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Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Trading Post is thrilled to announce our con exclusives for Dragon*Con! Black Phoenix will be vending at Dragon*Con 2013 at booths 1206 & 1208 in AmericasMart, building 1, floor 1. For your perusal, we present the Peach Pit: + MILLIONS OF PEACHES / BPAL DRAGON*CON 2013 PEACH I Golden peach, tobacco absolute, tonka bean, and honey with a squirt of red musk. PEACH II White peach, tangerine, and champagne grapes. PEACH III Georgia peaches, madeira wine, mimosa, and Cherokee roses. PEACH IV Golden peach, Egyptian amber, myrrh, ho wood, frankincense, burgundy pitch, musk seed, and oudh. PEACH V White peach, white tea, honey, and neroli. + MILLIONS OF PEACHES / BPTP DRAGON*CON 2013 PEACHES IN THE BPAL GARDEN ATMOSPHERE SPRAY Ripe peaches, freshly mown grass, lemon verbena, honeysuckle, cedar sap, orange blossom, and tomato vine. SUGARED PEACH BATH OIL Spun sugar and golden peaches. WHITE PEACH AND INCENSE HAIR GLOSS White peach, champaca flower, and frankincense. BPAL’s Peach Pit fragrances are $24 each, BPTP’s peachy atmosphere spray and bath oil are $26 each, and the White Peach and Incense Hair Gloss is $33!

