burbank, CA 91505 Sunday, January 8th, 4:00 to 7:00pm Seattle Will Call at knows perfume 4536 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98116 TBD New England Will Call at Healthy Living Market (inside the Learning Center) 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 Sunday, January 15th, 3:00 to 6:00pm

Senelion and the Champagne scents are now available on the BPAL etsy.

Due to a component issue, we will be unable to ship out any more Wiley Grasser. Pending orders containing that scent will be contacted and offered a refund or exchange.

BPAL has added 5 bottles of the Last Unicorn event exclusive scent, Touched Twice, to the auction for author Terri Windling. If you missed out on owning this, you now have a second chance! http://magick4terri.livejournal.com/121783.html TOUCHED TWICE It was long that the unicorn stood by Prince Lír before she touched him with her horn. For all that her quest had ended joyously, there was weariness in the way she held herself, and a sadness in her beauty that Molly had never seen. It suddenly seemed to her that the unicorn’s sorrow was not for Lír but for the lost girl who could not be brought back; for the Lady Amalthea, who might have lived happily ever after with the prince. The unicorn bowed her head, and her horn glanced across Lír’s chin as clumsily as a first kiss. He sat up blinking, smiling at something long ago. “Father,” he said in a quick, wondering voice. “Father, I had a dream.” Then he saw the unicorn, and he rose to his feet as the blood on his face began to shine and move again. He said, “I was dead.” The unicorn touched him a second time, over the heart, letting her horn rest there for a little space. They were both trembling. Prince Lír put his hands out to her like words. She said, “I remember you. I remember.” As delicate as life, as gentle as death, and as powerful as love: sheer, luminescent vanilla musk with frangipani, red sandalwood, frankincense, champaca flower, coconut, rose absolute, white cyclamen, Himalayan mogra, angelica, and white oud. From the Magick 4 Terri page: Beloved editor, artist and writer Terri Windling is in need, and we are asking for your help in a fundraising auction to assist her. This auction will combine donations from professionals and fans in an online sale to help Terri through a serious financial crisis. Terri is the creator of groundbreaking fantasy and mythic art and literature over the past several decades, ranging from the influential urban fantasy series Bordertown to the online Journal of Mythic Arts. With co-editor Ellen Datlow, she changed the face of contemporary short fiction with The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and other award-winning anthologies, including Silver Birch, Blood Moon, and The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest. Her remarkable Endicott Studio blog continues to bring music, poetry, art and inspiration to people all over the world. Terri Windling and her family have been coping with health and legal issues that have drained her financial resources at a critical time. Due to the serious nature of these issues, and privacy concerns for individual family members, we can’t be more specific than that, but Terri is in need of our support. As a friend, a colleague and an inspiration, Terri has touched many, many lives over the years. She has been supremely generous in donating her own work and art to support friends and colleagues in crisis. Now, Terri is in need of some serious help from her community. Who better than her colleagues and fans to rise up to make some magick for her? That’s where we come in. Until December 15th, we’ll be bringing you auctions (and vice-versa!) of art, books, collectibles, music, and more amazing offers from the awesome fantasy art and literature communities. Please see the About Us page for FAQs on Terri, the auction process, and how you can get involved! Finally, stop by HQ Headquarters to meet your wacky staff. We got cookies!

Available tomorrow, only at West Coast Will Call: SENELION Against a velvet black sky hangs a blood red moon and a dusky midnight sun: Nepalese amber, twin red musks, Indian black vegetal musk, lotus root, star anise, orris C02, Himalayan cedar, hops, mallow, Roman chamomile, and zdravetz. SANGRIA CHAMPAGNE MANGO LYCHEE CHAMPAGNE PEACH CHAMPAGNE BLOOD & CHAMPAGNE TWILIGHT ALCHEMY LAB: YULE Twilight Alchemy Lab’s Yule Oil contains essential oils, absolutes, and CO2 extracts that are organically-grown and pesticide-free, and many of the oils’ components are first distillations from small farms. This oil includes fir needle essential oil, steam-distilled North African myrrh, Austrian pine needle essential oil, wild crafted steam-distilled bay leaves, Ceylon cinnamon, steam-distilled black spruce, bayberry, apple leaf, Roman chamomile, and C02 extract of hazel bark. This oil was charged under tremendously auspicious circumstances during a complete lunar cycle, and was created utilizing the specific astrological aspects that will be active at Midwinter 2011. All of our products are created using the finest quality herbs, resins, oils, absolutes, and compounds. They contain no filler and no synthetic materials. Please note: this is not BPAL’s Yule blend. The BPAL exclusives are $20 each; TAL’s YULE is $27.50. Many, many thanks to everyone that came to BPAL’s November will call with food donations for the Burbank Temporary Aid Center! At December’s will call, we will be hosting our annual toy drive. In addition, proceeds from sales of Sangria Champagne, Mango Lychee Champagne, Peach Champagne, Blood & Champagne, and Senelion – a scent created to celebrate Saturday’s Lunar eclipse – will go to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Black Phoenix Trading Post will match our donation. These scents are available while supplies last, and if any remain, they will go onto the BPAL etsy site. Twilight Alchemy Lab’s Yule blend will also be available at tomorrow’s West Coast Will Call. According to the US Census Bureau’s figures, there in excess of 46 million Americans in poverty, and as of November of 2010, fifteen percent of US households are food insecure. If you have the means, please consider donating to / volunteering with your local food bank. West Coast Will Call and Yule Event at Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Ave Burbank, CA 91505 Saturday, December 10th, 4:00 to 7:00pm

Old Moon is waxing at Black Phoenix Alchemy Laband Black Phoenix Trading Post! OLD MOON The scent of things drifting just on the edge of memory, hiding in shadowed corners. Old, yellowing books, dust-covered toys pushed to the back of the attic, windows obscured by thick, thorny vines, letters discarded, and photographs of people long-forgotten. Art by the laudable Julie Dillon!

