wickedgoddess
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Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Lunacy events are your opportunity to meet the lab staff (California only), purchase the latest scents, and get a sneak preview of what’s coming soon. 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 Crwo Moon update. Our Lunacy events are held on the night of the full moon at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, and are always free.
The west coast will call event will be held on Sunday, March 24th from 4 to 7pm at Dark Delicacies.
Dark Delicacies
3512 W. Magnolia Blvd
(1 block east of Hollywood Way)
Burbank, CA 91505
www.darkdel.com
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New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, March 31st from 4:00 to 7:00pm, in the Learning Center.
Healthy Living Market
222 Dorset Street,
South Burlington, VT, 05403
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Seattle Will Call will be held at Bedlam Bedlam on Saturday, March 30th from 6:30 to 9:00pm.
BedlamBedlam
613 East Pike Street
Seattle WA 98122
If you have any questions, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com.
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THE MAZE OF GAMES
Colleen stepped forward to within the figure’s reach. “Excuse me, Sir Skeleton? Who exactly are you?”
As the door slammed shut, the figure reached down to touch Colleen on the forehead. She recoiled from the cold.
“Why, child, I am the Gatekeeper,” he said with a forbidding smile, though in truth his skeletal face nade it hard to tell. “You unlucky children are about to enter my world. And if you keep your wits about you, you might make it out alive.
“So welcome,” he said as the Quaice siblings’ world went black. “Welcome, my young charges, to The Maze of Games.”
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is proud to debut THE GATEKEEPER, a haunting, puzzling scent in commemoration of The Maze of Games, which is currently debuting on Kickstarter now.
The Maze of Games is an upcoming interactive puzzle novel written by Mike Selinker and illustrated by Pete Venters. It contains over 50 puzzles and a deeply engaging story, all woven together in a “solve your own adventure” style which will keep you jumping from page to page.
The main characters are teenagers Colleen and Samuel Quaice, who live in England in the year 1897. During a visit to the Upper Wolverhampton Library, they discover a musty book called The Maze of Games. This summons a mysterious skeletal guardian named the Gatekeeper, who plunges them into dangerous mazes rife with monsters and bizarre puzzles. Only by solving their way through the mazes will the Quaice children find their way home.
In honor of this enchanting novel, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is pleased to debut a limited-edition potion that will keep you guessing for days on end.
THE GATEKEEPER
A dry perfume, solemn and riddled with ancient, whispered secrets: brittle bones, the well-worn leather spines of forgotten books, crumbling papyrus, and the warm, strange scent of yellowed, crumbling manuscripts.
The Gatekeeper will be available in Summer 2013 at $26.00 per 5ml bottle.
All purchasers of any Maze of Games book will receive a coupon for $5 off a bottle of The Gatekeeper when it becomes available.
Black Phoenix loves Lone Shark Games! Mike is a phenomenal puzzle-twister and a game designer beyond compare, and he is one hell of a good guy. We are thrilled to be a part of this amazing project!
- Elizabeth Barrial, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab
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And in the distance, the faraway wailing of a phantom calliope can be heard once again, for a few brief moments.
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We regret to announce that we will NOT be attending Sakura Con this year.
However we are confirmed for C2E2 in Chicago, and Bats Day in Anaheim.
C2E2
April 26-28th
West Building at McCormick Place
Chicago, Il
www.c2e2.com
Bats Day Black Market
May 4th, 3 to 10pm
DoubleTree Guest Suites Anaheim
2085 South Harbor Blvd Anaheim CA, 92802
Bats Day Black Market
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On January 1st, CCNow was sold to another company, and is now based internationally.
It has come to our attention that some of our customers are being charged international service fees on CCNow orders. We want to assure you that we are now aware of this, and while we cannot control it, we are moving along on our new site as quickly as possible. Once the new site is launched, we will no longer be using CCNow as our credit card processor.
In the meantime, if you want to avoid these fees, you may want to use Paypal to place your orders.
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Crow Moon is live at BPAL and BPTP!
CROW MOON 2013
This is the final Full Moon of winter. The call of the crow signals the end of the frost, and their scent, of vervain, sandalwood-infused patchouli, black violet, white musk, and Chinese cedar, is brushed by the last cold wind of winter on their wings, and the scent of evergreen boughs touched by the season's final flowers and the first blossoms of spring: wintersweet, green-barked dogwood, iris, eastern redbud, primrose, snowdrop, and lenten rose hellebore bouquet.
Art by Tanya Bjork.
This month's single note is...
HUNGARIAN CARAWAY
Caraway is an herb whose usage as a culinary spice, a digestive aid, and ritual herb traces back to the Stone Age. In modern aromatherapy, it is used to banish mental fatigue, relieve emotional strain, and soothe frazzled nerves. Caraway inflames love and preserves fidelity, protects valuables from theft, and is used in gris gris bags to safeguard children.
Sadly, we also have to announce a few discontinuations. Effective immediately, Blood Countess, Frumious Bandersnatch, and Prunella have been discontinued.
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And a reminder that Will Call is this weekend!
The west coast will call event will be held on Sunday, February 24th from 4 to 7pm at Dark Delicacies.
Dark Delicacies
3512 W. Magnolia Blvd
(1 block east of Hollywood Way)
Burbank, CA 91505
www.darkdel.com
___
New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, February 24th from 4:00 to 7:00pm, in the Learning Center.
Healthy Living Market
222 Dorset Street,
South Burlington, VT, 05403
___________
Seattle Will Call will be held at Bedlam Bedlam on Saturday, February 23rd from 6:30 to 9:00pm.
BedlamBedlam
613 East Pike Street
Seattle WA 98122
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Hello
I'm hoping someone might be able to provide me w/ some info on these bottles. I've only the one bottle of Aziraphale, but the artwork on this bottle of Crowley is unlike any of the others I've ordered from the lab. It also seems to have a slightly more pronounced leather note. Please let me know if the pics don't show up. I'm computer-challenged...
Those are the original prototype labels for the Good Omens series. They were given to Neil Gaiman, and several bottles were gifted out, but the were never sold with that label. They date back to 2006.
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++ BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LAB LUPERCALIA: OUR LADY OF PAIN
Who gave thee thy wisdom? what stories
That stung thee, what visions that smote?
Wert thou pure and a maiden, Dolores,
When desire took thee first by the throat?
What bud was the shell of a blossom
That all men may smell to and pluck?
What milk fed thee first at what bosom?
What sins gave thee suck?
OUR LADY OF PAIN
Cold eyelids that hide like a jewel
Hard eyes that grow soft for an hour;
The heavy white limbs, and the cruel
Red mouth like a venomous flower;
When these are gone by with their glories,
What shall rest of thee then, what remain,
O mystic and sombre Dolores,
Our Lady of Pain?
Sumatran patchouli, blood musk, white lavender, opium tar, and black orchid.
Could you hurt me, sweet lips, though I hurt you?
Men touch them, and change in a trice
The lilies and languors of virtue
For the raptures and roses of vice;
Those lie where thy foot on the floor is,
These crown and caress thee and chain,
O splendid and sterile Dolores,
Our Lady of Pain.
THE LILIES AND LANGUORS OF VIRTUE
Calla lilies and lily of the valley with white lilac, narcissus, osmanthus, asphodel, and Egyptian musk.
THE RAPTURES AND ROSES OF VICE
Red roses, heady Moroccan musk, cinnamon, lobelia, coconut flesh, magnolia blossoms, and tobacco tar.
LIPS FULL OF LUST AND LAUGHTER
O lips full of lust and of laughter,
Curled snakes that are fed from my breast,
Bite hard, lest remembrance come after
And press with new lips where you pressed.
Red musk, wildflower honey, elemi, tangerine, and mint.
FEED ME AND FILL ME WITH PLEASURE
For my heart too springs up at the pressure,
Mine eyelids too moisten and burn;
Ah, feed me and fill me with pleasure,
Ere pain come in turn.
Black patchouli, honey, and thick vanilla amber.
THE DESIRE OF THY FURIOUS EMBRACES
The desire of thy furious embraces
Is more than the wisdom of years,
On the blossom though blood lie in traces,
Though the foliage be sodden with tears.
For the lords in whose keeping the door is
That opens on all who draw breath
Gave the cypress to love, my Dolores,
The myrtle to death.
Cypress, honey myrtle, yew, peace lily, ivy, and black rose.
IN HIS HANDS ALL THY CRUELTIES THRIVE
Thou shalt blind his bright eyes though he wrestle,
Thou shalt chain his light limbs though he strive;
In his lips all thy serpents shall nestle,
In his hands all thy cruelties thrive.
In the daytime thy voice shall go through him,
In his dreams he shall feel thee and ache;
Thou shalt kindle by night and subdue him
Asleep and awake.
Gleaming black vetiver, bay laurel, opoponax, hiba wood, Spanish moss, clove, and leather accord.
WHEN THY WILL STUNG THE WORLD INTO STRIFE
Dost thou dream, in a respite of slumber,
In a lull of the fires of thy life,
Of the days without name, without number,
When thy will stung the world into strife;
When, a goddess, the pulse of thy passion
Smote kings as they revelled in Rome;
And they hailed thee re-risen, O Thalassian,
Foam-white, from the foam?
Dragon’s blood resin, red ginger, bourbon geranium, thorny rosemary, red sandalwood, pink pepper, and green coffee bean.
THE WORM SHALL REVIVE THEE WITH KISSES
But the worm shall revive thee with kisses;
Thou shalt change and transmute as a god,
As the rod to a serpent that hisses,
As the serpent again to a rod.
Thy life shall not cease though thou doff it;
Thou shalt live until evil be slain,
And good shall die first, said thy prophet,
Our Lady of Pain.
Bourbon vetiver, oakmoss, and pomegranate.
FORGIVE US OUR VIRTUES, FORGIVE US
Who has known all the evil before us,
Or the tyrannous secrets of time?
Though we match not the dead men that bore us
At a song, at a kiss, at a crime–
Though the heathen outface and outlive us,
And our lives and our longings are twain–
Ah, forgive us our virtues, forgive us,
Our Lady of Pain.
Pale frankincense, styrax, East African black patchouli, cinnamon leaf, rosewood, and palisander.
O DAUGHTER OF DEATH AND PRIAPUS
They were purple of raiment and golden,
Filled full of thee, fiery with wine,
Thy lovers, in haunts unbeholden,
In marvellous chambers of thine.
They are fled, and their footprints escape us,
Who appraise thee, adore, and abstain,
O daughter of Death and Priapus,
Our Lady of Pain.
Black opium, wild plum, cypress tar, Bulgarian rose, olibanum, black orchid, and tobacco.
And Our Lady of Pain continues over at Black Phoenix Trading Post:
There are sins it may be to discover,
There are deeds it may be to delight.
What new work wilt thou find for thy lover,
What new passions for daytime or night?
What spells that they know not a word of
Whose lives are as leaves overblown?
What tortures undreamt of, unheard of,
Unwritten, unknown?
++ BPTP OUR LADY OF PAIN: CANDLES
THERE YET SHALL BE SORROWS
In yesterday’s reach and to-morrow’s,
Out of sight though they lie of to-day,
There have been and there yet shall be sorrows
That smite not and bite not in play.