The Red Moon is rising over Black Phoenix! RED MOON 2013 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, tolu balsam, and heliotrope, the russet haze of dragon's blood resin, bittersweet red currant, and crushed orange peel, and a swirl of summertime herbs: chamomile, cilantro, rue, elder flower, yellow yarrow, and marigold. The Red Moon tee is available now at Black Phoenix Trading Post! Artwork by our much-beloved friend, Tanya Bjork! In the Single Note Garden, another crop of patchouli is being harvested - EAST AFRICAN BLACK PATCHOULI Smokier and woodier than her Red cousin, East African Black Patchouli is rich, passionate, and earthy, possessing a unique, distinctive elegance. And the second set of scents inspired by Neil Gaiman's Coraline are live! Thank you so much, Neil! We love you! - THE GHOST CHILDREN “What happened to you all?” asked Coraline. “How did you come here?” “She left us here,” said one of the voices. “She stole our hearts, and she stole our souls, and she took our lives away, and she left us here, and she forgot about us in the dark.” “You poor things,” said Coraline. “How long have you been here?” “So very long a time,” said a voice. “Aye. Time beyond reckoning,” said another voice. “I walked through the scullery door,” said the voice of the one that thought it might be a boy, “and I found myself back in the parlor. But she was waiting for me. She told me she was my other mamma, but I never saw my true mamma again.” “Flee!” said the very first of the voices—another girl, Coraline fancied. “Flee, while there’s still air in your lungs and blood in your veins and warmth in your heart. Flee while you still have your mind and your soul.” “I’m not running away,” said Coraline. “She has my parents. I came to get them back.” “Ah, but she’ll keep you here while the days turn to dust and the leaves fall and the years pass one after the next like the tick-tick-ticking of a clock.” “No,” said Coraline. “She won’t.” There was silence then in the room behind the mirror. “Peradventure,” said a voice in the darkness, “if you could win your mamma and your papa back from the beldam, you could also win free our souls.” “Has she taken them?” asked Coraline, shocked. “Aye. And hidden them.” “That is why we could not leave here, when we died. She kept us, and she fed on us, until now we’ve nothing left of ourselves, only snakeskins and spider husks. Find our secret hearts, young mistress.” “And what will happen to you if I do?” asked Coraline. The voices said nothing. “And what is she going to do to me?” she said. The pale figures pulsed faintly; she could imagine that they were nothing more than afterimages, like the glow left by a bright light in your eyes, after the lights go out. “It doth not hurt,” whispered one faint voice. “She will take your life and all you are and all you care’st for, and she will leave you with nothing but mist and fog. She’ll take your joy. And one day you’ll awake and your heart and your soul will have gone. A husk you’ll be, a wisp you’ll be, and a thing no more than a dream on waking, or a memory of something forgotten.” “Hollow,” whispered the third voice. “Hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow.” I based the scent on a description of the characters that Neil sent to me in an email: “Well, I like the idea that it would contain flowers and flame and fairy things... but from so long ago that they've almost forgotten who they are. So it would be a ghost perfume....” In the perfume, I also tried to capture the blue-violet-white of an afterimage and the silence of a snuffed candle. The scent is dry with age, taut with loss, grief, and heartbreak, and sorrowful in the unspeakable desolation of simply being forgotten. THE OTHER MISS FORCIBLE ~and~ THE OTHER MISS SPINK …are distorted versions of their “real” perfumes: sticky sweet, cobwebby, and grotesque. THE OTHER HOT CHOCOLATE The other mother took the bacon from under the grill and put it on a plate. Then she slipped the cheese omelette from the pan onto the plate, flipping it as she did so, letting it fold itself into a perfect omelette shape. She placed the breakfast plate in front of Coraline, along with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a mug of frothy hot chocolate. “Yes,” she said. “I think I like this game. But what kind of game shall it be? A riddle game? A test of knowledge or of skill? “An exploring game,” suggested Coraline. “A finding-things game.” “And what is it you think you should be finding in this hide-and-go-seek game, Coraline Jones?” Coraline hesitated. Then, “My parents,” said Coraline. “And the souls of the children behind the mirror.” The other mother smiled at this, triumphantly, and Coraline wondered if she had made the right choice. Still, it was too late to change her mind now. “A deal,” said the other mother. “Now eat up your breakfast, my sweet. Don’t worry—it won’t hurt you.” Coraline stared at the breakfast, hating herself for giving in so easily, but she was starving. “How do I know you’ll keep your word?” asked Coraline. “I swear it,” said the other mother. “I swear it on my own mother’s grave.” “Does she have a grave?” asked Coraline. “Oh yes,” said the other mother. “I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to crawl out, I put her back.” “Swear on something else. So I can trust you to keep your word.” “My right hand,” said the other mother, holding it up. She waggled the long fingers slowly, displaying the clawlike nails. “I swear on that.” Coraline shrugged. “Okay,” she said. “It’s a deal.” She ate the breakfast, trying not to wolf it down. She was hungrier than she had thought. As she ate, her other mother stared at her. It was hard to read expressions into those black button eyes, but Coraline thought that her other mother looked hungry, too. She drank the orange juice, but even though she knew she would like it she could not bring herself to taste the hot chocolate. THE OTHER MOTHER’S RIGHT HAND Coraline opened the front door and looked at the gray sky. She wondered how long it would be until the sun came up, wondered whether her dream had been a true thing while knowing in her heart that it had been. Something she had taken to be part of the shadows under the hall couch detached itself