The west coast will call event will be held on Saturday, December 10th from 4 to 7pm at Dark Delicacies. Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Blvd (1 block east of Hollywood Way) Burbank, CA 91505 ____ Seattle Will Call will be held on Saturday, December 10th from 6 to 9pm at Knows Perfume. knows perfume 4536 California Ave., SW Seattle, WA 98116 (206) 397-3141 — New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, December 11th from 3:00 to 6:00pm, in the Learning Center. Healthy Living Market 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 — All three Will Call locations will be holding a toy drive. Everyone who brings a toy ($10 value or higher, please) will receive a 5ml of Hot Buttered Rum (while supplies last.) Limit one bottle per customer. The blends that will be available for purchase include those that went live on the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab website up to and including the Beaver Moon update. This includes the Halloweenies! Forum only scents will not be available at Will Call. We will no longer be accepting preorders at West Coast Will Call, with the exception of orders for Twilight Alchemy Lab oils. We will do our best to accommodate all orders, but sales will be based on availability. At this time, Twilight Alchemy Lab oils will only be available at Dark Delicacies via preorder. Items from Black Phoenix Trading Post will be available at Dark Delicacies, subject to stock on hand. If you have any questions, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com. Where/When: West Coast Will Call at Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Ave Burbank, CA 91505 Saturday, December 10th, 4:00 to 7:00pm Seattle Will Call at knows perfume 4536 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98116 Saturday, December 10th, 6:00 to 9:00pm New England Will Call at Healthy Living Market (inside the Learning Center) 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 Sunday, December 11th, 3:00 to 6:00pm

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s cutoff dates for Christmas shipping are as follows: Domestic: December 10, 6pm pacific standard time (aka lab time) International: December 7, 6pm pacific standard time (aka lab time) Orders placed for the upcoming lunacy will NOT arrive in time for Christmas. If you are ordering the upcoming lunacy scent along with Yules, be advised that they will not arrive in time for Christmas giving. Please do not wait until the last minute to place your orders. We will do everything we can to get every order placed by these dates out in time for Christmas Eve delivery, but we cannot make any guarantees. Black Phoenix Trading Post will be announcing their cutoff dates separately. Thanks everyone, and happy holidays!

The goblins are decking the Trading Post Halls; the Yuletide season has begun! ++ BPTP: Krampus Tee Shirt Commemorating Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Yuletide season! Artwork by the phenomenal Julie Dillon. Coal black and snow white ink on red tee. ++ BPTP: Yuletide Atmosphere Sprays KONDITOREI Apple strudel, candied fruits, iced tarts, marzipan, Turkish coffee, and hot chocolate. WINTER WIND Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky, That does not bite so nigh As benefits forgot: Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As a friend remembered not. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then heigh-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly. Snow, sleet, and biting wind with a touch of holly leaf and winter mint. GOOD CHEER Roasted chestnuts and candied figs. SCROOGE’S APARTMENTS They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again. Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it: dust and darkness, a spoonful of gruel, and a low fire burning in the grate. THE STORYTELLER’S PARLOR No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time. A soft leather armchair, pipesmoke, crackling firewood, and a snifter of brandy. ++ BPTP: Yuletide Soaps CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO GINGERBREAD Dark molasses, espresso beans, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and brown sugar with rum-infused espresso frosting. EGG NOG Sweet brandy, dark rum, heavy cream, sugar, and a dash of nutmeg. SUGAR COOKIE Sugar cookies dusted with confectioner’s sugar. SUGAR PLUM FAIRY Queen of the Kingdom of Sweets: sugar plums, vanilla-infused sugar, tiare, amber musk, apricot peel, and a light dusting of cacao. ++ BPTP: Yuletide Bath Oils EGG NOG Sweet brandy, dark rum, heavy cream, sugar, and a dash of nutmeg. GINGERBREAD POPPET Warm, cozy gingerbread spiced with nutmeg, clove and cinnamon. HOCKEY URCHIN A warming, ache and pain relieving, muscle relaxing bath: red ginger with patchouli, chamomile, honey, allspice, and nutmeg, sprinkled with Epsom salts. ICE PRINCESS Iced blackberries, blackcurrant honey, frozen white peach, and sweet vanilla cream. SILENT FOREST Snow-draped pine, cedar, and fir, with juniper, mountain sage, and wild thyme. WINTER FAIRY Honey, lotus root, orris root, white jasmine, and winter berries. ++ BPTP: Yuletide Scents Three Christmas Puddins! BLACK CHERRY AMARETTO CHRISTMAS PUDDIN’ Sweet Christmas pudding with black cherries soaked in vanilla-drizzled amaretto. FIGGY PUDDIN’ Calymyrna figs, dark rum, cognac, raisins, cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar, and clove. PLUM PUDDIN’ Sultana raisins, red currants, candied orange peel, allspice, clove, nutmeg, sherry, and cognac. And two stockings filled with imps. STOCKING FULL OF IMPS I Amaretto Macaroon Blueberry Peppermint Red Velvet Truffle STOCKING FULL OF IMPS II Honey Gingerbread Raspberry Thumbprint Cookie Snowy Rum Ball

Sorry for the bad new right before the holidays, but effective immediately, Black Opal has been discontinued.

Do they have wand caps? We do prototype labels for two different things, Will Call testers and scent that we send out for approval. Since those are Yules and wouldn't have needed to be approved by anyone, I am guessing those are Will Call testers.