The life and the love thou despisest,
These hurt us indeed, and in vain,
O wise among women, and wisest,
Our Lady of Pain.
White sandalwood, black cypress, wormwood, creeping willow, and rue.
THE THIRST OF UNBEARABLE THINGS
By the hunger of change and emotion,
By the thirst of unbearable things,
By despair, the twin-born of devotion,
By the pleasure that winces and stings,
The delight that consumes the desire,
The desire that outruns the delight,
By the cruelty deaf as a fire
And blind as the night,
Lavender, white fig, and Atlas cedar.
IN THE DARKNESS THEY MURMURED AND MINGLED
And they laughed, changing hands in the measure,
And they mixed and made peace after strife;
Pain melted in tears, and was pleasure;
Death tingled with blood, and was life.
Like lovers they melted and tingled,
In the dusk of thine innermost fane;
In the darkness they murmured and mingled,
Our Lady of Pain.
Labdanum, black plum, black currant, violet, and champaca flower.
THE TWILIGHT WHERE VIRTUES ARE VICES
In a twilight where virtues are vices,
In thy chapels, unknown of the sun,
To a tune that enthralls and entices,
They were wed, and the twain were as one.
For the tune from thine altar hath sounded
Since God bade the world’s work begin,
And the fume of thine incense abounded,
To sweeten the sin.
Honeysuckle, Moroccan jasmine, and opium smoke.
DRIED IS THE BLOOD OF THY LOVER
What broke off the garlands that girt you?
What sundered you spirit and clay?
Weak sins yet alive are as virtue
To the strength of the sins of that day.
For dried is the blood of thy lover,
Ipsithilla, contracted the vein;
Cry aloud, “Will he rise and recover,
Our Lady of Pain?”
Dragon’s blood resin, myrrh, red musk, vetiver, black clove, and cassia.
++ BPTP OUR LADY OF PAIN: BATH OILS
THE FROTH OF THE SERPENTS OF PLEASURE
All thine the new wine of desire,
The fruit of four lips as they clung
Till the hair and the eyelids took fire,
The foam of a serpentine tongue,
The froth of the serpents of pleasure,
More salt than the foam of the sea,
Now felt as a flame, now at leisure
As wine shed for me.
Sweet red wine, oakmoss, ambergris accord, ylang ylang, and Spanish mandarin.
QUICKEN THE SOUL THROUGH THE BLOOD
Thou shalt touch and make redder his roses
With juice not of fruit nor of bud;
When the sense in the spirit reposes,
Thou shalt quicken the soul through the blood.
Thine, thine the one grace we implore is,
Who would live and not languish or feign,
O sleepless and deadly Dolores,
Our Lady of Pain.
Cacao, red patchouli, night-blooming jasmine, Roman chamomile, and white tea.
LITHE AND LASCIVIOUS REGRET
Thou wert fair in the fearless old fashion,
And thy limbs are as melodies yet,
And move to the music of passion
With lithe and lascivious regret.
What ailed us, O gods, to desert you
For creeds that refuse and restrain?
Come down and redeem us from virtue,
Our Lady of Pain.
Blackberry hops, blackened raspberry gum, purple chypre, and myrrh.
++ BPTP OUR LADY OF PAIN: ROOM SPRAYS
FIERCE MIDNIGHTS AND FAMISHING MORROWS
Seven sorrows the priests give their Virgin;
But thy sins, which are seventy times seven,
Seven ages would fail thee to purge in,
And then they would haunt thee in heaven:
Fierce midnights and famishing morrows,
And the loves that complete and control
All the joys of the flesh, all the sorrows
That wear out the soul.
Black plum, wild lily, and tobacco.
HOUSE OF UNQUENCHABLE FIRE
O garment not golden but gilded,
O garden where all men may dwell,
O tower not of ivory, but builded
By hands that reach heaven from hell;
O mystical rose of the mire,
O house not of gold but of gain,
O house of unquenchable fire,
Our Lady of Pain!
Glittering amber, frankincense, neroli, vanilla silk, and champaca.
THE SHRINE WHERE SIN IS A PRAYER
I have passed from the outermost portal
To the shrine where a sin is a prayer;
What care though the service be mortal?
O our Lady of Torture, what care?
All thine the last wine that I pour is,
The last in the chalice we drain,
O fierce and luxurious Dolores,
Our Lady of Pain.
Deep purple Syrah, calamus, myrrh smoke, hyssop, opoponax, bitter clove, burgundy pitch, opium poppy, and violet leaf.
++ BPTP OUR LADY OF PAIN: HAIR GLOSS
IMPLACABLE BEAUTIFUL TYRANT
When, with flame all around him aspirant,
Stood flushed, as a harp-player stands,
The implacable beautiful tyrant,
Rose-crowned, having death in his hands;
And a sound as the sound of loud water
Smote far through the flight of the fires,
And mixed with the lightning of slaughter
A thunder of lyres.
Golden amber, frankincense, white ginger, and oudh.
HAIR LOOSENED AND SOILED IN MID ORGIES
All shrines that were Vestal are flameless,
But the flame has not fallen from this;
Though obscure be the god, and though nameless
The eyes and the hair that we kiss;
Low fires that love sits by and forges
Fresh heads for his arrows and thine;
Hair loosened and soiled in mid orgies
With kisses and wine.
White honey, warm musk, and ambrette seed.
++ BPTP LUPERCALIA 2013: CANDLES
KHAJURAHO
The fabled Khajuraho temples of India are shrines of love in all its myriad forms. They are a celebration of love itself – transcendental, spiritual and erotic. This is a rejection of sorrow, spiritual ennui and despair. The sexual motifs that adorn the temples, and the temples themselves, are monuments to ecstasy and to passion, and through that, they are also monuments to spiritual fulfillment. It is believed that the realization of moksha by dedicating oneself to adhyatma and dharma can be attained only by first experiencing sexual satisfaction. In the midst of the drudgery and struggle that we sometimes endure during the course of our Earthly lives, it is vitally important that we remember the joy found in kama, and that in kama we can achieve transformation of the body and soul.
This is a blissful, euphoric blend based on an ancient Indian love potion: honey, date palm, tuberose, davana blossom, amber, white sandalwood, vanilla bean, Damask rose, and champaca flower.
++ BPTP LUPERCALIA 2013: CONFECTIONS
Lupercalia Handmade Hard Candies
These gourmet hard candies were hand-made exclusively for Black Phoenix by Confounding Confections. Confounding Confections Hard Candies are created and wrapped by hand, using only the finest of natural ingredients.
All ingredients used are natural, vegan, gluten-free, and free of common allergens. Gift tins are made in the U.S.A., and are reusable and recyclable.
Includes 12 individually wrapped sweeties (2 oz.) packaged in a handsome 4 inch gift tin.
For starry-eyed lovers:
NYMPHIA
White rose, apple blossom, mango, cucumber, coconut, and lavender.
To inflame with lust:
MIAIPHONOS
Clove, anise, mandarin, and cumin.
And also new at Black Phoenix Trading Post…
BLACK ROSE CANDLE
Exquisitely melancholy. The background scent to an ancient exequies. Heavy, dark and floral: a blend of roses, with a touch of amber and musk.
And over at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Smut has returned, just in the nick of time.
SMUT 2013
Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes.
In the midst of these carnal delights, one oil slips away, unobtrusively. Effective immediately, Detox is discontinued. The Panacea imp pack has been adjusted accordingly.
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Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Lunacy events are your opportunity to meet the lab staff (California only), purchase the latest scents, and get a sneak preview of what’s coming soon. 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 Cheshire Moon update. Our Lunacy events are held on the night of the full moon at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, and are always free.
The west coast will call event will be held on Sunday, February 24th from 4 to 7pm at Dark Delicacies.
Dark Delicacies
3512 W. Magnolia Blvd
(1 block east of Hollywood Way)
Burbank, CA 91505
www.darkdel.com
___
New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, February 24th from 4:00 to 7:00pm, in the Learning Center.
Healthy Living Market
222 Dorset Street,
South Burlington, VT, 05403
___________
Seattle Will Call will be held at Bedlam Bedlam on Saturday, February 23rd from 6:30 to 9:00pm.
BedlamBedlam
613 East Pike Street
Seattle WA 98122
If you have any questions, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com.
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If you are in the Los Angeles area and need a last minute Valentine’s gift, or want your sweetie to get you a little something extra, Lupercalia’s are now available at Dark Delicacies!
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On Sunday, January 27th, USPS greatly increased the cost to ship a package internationally. Unfortunately, we have to increase our international shipping rates as well.
Effective immediately, shipping to Canada will be $21 for up to 20 bottles. Shipping to the rest of the world will be $25.
As always, orders over $500 will ship for free.
We are really sorry to have to do this, but USPS has left us no other choice.
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Kung Hei Fat Choi! Happy New Year, one and all! It’s the year of the Water Snake! It’s also the Season of Schtupping! But before we begin the licentiousness, it’s time for a little lunacy.
CHESHIRE MOON 2013
The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good- natured, she thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.
‘Cheshire Puss,’ she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. ‘Come, it’s pleased so far,’ thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where –’ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
‘– so long as I get SOMEWHERE,’ Alice added as an explanation.
‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.’
Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. `What sort of people live about here?’
‘In THAT direction,’ the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,’ waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.’
‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.
‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: `we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’
‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice.
‘You must be,’ said the Cat, `or you wouldn’t have come here.’
A lunatic’s blend of lunar herbs and blossoms, with lemongrass, lemon balm, guava, pink grapefruit, papaya pulp, banyan fruit, hibiscus, and cherry blossom.
This month’s single note offering is:
FRENCH TOBACCO
This tobacco accord is soulful, earthy, and multifaceted: the scent reverberates like a deep bass note, possessing a very faint citrus-like twang and an almost animalic caramel richness.
WATER SNAKE
A new year’s blessing! Peony, China’s national flower, with bamboo for flexibility, plum blossom for perseverance, courage, and hope, tangerine for wealth, orange for happiness, lychee for household peace, pine resin for constancy, golden kumquat and quince for prosperity, narcissus and King mandarin for good fortune, and peach blossom for longevity, with a splash of blazing red of dragon’s blood… to help you scare away the rampaging Nian.
Love is in the air at Black Phoenix, and to celebrate both Lupercalia /and/ our favorite Hallmark Holiday, we present a selection of seasonal scents, lecherous and lovely. Heartbreak, fascination, lust, loss, and licentiousness: we’ve got it all.
Blessed Lupercalia, everyone!
++ LUPERCALIA 2013
ANACTORIA 2013
I feel thy blood against my blood; my pain
Pains thee, and lips bruise lips, and vein stings vein.
Let fruit be crushed on fruit, let flower on flower
Breast kindle breast, and either burn one hour.
Why wilt thou follow lesser loves? are thine
Too weak to bear these hands and lips of mine?
The scent of the throes of violent passion: entangled limbs, teeth on flesh, furiously grasping hands, the taste of blood and sweat. Golden amber, white honey, red currant, daemonorops, kush, and Arabian musk.