from beneath the couch and made a mad, scrabbling rush on its long white legs, heading for the front door. Coraline’s mouth dropped open in horror and she stepped out of the way as the thing clicked and scuttled past her and out of the house, running crablike on its too-many tapping, clicking, scurrying feet. She knew what it was, and she knew what it was after. She had seen it too many times in the last few days, reaching and clutching and snatching and popping blackbeetles obediently into the other mother’s mouth. Five-footed, crimson-nailed, the color of bone. It was the other mother’s right hand. It wanted the black key. A scrabbling, skittering, clacking scent: white as bone, black as a beetle, and red as blood - orris root, vetiver, and daemonorops. THE SNOW GLOBE She looked around the room. It was so familiar—that was what made it feel so truly strange. Everything was exactly the same as she remembered: there was all her grandmother’s strange-smelling furniture, there was the painting of the bowl of fruit (a bunch of grapes, two plums, a peach and an apple) hanging on the wall, there was the low wooden table with the lion’s feet, and the empty fireplace which seemed to suck heat from the room. But there was something else, something she did not remember seeing before. A ball of glass, up on the mantelpiece. She went over to the fireplace, went up on tiptoes, and lifted it down. It was a snow globe, with two little people in it. Coraline shook it and set the snow flying, white snow that glittered as it tumbled through the water. Then she put the snow globe back on the mantelpiece, and carried on looking for her true parents and for a way out. Cold leaded glass, bone chip snow, and glycerin. THE SILVER STREAM The boy with the dirty face stood up and hugged Coraline tightly. “Take comfort in this,” he whispered. “Th’art alive. Thou livest.” And in her dream Coraline saw that the sun had set and the stars were twinkling in the darkening sky. Coraline stood in the meadow, and she watched as the three children (two of them walking, one flying) went away from her across the grass, silver in the light of the huge moon. The three of them came to a small wooden bridge over a stream. They stopped there and turned and waved, and Coraline waved back. And what came after was darkness. Bittersweet: the scent of forgetfulness, peace, and oblivion. Like asphodel petals on moonlit water. And over at the Post... ++ THE SLIPPING INTO MADNESS CTHULHU PLAQUE Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu lw'nafh freff’gtdh 'fhalma hupadgh N'ghft Osoph’guax Crax’axxaha Shag-Ron wgah'nagl fhtagn z’zxo. Translation: In his palace at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits for the Mother Born of the Black Phoenix to finish the goddamn Carnaval Diabolique update. This plaque, an homage to Great Cthulhu’s artisanal fragrance obsession, was sculpted by Jake Johnson-Alhazred, great-great-great-great-great grandson of Abdul Alhazred and Arkham High School’s favorite art teacher, and crafted by hand by blind, mute cultists in a subterranean workshop located miles beneath the frozen wastes of Nunavut. The scent, Slipping Into Madness, was created by Elizabeth Barrial to be partnered with this plaque in an effort to placate the Sleeping God. His bottles of Madame Moriarty and Midnight on the Midway are empty, y’see. ++ SLIPPING INTO MADNESS A slow, murky sojourn into bedlam: slick, black Arabian musk, aged red patchouli, tobacco absolute, wild salvia, and a sliver of screeching, high-pitched zdravetz. (Ok, fine. Our Cthulhu plaque was /actually/ designed by Jake Johnson exclusively for Black Phoenix Trading Post, and manufactured - by hand in Canada! - by our friends at GreatBeard!) Dread Cthulhu’s plaque has a spot that fits one BPAL bottle in his writhing tentacles. (Please note: the plaque doesn’t really writhe. I don’t want anyone to be disappointed in the lack of actual, literal writhing. This plaque isn’t actually alive, and it isn’t the least bit animated. Unless you’re hallucinating, in which case all bets are off.) The deets: The plaques are 9 inches tall x 6 ¾ wide, and weigh a solid 2lbs. They are composed of cold cast bronze. This includes a finished cold cast bronze plaque, with an antique black patina, and 2 coats of crystal clear acrylic coat for protection. The entire plaque isn't bronze: the exterior of it is real bronze powder and it is back filled with resin in an effort to lighten the piece. Each plaque is slightly different, as each and every one was hand-crafted by real human beings! Conceived of, designed, sculpted, and produced in North America! ++ GOBLIN SACK STATUE Oh, those hardworking Black Phoenix Trading Post goblins. Without them, the Post would be complete and absolute chaos. Thanks to their noble efforts, orders are packed efficiently, shelves are dusted, the dungeon is tidy, coffee is made, our goats are milked, the liquor cabinet is emptied, and incoming phone calls are ignored. They’re kinda like the shoemaker’s elves, except not at all. This statue was sculpted from polymer clay by Jake Johnson exclusively for Black Phoenix Trading Post, and is manufactured in Canada by our friends at GreatBeard! Each goblin statue can fit one BPAL bottle under his arm and another in its wee lil’ sack for a total of two - count ‘em, TWO - bottles! A bottle of Goblin Sack will be makin' its way to you with each statue! – GOBLIN SACK Vanilla-laced leather with 3-year aged patchouli and a warm sack o’hazelnuts. The Deets: The goblin statues are 6 ¼ tall x 4 inches wide, and weigh 5oz. They are composed of poured resin. Each statue is slightly different, as each and every one was hand-crafted by real human beings! Conceived of, designed, sculpted, hand-painted, and produced in North America! These little fellas come in three colors… Burlap Sack Brown Hella Dark Burgundy Wine Arterial Spray Red All are patina’d black. Our friends at GreatBeard will be happy to customize your goblin in any color you desire for an additional fee. Please contact Teddy, Goblin Taskmaster, at tradingpost@papow.net if this tickles your fancy. The Goblin Statue and Goblin Sack come as a set and cannot be separated. You wouldn’t separate a goblin from his sack, wouldja?