Oak Moon is rising at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post! oak moon OAK MOON Live thy Life, Young and old, Like yon oak, Bright in spring, Living gold; Summer-rich Then; and then Autumn-changed Soberer-hued Gold again. All his leaves Fall’n at length, Look, he stands, Trunk and bough Naked strength. Eternally evolving, blooming in power and grace: acorns, oak leaves, oak bark, and oak sap rising through a mist of traditional lunar oils. Art by the delectable Julie Dillon! Also this month, Yules start glittering, a creature rises, and a match girl finds her light. ++ YULE 2011 AUTUMN AND WINTER 2011 Three months bade wane and wax the wintering moon Between two dates of death, while men were fain Yet of the living light that all too soon Three months bade wane. Cold autumn, wan with wrath of wind and rain, Saw pass a soul sweet as the sovereign tune That death smote silent when he smote again. First went my friend, in life’s mid light of noon, Who loved the lord of music: then the strain Whence earth was kindled like as heaven in June Three months bade wane. A herald soul before its master’s flying Touched by some few moons first the darkling goal Where shades rose up to greet the shade, espying A herald soul; Shades of dead lords of music, who control Men living by the might of men undying, With strength of strains that make delight of dole. The deep dense dust on death’s dim threshold lying Trembled with sense of kindling sound that stole Through darkness, and the night gave ear, descrying A herald soul. One went before, one after, but so fast They seem gone hence together, from the shore Whence we now gaze: yet ere the mightier passed One went before; One whose whole heart of love, being set of yore On that high joy which music lends us, cast Light round him forth of music’s radiant store. Then went, while earth on winter glared aghast, The mortal god he worshipped, through the door Wherethrough so late, his lover to the last, One went before. A star had set an hour before the sun Sank from the skies wherethrough his heart’s pulse yet Thrills audibly: but few took heed, or none, A star had set. All heaven rings back, sonorous with regret, The deep dirge of the sunset: how should one Soft star be missed in all the concourse met? But, O sweet single heart whose work is done, Whose songs are silent, how should I forget That ere the sunset’s fiery goal was won A star had set? Bitter currant and dry leaves. Winter wind at dusk. CHANUKKIYAH 2011 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. CLOTH OF GOLD Vibrant yellow petals bursting exultantly through a patch of snow. DIABLE EN BOÎTE 2011 The crickets sing, and man’s o’er-labour’d sense Repairs itself by rest. Our Tarquin thus Did softly press the rushes, ere he waken’d The chastity he wounded. Cytherea, How bravely thou becomest thy bed, fresh lily, And whiter than the sheets! That I might touch! But kiss; one kiss! Rubies unparagon’d, How dearly they do’t! ‘Tis her breathing that Perfumes the chamber thus: the flame o’ the taper Bows toward her, and would under-peep her lids, To see the enclosed lights, now canopied Under these windows, white and azure laced With blue of heaven’s own tinct. But my design, To note the chamber: I will write all down: Such and such pictures; there the window; such The adornment of her bed; the arras; figures, Why, such and such; and the contents o’ the story. Ah, but some natural notes about her body, Above ten thousand meaner moveables Would testify, to enrich mine inventory. O sleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her! And be her sense but as a monument, Thus in a chapel lying! Come off, come off: As slippery as the Gordian knot was hard! ‘Tis mine; and this will witness outwardly, As strongly as the conscience does within, To the madding of her lord. On her left breast A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops I’ the bottom of a cowslip: here’s a voucher, Stronger than ever law could make: this secret Will force him think I have pick’d the lock and ta’en The treasure of her honour. No more. To what end? Why should I write this down, that’s riveted, Screw’d to my memory? She hath been reading late The tale of Tereus; here the leaf’s turn’d down Where Philomel gave up. I have enough: To the trunk again, and shut the spring of it. Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning May bare the raven’s eye! I lodge in fear; Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here. One, two, three: time, time! - Iachimo, Cymbeline Act II, Scene 2 There are few things more disturbing than a Jack in the Box. A strangely sinister, unnerving holiday scent: redwood, bitter clove, tonka, hemp accord, and tobacco with peach blossom, black currant, and red musk. DUST OF SNOW The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And saved some part Of a day I had rued. - Robert Frost Snowflakes and hemlock leaves with snowdrop, iris, and Peruvian lily. EGG NOG 2011 Sweet brandy, dark rum, heavy cream, sugar, and a dash of nutmeg. FROST AT MIDNIGHT The Frost performs its secret ministry, Unhelped by any wind. The owlet’s cry Came loud—and hark, again! loud as before. The inmates of my cottage, all at rest, Have left me to that solitude, which suits Abstruser musings: save that at my side My cradled infant slumbers peacefully. ‘Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs And vexes meditation with its strange And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood, This populous village! Sea, and hill, and wood, With all the numberless goings-on of life, Inaudible as dreams! the thin blue flame Lies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not; Only that film, which fluttered on the grate, Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing. Methinks, its motion in this hush of nature Gives it dim sympathies with me who live, Making it a companionable form, Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling Spirit By its own moods interprets, every where Echo or mirror seeking of itself, And makes a toy of Thought. But O! how oft, How oft, at school, with most believing mind, Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars, To watch that fluttering stranger! and as oft With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt Of my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower, Whose bells, the poor man’s only music, rang From morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day, So sweetly, that they stirred and haunted me With a wild pleasure, falling on mine ear Most like articulate sounds of things to come! So gazed I, till the soothing things, I dreamt, Lulled me to sleep, and sleep prolonged my dreams! And so I brooded all the following morn, Awed by the stern preceptor’s face, mine eye Fixed with mock study on my swimming book: Save if the door half opened, and I snatched A hasty glance, and still my heart leaped up, For still I hoped to see the stranger’s face, Townsman, or aunt, or sister more beloved, My play-mate when we both were clothed alike! Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side, Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm, Fill up the intersperséd vacancies And momentary pauses of the thought! My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heart With tender gladness, thus to look at thee, And think that thou shalt learn far other lore, And in far other scenes! For I was reared In the great city, pent ‘mid cloisters dim, And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars. But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds, Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible Of that eternal language, which thy God Utters, who from eternity doth teach Himself in all, and all things in himself. Great universal Teacher! he shall mould Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask. Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee, Whether the summer clothe the general earth With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall Heard only in the trances of the blast, Or if the secret ministry of frost Shall hang them up in silent icicles, Quietly shining to the quiet Moon. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge The liberating glory of nature, a celebration of wildness of spirit: fierce musk and immortelle, clary sage and oud, terebinth pine and ambrette seed, ivy and tobacco, honeysuckle and orange blossom. GELT 2011 Sevivon, sov, sov, sov Chanukah, hu chag tov Chanukah, hu chag tov Sevivon, sov, sov, sov! Chag simcha hu la-am Nes gadol haya sham Nes gadol haya sham Chag simcha hu la-am. A bounty of chocolate coins! Dry cocoa and golden amber! HALÔA 2011 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 symbolizes 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, pomegranate, myrrh, frankincense and olive leaf, and the warm scent of offertory cakes. JACOB’S LADDER 2011 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. The meeting of Heaven and Earth: golden amber, galbanum, benzoin, ambrette, rockrose, costus and tonka. JÓLASVEINAR 2011 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. LICK IT DISCREETLY This year’s minty double ententre! A sticky, chilly peppermint candy cane with sweet vanilla and an extra jolt of sugar. MAISON EN PAIN D’ÉPICES This is the scent of a freshly assembled gingerbread house, with swirls of multicolored icing, spice drop lights, meringue snow, pinwheel mint accents, chocolate roof tiles, candy wafer pavers, and jelly candy stained glass. We used a French translation for ‘gingerbread house’ as the name to make it sound fancier. French adds +40% Fancy! MIDNIGHT MASS 2011 I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord: That I may hear the voice of thy praise: and tell of all thy wondrous works. I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth. Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men: In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with gifts. But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord. In Roman Catholic tradition, the Christmas season begins liturgically on Christmas Eve, though it is forbidden to celebrate the Christmas Mass before midnight. The most devout attend Midnight Mass, celebrating both the Eucharist and the drama of the Nativity. This perfume is a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense, most often used during a Solemn Mass. Traditionally, five tears of this incense, each encased individually in wax that has been fashioned into the shape of a nail, are inserted into the paschal candle. This is, of course, represents the Five Wounds of Our Risen Savior. Symbolically, the burning of the incense signifies spiritual fervor, the fragrance itself inspires virtue, and the rising smoke carries our prayers to God. Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri; per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est, et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas, et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos, cuius regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per prophetas. Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen. MIDWINTER’S EVE 2011 A melancholy, deep scent, poignant and brimming with nostalgia. The perfume of sugared plums over a breeze of winter flowers. NOCHA BUENA 2011 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. ÖNDURDIS The Ski Lady, jötunn goddess of winter, bowhunting, mountains, and skiing. The scent of winter wind blowing over snow-capped mountains. PEACOCK QUEEN 2011 In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Haughty and imperious, vain, yet incomparably lovely to the eye, but thick with thorns of jealousy, pride and hatred. PINK SNOWBALLS 2011 A lighthearted winter scent: chilly vanilla rose snowballs! Dainty, soft, and certainly unfit for flinging! PUMPKIN MASALA ROOIBOS Rooibos tea with red ginger, green cardamom, fennel, peppercorns, almond, and licorice, sweetened with coconut sugar and jaggery. ROSE RED 2011 The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut. SNOW WHITE 2011 A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers. SUGAR COOKIE 2011 The Devil’s Bake Sale returns! WINTER HEAVENS Sharp is the night, but stars with frost alive Leap off the rim of earth across the dome. It is a night to make the heavens our home More than the nest whereto apace we strive. Lengths down our road each fir-tree seems a hive, In swarms outrushing from the golden comb. They waken waves of thoughts that burst to foam: The living throb in me, the dead revive. Yon mantle clothes us: there, past mortal breath, Life glistens on the river of the death. It folds us, flesh and dust; and have we knelt, Or never knelt, or eyed as kine the springs Of radiance, the radiance enrings: And this is the soul’s haven to have felt. - George Meredith Black midnight winter skies glittering with points of light: chill air, champaca flower, white musk, fir needle, papyrus reeds, and grey amber. WOODS IN WINTER 2011 When winter winds are piercing chill, And through the hawthorn blows the gale, With solemn feet I tread the hill, That overbrows the lonely vale. O’er the bare upland, and away Through the long reach of desert woods, The embracing sunbeams chastely play, And gladden these deep solitudes. Where, twisted round the barren oak, The summer vine in beauty clung, And summer winds the stillness broke, The crystal icicle is hung. Where, from their frozen urns, mute springs Pour out the river’s gradual tide, Shrilly the skater’s iron rings, And voices fill the woodland side. Alas! how changed from the fair scene, When birds sang out their mellow lay, And winds were soft, and woods were green, And the song ceased not with the day! But still wild music is abroad, Pale, desert woods! within your crowd; And gathering winds, in hoarse accord, Amid the vocal reeds pipe loud. Chill airs and wintry winds! my ear Has grown familiar with your song; I hear it in the opening year, I listen, and it cheers me long. Wild hemlock and juniper berries scattered in the snow beneath leafless trees bedecked with glittering icicles. YELLOW SNOWBALLS Because I am very, very crass this year. Slushy white mint, vanilla cream, lemon drops, grapefruit, and yuzu! YULE 2011 It is Yule, and the Holly King has slain the Oak: blood red holly berry, mistletoe, wild thyme, verbena, cinquefoil, hemp, winter rose, evergreen, frankincense, juniper, and myrrh. Frankenstein Like one who, on a lonely road, Doth walk in fear and dread, And, having once turned round, walks on, And turns no more on his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. - the Rime of the Ancient Mariner ++ FRANKENSTEIN AMIABLE AND LOVELY CREATURES Sometimes I allowed my thoughts, unchecked by reason, to ramble in the fields of Paradise, and dared to fancy amiable and lovely creatures sympathizing with my feelings and cheering my gloom; their angelic countenances breathed smiles of consolation. But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone. I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him. Amiable and lovely creatures: honey and rosewater with fig, patchouli, night-blooming jasmine, and white almond. BEAUTIFUL AND ADORED They consulted their village priest, and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate of my parents’ house–my more than sister–the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures. Beautiful and adored: rose musk, white gardenia, English pear, vanilla bean, red currant, and honey. A BLOT UPON THE EARTH Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they and could subsist upon coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned? A blot upon the earth: black plum, Spanish moss, opoponax, davana, vetiver, and opium poppy. BREATHLESS HORROR I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep. At length lassitude succeeded to the tumult I had before endured, and I threw myself on the bed in my clothes, endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness. But it was in vain; I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her, but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch –the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life. Breathless horror: icy white musk and thick olibanum with niaouli, carrot seed, white mint, and camphor. A COMPANION OF THE SAME NATURE “If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again: I will go to the vast wilds of South America. My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will be of the same nature as myself, and will be content with the same fare. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man, and will ripen our food. The picture I present to you is peaceful and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the wantonness of power and cruelty. Pitiless as you have been towards me, I now see compassion in your eyes; me seize the favourable moment, and persuade you to promise what. I so ardently desire.” A companion of the same nature: skin musk, red rose petals, mums, carnations, white linen, and sunlit amber on a bed of soft dry leaves. THE COUNTRY OF ETERNAL LIGHT I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour. There — for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators — there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. Its productions and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light? I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and may regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever. I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river. But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind, to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine. The country of eternal light: icy wind, depth hoar, and frost-limned lichen. DAYS AND NIGHTS IN VAULTS AND CHARNEL HOUSES Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. Days and nights in vaults and charnel houses: grave soil, necrophagous insect chitins, moss, mold, dried blood, rot, dirt-smeared wool, and sweat-drenched citrus lilac aftershave. THE DEEPEST MYSTERIES OF CREATION So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein-more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation. The deepest mysteries of creation: wild frankincense, rose otto, hyssop, and oude. A DENSE AND FRIGHTFUL DARKNESS The cup of life was poisoned forever; and although the sun shone upon me as upon the happy and gay of heart, I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me. Sometimes they were the expressive eyes of Henry languishing in death, the dark orbs nearly covered by the lids, and the long black lashes that fringed them; sometimes it was the watery, clouded eyes of the monster as I first saw them in my chamber at Ingolstadt. A dense and frightful darkness: black musk, vetiver, myrrh, opoponax, hemp, crushed sage, oakmoss, and tobacco. A DREARY NIGHT OF NOVEMBER It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs. How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!–Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. A dreary night of November: bone-white sandalwood, ink-black vetiver, Spanish moss, bitter clove, beeswax, and lotus root. THE HORRORS OF MY SECRET TOIL Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? The horrors of my secret toil: vetiver and rose. INEXTINGUISHABLE HATRED “You are in the wrong,” replied the fiend; “and instead of threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me? You would not call it murder if you could precipitate me into one of those ice-rifts and destroy my frame, the work of your own hands. Shall I respect man when he condemns me? Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness, and instead of injury I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance. But that cannot be; the human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union. Yet mine shall not be the submission of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my archenemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred. Have a care; I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth.” Inextinguishable hatred: red ginger and black opoponax with black pepper, stinging neroli, myrrh, and tobacco absolute. INSUPPORTABLE MISERY “Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery. “When night came I quitted my retreat and wandered in the wood; and now, no longer restrained by the fear of discovery, I gave vent to my anguish in fearful howlings. I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me and ranging through the wood with a staglike swiftness. Oh! What a miserable night I passed! The cold stars shone in mockery, and the bare trees waved their branches above me; now and then the sweet voice of a bird burst forth amidst the universal stillness. All, save I, were at rest or in enjoyment; I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me, and finding myself unsympathized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin. “But this was a luxury of sensation that could not endure; I became fatigued with excess of bodily exertion and sank on the damp grass in the sick impotence of despair. There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No; from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery. Insupportable misery: violet leaf, saffron, gunpowder tea, bruised lilac, and despairing lavender. THE MOON GAZED ON MY MIDNIGHT LABOURS These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour. My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realise. One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself; and the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil, as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave, or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? My limbs now tremble and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but then a resistless, and almost frantic, impulse urged me forward; I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit. It was indeed but a passing trance that only made me feel with renewed acuteness so soon as, the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had returned to my old habits. The moon gazed on my midnight labours: Moroccan musk, black opium poppy, clove, and orris root. MOCKING THE INVISIBLE WORLD WITH ITS OWN SHADOWS After having made a few preparatory experiments, he concluded with a panegyric upon modern chemistry, the terms of which I shall never forget: “The ancient teachers of this science,” said he, “promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and that the elixir of life is a chimera but these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows. Mocking the invisible world with its own shadows: olibanum and murky ambergris accord with verbena, white sandalwood, and wisteria. PALE STUDENT OF UNHALLOWED ARTS I saw-with shut eyes, but acute mental vision-I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. A pale student of unhallowed arts: fading Georgian cologne and split O3 molecules. PRIDE OF WISDOM As I spoke, rage sparkled in my eyes; the magistrate was intimidated. “You are mistaken,” said he. “I will exert myself, and if it is in my power to seize the monster, be assured that he shall suffer punishment proportionate to his crimes. But I fear, from what you have yourself described to be his properties, that this will prove impracticable; and thus, while every proper measure is pursued, you should make up your mind to disappointment.” “That cannot be; but all that I can say will be of little avail. My revenge is of no moment to you; yet, while I allow it to be a vice, I confess that it is the devouring and only passion of my soul. My rage is unspeakable when I reflect that the murderer, whom I have turned loose upon society, still exists. You refuse my just demand; I have but one resource, and I devote myself, either in my life or death, to his destruction.” I trembled with excess of agitation as I said this; there was a frenzy in my manner, and something, I doubt not, of that haughty fierceness which the martyrs of old are said to have possessed. But to a Genevan magistrate, whose mind was occupied by far other ideas than those of devotion and heroism, this elevation of mind had much the appearance of madness. He endeavoured to soothe me as a nurse does a child and reverted to my tale as the effects of delirium. “Man,” I cried, “how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you say.” The pride of wisdom: Roman chamomile, rosehips, ginseng, and fig. THE REWARD OF MY BENEVOLENCE “I was scarcely hid when a young girl came running towards the spot where I was concealed, laughing, as if she ran from someone in sport. She continued her course along the precipitous sides of the river, when suddenly her foot slipped, and she fell into the rapid stream. I rushed from my hiding-place and with extreme labour, from the force of the current, saved her and dragged her to shore. She was senseless, and I endeavoured by every means in my power to restore animation, when I was suddenly interrupted by the approach of a rustic, who was probably the person from whom she had playfully fled. On seeing me, he darted towards me, and tearing the girl from my arms, hastened towards the deeper parts of the wood. I followed speedily, I hardly knew why; but when the man saw me draw near, he aimed a gun, which he carried, at my body and fired. I sank to the ground, and my injurer, with increased swiftness, escaped into the wood. This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind. But the agony of my wound overcame me; my pulses paused, and I fainted.” The reward of my benevolence: boneflower, olive blossom, white sandalwood, clary sage, Himalayan cedar, and oakmoss SOLITARY AND ABHORRED Another circumstance strengthened and confirmed these feelings. Soon after my arrival in the hovel I discovered some papers in the pocket of the dress which I had taken from your laboratory. At first I had neglected them, but now that I was able to decipher the characters in which they were written, I began to study them with diligence. It was your journal of the four months that preceded my creation. You minutely described in these papers every step you took in the progress of your work; this history was mingled with accounts of domestic occurrences. You doubtless recollect these papers. Here they are. Everything is related in them which bears reference to my accursed origin; the whole detail of that series of disgusting circumstances which produced it is set in view; the minutest description of my odious and loathsome person is given, in language which painted your own horrors and rendered mine indelible. I sickened as I read. `Hateful day when I received life!’ I exclaimed in agony. `Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even YOU turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred. Solitary and abhorred: carrot seed, East Indian patchouli, white tea, and peru balsam. SORROWFUL AFFECTION The appearance of Justine was calm. She was dressed in mourning, and her countenance, always engaging, was rendered, by the solemnity of her feelings, exquisitely beautiful. Yet she appeared confident in innocence and did not tremble, although gazed on and execrated by thousands, for all the kindness which her beauty might otherwise have excited was obliterated in the minds of the spectators by the imagination of the enormity she was supposed to have committed. She was tranquil, yet her tranquillity was evidently constrained; and as her confusion had before been adduced as a proof of her guilt, she worked up her mind to an appearance of courage. When she entered the court she threw her eyes round it and quickly discovered where we were seated. A tear seemed to dim her eye when she saw us, but she quickly recovered herself, and a look of sorrowful affection seemed to attest her utter guiltlessness. Sorrowful affection: lily of the valley, tuberose, pink carnation, green tea absolute, orange zest, bourbon geranium, and blue musk. TILL DEATH Everyone loved Elizabeth. The passionate and almost reverential attachment with which all regarded her became, while I shared it, my pride and my delight. On the evening previous to her being brought to my home, my mother had said playfully, “I have a pretty present for my Victor–tomorrow he shall have it.” And when, on the morrow, she presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth as mine–mine to protect, love, and cherish. All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own. We called each other familiarly by the name of cousin. No word, no expression could body forth the kind of relation in which she stood to me–my more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only. Till death: white rose, black locust blossom, French magnolia, globe amaranth, iris root, and honeysuckle. A TORRENT OF LIGHT When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of fibres, muscles, and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty and labour. I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself, or one of simpler organisation; but my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man. The materials at present within my command hardly appeared adequate to so arduous an undertaking; but I doubted not that I should ultimately succeed. I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect: yet, when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success. Nor could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any argument of its impracticability. It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being. As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hinderance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature; that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large. After having formed this determination, and having spent some months in successfully collecting and arranging my materials, I began. No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. A torrent of light: eucalyptus petals, white mint, white amber, and ozone. WORKSHOP OF FILTHY CREATION I collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion. The workshop of filthy creation: electricity-scarred cypress beams, ancient stone slabs, damp metal, the coppery tang of coagulating blood, and ozone. Art for the Frankenstein series by the incomparable Julie Dillon. little match girl THE LAST EVENING OF THE YEAR Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening– the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the good of that? They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast. Snow settling on cold skin, tea rose petals, and dusty, threadbare linen. COLDER AND COLDER In a corner formed by two houses, of which one advanced more than the other, she seated herself down and cowered together. Her little feet she had drawn close up to her, but she grew colder and colder, and to go home she did not venture, for she had not sold any matches and could not bring a farthing of money: from her father she would certainly get blows, and at home it was cold too, for above her she had only the roof, through which the wind whistled, even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw and rags. Peppermint, spearmint, white musk, and elemi settling into a deepening darkness. A WONDEFUL LIGHT Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh! a match might afford her a world of comfort, if she only dared take a single one out of the bundle, draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it. She drew one out. “Rischt!” how it blazed, how it burnt! It was a warm, bright flame, like a candle, as she held her hands over it: it was a wonderful light. It seemed really to the little maiden as though she were sitting before a large iron stove, with burnished brass feet and a brass ornament at top. The fire burned with such blessed influence; it warmed so delightfully. Three radiant ambers with honey, linden blossom, bourbon vanilla, and orange zest. THE MOST MAGNIFICENT CHRISTMAS TREE She lighted another match. Now there she was sitting under the most magnificent Christmas tree: it was still larger, and more decorated than the one which she had seen through the glass door in the rich merchant’s house. Spruce pine with hints of silver birch and warm, dark woods. THOUSANDS OF LIGHTS Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches, and gaily-colored pictures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows, looked down upon her. The little maiden stretched out her hands towards them when–the match went out. The lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven; one fell down and formed a long trail of fire. Indian ambrette seed, beeswax, champaca flower, saffron, Italian bergamot, frankincense, oak bark, and vanilla orchid. IN BRIGHTNESS AND IN JOY “Grandmother!” cried the little one. “Oh, take me with you! You go away when the match burns out; you vanish like the warm stove, like the delicious roast goose, and like the magnificent Christmas tree!” And she rubbed the whole bundle of matches quickly against the wall, for she wanted to be quite sure of keeping her grandmother near her. And the matches gave such a brilliant light that it was brighter than at noon-day: never formerly had the grandmother been so beautiful and so tall. She took the little maiden, on her arm, and both flew in brightness and in joy so high, so very high, and then above was neither cold, nor hunger, nor anxiety–they were with God. Divine mercy: sweet winter berry, orange blossom, frankincense, golden sandalwood, angel’s trumpet, and red rose. THE COLD HOUR OF DAWN But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn, sat the poor girl, with rosy cheeks and with a smiling mouth, leaning against the wall–frozen to death on the last evening of the old year. Esprit de eucalyptus, blue musk, davana, frosty iris, and tagetes. Halloweenies at both the Lab and the Trading Post have been extended another month. Yules will hang around until February 2012. Joyous Holidays to you all!

