kebechet

Due to a series of unforeseen, craptacular incidents that include exploding label printers (our label printer, our backup label printer, and the Black Phoenix Trading Post printer have all died), components disappearing in transit, and other Small Curses), we’re running at about 28 days from order-to-shipment. We’re working like mad to get everything out as quickly as possible, and I believe that we’ll be able to start shrinking that gap by midweek next week. We are truly sorry for this delay. We tried to do everything in our power to make sure that we didn’t run into issues that would back us up at the holiday time. We’ll be including extra frimps in each order by way of apology. Thank you so much for your patience and for your understanding.

I’ve been stuck trying to write an introduction to tomorrow’s update. Tomorrow is Black Phoenix’s birthday, y’see, and at the moment I’m all flubbled up. I don’t have writer’s block, per se; I just don’t know how to articulate the depth of my gratitude. I decided about 34 seconds ago to stop agonizing over how to say things, and just talk. (Grammar be damned!) I’m trying to thank everyone but words are failing me. How do I explain how much Brian and Ted mean to me? How do I put into words how much I love Kathy and Jacquelynn? How do I tell the world how much I appreciate all the hard work that Bill, Will, Piolet, and Norman put in every single day at BPAL? How do I put into words how grateful I am for the friendship and sisterhood I have with the moderators at bpal.org? Or how enriched my life has become because of the friendships that have been formed with our customers? Jesus. You guys make my world a whole lot better every single fucking day. There are no words for how grateful I am for Neil and Amanda, Peter and Connor, the Henson crew, Matt Wagner… I’ve tried before… every year… and the words never seem to be enough. With genuine love and gratitude… Thank you, Brian, for being the best business partner and best brother anyone could ask for. Thank you, Ted, for being my muse, my light, and my strength. Thank you, Kathy, for pulling me out of that damned fiery house in a past life. I know we ended up a pair of Roman candles, but at least we went out with a bang! Thank you, Jacquelynn, for all of your dedication, for your friendship, and for your insight. Come to think of it…. extra thanks to Brian, Ted, Kathy, and Jax for always putting up with my shit. Thank you, Bill, for your patience, your kindness, and your resolve. Thank you, Will, Piolet, and Norman, for your hard work and dedication. Thank you to Sue and Del at Dark Delicacies for giving housing our schtuff, for always being there for us, and for being the best. damn. grandparents. ever. Thank you, Lisa, for being our knight in shining armor. Thank you, Lori and Sarah, for all the love that you guys put into every will call. We are all very, very grateful. Thank you to the mods and administrators of bpal.org. Fuck, I love you. Thank you for being my sisters, and thank you for being there for me and holding my hand even when I’m too muddled, overwhelmed, and lost to be fully present. Thank you to Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, Peter S Beagle, Terry Pratchett, Terry Moore, Mike and Christine Mignola, George Perez, Peter David, Molly Crabapple, Mark Waid, Storm Constantine, Matt Wagner, Jim Henson Productions, Brian Pulido, Joseph Michael Linsner, Eva Hopkins, Gris Grimly, and Richard Matheson for giving Black Phoenix the opportunity to interpret your work. Thank you to the noble souls at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Hero Initiative. You are an inspiration. Much thanks to Peter S. Beagle and Connor Cochran for participating in the Last Unicorn Screening. You bring so much joy to so many people! Love and thanks to the artists that have lent us their talent: Adam Hughes, Alicia Dabney, Julie Dillon, Madame Talbot, Quique Alcatena, Jennifer Rodgers, Manda Lander, and Sarah Coleman! Love and thanks to the Mütter Museum, knows perfume, Whole Foods, Pretty Indulgent, and Healthy Living for giving our products a home in your stores! Love and thanks to the bloggers, journalists, magazines, and other media outlets that taken the time to write about Black Phoenix. Honestly, I cannot thank you enough. Much love and many thanks to Wow Insider for profiling Brian and inviting us down to the WOW Insider Meet-Up at BlizzCon, and to Lance Horne for inviting us to participate in his November show in Los Angeles. Huge thanks to Geek Girl Diva, Theresa Wollenstein, and Lauren Rothman for helping us initiate new projects! Thank you to our clients – you truly are our extended family. I said this last year, and it holds just as true now: ~ Thank you for sharing our joy and for standing with us during difficult times. The family that has grown around BPAL is like no other in the world. Every time I wander into the forum, I see people supporting one another in times of need, showing selfless kindness and offering support to one another… to me, you all are models of emotional generosity and true friendship, and it is truly an honor to be a part of your lives. I cannot express my gratitude enough. Thank you for celebrating the beauty of living