On Death

[doomsday_disco]

You would know the secret of death.

 

But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?

 

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.

 

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.

 

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

 

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;

 

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.

 

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.

 

Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?

 

Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

 

 

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

 

And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

 

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.

 

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.

 

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

Ecstatic unbecoming: earth-warmed patchouli, sweet myrrh, terebinth, galbanum, gurjum balsam, and black amber.

[SmellsPrettyGood2Me]

Dark to the point of being unsettling in the bottle; murky, bitter, medicinal terebinth dominates alongside the green, pitchy galbanum. These screechy notes make the jump onto skin, bringing the olfactory chaos for a good 20 minutes before settling down. At that point the patchouli reveals itself, muddy and baked, along with the myrrh and black amber. Finally, it is tolerable! Once again, I'm unable to locate the balsam note even though I know it is there. Sweetness continues to increase post drydown, as the myrrh gets increasingly soft and powdery. Screaming projection at first settles down to something more moderate, lasting about 7 hours. 

 

This was a ride, friends. It smells absolutely putrid in the bottle. The first half hour on skin is (subjectively) pretty awful to experience, and would benefit greatly from 50% less terebinth. But once that terebinth fades away,

it's enjoyable from a distance. I still would not recommend huffing too deeply from the skin, but it has a pleasantly resinous, dry aura about it.