The west coast will call event will be held on Thursday, November 10th from 6 to 9pm at Dark Delicacies. Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Blvd (1 block east of Hollywood Way) Burbank, CA 91505 ____ Seattle Will Call will be held on Thursday, November 10th from 6 to 9pm at Knows Perfume. knows perfume 4536 California Ave., SW Seattle, WA 98116 (206) 397-3141 — New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, November 13th from 3:00 to 6:00pm, in the Learning Center. Healthy Living Market 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 — All three Will Call locations will be holding a Thanksgiving food drive! Receive an imp of Karmê for each item you bring. Karmê (Κάρμη) Sun-warmed squashes, peppers, salad greens, snap peas, radishes, green onions, and silphium. The blends that will be available for purchase include those that went live on the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab website up to and including the Beaver Moon update. This includes the Halloweenies! Forum only scents will not be available at Will Call. We will no longer be accepting preorders at West Coast Will Call, with the exception of orders for Twilight Alchemy Lab oils. We will do our best to accommodate all orders, but sales will be based on availability. At this time, Twilight Alchemy Lab oils will only be available at Dark Delicacies via preorder. Items from Black Phoenix Trading Post will be available at Dark Delicacies, subject to stock on hand. If you have any questions, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com. Where/When: West Coast Will Call at Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Ave Burbank, CA 91505 Thursday, November 10th, 6:00 to 9:00pm Seattle Will Call at knows perfume 4536 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98116 Thursday, November 10th, 6:00 to 9:00pm New England Will Call at Healthy Living Market (inside the Learning Center) 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 Sunday, November 13th, 3:00 to 6:00pm