Itty bitty delay on the Lunacy update. It'll be goin' live tomorrow! =) Thanks for your patience, all!

The wifi at the Westgate can be iffy and the cellular data network during SDCC is explody, so we can’t promise that it’ll be smooth sailing with our credit card processor at the event. We will have a separate cash line in an effort to speed things along. =) (Dunno why I picked this photo to use with this post. I guess I was just looking for an excuse to put it up.)

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab will be vending at the CBLDF’s Comic-Con Welcome Party! The soiree starts at 8pm on Thursday, July 18th at the Westgate Hotel in San Diego, CA. Our event exclusives are -- SINGLE NOTE: BURNING BOOK As good almost kill a man as kill a good book; who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. — John Milton Book burning has a long, sordid history of being a tool in efforts to suppress dissenting views. It is a symbolic destruction of ideas, a theatrical ideological exercise in censorship, protest, and fear-mongering. Every bottle of Single Note: Burning Book will support the protection and preservation of our First Amendment rights by helping to fund the efforts of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Also available at the CBLDF SDCC shindig are two prototypes from our Neil Gaiman series, released with his permission: SNOW GLASS APPLES v4 The apple note is greener and tarter, the snow slightly less snowy. AGNES NUTTER v2 Slightly sweeter and witchspicier, less gunpowdery. (Thank you so much, Neil! <3 ) $23 each, and proceeds from every single bottle go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! CBLDF Comic-Con Welcome Party Thursday, July 18 The Westgate Hotel 1055 Second Avenue San Diego, CA 92101 8pm to 11pm This event is free for CBLDF members, and there is a suggested $10-$20 donation at the door for non-members. Please join us in supporting free speech with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!

Two new scents are live at Dark Delicacies! BLACK TAFFETA The dry, musty wooden scent of a crumbling cedar trunk dusted upon a gleaming swath of black Byzantine silk taffeta: opoponax and opium tar, Chinese geranium, smoky patchouli, bourbon vanilla absolute, and lustrous black and white musks. SUMMER LACE A Victorian bathing beauty: wisps of vanilla cream, caramelized tobacco absolute, white opium poppy, summer honeysuckle nectar, effervescent white mandarin, apple blossom, and green cognac. Black Taffeta and Summer Lace are $23 per bottle. They'll be live til Sept 1! Stay tuned for an announcement re: BPAL & San Diego Comic Con!

Weekend extension! The single notes (Passion Flower, Sumatran Red Patchouli, and Wild Dandelion) and current Pickman Gallery: A Tremulous Song scents will be live until Monday! When they're gone, they're gone!

Things & Stuff!

Lookit! Stuffs! =D https://www.etsy.com/shop/alchemylab If you would like to combine orders, please let us know in the comments field of your order!