ANTIQUE
Gracieux fils de Pan! Autour de ton front couronné de fleurettes et de baies tes yeux, des boules précieuses, remuent. Tachées de lies brunes, tes joues se creusent. Tes crocs luisent. Ta poitrine ressemble à une cithare, des tintements circulent dans tes bras blonds. Ton coeur bat dans ce ventre òu dort le double sexe. Promène-toi la nuit, en mouvant doucement cette cuisse, cette seconde cuisse et cette jambe de gauche.
Graceful son of Pan! Around your forehead crowned with small flowers and berries, your eyes, precious spheres, are moving. Spotted with brownish wine lees, your cheeks grow hollow. Your fangs are gleaming. Your chest is like a lyre, jingling sounds circulate between your blond arms. Your heart beats in that belly where the double sex sleeps. Walk at night, gently moving that thigh, that second thigh and that left leg.
- Arthur Rimbaud, translated by John Asbery
Fossilized amber, juniper berry, wild musk, oudh, vetiver, white cedar, black currant, oakmoss, and leather.
CHINTAMANI-DHUPA
Pound well together sandal-wood, Kunku, costus, Krishnaguru, Suvasika-puspha, white vala and the bark of the Deodaru pine; and, after reducing them to fine powder, mix it with honey and thoroughly dry. It is now known as Chintamani-Dhupa, the “thought-mastering incense”. If a little of this be used according to the ceremonies prescribed, he who employs it will make all the world submissive to him.
A fumigation for fascination! A strangely sensual blend, exotic, compelling, and commanding, adapted from an incense recipe found in the venerable sex manual, the Ananga Ranga.
DOLCE STIL NUOVO 2013
Love always finds shelter in the gentle heart. Dolce Stil Nuovo is a 13th & 14th century Florentine literary style that celebrates love and womanhood through heartfelt, delicate, and melodious sonnets, ballate, and canzones. This is fin’amor, Courtly Love, in its most moving form, and the emotions that these words express reflect love that both spiritual and idealized.
Within this literary movement, earthly love reaches for the Divine.
Who is she coming, whom all gaze upon,
Who makes the air tremulous with light,
And at whose side is Love himself? that none
Dare speak, but each man’s sighs are infinite.
Ah me! how she looks round from left to right,
Let Love discourse: I may not speak thereon.
Lady she seems of such high benison
As makes all others graceless in men’s sight.
The honor which is hers cannot be said;
To whom are subject all things virtuous,
While all things beauteous own her deity.
Ne’er was the mind of man so nobly led
Nor yet was such redemption granted us
That we should ever know her perfectly.
Our interpretation of Dolce Stil Nuovo is a blend of rose otto, carnation, vanilla flower, lavender and jasmine with the clarity of crystalline white musk and the warmth of golden amber.
EN ESKÎ AŞKŞİİRİ
Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is you beauty, honeysweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.
You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you.
Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber,
You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you.
Lion, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber.
Bridegroom, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey,
In the bedchamber, honey-filled,
Let me enjoy your goodly beauty,
Lion, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey.
Bridegroom, you have taken your pleasure of me,
Tell my mother, she will give you delicacies,
My father, he will give you gifts.
Your spirit, I know where to cheer your spirit,
Bridegroom, sleep in our house until dawn,
Your heart, I know where to gladden your heart,
Lion, sleep in our house until dawn.
You, because you love me,
Give me pray of your caresses,
My lord god, my lord protector,
My Shu-Sin, who gladdens Enlil’s heart,
Give my pray of your caresses.
Your place goodly as honey, pray lay (your) hand on it,
Bring (your) hand over like a gishban-garment,
Cup (your) hand over it like a gishban-sikin-garment.
- Translated by Samuel Noah Kramer
En Eski Aşk Şiiri was inspired by the oldest love poem found in recorded history, inscribed circa 4000 BC. It was recited by the brides of King Shu-Sin of Nippur, in what is now modern-day Istanbul. This is a traditional Sumerian perfume, composed of juniper, tamarisk, almond, lavender honey, sesame, myrrh, olive oil, cedar, and rose.
EVE, TO ADAM IN PARADISE
With thee conversing I forget all time;
All seasons, and their change, all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds: pleasant the sun,
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful Evening mild; then silent Night
With this her solemn bird and this fair moon,
And these the gems of Heaven, her starry train:
But neither breath of Morn when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers;
Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night
With this her solemn bird; nor walk by moon,
Or glittering star-light without thee is sweet.
- Paradise Lost, Book IV, Lines 639-652 by John Milton
The First Love: Moroccan rose, white fig, honey, hay absolute, vanilla, chamomile, white musk, pomegranate juice, and morning dew.
A FAREWELL TO FALSE LOVE 2013
Farewell, false love, the oracle of lies,
A mortal foe and enemy to rest,
An envious boy, from whom all cares arise,
A bastard vile, a beast with rage possessed,
A way of error, a temple full of treason,
In all effects contrary unto reason.
A poisoned serpent covered all with flowers,
Mother of sighs, and murderer of repose,
A sea of sorrows whence are drawn such showers
As moisture lend to every grief that grows;
A school of guile, a net of deep deceit,
A gilded hook that holds a poisoned bait.
A fortress foiled, which reason did defend,
A siren song, a fever of the mind,
A maze wherein affection finds no end,
A raging cloud that runs before the wind,
A substance like the shadow of the sun,
A goal of grief for which the wisest run.
A quenchless fire, a nurse of trembling fear,
A path that leads to peril and mishap,
A true retreat of sorrow and despair,
An idle boy that sleeps in pleasure’s lap,
A deep mistrust of that which certain seems,
A hope of that which reason doubtful deems.
Sith then thy trains my younger years betrayed,
And for my faith ingratitude I find;
And sith repentance hath my wrongs bewrayed,
Whose course was ever contrary to kind:
False love, desire, and beauty frail, adieu.
Dead is the root whence all these fancies grew.
- Sir Walter Raleigh
Pale lavender, sweet violet, balsam of Peru, and paperwhite narcissus.
I LOVED YOU FIRST: BUT AFTERWARDS YOUR LOVE
Poca favilla gran fiamma seconda. – Dante
Ogni altra cosa, ogni pensier va fore,
E sol ivi con voi rimansi amore. – Petrarca
I loved you first: but afterwards your love
Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song
As drowned the friendly cooings of my dove.
Which owes the other most? my love was long,
And yours one moment seemed to wax more strong;
I loved and guessed at you, you construed me
And loved me for what might or might not be -
Nay, weights and measures do us both a wrong.
For verily love knows not ‘mine’ or ‘thine;’
With separate ‘I’ and ‘thou’ free love has done,
For one is both and both are one in love:
Rich love knows nought of ‘thine that is not mine;’
Both have the strength and both the length thereof,
Both of us, of the love which makes us one.
- Christina Rossetti
A gentle musk suffused with red roses, neroli, Moroccan jasmine, tuberose, white tobacco, and bourbon vanilla.
KHAJURAHO 2013
The fabled Khajuraho temples of India are shrines of love in all its myriad forms. They are a celebration of love itself – transcendental, spiritual and erotic. This is a rejection of sorrow, spiritual ennui and despair. The sexual motifs that adorn the temples, and the temples themselves, are monuments to ecstasy and to passion, and through that, they are also monuments to spiritual fulfillment. It is believed that the realization of moksha by dedicating oneself to adhyatma and dharma can be attained only by first experiencing sexual satisfaction. In the midst of the drudgery and struggle that we sometimes endure during the course of our Earthly lives, it is vitally important that we remember the joy found in kama, and that in kama we can achieve transformation of the body and soul.
This is a blissful, euphoric blend based on an ancient Indian love potion: honey, date palm, tuberose, davana blossom, amber, white sandalwood, vanilla bean, Damask rose, and champaca flower.
LA VITA NUOVA
In that book which is
My memory…
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words…
Here begins a new life
-Dante Alighieri
Apple blossom, white rose, lemon balm, and champagne grape.
LUPERCI 2013
Piss off, Saint Valentine! Lupercalia is an ancient Roman celebration, held on February 15th, that kicked in the advent of Spring with a very, very festive purification, fertility and sexuality ritual. The ritual began near the cave of Lupercal on the Palatine, an area sacred to Faunus, as well as Ruminia, Romulus and Remus. During Lupercalia, Vestal Virgins first made offerings of sacred cakes to the fig tree under which the she-wolf suckled the Sacred Twins. A dog and two goats were then offered in sacrifice to Faunus. The blood of the sacrifice was smeared onto two naked patrician youths, who were assisted by the Virgins, and the blood was wiped clean with sacred wool dipped in milk. The youths donned the skins of the sacrificial goats, wielding whips made from the goat skins, and then led the priests and the Virgins around the pomarium, and around the base hills of Rome. This was a ceremony of great happiness and merriment, and was of particular interest to young women: being touched by the goat-whips young men that led the procession ensured their fertility in the coming year. It is believed that, after the initial rite, male participants would draw the name of an available maiden, with whom he spent the rest of the night. This scent is for the Luperci, the Chosen of Faunus, the Brothers of the Wolf: raw, down and dirty patchouli, Gurjam balsam, and essence of Sampson Root sweetened with the heightened sexuality of beeswax, virile juniper, oakmoss, ambrette seed over honey and East African musk.
NIGHT THOUGHTS
Stars, you are unfortunate, I pity you,
Beautiful as you are, shining in your glory,
Who guide seafaring men through stress and peril
And have no recompense from gods or mortals,
Love you do not, nor do you know what love is.
Hours that are aeons urgently conducting
Your figures in a dance through the vast heaven,
What journey have you ended in this moment,
Since lingering in the arms of my beloved
I lost all memory of you and midnight.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Lilac, blue musk, dianthus, cedar, neroli, ozone, and luminous Eastern herbs.
OLISBOS 2013
As for old flames and lovers-they’re none left.
And since Milesians went against us,
I’ve not seen a decent eight-fingered dildo.
Yes, it’s just leather, but it helps us out.
The ancient Greeks sure weren’t shy about taking care of business. The port city of Miletus was once famed throughout the Mediterranean as a source of excellent stone, wood, and padded leather dildos. This scent is the celebration of an age-old pastime: polished wood, well-loved leather, and olive oil.
ON THE BALCONY
In front of the sombre mountains,
a faint, lost ribbon of rainbow
And between us and it, the thunder;
And down below in the green wheat,
the labourers stand like dark stumps,
still in the green wheat.
You are near to me, and naked feet
In their sandals, and through the
scent of the balcony’s naked timber
I distinguish the scent of your hair:
so now the limber
Lightning falls from heaven.
Adown the pale-green glacier river floats
A dark boat through the gloom—
and whither? The thunder roars
But still we have each other!
The naked lightnings in the heavens dither
And disappear—
what have we but each other?
The boat has gone.
- DH Lawrence
A haven of warmth glowing within tumultuous darkness: rose-infused amber, copal, and blood lily surrounded by labdanum, opoponax, and myrrh, and splashed by ozone and rain.
THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE 2013
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills and fields,
Woods or steepy mountains yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair-lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.
- Christopher Marlowe
Heather, clover, Irish moss, English ivy, tea rose, and carnation.
THE PERFUMED GARDEN 2013
Under her neck my right hand
Has served her for a cushion,
And to draw her to me
I have sent out my left hand,
Which bore her up as a bed.