Since this issue has nothing to do with TAL, this topic was merged in to BPAL "Who do I email with questions?" thread. Please be patient and BPAL customer service will get back to you as soon as they can.

Also new this month — ++ LIMITED EDITION LOI KRATHONG วัน เพ็ญ เดือน สิบสอง น้ำ ก็ นอง เต็ม ตลิ่ง เรา ทั้ง หลาย ชาย หญิง สนุก กัน จริง วัน ลอย กระทง ลอย ลอย กระทง, ลอย ลอย กระทง ลอย ลอย กระทง กัน แล้ว ขอ เชิญ น้อง แก้ว ออก มา รำวง รำวง วัน ลอย กระทง, รำวง วัน ลอย กระทง บุญ จะ ส่ง ให้ เรา สุข ใจ, บุญ จะ ส่ง ให้ เรา สุข ใจ The Festival of Lights! On the evening of the twelfth full moon of the Dai calendar, small lotus-shaped offering boats are released out to the rivers and canals of Thailand, carrying prayers and wishes out into the waters. It is a preparation for renewal, and a time for releasing and banishing the darker parts of ourselves. Banana leaves, betel nuts, coconut bark, spider lilies, candle wax, and incense. The first incarnation of Lady Death comes to Black Phoenix! ++ LADY DEATH Set in medieval times, Lady Death is the story of Hope, a woman who renounces her humanity to save her mother’s soul from evil forces in the darkest domain. Through insurmountable trials, she’s forged into Lady Death: a brutal, rebel warrior who rallies the downtrodden and topples once unstoppable kings. LADY DEATH: SAVAGE Lady Death in all her savage glory: an unrelenting supernatural warrior witch! White musk, grey amber, Calabrian bergamot, vanilla absolute, French labdanum, styrax, wormwood, caraway, and bois de jasmin. Batty is coming to Dark Delicacies! ++ DARK DELICACIES 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! Batty will be available on the Dark Delicacies site. If you purchase Batty at Dark Del’s brick and mortar shop in-person, you will receive a free aristobat holiday ornament while supplies last! Halloween: Montreal is available at Pretty Indulgent! ++ PRETTY INDULGENT 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 And that’s that while we prep for Yule!

