kebechet Report post Posted June 29, 2007 BLACK PHOENIX TRADING POST Black Phoenix Trading Post has a hell of an update this month! First off, here be Red Moon – August’s Lunacy tee: We have one small addition to the permanent catalogue. It is the third in our LE Commemorative set, and this one is dedicated to the entire A Little Lunacy series: Six new soaps have been added to the suds line, courtesy of the fine folks at Silk Road Trading Company: AL AZIF BORDELLO CHESHIRE CAT MOXIE PERVERSION TKO Due to the cost of the components of the soaps, Moxie and TKO are $10.50 each. All other soaps are $8.50US. Within the next few weeks, several garments are being added, as well as an expansion to our bath and body line and some interesting bits of tchotch! - - - BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LAB This month’s Lunacies: RED MOON August is a month of reflection. It is the month of rest before the harvest, and it holds for us a time between toils, a brief period of relaxation before we take up the burden of our work again. It is the Time of the Phoenix, a season of celebrating health, vitality, warmth and joy, but it is also the time at which the Corn God dies for the sake of the land, his blood soaking the earth to ensure a bountiful harvest in the fall. The Full Red Moon of August was named thus by some Native American tribes because as the moon rises, it dons a reddish veil, visible through the hot, sweltering summer evening haze. Our blend for this Moon mixes traditional lunar oils with the warmth of amber, red musk, and heliotrope, the russet haze of dragon's blood resin, sunflower, and crushed orange peel, with a dusting of summertime herbs: chamomile, rue, elder flower and marigold. ALLISON GROSS O ALLISON GROSS, that lives in yon towr, The ugliest witch i' the north country, Has trysted me ae day up till her bowr, An monny fair speech she made to me. She stroaked my head, an she kembed my hair, An she set me down saftly on her knee; Says, Gin ye will be my lemman so true, Sae monny braw things as I woud you gi. She showd me a mantle o red scarlet, Wi gouden flowrs an fringes fine; Says, Gin ye will be my lemman so true, This goodly gift it sal be thine. ‘Awa, awa, ye ugly witch, Haud far awa, an lat me be; I never will be your lemman sae true, An I wish I were out o your company.’ She neist brought a sark o the saftest silk, Well wrought wi pearles about the ban; Says, Gin you will be my ain true love, This goodly gift you sal comman. She showd me a cup of the good red gold, Well set wi jewls sae fair to see; Says, Gin you will be my lemman sae true, This goodly gift I will you gi. ‘Awa, awa, ye ugly witch, Had far awa, and lat me be; For I woudna ance kiss your ugly mouth For a’ the gifts that ye coud gi.’ She’s turnd her right and roun about, An thrice she blaw on a grass-green horn, An she sware by the meen and the stars abeen, That she’d gar me rue the day I was born. Then out has she taen a silver wand, An she’s turnd her three times roun an roun; She’s mutterd sich words till my strength it faild, An I fell down senceless upon the groun. She’s turnd me into an ugly worm, And gard me toddle about the tree; An ay, on ilka Saturdays night, My sister Maisry came to me, Wi silver bason an silver kemb, To kemb my heady upon her knee; But or I had kissd her ugly mouth, I’d rather a toddled about the tree. But as it fell out on last Hallow-even, When the Seely court was ridin by, The queen lighted down on a gowany bank, Nae far frae the tree where I wont to lye. She took me up in her milk-white han, An she’s stroakd me three times oer her knee; She chang’d me again to my ain proper shape, An I nae mair maun toddle about the tree. Witch-herbs, crushed golden flowers, and a man-made-dragon’s surly musk lightened by the scent of the blossoms and unearthly incense that clings to the Faerie Queen’s hair. Dragon’s blood musk, ambergris, sunflower, chrysanthemum, muguet, and rue, with gingered lily, moonflower, bluebell, peony, nightwort, and white rose. And this month’s astrological blend: LEO Fixed Fire: the essence of pride. Egyptian amber, walnut bark, chamomile, frankincense, and saffron. Red Moon 2007, Allison Gross, and Leo will be live until July 2, 2007. Two other Limited Edition scents are live: Mine are the night and morning, The pits of air, the gulf of space, The sportive sun, the gibbous moon, The innumerable days. I hid in the solar glory, I am dumb in the pealing song, I rest on the pitch of the torrent, In slumber I am strong. THE SPORTIVE SUN Heliotrope, amber, almond flower, frangipani, cedar, and calamus. THE GIBBOUS MOON Moonflower, Madonna lily, orris, white ginger, cucumber, hyacinth, and Irish moss. The Sun and Moon will be live until July 15, 2007. - - - Aaaaaaaaaaaand… two new sections have been added to the site: GOOD OMENS AND STARDUST! ++ GOOD OMENS AGNES NUTTER The mind of Agnes Nutter was so far adrift in Time that she was considered pretty mad even by the standards of seventeenth-century Lancashire, where mad prophetesses were a growth industry. Gunpowder, charred wood, smoke, and rusty nails. AZIRAPHALE Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide. Two of these were wrong; Heaven is not England, whatever certain poets may have thought, and angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort. Ethereal musk, blonde woods, and dusty Bible accord. CROWLEY Nothing about him looked particularly demonic, at least by classical standards. No horns, no wings. Admittedly he was listening to a Best of Queen tape, but no conclusions should be drawn from this because all tapes left in a car for more than a fortnights metamorphose into Best of Queen albums. No particularly demonic thoughts were going through his head. In fact, he was wondering vaguely who Moey and Chandon were. Crowley had dark hair, and good cheekbones, and he was wearing snakeskin shoes, or at least presumably he was wearing