The Perfumed Garden for the Soul’s Recreation. This scent is based on a venerable Tunisian perfume that was used to excite the senses, inspire sensuality and inflame passion. Myrrh and Moroccan jasmine with apple peel, Indian sandalwood, myrtle, quince, citron, and thyme poured over soft musk.
SIGNIOR DILDO 2013
With thanks to Sir John Wilmot.
This signior is sound, safe, ready, and dumb
As ever was candle, carrot, or thumb;
Then away with these nasty devices, and show
How you rate the just merit of Signior Dildo.
Count Cazzo, who carries his nose very high,
In passion he swore his rival should die;
Then shut himself up to let the world know
Flesh and blood could not bear it from Signior Dildo.
A rabble of pricks who were welcome before,
Now finding the porter denied them the door,
Maliciously waited his coming below
And inhumanly fell on Signior Dildo.
Nigh wearied out, the poor stranger did fly,
And along the Pall Mall they followed full cry;
The women concerned from every window
Cried, ‘For heaven’s sake, save Signior Dildo.’
The good Lady Sandys burst into a laughter
To see how the ballocks came wobbling after,
And had not their weight retarded the foe,
Indeed’t had gone hard with Signior Dildo.
A scent of pearls and ivory: orris, violet leaf, narcissus, and Madagascar vanilla.
TIME DOES NOT BRING RELIEF 2013
Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year’s leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year’s bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide.
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go – so with his memory they brim.
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, ‘There is no memory of him here!’
And so stand stricken, so remembering him.
-Edna St Vincent Millay
Remembrance: Parma violet and leather accord with beeswax, Egyptian musk, orange blossom, white tea, lavender, myrrh, and copal.
+ Aeacidae Chiron, ego sum praeceptor Amoris
A THOUGHT FROM PROPERTIUS
She might, so noble from head
To great shapely knees
The long flowing line,
Have walked to the altar
Through the holy images
At Pallas Athene’s side,
Or been fit spoil for a Centaur
Drunk with the unmixed wine.
- WB Yeats
Sweet honey, white apricot, and a touch of cayenne pepper.
CORINNA
In summer’s heat, and mid-time of the day,
To rest my limbs upon a bed I lay;
One window shut, the other open stood,
Which gave such light as twinkles in a wood,
Like twilight glimpse at setting of the sun,
Or night being past, and yet not day begun.
Such light to shamefaced maidens must be shown,
Where they may sport, and seem to be unknown.
Then came Corinna in a long loose gown,
Her white neck hid with tresses hanging down,
Resembling fair Semiramis going to bed
Or Lais of a thousand wooers sped.
I snatched her gown: being thin, the harm was small,
Yet strived she to be covered there withal.
And striving thus, as one that would be cast,
Betrayed herself, and yielded at the last.
Stark naked as she stood before mine eye,
Not one wen in her body could I spy.
What arms and shoulders did I touch and see!
How apt her breasts were to be pressed by me!
How smooth a belly under her waist saw I,
How large a leg, and what a lusty thigh!
To leave the rest, all liked me passing well,
I clinged her naked body, down she fell:
Judge you the rest; being tired she bade me kiss;
Jove send me more such afternoons as this!
- Christopher Marlowe, after Ovid
White amber, mimosa, orris root, osmanthus, labdanum, Siamese benzoin, and jasmine sambac.
SIC ERIT
Esse quid hoc dicam, quod tam mihi dura videntur
strata, neque in lecto pallia nostra sedent,
vacuus somno noctem, quam longa, peregi,
lassaque versati corporis ossa dolent?
nam, puto, sentirem, siquo temptarer amore.
an subit et tecta callidus arte nocet?
sic erit; haeserunt tenues in corde sagittae,
et possessa ferus pectora versat Amor.
Cedimus, an subitum luctando accendimus ignem?
cedamus! leve fit, quod bene fertur, onus.
vidi ego iactatas mota face crescere flammas
et rursus nullo concutiente mori.
verbera plura ferunt, quam quos iuvat usus aratri,
detractant prensi dum iuga prima boves.
asper equus duris contunditur ora lupatis,
frena minus sentit, quisquis ad arma facit.
acrius invitos multoque ferocius urget
quam qui servitium ferre fatentur Amor.
En ego confiteor! tua sum nova praeda, Cupido;
porrigimus victas ad tua iura manus.
nil opus est bello–veniam pacemque rogamus;
nec tibi laus armis victus inermis ero.
necte comam myrto, maternas iunge columbas;
qui deceat, currum vitricus ipse dabit,
inque dato curru, populo clamante triumphum,
stabis et adiunctas arte movebis aves.
ducentur capti iuvenes captaeque puellae;
haec tibi magnificus pompa triumphus erit.
ipse ego, praeda recens, factum modo vulnus habebo
et nova captiva vincula mente feram.
Mens Bona ducetur manibus post terga retortis,
et Pudor, et castris quidquid Amoris obest.
omnia te metuent; ad te sua bracchia tendens
vulgus ‘io’ magna voce ‘triumphe!’ canet.
blanditiae comites tibi erunt Errorque Furorque,
adsidue partes turba secuta tuas.
his tu militibus superas hominesque deosque;
haec tibi si demas commoda, nudus eris.
Laeta triumphanti de summo mater Olympo
plaudet et adpositas sparget in ora rosas.
tu pinnas gemma, gemma variante capillos
ibis in auratis aureus ipse rotis.
tunc quoque non paucos, si te bene novimus, ures;
tunc quoque praeteriens vulnera multa dabis.
non possunt, licet ipse velis, cessare sagittae;
fervida vicino flamma vapore nocet.
talis erat domita Bacchus Gangetide terra;
tu gravis alitibus, tigribus ille fuit.
Ergo cum possim sacri pars esse triumphi,
parce tuas in me perdere, victor, opes!
adspice cognati felicia Caesaris arma–
qua vicit, victos protegit ille manu.
WHO is it that can tell me why my bed seems so is hard and why the bedclothes will not stay upon it? Wherefore has this night–and oh, how long it was!–dragged on, bringing no sleep to my eyes? Why are my weary limbs visited with restlessness and pain? If it were Love that had come to make me suffer, surely I should know it. Or stay, what if he slips in like a thief, what if he comes, without a word of warning, to wound me with his cruel arts? Yes, ’tis he! His slender arrows have pierced my heart, and fell Love holds it like a conquered land. Shall I yield me to him? Or shall I strive against him, and so add fuel to this sudden flame? Well, I will yield; burdens willingly borne do lighter weigh. I know that the flames will leap from the shaken torch and die away in the one you leave alone. The young oxen which rebel against the yoke are more often beaten than those which willingly submit. And if a horse be fiery, harsh is the bit that tames him. When he takes to -the fray with a will, he feels the curb less galling. And so it is with Love; for hearts that struggle and rebel against him, he is more implacable and stern than for such as willingly confess his sway.
Ah well, be it so, Cupid; thy prey am I. I am a poor captive kneeling with suppliant hands before my conqueror. What is the use of fighting? Pardon and peace is what I ask. And little, I trow, would it redound to your glory, armed as you are, to strike down a defenceless man. Crown thy brows with myrtle and thy mother’s doves yoke to thy car. Thy step-father will give thee the chariot that befits thee, and upon that chariot, amid the acclamations of the throng, thou shalt stand a conqueror, guiding with skill thy harnessed birds. Captives in thy train, youths and maidens shall follow, and splendid shall be thy triumph. And I, thy latest victim, shall be there with my fresh wound, and with submissive mien I will bear my new-wrought fetters. Prudence shall be led captive with hands bound behind her back, and Modesty, and whatsoever else is an obstacle to Love. All things shall be in awe of thee, and stretching forth their arms towards thee the throng with mighty voice shall thunder “Io Triumphe!” Caresses shall be thy escort, and Illusion and Madness, a troop that ever follows in thy train. With these fighting on thy side, nor men nor gods shall stand against thee; but if their aid be lacking, naked shalt thou be. Proud to behold thy triumph, thy mother will applaud thee from High Olympus and scatter roses on thy upturned face. Thy wings and thy locks shall be adorned with precious stones, and all with gold resplendent shalt thou drive thy golden car. Then too, if I know thee well, thou wilt set countless other hearts on fire, and many a wound shalt deal as thou passest on thy way. Repose, even when thou art fain to rest, cometh not to thine arrows. Thy ardent flame turns water itself to vapour. Such was Bacchus when he triumphed over the land of the Ganges. Thou art drawn along by doves; his car was drawn by tigers. Since, then, I am to have a part in thy godlike triumph, lose not the rights which thy victory gives thee over me. Bethink thee of the victories of thy kinsman Cæsar; he shields the conquered with the very hand that conquers them.
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Thus it will be; slender arrows are lodged in my heart,
and Love vexes the chest that it has seized.
Should I surrender or stir up the sudden flame by battling it?
I will surrender; a burden becomes light when it is carried willingly.
- Ovid, translation by J. Lewis May
Slender arrows lodged in my heart: red amber, benzoin, red musk, bourbon geranium, oak bark, Atlas cedar, and 13-year aged Sumatran patchouli.
QAERIS QUOT MIHI BASIATIONES
Quaeris, quot mihi basiationes
tuae, Lesbia, sint satis superque.
quam magnus numerus Libyssae harenae
lasarpiciferis iacet Cyrenis
oraclum Iovis inter aestuosi
et Batti veteris sacrum sepulcrum;
aut quam sidera multa, cum tacet nox,
furtivos hominum vident amores:
tam te basia multa basiare
vesano satis et super Catullo est,
quae nec pernumerare curiosi
possint nec mala fascinare lingua
You ask, my Lesbia, how many of your kisses
are enough and more than enough for me.
As big a number as the Libyan grains of sand
that lie at silphium producing Cyrene
between the oracle of Sultry Jupiter
and the sacred tomb of old Battus;
Or as many stars that see the secret love affairs of men,
when the night is silent.
So many kisses are enough
and more than enough for mad Catullus to kiss you,
these kisses which neither the inquisitive are able to count
nor an evil tongue bewitch.
- Catallus, translation by Daniel San
Infinite kisses: white honey, red currant, sugar cane, and ginger.
UNVEIL THE GRACE IN THINE EYES
Turn to me, dear one, turn thy face,
And unveil for me in thine eyes, their grace.
- Sappho
Orris, luminous ambergris, and golden amber illuminated by a sunlit golden musk.
VIVAMUS, MEA LESBIA, ATQUE AMEMUS
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
rumoresque senum severiorum
omnes unius aestimemus assis!
soles occidere et redire possunt:
nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux,
nox est perpetua una dormienda.
da mi basia mille, deinde centum,
dein mille altera, dein secunda centum,
deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum.
dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,
conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,
aut ne quis malus inuidere possit,
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.
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 is set our little light,
Then must we sleep one ever-during night.
- Catallus, translation by Thomas Campion
Scorn the foolishness of others and love, for life is too brief, and death brings everlasting sleep: Ethiopian ambrette seed, summer honey, Alpine lavender, cognac, mate resinoid, peru balsam, and red musk.
++ BOX O’CHOCOLATES
BELGIAN CHOCOLATE, HONEY, CUBEB BERRIES, BLACK MISSION FIG AND AVOCADO
DARK CHOCOLATE WITH MERLOT-INFUSED BLACK CHERRIES AND STAR ANISE
DARK CHOCOLATE WITH WORMWOOD, FENNEL, SWEET FLAG, AND LEMON VERBENA, DUSTED WITH WHITE SUGAR.