Two of our Halloweenie scents, October 2011 and Devil's Night 2011, are currently on back order, due to one of the components being stuck in customs. We didn't anticipate the delay, and are very sorry that this is holding up orders. We expect to be able to start shipping orders containing October 2011 and Devil's Night 2011 by the end of this week. We greatly appreciate your patience.

Photos from yesterdays Pizza for the People delivery are up on Black Phoenix Gazette.

The return of our annual Halloween Full Moon event! Come dressed as your favorite writer or literary character. The west coast will call event will be held on Sunday, October 16th from 4 to 7pm at Dark Delicacies. Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Blvd (1 block east of Hollywood Way) Burbank, CA 91505 ___ New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market onSunday, October 16th from 3:30 to 6:30pm, in the Learning Center. Healthy Living Market 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 — The blends that will be available for purchase include those that went live on the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab website up to and including the Blood Moon update. This includes the Halloweenies! Forum only scents will not be available at Will Call. We will no longer be accepting preorders at West Coast Will Call, with the exception of orders for Twilight Alchemy Lab oils. We will do our best to accommodate all orders, but sales will be based on availability. At this time, Twilight Alchemy Lab oils will only be available at Dark Delicacies via preorder. Items from Black Phoenix Trading Post will be available at Dark Delicacies, subject to stock on hand. If you have any questions, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com. Where/When: West Coast Will Call at Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Ave Burbank, CA 91505 Sunday, October 16th, 4:00 to 7:00pm New England Will Call at Healthy Living Market (inside the Learning Center) 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 Sunday, October 16th, 3:30 to 6:;30pm