The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy. Summer Solstice is upon us, and the long day's sun is shining on hungry ghosts and a monastic garden overflowing with sweet peas: HUNGRY GHOST MOON On the 14th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the Gates of Hell burst open, and ghosts pour forth from the Nine Darknesses into the sunlit world. To placate the dead, Hell Money is burned, offerings are made, and paper boats and floating lanterns are set out to give comfort and direction to wayward spirits. Though many spirits simply seek out the comforts of their former homes and the company of their loved ones, rancorous spirits also roam the streets, seeking revenge on those who have wronged them, before and after their deaths. Offerings of hell money, ginger candy, sugar cane, smoky vanilla and rice wine mingle with a ghost's perfume of white sandalwood, ho wood, ti, white grapefruit, crystalline musk and aloe. This scent is tapered by the presence of seven herbs, woods and resins used in the purification of the spirit and the purging of earthly concerns from the soul. SINGLE NOTE: SWEET PEA By helpful fingers taught to twine Around its trellis, grew A delicate and dainty vine; The bursting bud, its blossom sign, Inlaid with honeyed-dew. Developing by every art To floriculture known, From tares exempt, and kept apart, Careful, as if in some fond heart Its legume germs were sown. So thriving, not for me alone Its beauty and perfume -- Ah, no, to rich perfection grown By flower mission loved and known In many a darkened room. And once in strange and solemn place, Mid weeping uncontrolled, Upon the crushed and snowy lace I saw them scattered 'round a face All pallid, still, and cold. Oh, some may choose, as gaudy shows, Those saucy sprigs of pride The peony, the red, red rose; But give to me the flower that grows Petite and pansy-eyed. Thus, meditation on Sweet Peas Impels the ardent thought, Would maidens all were more like these, With modesty -- that true heartsease -- Tying the lover's knot. First cultivated in the late 17th century by a Sicilian monk, Father Francis Cupani, sweet peas represent chastity, bliss, and innocent pleasures. The vines and flowers are used in magick to protect children, guard virtue, inspire affection, and cultivate friendship. The Hungry Ghost Moon tee was illustrated by Tanya Bjork, and can be found at Black Phoenix Trading Post! This month, we turn our attentions to the breathtaking strangeness of the natural world and the internalization of our relationship with it: ++ SONG OF NATURE 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. No numbers have counted my tallies, No tribes my house can fill, I sit by the shining Fount of Life, And pour the deluge still; And ever by delicate powers Gathering along the centuries From race on race the rarest flowers, My wreath shall nothing miss. And many a thousand summers My apples ripened well, And light from meliorating stars With firmer glory fell. I wrote the past in characters Of rock and fire the scroll, The building in the coral sea, The planting of the coal. And thefts from satellites and rings And broken stars I drew, And out of spent and aged things I formed the world anew; What time the gods kept carnival, Tricked out in star and flower, And in cramp elf and saurian forms They swathed their too much power. Time and Thought were my surveyors, They laid their courses well, They boiled the sea, and baked the layers Or granite, marl, and shell. But he, the man-child glorious,-- Where tarries he the while? The rainbow shines his harbinger, The sunset gleams his smile. My boreal lights leap upward, Forthright my planets roll, And still the man-child is not born, The summit of the whole. Must time and tide forever run? Will never my winds go sleep in the west? Will never my wheels which whirl the sun And satellites have rest? Too much of donning and doffing, Too slow the rainbow fades, I weary of my robe of snow, My leaves and my cascades; I tire of globes and races, Too long the game is played; What without him is summer's pomp, Or winter's frozen shade? I travail in pain for him, My creatures travail and wait; His couriers come by squadrons, He comes not to the gate. Twice I have moulded an image, And thrice outstretched my hand, Made one of day, and one of night, And one of the salt sea-sand. One in a Judaean manger, And one by Avon stream, One over against the mouths of Nile, And one in the Academe. I moulded kings and saviours, And bards o'er kings to rule;-- But fell the starry influence short, The cup was never full. Yet whirl the glowing wheels once more, And mix the bowl again; Seethe, fate! the ancient elements, Heat, cold, wet, dry, and peace, and pain. Let war and trade and creeds and song Blend, ripen race on race, The sunburnt world a man shall breed Of all the zones, and countless days. No ray is dimmed, no atom worn, My oldest force is good as new, And the fresh rose on yonder thorn Gives back the bending heavens in dew. Words by Ralph Waldo Emerson, illustrations by Ernst Haeckel, fragrances by Elizabeth Barrial for Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. AURELIA Wild strawberry and red currant squished into a deep green blend of oakmoss, crushed mint, green tea leaf, mastic, petitgrain, Terebinth pine, and cypress. CALOCYCLAS Black leather accord with olibanum, black pepper, white sandalwood, luminous Asian blossoms, and sheer elemi. DESMONEMA White amber and mimosa with tendrils of Italian bergamot, myrrh, green tangerine and green patchouli, sheer coconut, quince, and vetiver. ELAPHOSPYRIS Luminous white musk with lemon verbena, Calabrian lemon, guiac wood, vetiver, Arkansas black apple, white sage, and white thyme. EPIBULIA East Indian Mango, cassis, blackcurrant, orange carnation, sugared coconut, and Maid of Orleans. OCTOPUS Pale moss, white kelp, sea buckthorn berry, ambergris accord, Somalian frankincense, rose geranium, and salt. STENTOR White mint, lime rind, champaca flower, khus, juniper berry, and matcha tea. TYMPANIDIUM Black licorice root, aged red patchouli, white sandalwood, orange blossom, lemon peel, and dried jewel-toned fruits. At the Post, Song of Nature baths are a-brewin'! – ++ SONG OF NATURE BATH OILS ASTERIAS BATH OIL Sweet apricot, white honey, orris root, white sandalwood, and white peach. PERIPHYLLA BATH OIL Bulgarian rose, ambrette seed absolute, saffron, white pear, oudh, and a touch of oakmoss. And for the moment, that’s all the news that’s fit to print!

West Coast Will Call June 23, 4-7pm Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Blvd Burbank, CA 91505 - - - Vermont Will Call June 23, 4-7pm Healthy Living Market 222 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 Hope to see you there!

We're giving away a bottle of Honey Moon!

Because I love Douglas Adams more than I love cheese, chocolate, and tacos ALL COMBINED, I will give a free random imp to anyone that shows up to our will call event at Dark Delicacies tonight /with their towel/. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Full Moon Thingy Tonight, 4-7pm at Dark Delicacies 3512 W Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505

The Honey Moon tee is live at BPTP! Also, the Taurus clocket is back in stock for a very limited time. The Honey Moon tee was designed by Tanya Bjork, and the Taurus clocket was designed by Alicia Dabney!