MAYAN CHOCOLATE WITH ANNATTO SEED, ANAHEIM PEPPER, CINNAMON, AND VANILLA BEAN
WHITE CHOCOLATE WITH MATE, HAZELNUT, AND BANANA CREAM.
The following Lupercalia set contain nudity, depictions of sex acts, and other not-suitable-fer-younguns stuff. By clicking on the links or purchasing these products, you are affirming that you are at least eighteen years of age and that you are permitted by law to view suggestive imagery. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is also not responsible for any pearl-clutching reactions to the themes we present. If you are offended by nudity, schtupping, marital aids, or any other naughty business, please go no further. Viewer discretion is advised!
For your pleasure, we are thrilled to present another whimsical sojourn to the bedrooms of Edo-era Japan — Novel Ideas For Secret Amusements: A Shunga Exhibition.
Black Phoenix Trading Post’s Lupercalia update will be coming soon.
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Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Lunacy events are your opportunity to meet the lab staff (California only), purchase the latest scents, and get a sneak preview of what’s coming soon. 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 Moon of the Terrible update. Our Lunacy events are held on the night of the full moon at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, and are always free.
The west coast will call event will be held on Saturday, January 26th from 4 to 7pm at Dark Delicacies.
Dark Delicacies
3512 W. Magnolia Blvd
(1 block east of Hollywood Way)
Burbank, CA 91505
www.darkdel.com
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New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, January 27th from 4:00 to 6:00pm, in the Learning Center.
Healthy Living Market
222 Dorset Street,
South Burlington, VT, 05403
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Seattle Will Call will be held at Bedlam Bedlam on Saturday, January 26th from 6:30 to 9:00pm.
BedlamBedlam
613 East Pike Street
Seattle WA 98122
If you have any questions, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com.
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Moon of the Terrible is live at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Trading Post.
MOON OF THE TERRIBLE
On New Year’s Day
each thought a loneliness
as winter dusk descends
Desolation at the last moment in the gloaming on New Year’s Day: winter snow with lavender, benzoin, lychee, starfruit, carrot seed, white iris, pale resins, and a cluster of melancholy, lachrymose lunar herbs and florals.
And our monthly single note offerings are:
KING MANDARIN
King Mandarin is a refreshing, tart, opulent citrus oil. The scent is uplifting and cheering and creates a strong sense of well-being. It is a relaxing fragrance that promotes sensuality through delight.
MADAGASCAN VANILLA RUM
A complex single note accord that melds pure bourbon vanilla with the scent of fermented molasses. The scent is dark, thick, sweet, heavy and rich, with a slight spicy smokiness.
Also, a reminder that our three Will Call events are this weekend:
The west coast will call event will be held on Friday, December 28th from 6 to 9pm at Dark Delicacies.
Dark Delicacies
3512 W. Magnolia Blvd
(1 block east of Hollywood Way)
Burbank, CA 91505
www.darkdel.com
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New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, December 30th from 3:00 to 6:00pm, in the Learning Center.
Healthy Living Market
222 Dorset Street,
South Burlington, VT, 05403
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Seattle Will Call will be held at Bedlam Bedlam on Friday, December 28th, from 6:30 to 9:00 pm.
BedlamBedlam
613 East Pike Street
Seattle WA 98122
If you have any questions about will call events, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com.
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To ensure delivery of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post products by Christmas, international orders must be received by 6pm PST on 12/5.
Domestic Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab orders must be received by 6pm PST, 12/15, and domestic Black Phoenix Trading Post orders must be received by 6pm PST, 12/10.
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Our west coast full moon event is tonight at Dark Delicacies, 6pm til 9pm. We’re hosting our annual food and toy drives concurrently at this shindig!
For every $10 in food that you donate, you will receive a 5ml bottle of
FOREVER IS MERCY BUILT
Tamarind, tonka bean, patchouli, golden amber, and white fig.
For every toy valued at $10 or more that you bring, you will receive a 5ml bottle of
G’MILUT CHASADIM
Honeyed pomegranate, rose, myrrh, osmanthus, and wild plum.
We are offering these oils while supplies last, and cannot guarantee that any Will Call location will be able to fulfill all donation exchanges. We’ll do our best! Food donations made at our Los Angeles will call will support the Burbank Temporary Aid Center, and the toys will be donated to the Los Angeles location will be given to Spark of Love, the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s toy collection campaign.
The west coast will call event will be held on Wednesday, November 28th from 6 to 9pm at Dark Delicacies.
Dark Delicacies
3512 W. Magnolia Blvd
(1 block east of Hollywood Way)
Burbank, CA 91505
www.darkdel.com
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New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, December 2nd from 4:00 to 7:00pm, in the Learning Center.
Healthy Living Market
222 Dorset Street,
South Burlington, VT, 05403
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Seattle Will Call will be held at Bedlam Bedlam on Saturday, December 1st, from 6:30 to 9:00 pm.
BedlamBedlam
613 East Pike Street
Seattle WA 98122
If you have any questions about will call events, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com.
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The Whirling Wind Moon is live at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Trading Post.
WHIRLING WIND MOON
Swiftly walk o’er the western wave,
Spirit of Night!
Out of the misty eastern cave,
Where, all the long and lone daylight,
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,
‘Which make thee terrible and dear, —
Swift be thy flight!
Dreams of joy and fear: swirling dark and airy musks, mogra, plumeria, hyacinth, lily of the valley, dry white sandalwood, raw white ginger, gardenia, pale amber, and oakmoss.
Whirling Wind Moon art by Tanya Bjork!
This month’s single note is
GOLGOTHAN MYRRH
I send thee myrrh, not that thou mayest be by it perfumed, but it perfumed by thee.
Myrrh is a sacred plant whose power has been explored for over four thousand years. It is an ingredient in the Kyphi of the ancient Egyptians and in Ketoret, which was used in the used in the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem. Myrrh was also one of the gifts that the Magi were said to have brought to the infant Christ. This tremendously potent and protective plant resonates with the Crone, and is utilized both to explore the Crone’s spheres of death and wisdom, and as a tool to help lead the proverbial child of destiny through darkness to a place of enlightenment.
Myrrh, whose name means Bitter Tears, exists within the auspices of both Saturn and Luna, and represents loss and grief as well as the ability to heal and learn from painful experiences.
I hate price increases. There’s no gentle way of announcing them, and I always feel like a heel when we have to make ‘em. Effective immediately, the price of wand caps is going up to $1 per piece. The cost of the caps themselves has risen on our end, and because they’re a high-breakage item, we lose money on them as a whole because they get roughed up in transit despite our best efforts to keep them safe and snug.
Wand caps are available on our Imp’s Ears page.
Thank you so much for understanding!
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The BPTP Yule Update is now live!
+ BPTP MISKATONIC VALLEY YULETIDE FAIRE
++ BPTP MISKATONIC VALLEY YULETIDE FAIRE ATMOSPHERE SPRAY
THE MISKATONIC VALLEY YULETIDE FAIRE
Ancient snow-dusted oaks, oozing pine pitch, ceremonial mulled wine, wafts of incense, dry leaves, warm cookies, a spatter of blood, and hot cocoa with wee little marshmallows.
CHESTNUTS ROASTING ON AN OPEN PYRE
A holiday tradition! The festive scent of chestnuts being roasted on Arkham’s neighborhood sacrificial pyre: chestnuts, sweet incense, smoldering oak and cedar logs, evocation herbs, and a hint of brown sugar.
++ BPTP MISKATONIC VALLEY YULETIDE FAIRE BATH OIL
ELDRICH DARK
The Miskatonic Valley’s premiere sex shop. Black and red musks with honey, leather, and sugared black rose.
+YULE 2012
++ BPTP YULE ATMOSPHERE SPRAY
SNOW BUNNY
Not so spooky, right? Here’s to finally being able to hit the slopes again! Soft white powder snow with a touch of youthful girlie perfume.
++ BPTP YULE BATH OILS
BLUEBERRY PEPPERMINT
Chilly vanilla peppermint twirled with dark, sweet blueberry juice.
KRAMPUS
Be good, or Krampus will toss you in a river! Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches.
FRANKINCENSE, MYRRH, AND ROSE PETAL BEADS
A solemn, meditative experience: sweet Indian frankincense, North African myrrh, and dried red rose petals.
RASPBERRY THUMBPRINT COOKIE
Sugar-dusted butter cookies with a squish of raspberry jam.
SHORTBREAD SNOWFLAKES
Coconut-sweetened shortbread laced with royal icing.
++ BPTP YULE: CANDLES
LICK IT
An illuminating double ententre! A sticky, sweet peppermint candy cane with a copious dusting of vanilla.
Please do not lick, suck, or nibble the wax.
MIDWINTER’S EVE
A melancholy, deep scent, poignant and brimming with nostalgia. The perfume of sugared plums over a breeze of winter flowers.
OAK, PINE, AND MISTLETOE
Oak bark, pine pitch, and blood red mistletoe berries.
PEACOCK QUEEN
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.
SNOW WHITE
A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.
SPANKED
Sado-masochistic holiday cheer: whip leather, cardamom, patchouli and bourbon.
++ BPTP YULE SCENT
BLUE SNOWBALLS
… because the holidays can be really, really frustrating.
Blueberry slush with a hint of lime and blackberry juice.
Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire artwork by Julie Dillon.
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Yules are live at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab!
++ THE MISKATONIC VALLEY YULETIDE FAIRE
Welcome to Innsmouth, the Pearl of New England!
Every December, the Esoteric Order of Dagon hosts the Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire, a holiday marketplace at the former Masonic Temple at New Church Green in Innsmouth. Mayor Obed Marsh, may the Deep Ones bless his eternal governance, lights the community sacrificial pyre on the first of the month, and the festivities begin!
Amidst holiday entertainments, local artisans and craftspeople ply their wares. The Voices of Azathoth, our local children’s choir, and the Servitor Flautists perform on the Grand Stage of Malignity throughout the month! “Dread Hymns Ancient and Modern” and the canonical cult scriptures are always lovingly reprinted and distributed by the kind folks at the Wilbur Whateley Memorial Library so that residents and visitors can sing and chant with the carolers, Esquimaux wizards, Louisiana swamp-priests, and local cultists. At midnight on Midwinter Eve, the liturgical play “the Adoration of the Mi-Go” is performed under the lights of a synathroesmus of iridescent globes by Arkham’s world-famous acting troupe, the Haunters in the Dark, on the Great Stage.
Get ready for holiday parties and ritual feasts with the help of our local farmers, bakers, and candymakers! Every year since 1928, Mother Shub has set up her tempting pastry and confections stand, the Yule Goat, and this year is no exception! Mason & Jenkin’s Pantry will be selling their home made preserves, and the Innsmouth Canning Company will be offering a selection of fresh fish, true to their motto: You Are What You Eat!