Greetings mortals! Black Phoenix Trading Post’s Halloween Update has been unearthed. ++ BPTP: Halloweenie Tee Shirt Halloween at BPTP Commemorating Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Halloween season! Artwork by the phenomenal Julie Dillon. Abhorrent orange, and putrescent purple ink on black tee. ++ BPTP: Halloweenie Scents CANDIED PUMPKIN A traditional Dia de los Muertos ofrenda: sweet pumpkin cooked with piloncillo, orange juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, fresh ginger, maple syrup, honey, and clove. CRYPT KING You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light. If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring. Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour. Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king? Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling? For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance. The Crypt Queen’s dapper consort: pomegranate juice, black pepper, oakmoss, coriander, black ginger, patchouli, dracaena, and a splash of lilac fougere. The Crypt King is limited to 43 sets and is only available from our Etsy site. It will go live around 3pm pacific time today. ++ BPTP: Halloweenie Bath Oils FRUITBAT FRUITBATH Plump plums, ripe pomegranate, sweet mango, kumquat, yuzu, melon blossom, and Boquila berries. HONEY PUMPKIN STOUT A smoky honey oatmeal stout with pumpkin mash. MARSHMALLOW PUMPKIN Marshmallow goo and pumpkin pulp! SPUN SUGAR SPECTRE A web of gleaming, glistening sugar strands! Label artwork for Fruitbat Fruitbath, Marshmallow Pumpkin, and Sugar Spun Spectre by Manda Lander ++ BPTP: Halloweenie Soaps SAMHAIN Truly the scent of autumn itself — damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein. HONEY PUMPKIN STOUT A smoky honey oatmeal stout with pumpkin mash. STREUOBSTWIESE Bright red apples, apple blossom, apricot blossom, and meadow flowers scattered over a soft, thick blanket of grass. SUGAR SKULL Vibrant with the joy and sweetness of life in death! A blend of five sugars, lightly dusted with candied fruits. ++ BPTP: Halloweenie Atmosphere Sprays THE ORCHARDS OF HELL Pomegranate, mint, aconite, black poppy, white rose, narcissus, willow bark, wonder-flowers, asphodel blossoms, and poplar. HARVEST FESTIVAL Hay bales, roaring bonfires, corn stalks, and spiced cider. Also brewing in our cauldron… ++ (GC) BPTP HELL BROTH: A CAULDRON BOILING Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin’d. Harpier cries:—’tis time! ’tis time! Round about the caldron go – Create your own personalized hellbroth every time you bathe! The mad scientists at Black Phoenix Trading Post and Villainess have collaborated to reformat newts eyes, fenny snake fillets, bat’s wool, and other traditional witchin’ implements into a skin-softening, soul-enlivening bath powder format. Add a dash of Howlet’s Wing and a glop of Opium Tar to a newt bath! Or a toss a sprinkle of Lemurian Seaweed and Octopus Spittle into a tub full of Inquisitor’s Bile! And if the mood strikes you, soak in luxurious waters scented by unadulturated angel’s tears. The possibilities are endless! The scents are strange and diabolically divine! Even the weirdest Weird Sister is sure to be pleased! BLUE RINGED OCTOPUS SPITTLE Coconut meat, mango pulp, white mint, and melon. EYE OF NEWT King mandarin, ambrette seed, and red sandalwood. HOWLET’S WING Fermented white ginger, honey, and lemon peel. INQUISITOR’S BILE Olibanum, gum mastic, aloeswood, dragon’s blood resin, dammar, and vetiver. LEMURIAN SEAWEED Sea buckthorn berry, lime juice, and juniper. OPIUM TAR Opium accord and black currant. TEARS OF THE SERAPHIM Bourbon vanilla, angelica root, and benzoin. Coming soon! ABSINTHE DREGS ADDER PUFFS BASALT SCARAB PTERATHORAX RAW FENNY SNAKE FILLETS NAJA HAJE VENOM POET’S SPLEEN VITREOUS HUMOR FROM THE FATES’ EYE VIRGIN’S BLOOD Also new in our soap department is another general catalog collaboration with Villainess… PORT AU PRINCE SOAP Dark, decadent and incomparably exotic: the rich scent of buttered rum flavored with almond, bay, clove and sassafras.. The soap: Crushed almonds for gentle exfoliation in a silken, gilded lather and for the shiniest, smelliest locks… ++ (GC) BPTP: HAIR GLOSS We have combined Tahitian monoi, camelina oil, argan oil, and karanja oil to give your mane a gleaming finishing shine without leaving it gloopy, weighted-down, or greasy. Camelina oil provides a protective coating for the hair follicles, argan oil nourishes stressed hair, enhances elasticity, and repairs cellular damage to the hair strand itself, and a touch of Monoi oil adds moisture and enhances softness. Your hair will be silkier, shinier, glossier, more vibrant, and frizz-free. Black Phoenix’s Hair Gloss is paraben and sulfate free, and contains on petro-chemicals, no GMOs, and no triclosan. Our hair gloss has a six-month shelf life. Scents: Fig and White Sandalwood Frankincense Clove Honey White Tea and Sage Snake Oil Candles coming soon from Black Phoenix Trading Post! Last but certainly not least, I see a Blood Moon Rising. Artwork by Arthur Rackham. Sooty black ink on a natural, off-white tee.

The west coast will call event will be held on Tuesday, September 13th from 6 to 9pm at Dark Delicacies. Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Blvd (1 block east of Hollywood Way) Burbank, CA 91505 ___ Seattle Will Call will be held on Wednesday, September 21th from 7 to 9 pm at Knows Perfume. knows perfume 4536 California Ave., SW Seattle, WA 98116 (206) 397-3141 — New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, September 18th from 2 to 5pm, in the Learning Center. Healthy Living Market 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 — The blends that will be available for purchase include those that went live on the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab website up to and including the Harvest Moon update. Forum only scents will not be available at Will Call. We will no longer be accepting preorders at West Coast Will Call, with the exception of orders for Twilight Alchemy Lab oils. We will do our best to accommodate all orders, but sales will be based on availability. At this time, Twilight Alchemy Lab oils will only be available at Dark Delicacies via preorder. Items from Black Phoenix Trading Post will be available at Dark Delicacies, subject to stock on hand. If you have any questions, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com. Where/When: West Coast Will Call at Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Ave Burbank, CA 91505 Tuesday, September 13th, 6:00 to 9:00pm New England Will Call at Healthy Living Market (inside the Learning Center) 222 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT, 05403 Sunday, September 18th, 2 to 5pm Seattle Will Call at knows perfume 4536 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98116 Wednesday, September 21st, 7 to 9pm