We are thrilled to be a part of Century Guild’s kickstarter project - Century Guild Magazine 2013: from Klimt to The Great Gatsby. THE SCENT! -- PURSUE RABBIT Inspired by one of Gail Potocki's extraordinary interpretations of the Cheshire Cat, and created exclusively for Century Guild! An enigmatic blend of vanilla-infused sandalwood with wild black tobacco, white tea leaf, matcha, white musk, orange blossom, pale incense, and opium tar. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/337503446/century-guild-magazine-2013-from-klimt-to-the-grea/posts/484614 The oil is limited to fifty bottles, all emblazoned with Gail Potocki’s artwork, and is available in three packages: $26 for the oil alone, $47 for a package including the magazine, and $99 for a special package with the oil, the magazine, and a signed and numbered print of Gail’s Cheshire Cat! Even if you don’t choose to purchase the oil packages, please consider supporting this project! Century Guild is an incredible salon, Gail is a phenomenal artist, and Tom, Chandra, and Melissa are three of our favorite people! Visit Century Guild 6150 Washington Boulevard Culver City, CA 90232

Hullo, all! The BPAL side of the full moon update is going live a wee bit early this month, as we're taking a Sanity Reset Trip to Yosemite, and I wanted to make sure all was well before we headed north! Black Phoenix Trading Post's update will be live at Standard Update Time (just before the full moon), but here's an art teaser - Honey Moon was illustrated by Tanya Bjork. There are no words to describe how much I love this! Speaking of Trading Post... have y'all checked out the new site? We are beyond thrilled with it, and we're so grateful to Kaitlin at Form and Function for all of her hard work, her dedication, and her kindness, and for lending us both her time and her talent. We love you, Kaitlin! And without further ado... smelly things... HONEY MOON 2013 From honey sprang this Plant to life; with honey now we dig thee up. Make us as sweet as honey, for from honey hast thou been produced. My tongue hath honey at the tip, and sweetest honey at the root: Thou yieldest to my wish and will, and shalt be mine and only mine. My coming in is honey-sweet and honey-sweet, my going forth: My voice and words are sweet: I fain would be like honey in my look. Sweeter am I than honey, yet more full of sweets than licorice: So mayst thou love me as a branch full of all sweets, and only me. Around thee have I girt a zone of sugar-cane to banish hate. That thou mayst be in love with me, my darling never to depart. - Hymns of the Atharva Veda, XXXIV Honey Moon contains five different honeys, ranging from pale and sweet to deep and heady, with hints of jasmine, white gardenia, Hawaiian white ginger and thyme. SINGLE NOTE: PASSION FLOWER An elegant botanical sigil representing the crucifixion of Christ, this plant is said to grant blessings of peace and love (philía and storge) to a home, especially when grown around the door, gate, or fence. SINGLE NOTE: SUMATRAN RED PATCHOULI Sexy, dirty, much-maligned and much-loved patchouli… oh, how you get a bad rap. Though some associate you with head shops and Dead show parking lots, you really are so much more: You are utilized in Chinese medicine to normalize the flow of qi. In aromatherapy, you are used to diffuse stress, bring comfort and succor, and alleviate depression. You inspire lust, passion, and carnality, and create a veil of sexual intrigue unmatched by any other fragrance. You correspond with Saturn and Earth, facilitating grounding, stability, and protection, as well as the acquisition of property and money. You form the oft-unrecognized basis of innumerable perfumes, adding a unique depth and sensuality, sometimes imperceptibly. Your olfactory profile is incredibly fluid, ranging from mossy and gritty to wine-rich and voluptuous, and you age like a glorious silver screen goddess. So the next time someone tells you that you smell like an unwashed hippie, Patchouli, just smile your enigmatic smile. The enlightened know how amazing you are. SINGLE NOTE: WILD DANDELION Simple and fresh and fair from winter's close emerging, As if no artifice of fashion, business, politics, had ever been, Forth from its sunny nook of shelter'd grass - innocent, golden, calm as the dawn, The spring's first dandelion shows its trustful face. - Walt Whitman A scent as fresh as spring and as radiant as summer: the splendor of a crown of golden petals, the tartness of sap and pungent greens, and the gentle touch of white seed florets drifting in the breeze. We're going to be posting an etsy boom concurrent with this update! We are happy to combine etsy and BPAL orders - just email us with the info on the orders you'll be combining! Alchemy Lab and Trading Post are busy prepping some exciting new (and old!) stuff for summer, so keep your eyes peeled!

So, what do y'all think of the new BPTP site? (SO MUCH LOVE to Kaitlin of FORM & FUNCTION! Without you, we are floating bits of binary flotsam!)