Shopping for holiday gifts is a breeze at the Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire! Old Man Ackerman, proprietor of Miskatonic Valley’s renowned toy store and antiquities dealership, Elder Things, brings hand-crafted clockworks and tin machines that spout iridescent, prolately spheroidal bubbles to delight the wee ones. Old Man Ackerman’s educational toys make non-Euclidean calculus fun! Curwen Imports brings a selection of exotic merchandise and antiquities from all over the globe and points beyond, including authentic 12th century illuminated manuscripts crafted by Bartolomeo Corsi. There’s no better time to get a pet magah bird for little Billy or a new set of yellow Carcosan robes for yourself! Bargains galore!
(For the pleasure of the adults, the Black Temple Burlesque Troupe performs nightly through January at the Vault of Zin in Innsmouth’s Red Light District.)
And that’s just a sampling of what the Faire has to offer! Fun for the whole family! May this Yule season bring madness and the void’s wild vengeance to all!
THE ADORATION OF THE MI-GO
The time-honored ecclesiastical drama that illustrates the piety of the Fungi and First Coming of the Crawling Chaos to the majestic black stone terraces of Yuggoth! Recapture the magic!
Luminous, otherworldly wet and piquant odors mingling with black incense, the pitch-stench of Yuggoth, and fungal lichens.
THE BLACK TEMPLE BURLESQUE TROUPE
Straight from the pits of black, lightless N’kai: the voluptuous bat-winged vixens of the Black Temple Burlesque Troupe!
HELL’S ACRES YULE TREE FARM
Providing Yule trees for the Miskatonic Valley community since the Year of the Black Goat! Our saplings are imported directly from the Land of Three Suns, and are cultivated organically while strictly observing the blood rites necessary for optimum growth.
We have pyre-ready firewood for sale, plus free candy canes and hot cocoa for the kids!
We also offer ceremonial flocking!
LIL’ MENES’ FELINE ENTERTAINMENTS
A delightful selection of Ultharian cat toys and offerings, guaranteed to propitiate even the orneriest kitty!
MOTHER SHUB’S CTHULHUSTOLLEN
Candied Kadathian orange peel and R’lyehthanese rum give Mother Shub’s a little extra pizazz!
MOTHER SHUB’S GINGERBREAD TEMPLES
Mother Shub’s lovingly hand-crafted gingerbread temples are sure to summon a little extra joy for the wee ones! Mother Shub’s secret gingerbread recipe contains ritually-consecrated resins and pulped root from her own hydroponically-grown Saturnian ginger cultivar. Each temple is decorated with sweets from local candymaker Abyssal Addictions!
Shop local!
MOTHER SHUB’S SPICED LAIT DE CHÈVRE
Nothing warms the cockles like a mug of Mother Shub’s egg nog! Goat’s milk egg nog with coffee liqueur and spices imported from the Crimson Desert!
MOTHER SHUB’S STYGIAN NOUGAT
A torpid black nougat with belladonna honey, somnolent lavender, and thyme.
MASON & JENKIN’S PORT JELLY
Red and sticky! From a genuine Old Salem recipe!
NABBY GARDNER’S HOLIDAY GLOBULES
Deck your halls with Nabby Gardner’s Holiday Globules — the colors are out of this world! Luminous and possibly sentient, they make a fine addition to your holiday décor!
Common sense warning: the globules are mutagenic. Keep away from livestock, crops, and household pets. Nearby objects may be infused with unnatural light for an indefinite period of time. If opened, the globules will occasionally drain the life out of all organic matter in the vicinity.
OLD MAN ACKERMAN’S INSTRUCTIONAL TOYS
Educational toys for tots! Learn non-Euclidean calculus, catoptric theory, quantum physics, and the mysteries of Elder magic the fun way! An ancient baetylus floating within an array of bizarre trapezoidal figures, glimmering tubes, rusting spheres, and whirling gogs formed from peculiar metals, glowing tektites, strangely suspended lead mirrors, and eerie driftings of meteoric dust.
THE SMILIN’ SERVITORS’ HYPERDIMENSIONAL HOLIDAY HITS
As seen on tv!
A musical extravaganza of madness, terror, and woe! Twenty-three insane interstellar holiday hits from everyone’s favorite amorphous toad pipers, including “Doom to the World” and “Here We Go to Sacrifice”!
A discordant scent, silvery and strange like a lunatic’s tinsel garland: freesia, eucalyptus, and yuzu, with sicilian lemon, massoia, opoponax, night-blooming jasmine, white bergamot, and copaiba oleoresin.
PET MAGAH BIRD
Every kid wants a pet magah bird! A prism of scent, an explosion of multi-colored feathers: blood orange, black plum, sugar cane, guava, frangipani, coconut, pimento berry, violet, caramel, and pear.
SWEET LAVINIA’S DREAD PUDDINGS
Lavinia Whateley is famous throughout the Miskatonic Valley for her inimitably delightful and suspiciously spicy dread bread puddings!
SWEET LAVINIA’S RISALAMANDE
Clots of rice pudding (harvested from the fair trade rice farms of Bokrug Lake!) and organic whipped goat cream topped with a sebaceous glob of black cherry sauce.
Regional trivia: In keeping with Miskatonic Valley tradition, at midnight on Yule eve, children devour heaping bowls of cold risalamande, and whoever finds a tiny carved whippoorwill in their glop wins a brand new rough-hewn stone idol of their houseshold’s patron (or matron!) entity! Fun for the whole family! The whippoorwills are usually cut from glass, stone, Venusian plasticine, or meterorite, and are often passed down as whimsical family heirlooms from generation to generation. The Whateleys stopped including these icons precooked in their batches of risalamande after several Dunwich children were accidentally possessed by Minions of Yog-Sothoth in the winter of ’28.
Miskatonic Valley art by Julie Dillon.
++ THE TURN OF THE SCREW
No, no-there are depths, depths! The more I go over it, the more I see in it, and the more I see in it, the more I fear. I don’t know what I don’t see-what I don’t fear!
THE GOVERNESS
“The story’s written. It’s in a locked drawer-it has not been out for years. I could write to my man and enclose the key; he could send down the packet as he finds it.” It was to me in particular that he appeared to propound this-appeared almost to appeal for aid not to hesitate. He had broken a thickness of ice, the formation of many a winter; had had his reasons for a long silence. The others resented postponement, but it was just his scruples that charmed me. I adjured him to write by the first post and to agree with us for an early hearing; then I asked him if the experience in question had been his own. To this his answer was prompt. “Oh, thank God, no!”
“And is the record yours? You took the thing down?”
“Nothing but the impression. I took that HERE”-he tapped his heart. “I’ve never lost it.”
“Then your manuscript-?”
“Is in old, faded ink, and in the most beautiful hand.” He hung fire again. “A woman’s. She has been dead these twenty years. She sent me the pages in question before she died.” They were all listening now, and of course there was somebody to be arch, or at any rate to draw the inference. But if he put the inference by without a smile it was also without irritation. “She was a most charming person, but she was ten years older than I. She was my sister’s governess,” he quietly said. “She was the most agreeable woman I’ve ever known in her position; she would have been worthy of any whatever. It was long ago, and this episode was long before. I was at Trinity, and I found her at home on my coming down the second summer. I was much there that year-it was a beautiful one; and we had, in her off-hours, some strolls and talks in the garden-talks in which she struck me as awfully clever and nice. Oh yes; don’t grin: I liked her extremely and am glad to this day to think she liked me, too. If she hadn’t she wouldn’t have told me. She had never told anyone. It wasn’t simply that she said so, but that I knew she hadn’t. I was sure; I could see. You’ll easily judge why when you hear.”
“Because the thing had been such a scare?”
He continued to fix me. “You’ll easily judge,” he repeated: “YOU will.”
I fixed him, too. “I see. She was in love.”
Brittle white musk, bruised violets, vanilla orchid, and green tea.
THE GENTLEMAN
… this prospective patron proved a gentleman, a bachelor in the prime of life, such a figure as had never risen, save in a dream or an old novel, before a fluttered, anxious girl out of a Hampshire vicarage. One could easily fix his type; it never, happily, dies out. He was handsome and bold and pleasant, offhand and gay and kind. He struck her, inevitably, as gallant and splendid, but what took her most of all and gave her the courage she afterward showed was that he put the whole thing to her as a kind of favor, an obligation he should gratefully incur. She conceived him as rich, but as fearfully extravagant-saw him all in a glow of high fashion, of good looks, of expensive habits, of charming ways with women.
A dapper cologne, distant and refined: white musk, lime rind, and rosemary water with tobacco leaf and lilac.
BLY
Driving at that hour, on a lovely day, through a country to which the summer sweetness seemed to offer me a friendly welcome, my fortitude mounted afresh and, as we turned into the avenue, encountered a reprieve that was probably but a proof of the point to which it had sunk. I suppose I had expected, or had dreaded, something so melancholy that what greeted me was a good surprise. I remember as a most pleasant impression the broad, clear front, its open windows and fresh curtains and the pair of maids looking out; I remember the lawn and the bright flowers and the crunch of my wheels on the gravel and the clustered treetops over which the rooks circled and cawed in the golden sky. The scene had a greatness that made it a different affair from my own scant home, and there immediately appeared at the door, with a little girl in her hand, a civil person who dropped me as decent a curtsy as if I had been the mistress or a distinguished visitor. I had received in Harley Street a narrower notion of the place, and that, as I recalled it, made me think the proprietor still more of a gentleman, suggested that what I was to enjoy might be something beyond his promise.
Rain-lashed stone and fading summer flowers.
MRS. GROSE
He had put them in possession of Bly, which was healthy and secure, and had placed at the head of their little establishment-but below stairs only-an excellent woman, Mrs. Grose, whom he was sure his visitor would like and who had formerly been maid to his mother. She was now housekeeper and was also acting for the time as superintendent to the little girl, of whom, without children of her own, she was, by good luck, extremely fond.
Mixed spice, rosewater, and black tea.
MISS JESSELL
But the next day, as the hour for my drive approached, I cropped up in another place. “What was the lady who was here before?”
“The last governess? She was also young and pretty-almost as young and almost as pretty, miss, even as you.”
“Ah, then, I hope her youth and her beauty helped her!” I recollect throwing off. “He seems to like us young and pretty!”
“Oh, he DID,” Mrs. Grose assented: “it was the way he liked everyone!” She had no sooner spoken indeed than she caught herself up. “I mean that’s HIS way-the master’s.”
I was struck. “But of whom did you speak first?”
She looked blank, but she colored. “Why, of HIM.”
“Of the master?”
“Of who else?”
There was so obviously no one else that the next moment I had lost my impression of her having accidentally said more than she meant; and I merely asked what I wanted to know. “Did SHE see anything in the boy-?”
“That wasn’t right? She never told me.”
I had a scruple, but I overcame it. “Was she careful-particular?”
Mrs. Grose appeared to try to be conscientious. “About some things-yes.”
“But not about all?”
Again she considered. “Well, miss-she’s gone. I won’t tell tales.”
Black roses with myrrh, benzoin, and guiac wood.
PETER QUINT
“Has anything happened?”
“Yes. You must know now. Did I look very queer?”
“Through this window? Dreadful!”
“Well,” I said, “I’ve been frightened.” Mrs. Grose’s eyes expressed plainly that SHE had no wish to be, yet also that she knew too well her place not to be ready to share with me any marked inconvenience. Oh, it was quite settled that she MUST share! “Just what you saw from the dining room a minute ago was the effect of that. What I saw-just before-was much worse.”