with us, and for holding our hands during times of stress and sorrow. This year has been turbulent for just about everyone we know. It’s been a hard year filled with challenges and hidden lessons, but none of it is insurmountable because we all have this tremendous, genuinely loving family. Thank you. ~ Last year was turbulent, yes, but fuck, this year has been tough as hell, too. Just about everyone I know, IRL and online, has been going through a rough patch. The fucking economy is disemboweling most of us, so many people I know and love are dealing with terrible health issues or tremendous blows of grief and loss. There’s a lot of despair, a lot of fear, and a lot of instability. A lot of the time, it feels to me like we’re all playing a game of Perfection. I fucking hated Perfection when I was a kid. I hate being startled. I really believe that love and friendship are only things that can sustain us through tough times, and I don’t know how to express how thankful I am for the family that I have because of Black Phoenix. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Gratitude is a funny thing. Really, there aren’t words that can express it fully. I just hope that I, and that we as a company, are able to show how grateful we are to everyone that we work with and all of our customers through our actions day to day. Before I get so choked up that I can’t write out scent notes, on with the anniversary update! ++ ODE TO THE DAY: BPAL ANNIVERSARY 2011 THE PHOENIX AT DAWN Ecstatic bird songs pound the hollow vastness of the sky with metallic clinkings– beating color up into it at a far edge,–beating it, beating it with rising, triumphant ardor,– stirring it into warmth, quickening in it a spreading change,– bursting wildly against it as dividing the horizon, a heavy sun lifts himself–is lifted– bit by bit above the edge of things,–runs free at last out into the open–!lumbering glorified in full release upward– songs cease. The pearly, opalescent flames of the morning: pink rose, apricot, orange blossom, carnation, red sandalwood, lemon blossom, rose musk, Madagascar vanilla, white wine grape, pink grapefruit, and white patchouli. This Phoenix embodies liberty, renewal, vitality, and creativity. THE PHOENIX AT MIDDAY Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass, – The finger-points look through like rosy blooms: Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms ‘Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass. All round our nest, far as the eye can pass, Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edge Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge. ‘Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass. Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky: – So this wing’d hour is dropt to us from above. Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower, This close-companioned inarticulate hour When twofold silence was the song of love. The blazing fires of nona hora: blood orange, mimosa, gingergrass, golden amber, saffron, tonka absolute, pomegranate, neroli, and bourbon geranium. This Phoenix embodies vitality, ferocity, determination, passion, and strength of will. THE PHOENIX AT DUSK Dreams in the dusk, Only dreams closing the day And with the day’s close going back To the gray things, the dark things, The far, deep things of dreamland. Dreams, only dreams in the dusk, Only the old remembered pictures Of lost days when the day’s loss Wrote in tears the heart’s loss. Tears and loss and broken dreams May find your heart at dusk. The muted flame of in-between time, the stillness of the gloaming: blue chamomile, green tea, Spanish moss, champaca flower, white sage, jonquil, wisteria, and white honey. This Phoenix embodies the strange beauty of the dreamscape, the force of the imagination, and the power of the spirit. THE PHOENIX AT MIDNIGHT THIS is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless, Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done, Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best. Night, sleep, death and the stars. The cold fire of distant stars: indigo musk, black iris, orris root, rosewood, night-blooming jasmine, and honeysuckle. This Phoenix embodies introspection, reflection, spiritual freedom, and hope springing eternal. And, because I’ve been waiting a long time for this… LEATHER PHOENIX In 2005, I was messing around with some of our rarer oils while creating a blend for personal use. It contained a small bit of wardh taifi, some 22-year old oudh, golden champaca CO2, and narcissus absolute. It was a strange and lovely creation, and jokingly, I called it Leather Phoenix. “Ha ha! Leather Phoenix. BDSM Phoenix. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we actually saw our leather anniversary?” Lord, it seemed so far away. Holy shit, here we are. (ZOMGWTF?!) And here’s Leather Phoenix: matcha tea, wild frankincense, champaca, petitgrain, star anise, aged oudh, rose taifi, narcissus, Himalayan cedar, 11-year aged patchouli, and black leather accord. Only 213 bottles of Leather Phoenix exist, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Holy. Shit. Here we are! Thank you so much to every single person that has made this possible. Happy anniversary, BPAL.