It grieves me to announce that, effective immediately, the following fragrances have been discontinued due to unforeseen component issues: Baghdad Dragon's Reverie Tintagel The Witch's Repast Please accept our sincerest apologies for the short notice!

Planting Moon is live at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post! PLANTING MOON 2013 As is the garden such is the gardener, A man’s nature runs either to herbs or to weeds. - Francis Bacon This Full Moon marks a time for new growth, both within nature and within our spirits. It is a time of fertility and fruitfulness, for sowing seeds to ensure blessings and bounty later in the year. The scent of Planting Moon is that of summer squashes, pole beans, kohlrabi, tomato leaves, peppery arugula, upturned earth, and sun-warmed herbs. Art by Abigail Larson! Also blossoming at the Lab – SINGLE NOTE: SWEET ALYSSUM Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature. - Gérard de Nerval A lush carpet of foam-white and dusky purple blossoms: this is the gentle, joyous scent of spring-blooming sweet alyssum. Plus, a lunar eclipse! LUNAR ECLIPSE: APRIL 2013 Luna’s lovely, pale face crowned by a sliver of umbral shadow and veiled by penumbral shadow: white musk, mugwort, iris, white tea, and silvered yarrow with black amber, Indonesian patchouli, fir resin, and blackcurrant. Mea culpa! Because of C2E2 and Bats Day, there’s going to be a longer turnaround on the scents in this update. But, on the up side – the update is going up early and staying around longer! Sweet Alyssum Accord, Planting Moon, and Lunar Eclipse will be live until Mayday. Thank you so much for understanding! Hope to see you at our booth at C2E2!

This Saturday, April 20th, is the opening night of the Last Unicorn Screening Tour. Also? It's Peter S. Beagle's 74th birthday! Get thee to the Cartoon Art Museum between 6-8 Saturday to celebrate The Last Unicorn and its creator at their VIP birthday blast for Peter! There will be a raffle, a VIP auction, a book signing, and Peter’s first public reading of a brand-new Schmendrick story! There will also be a pop-up shop at the museum which will include Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Last Unicorn scents and Black Phoenix Trading Post’s Last Unicorn jewelry! For more information: http://lastunicorntour.com/

C2E2 attendees! Prototypes of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s scents inspired by David Mack’s Eisner Award-nominated Kabuki graphic novels will be out for sniffing at David’s spot in Artist’s Alley and at BPAL’s booth on the exhibit hall floor. The inimitable David Mack will be in Artist’s Alley at booth T6, and BPAL is pitching camp at booth 873 in the exhibitor hall. The scents that will be out for sniffing are: Channel Snow The Circle of Noh Drifting in the Dark Halfway Between the Sun and the Moon The Enterprise of the Night Ice Little Sister is Watching You Scarab New York Times bestselling author David Mack is the writer and artist behind Kabuki, and currently, he is writing and illustrating Daredevil: End of Days with Brian Michael Bendis. David is a phenomenal artist and writer (and a wonderful person, too!), and it is an absolute honor to work with him on this project! Hit up his tumblr at: http://drdavidmrmack.tumblr.com/ And his FB at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Mack/21231086294

Hullo, all! Here’s a gentle reminder of the April will call dates n’stuff! – Los Angeles Will Call Sunday, April 21 4-7pm Dark Delicacies 3512 West Magnolia Blvd Burbank, CA 91505 - - - Vermont Will Call Sunday, April 21 4-7pm Healthy Living Market 222 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 In the Learning Center! - - - Seattle Will Call Saturday, April 27 6.30pm - 9pm BedlamBedlam 613 E Pike St Seattle, WA 98122 The theme for BB’s will call event is Jazz Funeral! Per Suki (VioletChaos) – "Considered a great honor, this is one of the most distinguished aspects of New Orleans culture. Its roots lie in the customs of the Dahomeans and Yoruba people, and is a celebration of both the persona's life and the beauty and solemnity of their death. The procession is lead by the Grand Marshal, resplendent in his black tuxedo, white gloves and black hat in hand; almost a vision of the great Baron Samedi himself. The music begins with solemn, tolling dirges, moves into hymns of sorrow, loss and redemption. When the burial site is reached, a two-note preparatory riff is sounded, and the drummers start the second-line beat, heralding the switch in music to joyous, upbeat songs, dancing, and the unfurling of richly decorated umbrellas by the second line: friends, family, loved ones and stray celebrants. Strutting, bouncing, and festive dance accompanies the upbeat ragtime music that sends the departed soul onto its next journey." This quote, taken directly from the Lab's own scent description, is an apt picture for us as we move BedlamBedlam out of this world and into the next. Costume ideas include Bright parasols; ribbons; lace; wide-brimmed hats; Victorian Mourning attire; mausoleums; tombstones; flowers and little cloth hankies. Prepare to caterwaul and throw yourselves on our coffin!