Her hand tightened. “What was it?”
“An extraordinary man. Looking in.”
“What extraordinary man?”
“I haven’t the least idea.”
Mrs. Grose gazed round us in vain. “Then where is he gone?”
“I know still less.”
“Have you seen him before?”
“Yes-once. On the old tower.”
She could only look at me harder. “Do you mean he’s a stranger?”
“Oh, very much!”
“Yet you didn’t tell me?”
“No-for reasons. But now that you’ve guessed-”
Mrs. Grose’s round eyes encountered this charge. “Ah, I haven’t guessed!” she said very simply. “How can I if YOU don’t imagine?”
“I don’t in the very least.”
“You’ve seen him nowhere but on the tower?”
“And on this spot just now.”
Mrs. Grose looked round again. “What was he doing on the tower?”
“Only standing there and looking down at me.”
She thought a minute. “Was he a gentleman?”
I found I had no need to think. “No.” She gazed in deeper wonder. “No.”
“Then nobody about the place? Nobody from the village?”
“Nobody-nobody. I didn’t tell you, but I made sure.”
She breathed a vague relief: this was, oddly, so much to the good. It only went indeed a little way. “But if he isn’t a gentleman-”
“What IS he? He’s a horror.”
“A horror?”
“He’s-God help me if I know WHAT he is!”
Leather, balsam, ambergris, and bay laurel.
- – - – -
They gave me so little trouble-they were of a gentleness so extraordinary. I used to speculate-but even this with a dim disconnectedness-as to how the rough future (for all futures are rough!) would handle them and might bruise them. They had the bloom of health and happiness; and yet, as if I had been in charge of a pair of little grandees, of princes of the blood, for whom everything, to be right, would have to be enclosed and protected, the only form that, in my fancy, the afteryears could take for them was that of a romantic, a really royal extension of the garden and the park. It may be, of course, above all, that what suddenly broke into this gives the previous time a charm of stillness-that hush in which something gathers or crouches. The change was actually like the spring of a beast.
LITTLE FLORA
Flora, a short way off, stood before us on the grass and smiled as if her performance was now complete. The next thing she did, however, was to stoop straight down and pluck-quite as if it were all she was there for-a big, ugly spray of withered fern. I instantly became sure she had just come out of the copse. She waited for us, not herself taking a step, and I was conscious of the rare solemnity with which we presently approached her. She smiled and smiled, and we met; but it was all done in a silence by this time flagrantly ominous. Mrs. Grose was the first to break the spell: she threw herself on her knees and, drawing the child to her breast, clasped in a long embrace the little tender, yielding body. While this dumb convulsion lasted I could only watch it-which I did the more intently when I saw Flora’s face peep at me over our companion’s shoulder. It was serious now-the flicker had left it; but it strengthened the pang with which I at that moment envied Mrs. Grose the simplicity of HER relation. Still, all this while, nothing more passed between us save that Flora had let her foolish fern again drop to the ground. What she and I had virtually said to each other was that pretexts were useless now. When Mrs. Grose finally got up she kept the child’s hand, so that the two were still before me; and the singular reticence of our communion was even more marked in the frank look she launched me. “I’ll be hanged,” it said, “if I’ll speak!”
It was Flora who, gazing all over me in candid wonder, was the first. She was struck with our bareheaded aspect. “Why, where are your things?”
“Where yours are, my dear!” I promptly returned.
She had already got back her gaiety, and appeared to take this as an answer quite sufficient. “And where’s Miles?” she went on.
There was something in the small valor of it that quite finished me: these three words from her were, in a flash like the glitter of a drawn blade, the jostle of the cup that my hand, for weeks and weeks, had held high and full to the brim that now, even before speaking, I felt overflow in a deluge. “I’ll tell you if you’ll tell ME-” I heard myself say, then heard the tremor in which it broke.
“Well, what?”
Mrs. Grose’s suspense blazed at me, but it was too late now, and I brought the thing out handsomely.
“Where, my pet, is Miss Jessel?”
Peonies and cream.
MILES
“What does it mean? The child’s dismissed his school.”
She gave me a look that I remarked at the moment; then, visibly, with a quick blankness, seemed to try to take it back. “But aren’t they all-?”
“Sent home-yes. But only for the holidays. Miles may never go back at all.”
Consciously, under my attention, she reddened. “They won’t take him?”
“They absolutely decline.”
At this she raised her eyes, which she had turned from me; I saw them fill with good tears. “What has he done?”
I hesitated; then I judged best simply to hand her my letter-which, however, had the effect of making her, without taking it, simply put her hands behind her. She shook her head sadly. “Such things are not for me, miss.”
My counselor couldn’t read! I winced at my mistake, which I attenuated as I could, and opened my letter again to repeat it to her; then, faltering in the act and folding it up once more, I put it back in my pocket.
“Is he really BAD?”
The tears were still in her eyes. “Do the gentlemen say so?”
“They go into no particulars. They simply express their regret that it should be impossible to keep him. That can have only one meaning.” Mrs. Grose listened with dumb emotion; she forbore to ask me what this meaning might be; so that, presently, to put the thing with some coherence and with the mere aid of her presence to my own mind, I went on: “That he’s an injury to the others.”
At this, with one of the quick turns of simple folk, she suddenly flamed up. “Master Miles! HIM an injury?”
There was such a flood of good faith in it that, though I had not yet seen the child, my very fears made me jump to the absurdity of the idea. I found myself, to meet my friend the better, offering it, on the spot, sarcastically. “To his poor little innocent mates!”
“It’s too dreadful,” cried Mrs. Grose, “to say such cruel things! Why, he’s scarce ten years old.”
“Yes, yes; it would be incredible.”
She was evidently grateful for such a profession. “See him, miss, first. THEN believe it!”
A charming, mischievous, and inexplicably sinister blend of balsam of Peru, honey, skin musk, and black pepper.
Turn of the Screw art by Tanya Bjork.
++ YULE REVISITEDS
FRAU HOLLE 2012
Frau Holle, or Holda, is the personification of the changes wrought when winter seizes the land: she rides the chill winds in her chariot, shaking out her featherbeds in order to precipitate snowfall. The rolling fog is the smoke from her hearth fire, and thunder claps when she reels her flax. Holda is a goddess of matrons, who governs spinning, domestic chores, witchcraft and witches, and the Wild Hunt. She presides over the transition of souls, both to and from this world. Though she is childless, she watches over children, and the spirits of newborns spring forth from her sacred pool. Her festival falls during midwinter, when the dead roam free. She holds court in Hörselberg, from which the Wild Hunt is issued, and all the beasts in the land heed her call.
Snow-covered pines, witches herbs, bestial musk, flax, and ethereal flowers that represent both birth and death.
GACELA OF THE DARK DEATH 2012
I want to sleep the sleep of the apples,
I want to get far away from the busyness of the cemeteries.
I want to sleep the sleep of that child
who longed to cut his heart open far out at sea.
I don’t want them to tell me again how the corpse keeps all its blood,
how the decaying mouth goes on begging for water.
I’d rather not hear about the torture sessions the grass arranges for
nor about how the moon does all its work before dawn
with its snakelike nose.
I want to sleep for half a second,
a second, a minute, a century,
but I want everyone to know that I am still alive,
that I have a golden manger inside my lips,
that I am the little friend of the west wind,
that I am the elephantine shadow of my own tears.
When it’s dawn just throw some sort of cloth over me
because I know dawn will toss fistfuls of ants at me,
and pour a little hard water over my shoes
so that the scorpion claws of the dawn will slip off.
Because I want to sleep the sleep of the apples,
and learn a mournful song that will clean all earth away from me,
because I want to live with that shadowy child
who longed to cut his heart open far out at sea.
Terebinth pine, pitch, and clove.
GELT 2012
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!
KNECHT RUPRECHT 2012
I came here from the forest
I tell you, it is a very holy night!
All over the tips of the firs
I saw bright flashes of golden light;
And from above, the gates of heaven
I saw with open eyes the Christ-child
and as I wander through the dark forest
I hear a light voice calling me.
“Knecht Ruprecht” it called, “Old man
Lift your legs and hurry! Fast!
The candles alight
the gates of heaven open wide
old and young
shall rest from the hunt of life
and tomorrow I shall fly to earth
as it shall be Christmas again!”
I said: “O dear master, Christ
My trip is almost at an end;
It is only this one town / where the children are good”.
“Do you have your sack with you?”
I said: “The sack, it is here;
apples, nuts and almonds
solemn children do enjoy”.
“Do you also have your cane?”
I said: “The cane, it is here.
But only for the bad children,
to hit their right rear”.
The Christ-child spoke: “That is good;
So go with god my faithful servant!”
I came here from the forest
I tell you, it is a very holy night!
Speak now how I find it here
Are the children good or bad?
The snow-covered foliage of the Black Forest and the fruit and woods of apple and almond trees.
KRAMPUS 2012
Anything BUT jolly! Draped with chains and bells, wielding both whip and rod, this rag-clad, horned, red-skinned, soot-covered leering creature is both the companion and the antithesis of rosy-cheeked and ebullient Kris Kringle. He is called by many names, and, in a myriad of cultures, he is seen with different robes and faces, but he is nevertheless always a sinister and fearsome instrument of Santa’s wrath: he wields a switch on all irredeemably naughty children before tossing them into his large black sack and whisking them away.
Be good, or Krampus will toss you in a river! Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches.
LICK IT SOFTLY
This year’s minty double ententre! A sticky, sweet peppermint candy cane with a copious dusting of vanilla.
MIDNIGHT MASS 2012
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.
NES GADOL HAYA SHAM 2012
But not long after the king sent a certain old man of Antioch, to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and of God:
And to defile the temple that was in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympius: and that in Gazarim of Jupiter Hospitalis, according as they were that inhabited the place.
And very bad was this invasion of evils and grievous to all.
For the temple was full of the riot and reveling of the Gentiles: and of men lying with lewd women. And women thrust themselves of their accord into the holy places, and brought in things that were not lawful.
The altar also was filled with unlawful things, which were forbidden by the laws.
And neither were the sabbaths kept, nor the solemn days of the fathers observed, neither did any man plainly profess himself to be a Jew.
But they were led by bitter constraint on the king’s birthday to the sacrifices: and when the feast of Bacchus was kept, they wore compelled to go about crowned with ivy in honour of Bacchus.
And there went out a decree into the neighboring cities of the Gentiles, by the suggestion of the Ptolemeans, that they also should act in like manner against the Jews, to oblige them to sacrifice:
And whosoever would not conform themselves to the ways of the Gentiles, should be put to death: then was misery to be seen.
For two women were accused to have circumcised their children: whom, when they had openly led about through the city with the infants hanging at their breasts, they threw down headlong from the walls.
And others that had met together in caves that were near, and were keeping the sabbath day privately, being discovered by Philip, were burnt with fire, because they made a conscience to help themselves with their hands, by reason of the religious observance of the day.
- The Second Book of the Maccabees, 6:1-11
In order to consolidate his power in Jerusalem and Hellenize the area, the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed Judaism and ordered the population to worship Zeus and the Hellenic pantheon. As this was anathema to the Jews, they refused, and Antiochus moved to enforce his religious decree by extreme force.