Please welcome Lisa to the Black Phoenix family! She’ll be helping out the customer service department during the holiday season. Many thanks to everyone for their patience while we wiggle some stuff around in order to make that department move more smoothly during crunch time!

BATTY This year's Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Halloween scent for Dark Delicacies! Dark and fuzzy, yet also dapper and debonair! If Fred Astaire was a werebat, he'd totally smell like this: dark chocolate, black oudh, tonka absolute, cassia, white oleander, sandalwood, and free-tailed bat musk. Artwork by Manda Lander! Clickie!

Ted posted a bottle of Black Lack and a bottle of Dark Delicacies on ebay today on behalf of Dark Delicacies as part a fundraiser to help our friend, Scream Queen Jewel Shepard, pay for her breast cancer treatments. BPAL is also auctioning the first prototype of Black Lace to help Jewel with her medical bills. The original prototype is sweeter, with a more pronounced vanilla quality, and possesses a headier incense note. 100% of the proceeds from these three auctions will go to Jewel. http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=blackphoenixalchemylab Thanks for lookin’, and thanks for helping Jewel out!

Because of a slight logistics hiccup, the Lunacy won’t be going live until tomorrow. Thank you very much for your patience!

NEW YORK REPRESENT! Belladonnastrap, Silvertree, and LiberAmoris will be helping Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post distribute pizzas in support of #occupywallstreet! If you’d like to join them in bringing food to the protesters, meet them at Liberatos Pizza (17 Cedar Street) tomorrow at 12:30 pm. Pizza for the People! Other Ways You Can Help!

Help us feed the #occupywallstreet protesters! You don’t need to do it out of the kindness of your heart: true to the capitalist nature of the good ol’ US of A, we’re not asking you to give something for nothing. You send us money, you get a bottle of perfume and the protesters get some chow. All the money after manufacturing costs that we generate from sales of #OCCUPYWALLSTREET will go to purchasing pizzas for the protesters. #OCCUPYWALLSTREET Rock the protester cliché! This is a filthy friggin’ patchouli, dark, deep, rooty, and strangely sexy, with cocoa absolute, tobacco absolute, and bourbon vanilla. For more information, clickie.

HALLOWEEN: MONTREAL When Halloween comes to Montreal, winter doesn’t lag far behind. Trick-or-treating is done in mad, giddy dashes between houses, an exhilarated rush in the darkness. The air is crisp, sometimes biting, and more than one toddler waddles through the eve, bundled in a snowsuit beneath their inevitably rotund costumes. Chimney smoke and woodstove fires, and all the classic scents of Halloween – loads of candy, leaves, cold earth, smashed pumpkins left over from Mat Night’s debauchery – are sharp and clear in the frosty air. - Maggie Stepien La fumée de cheminée et toutes les odeurs de l'Halloween - bonbons en masse, feuilles mortes, terre gelée, citrouilles écrasées - parfument l'air glacial. http://www.prettyindulgent.com/products/halloween-montreal-perfume

Sorry for the delay, all! The Black Phoenix Trading Post Halloween update will be going live tomorrow. We're having some technical difficulties with the upload, and they won't be solved until Tuesday. Maybe it was just meant to go live /on/ the full moon? Thank you so much for your patience! We just want to make sure it goes up without a hitch!