shoes, and he could do really weird things with his tongue. And, whenever he forgot himself, he had a tendency to hiss. Infernal musk, red patchouli, lilac cologne, mahogany, lemon rind, oakmoss, leather, and vanilla husk. SHADWELL Shadwell had turned out to be about five feet high and wore clothes which, no matter what they actually were, always turned up in your short-term memory as an old mackintosh. The old man may have all his own teeth, but only because no-one else could possibly have wanted them; just one of them, placed under the pillow, would have made the Tooth Fairy hand in its wand. He appeared to live entirely on sweet tea, condensed milk, hand-rolled cigarettes, and a sort of sullen internal energy. Shadwell had a Cause, while he followed with the full resources of his soul and his Pensioner's Concessionary Travel Pass. He believed in it. It powered him like a turbine. Roll-ups, mildewed raincoat, sweet tea, and condensed milk. WAR She finished the drink, hefted the sword over one shoulder, and looked around at the puzzled factions, who now encircled her completely. 'Sorry to run out on you, chaps,' she said. 'Would love to stay and get to know you better.' The men in the room suddenly realized they didn't want to know her better. She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, but not up close. And she held her sword, and she smiled like a knife. Red ginger, black spices, patchouli, honeysuckle, and three blood-soaked red musks. ++ STARDUST FAIRY MARKET "Eyes, eyes! New eyes for old!" shouted a tiny woman in front of a table covered with bottles and jars filled with eyes of every kind and color. "Instruments of music from a hundred lands!" "Penny whistles! Tuppenny hums! Threepenny choral anthems!" "Try your luck! Step right up! Answer a simple riddle and win a wind-flower!" "Everlasting lavender! Bluebell cloth!" "Bottled dreams, a shilling a bottle!" "Coats of night! Coats of twilight! Coats of dusk!" "Swords of fortune! Wands of power! Rings of eternity! Cards of grace! Roll-up, roll-up, step this way!" "Salves and ointments, philtres and nostrums!" Otherworldy golden incense, blooming wind-flowers, everlasting lavender, bluebell, a faint whiff of exotic sugared candies, and fae mist upon wet green grass. TRISTRAN Tristran put down his wooden cup of tea, and stood up, offended. "What," he asked, in what he was certain were lofty and scornful tones, "would possibly make you imagine that my lady-love would have sent me on some foolish errand?" The little man stared up at him with eyes like beads of jet. "Because that's the only reason a lad like you would be stupid enough to cross the border into Faerie. The only ones who ever come here from your lands are the minstrels, and the lovers, and the mad. And you don't look like much of a minstrel, and you're - pardon me saying so, lad, but it's true - ordinary as cheese-crumbs. So it's love, if you ask me." "Because," announces Tristran, "every lover is in his heart a madman, and in his head a minstrel." Dust on your trousers, mud on your boots, and stars in your eyes: redwood, tonka bean, white sandalwood, lemon peel, patchouli, rosewood, coriander, and crushed mint. VICTORIA Every boy in the village was in love with Victoria Forester. And many a sedate gentleman, quietly married with grey in his beard, would stare at her as she walked down the street, becoming, for a few moments, a boy once more, in the spring of his years with a spring in his step. Graceful vanilla musk, tea rose, and stargazer lily. THE WITCH QUEEN On a rocky mountain pass, on the southernmost slopes of Mount Belly, the witch-queen reined in her goat-drawn chariot and stopped and sniffed the chilly air. The myriad stars hung cold in the sky above her. Her red, red lips curved up into a smile of such beauty, such brilliance, such pure and perfect happiness that it would have frozen your blood in your veins to have seen it. "There," she said. "She is coming to me." And the wind of the mountain pass howled about her triumphantly, as if in answer. Wild plum, red musk, tuberose, calla lily, heliotrope, pimento, ylang ylang and beeswax beneath a dark haze of sinister purple-hued incense smoke. YVAINE She was sprawled, awkwardly, beneath the hazel tree, and she gazed up at Tristran with a scowl of complete unfriendliness. She hefted another clod of mud at him, menacingly, but did not throw it. Her eyes were red and raw. Her hair was so fair it was almost white, her dress was of blue silk which shimmered in the candlelight. She glittered as she sat there. The high, crystalline scent of a star-filled night with blue lavender and lush magnolia. I cannot thank Mr. Gaiman, Mr. Pratchett, or the guys at Paramount enough for the trust they have shown us, and a million, trillion thanks to Messrs Gaiman and Pratchett for the opportunity to translate their stories within our medium! Both the Good Omens and Stardust series are charitable, not-for-profit ventures. Proceeds from every single bottle from the Stardust series go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and proceeds from every single bottle from the Good Omens series are split between the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Orangutan Foundation UK. Stardust, the film, will be premiering in the US on August 10, 2007! Artwork on the Good Omens page is by the lovely Julie Dillon, and the artwork on the Stardust page is by our snugglewumpus, Jennifer Williamson. - - - As you have probably noticed, there have been a few changes to the Black Phoenix web site. We’re working on a bit of summertime cleaning – polishing up the old, dolling up the new – so, over the next few updates, some of the oft-neglected areas of the site are going to (finally!) be updated, too. - - - And, as always, there will be more of this, that, and the other (at Alchemy Lab and Trading Post) in the upcoming months! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