Some origin tales say that the dreidel was used at this time as a method by which the Jewish people were able to continue to study the Talmud in secret under the guise of gambling. Now, in addition to being a light gambling game, the dreidel is also a reminder of the strength, devotion, and perseverance of the Jewish people and the mercy of God.
One scent in four parts:
Nun, the Snake: nuun, nothing. Nah.Å¡, in modern Arabic, means bad luck. Represented by scents of loss and remembrance: opoponax and lemon verbena.
Gimel, the Camel: the Ship of the Desert. Represented by scents of abundance, fortitude, and determination: patchouli, heliotrope, pomegranate, and almond.
He, the Window: sometimes used to represent the Unutterable Name of God, this is the window in our souls through which God’s light touches us. Represented by scents of clarity and piety: frankincense, myrtle, and hyssop.
Shin, the Tooth: also stands for Shaddai, one of the names of God. The hand formed into shin acts as a priestly blessing. Represented by scents of strength, generosity, kindness, and benediction: carnation, myrrh, red poppy, and hibiscus.
The essences of Nun, Gimel, He, and Shin are blended to become Nes Gadol Haya Sham.
THE PEACOCK QUEEN 2012
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 2012
A lighthearted winter scent: chilly vanilla rose snowballs! Dainty, soft, and certainly unfit for flinging!
ROSE RED 2012
The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut.
THE SHIVERING BOY 2012
Cold, cold forever more. A winter storm roaring through empty stone halls, bearing echoes of despair, desolation, and death on its winds. The scent of frozen, dormant vineyards, bitter sleet, and piercing ozone, hurled through labdanum, benzoin, and olibanum.
SNOW WHITE 2012
A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.
SUGAR COOKIE 2012
Affectionately nicknamed ‘The Devil’s Bake Sale’.
TALVIKUU 2012
Lo! now the direful monster, whose skin clings
To his strong bones, strides o’er the groaning rocks:
He withers all in silence, and his hand
Unclothes the earth, and freezes up frail life.
Skeletal limbs of birch and fir coated in a thick, impenetrable blanket of snow. This is the death of the year personified.
In other news, Autumn Lace is back in stock at Dark Delicacies, and Suck It is available once again.
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At New York Comic Con, we presented exclusives inspired by a gentlemen’s guide to the seraglios of New York City that was published in 1870. We had created several products that were unable to go live at the convention due to component and time constraints. We are offering them now as a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy relief. Proceeds from every single purchase of these limited edition products will go directly to the American Red Cross.
Without further ado, we are thrilled to present an addendum to the Gentleman’s Directory.
(All grammatical and spelling deviancies within are sic erat scriptum.)
++ THE GENTLEMAN’S DIRECTORY: NEW YORK CITY IN 1870 ADDENDUM
Nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice.
We don’t intend to tell the reader where the Central Park is, the Croton Aqueduct, the new Court House, Cooper Institute, or Knox the hatter, as any one can point out to him the location of these celebrated places, but we propose to acquaint him with locations and with facts, a knowledge of which he could not procure elsewhere.
We claim no credit got telling a person that Cape Horn is on the island of Terra del Fuego, or that London is on the western side of England; but when we impart information that is not generally known, even to old denizens of the city, and give him an insight into the character and doings of people whose deeds are carefully screened from public view; when we discribe their houses, and give their location, we supply the stranger with information of which he stands in need, we supply a void that otherwise must remain unfilled. Not that we imagine the reader ever desire to visit these houses. Certainly not; he is, we do not doubt, a member of the Bible Society, a bright and shining light, like Awful Gardner or John Allen.
But we point out the location of these places in order that the reader may know how to avoid them, and that he may not select one of them for his boarding house when he comes to the city. Our book will, therefore, be like a warning voice to the unwary – like a buoy attached to a sunken rock, which warns the inexperienced mariner to sheer off, lest he should be wrecked on a dangerous and unknown coast.
++ BPTP RED CROSS FUNDRAISER
MRS. PALMER’S ESTABLISHMENT ATMOSPHERE SPRAY
The house No. 112 Spring street is kept by Mrs. Palmer. It is a low establishment, and frequented only by the lagends of the community.
Aged patchouli, sweet tobacco, oakmoss, leather, and barrel-aged bourbon vanilla.
THE WARS OF VENUS BATH OIL
The house at No. 140 is kept by Mrs. James, and is a very quiet parlor house, devoted to the wars of Venus.
This phrase “Wars of Venus” was too wonderful; it inspired a scent immediately. Gird yourself for battle: sweet honey, French vanilla, honey myrtle, balsam of tolu, and rose otto.
++ BPAL RED CROSS FUNDRAISER
FRANK BURNS
As you pass down Houston street, faro banks abound, till we reach an unpretending red brick building No. 25, kept by Frank Burns, known as the “Judge and Jury”. This is a great resort for the sportsmen both of this and the other country. Everything here is conducted in a respectable and orderly manner.
Bay rum, polished oak, exquisite pipe and cigar tobaccos, and a splash of bourbon.
MISS ADDIE
The next house, No. 55, is kept by Miss Addie Blashfield, the dashing brunette, who has eight or ten boarders, both blondes and brunettes. These are a pretty lot of girls, of pleasing and engaging manners. It is regarded as a first class house, very quiet and orderly and is visited by some of our first citizens.
Red sandalwood, vanilla orchid, sweet clove, neroli, apple blossom, and a gentle hint of star anise.
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Paypal has currently locked our account due to the name of the single note Iranian Galbanum. We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.
Once Paypal is working again, please do not use the name Iranian Galbanum. If you wish to order it, just order Galbanum or Single Note Galbanum.
We apologize profusely for the inconvenience.
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Suck It is temporarily discontinued, due to a component issue. We hope to be able to bring it back before the Weenies go dark.
Peony Moon and Coraline are Live!
in Announcements
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PEONY MOON 2013
In these spring days,
when tranquil light encompasses
the four directions,
why do the blossoms scatter
with such uneasy hearts?
Ume blossoms and pink peony against a pale backdrop of white sandalwood, Japanese apricot petals, lotus root, and spider lily.
Art by Mariah Huehner.
This month’s single note is:
AMBERGRIS
Sperm whale intestinal glop, oh how the fragrance world adores you. Ambergris is born from a sticky, black bile secretion that gloops forth from the intestines of sperm whales. When fresh, it possesses a rank, seaweedy fecal odor, but once it has been embraced by sea and sun, it transforms into a uniquely intoxicating perfume fixative. This precious substance has been used in cosmetics for ages untold, and is said to be a potent aphrodisiac with the power to increase psychic sensitivity and induce prophetic dreams.
Our ambergris accord is lightly balsamic, slightly woody, almost tobacco-like marine musk, and possesses a distinct salty animalic note that borders on sweet. The scent is extraordinarily versatile, and adds depth and complexity to a wide swath of fragrance families.
No whales were harmed, fondled, scraped, prodded, or offended during the creation and production of this accord. It is 100% vegan, and has never seen the inside of a whale’s tummy.
Also, we are thrilled to announce five new additions to our Coraline series.
CORALINE JONES
“What should I do?” asked Coraline.
“Read a book,” said her mother. “Watch a video. Play with your toys. Go and pester Miss Spink or Miss Forcible, or the crazy old man upstairs.”
“No,” said Coraline. “I don’t want to do those things. I want to explore.”
Dry grass, clean skin, and a little bit of mossy berry.
Miss Spink and Miss Forcible lived in the flat below Coraline’s, on the ground floor. They were both old and round, and they lived in their flat with a number of ageing Highland terriers who had names like Hamish and Andrew and Jock. Once upon a time Miss Spink and Miss Forcible had been actresses, as Miss Spink told Coraline the first time she met her.
“You see, Caroline,” Miss Spink said, getting Coraline’s name wrong, “both myself and Miss Forcible were famous actresses, in our time. We trod the boards, luvvy. Oh, don’t let Hamish eat the fruitcake, or he’ll be up all night with his tummy.”
“It’s Coraline. Not Caroline, Coraline,” said Coraline.
MISS SPINK
A grand, over-the-top tuberose gardenia.
MISS FORCIBLE
A classic vintage musk.
Both Miss Spink and Miss Forcible scents have a bit of tea splash and biscuit crumbs.
MR. BOBO
“Mister Bobo?”
“The man in the top flat. Mister Bobo. Fine old circus family, I believe. Romanian or Slovenian or Livonian, or one of those countries. Bless me, I can never remember them anymore.”
It had never occurred to Coraline that the crazy old man upstairs actually had a name, she realized. If she’d known his name was Mr. Bobo she would have said it every chance she got. How often do you get to say a name like “Mr. Bobo” aloud?
Cooking herbs, pickles, and mouse fur.
THE CAT
There was a polite noise from behind her.
She turned around. Standing on the wall next to her was a large black cat, identical to the large black cat she’d seen in the grounds at home.
“Good afternoon,” said the cat.
Its voice sounded like the voice at the back of Coraline’s head, the voice she thought words in, but a man’s voice, not a girl’s.
“Hello,” said Coraline. “I saw a cat like you in the garden at home. You must be the other cat.”
The cat shook its head. “No,” it said. “I’m not the other anything. I’m me.” It tipped its head to one side; green eyes glinted. “You people are spread all over the place. Cats, on the other hand, keep ourselves together. If you see what I mean.”
“I suppose. But if you’re the same cat I saw at home, how can you talk?”
Cats don’t have shoulders, not like people do. But the cat shrugged, in one smooth movement that started at the tip of its tail and ended in a raised movement of its whiskers. “I can talk.”
“Cats don’t talk at home.”
“No?” said the cat.
“No,” said Coraline.
The cat leaped smoothly from the wall to the grass near Coraline’s feet. It stared up at her.
“Well, you’re the expert on these things,” said the cat dryly. “After all, what would I know? I’m only a cat.”
Sleek, black, dark, and clever: benzoin, honey, cedar, and dark musk.
Over at Black Phoenix Trading Post, in addition to the Peony Moon shirt, there’s a new Our Lady of Pain tee, and a new candle is available on the Illumination page.
GRAVE MOSS AND UPTURNED SOIL
The scent of an ancient, long-abandoned churchyard: weed-choked crumbling tombstones under the shadows of midnight and thick black soil disturbed by inhuman hands.
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Also, a reminder that our west coast will call event is this Sunday, and our Seattle and Vermont will call events are next weekend.
The west coast will call event will be held on Sunday, March 24th from 4 to 7pm at Dark Delicacies.
Dark Delicacies
3512 W. Magnolia Blvd
(1 block east of Hollywood Way)
Burbank, CA 91505
www.darkdel.com
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New England Will Call will be held at Healthy Living Market on Sunday, March 31st from 4:00 to 7:00pm, in the Learning Center.
Healthy Living Market
222 Dorset Street,
South Burlington, VT, 05403
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Seattle Will Call will be held at Bedlam Bedlam on Saturday, March 30th from 6:30 to 9:00pm.
BedlamBedlam
613 East Pike Street
Seattle WA 98122
http://bedlambedlam.com/
As always, if you have any questions about will call, please email us at willcall@blackphoenixalchemylab.com.