First things first! - the BPTP Halloweenie / Blood Moon update won't be live until the beginning of next week. Trading Post will be going live at Regularly Scheduled Lunacy Time. Another quick announcement - Halloween: Montreal will be coming to Pretty Indulgent soon. Keep your eyes peeled! Lookie here. And here. Also here. And then go here. And maybe here, too. And for the whole shebang in Shiny and New format, scoot on over here. I hope everyone enjoys the Halloween update as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

Happy birthday, BPAL Virgos! Brian, you are the best goddamn brother that I girl could ask for! BPAL couldn’t function without you, Bry…. and I, m’self, probably couldn’t, either! Jacquelynn, you are a wonderful friend and a phenomenal general manager. I treasure our friendship, and I appreciate everything you do! Norman, thank you for working so hard to ensure that the orders are packed and ready to go! And Lilith… well, happy birthday to you, too, angel…

Today, we present a Twilight Alchemy Lab Limited Edition blend. This liquid talisman was created over the days of August 15th through 17th during the conjunction of Mercury, Venus, and Sol in Leo. This oil endeavors to capture the energy of the Leo Stellium: it is an oil of rediscovering yourself, and achieving a better understanding of who you really are. Filtered through the splendid golden majesty of Leo, Venus is manifested in this oil as an internal mirror and a reminder of the immortality of the soul. Mercury manifests in this blend as a force for dynamic movement and change, and as a roadmap illustrating all possibilities. Mercury also manifests in its Trickster aspect, forcing us to confront self-delusion as exposed by the bright light of Sol. In this Stellium blend, Sol itself shows us how to bolster our self-esteem, confidence, and courage by confronting, understanding, and accepting our true will. Through working with this energy, we can reinvent ourselves through serious and profound reflection regarding who we want to be and how we want the world to see us. 283 bottles of Leo Stellium oil were created. In an attempt to make things a bit easier for everyone, stock has been split between the BPAL site and TAL’s etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/twilightalchemylab Also on TAL’s etsy shop: Leo Stellium incense, an Exodus-inspired Anointing oil, a non-cosmetic Samhain oil, Samhain incense, and Honey of Love bath oil. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.

During San Diego Comic Con, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab will be on half staff, and Twilight Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post will be on a brief hiatus. We will be back to normal on 7/25. Thank you for understanding!

Ted's working on the Zocket update on the BPTP etsy site now. It'll be up in a little bit. I think he's going to post them Aries - Pisces. http://www.etsy.com/shop/bptradingpost

Brian (corinthian on .org) and I (kebechet on .org) are still working on the questions that were sent in to Teddy (puddin on .org) over the last couple of weeks. I don't know if we're going to be able to get through all of them... we'll do our best!

Carnaval Diabolique will be pulling up stakes temporarily while it undergoes a transformation. It will be going dark on July 1, 2011; the moment of its return is still undetermined.