Make your atmosphere... extra atmospheric! These room and linen sprays will only be available at C2E2 and Bats Day, respectively, and are $25 each! ++ C2E2 ATMOSPHERE SPRAYS THE AGRICULTURAL BUILDING The scent of a 1500lb chocolate Venus de Milo. THE EAST INDIAN PALACE Blackwood and sandalwood, cashmere and Moradabad brass, camiki and pippali, Kali Mirchi and sesame, all swirled in a warm mélange of incense and jaggery. THE HORTICULTURAL BUILDING Blue-ribbon squashes, tomato vines, pomegranate rinds, grand displays of hay bales, copious amounts of American beer, and an eleven-ton monstrous cheese. MIDWAY PLAISANCE Popcorn and nuts coated in molasses, iced cocoa, freckle bread, canelés, hot green tea, cinnamon-spiced apple cider, honeyed oat muffins, and crème pâtissière. ++ BATS DAY ATMOSPHERE SPRAYS FAIRY HORDES ATTACKING A BAT Apple blossoms, blackthorn, pansies, alyssum, daphne, poppy, and thyme blossoms assaulting a mossy, clove-touched fuzzy musk. THE OLD HALL A grove of ancient oaks and stone walls draped in climbing roses and twining ivy, caressed by gentle fingers of shimmering mist.

Here be the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab exclusives for C2E2 and Bats Day! ++ C2E2 2013 Inspired by the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893! THE COURT OF HONOR A marble-white blend of sandalwood, pearlescent orris, white amber, blonde tobacco, and chilled crystalline musk. THE GREAT BASIN The White City by Night: white musk, a drop of violet leaf, and sheer, luminescent vanilla that has been gently illuminated by a spark of electricity. LITTLE EGYPT Honeyed myrrh and sweet flag. THE PALACE OF ELECTRICITY The scent of progress: dynamos and motors, electrical sparks and ozone. THE TURKISH VILLAGE Thick Turkish coffee, cardamom pods, Damascene roses, and buhur. ++ BATS DAY 2013 DYSOPES TENUIS Blackcurrant bud, crystallized rose, inky musk, and tonka bean. GREATER HORSESHOE BAT Rosewood, beeswax, labdanum absolute, blackened tea leaf, and dark fuzzy musk. MOPSFLEDERMAUS Brown sugar and ginger root with smoky clove, bourbon vanilla, cardamom, and Indonesian musk. NOCTULE BAT Haitian vetiver, licorice root, wild plum, immortelle, and white sandalwood. SEROTINE BAT Bourbon vanilla, Arabian amber, ylang ylang, peach blossom, sweet freesia, and strands of vibrant saffron. $25 each! The World’s Columbian Expo scents will only be available at C2E2 in Chicago, and the Bats Day scents will be available at our booth in the vending area of the Anaheim Bats Day event! (I have no idea if that last sentence made sense! I have the flu derps!) Black Phoenix Trading Post’s exclusives will be announced soon’ly!

April 1st brings us April Fool's Day, Edible Books Day, Veneralia, and the Feast of St. Tewdrig (Tewdrig - what a great name). To celebrate (er?), the Pickman Gallery is ringing in a new exhibit: A Tremulous Song: the Miskatonic Valley Through a Child's Eyes. Proceeds from the sales in the Tremulous Song series will be donated to First Book, an organization that distributes books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families throughout the United States and Canada. All images were named by Lilith, with the exception of a few, like Cykranosh, Yaksh, [Redacted] Dragon, Rapunzel in Ballpoint, the self-portraits, and the Summoning Stone Play Structure. All quotes came straight from the artist's mouth, and all scents were guided and approved by the Littlest Alchemist. The [Redacted] Dragon scent is a little bit of a joke - Lil drew a pic (and told her version of the story) of a very specific dragon that I can't name out of respect for another entity's trademark rights. Those of you that are friended to me on Facebook might know who this fiery fella is. Much love to Emzebel for being the inspiration for the revised scent name! A Tremulous Song will be live until the June full moon! I hope you have as much fun with this set as we had making it!