Hungry Ghost Moon is live at Alchemy Lab and Trading Post! 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 sweet rice, ginger candy, sugar cane, smoky vanilla and rice wine mingle with a ghost's perfume of white sandalwood, wisteria, ho wood, ti, white grapefruit, and crystalline musk. This scent is tempered by the presence of ten herbs, woods and resins used in the purification of the spirit. Through this scent, we can release ourselves from sorrow and discontentment, unbinding our souls from the chains that shackle us to our baser needs so we may truly understand and experience compassion, empathy, and joy. Illustration by Julie Dillon! We've got a small addition to Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's RPG line: GNOME An explosive blend of effervescent golden ginger and black peppercorn with sarsaparilla, gurjum balsam, nutmeg, gear lubricant, and smoke. ... and a ginormical addition to Black Phoenix Trading Post's Atmosphere line! Hello thar, RPG Atmosphere sprays! + RPG ATMOSPHERE SPRAYS These atmosphere sprays (and the accompanying fragrance line at BPAL!) were inspired by the many years that I played pen and paper role-playing games. Each of these atmosphere sprays is inspired by a RPG location trope: Entering a musty crypt? We’ve got the scent for you! Confronting a cult of nefarious evildoers? Shoot a bit of Unspeakbly Evil Temple into the air! Your party is crawling through a wererat-infested sewer? We’ve got that comin’, too. While these scents were created to be used to enhance pen and paper RPG gameplay, they can also be used in your living space to evoke the illusion of a mist-shrouded elven forest, a gnomish workshop, an exotic bazaar, or a lich’s laboratory. The scents were created by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab for the Trading Post. These sprays are generously scented with copious amounts of Black Phoenix perfume oil and disperse beautifully. A little goes a long way. Labels printed on an Earth-friendly corn biopolymer. The Black Phoenix Partnership does not test on animals. We test on friends and family, and on the linens of friends and family! FAE FOREST Mist-shrouded woods: Siberian fir needles, white pine bark, aspen leaf, wild lily, bergamot, wood violet, thimbleberry, sun-star, golden bell, snowdrop, heartsease, and bloodroot. UNSPEAKABLY EVIL TEMPLE A profane blend of opoponax, galangal root, dried mosses, wormwood accord, sandarac, frankincense, myrrh, and black copal. EXOTIC BAZAAR Nepalese amber, white sandalwood, black peppercorn, ambrette seed, neroli, coconut sugar, cardamom pods, ginger, fennel, bitter almond, liquorice root, henna, copaiba balsam, and spikenard. And for a limited time... The cicadas have hatched, and they're swarming the Lab -- BROOD XIX Under the heat of the summer sun, a Cicada was hopping about in a large field, chirping and singing lazily. An Ant passed him by, busily heaving along, with tremendous effort, bits of corn he was taking to the nest. "Why not come and chat with me," asked the Cicada, "instead of toiling like that? The day is too lovely to spend in such a manner." "I am helping my fellow ants lay up food for the winter," squealed the Ant indignantly, "and I recommend that you do the same." "Why bother about winter?" said the Cicada; "we have got plenty of food at present. Climb this tree with me and enjoy the sun-warmed bark and the gentle swaying leaves." Turning away, the Ant went on its way and continued its work dutifully. The Cicada pitied the Ant, calling it foolish for wasting time working on such a lovely day, and went back to singing his summer songs of joy. When the winter came, the Cicada had no food and no shelter. The Cicada found itself dying of hunger, while the resourceful and hardworking ants were snug in their warm holes, full of corn and grain from their stores. Then the Cicada knew: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity. The Cicada, in myth, represents indifference and idleness, brevity and impermanence, and dissolution through pleasure: The story is that once upon a time these creatures were men-men of an age before there were any Muses; and that when the latter came into the world and music made its appearance, some of the people of those days were so thrilled with pleasure that they went on singing, and quite forgot to eat and drink until they actually died without noticing it. From them in due course sprang the race of cicadas. (John Sallis on Plato's Plaedrus) The cicadas also represent immortality and rebirth because of their emergent resurrection from the womb of the earth, and they embody transformation and self-preservation through guile because of the way they shed their golden skins. The Great Southern Brood of cicadas is now hatching. Tree sap, hay, almond blossoms, moss, hemp, corn stalks, acorn, sweet amber, and rice milk. Fair Child of Sun and Summer! we behold With eager eyes thy wings bedropp'd with gold; The purple spots that o'er thy mantle spread, The sapphire's lively blue, the ruby's red, Ten thousand various blended tints surprise, Beyond the rainbow's hues or peacock's eyes: Not Judah's king in eastern pomp array'd, Whose charms allur'd from far the Sheban maid, High on his glitt'ring throne, like you could shine (Nature's completest miniature divine): For thee the rose her balmy buds renews, And silver lilies fill their cups with dews; Flora for thee the laughing fields perfumes, For thee Pomona sheds her choicest blooms, Soft Zephyr wafts thee on his gentlest gales O'er Hackwood's sunny hill and verdant vales; For thee, gay queen of insects! do we rove From walk to walk, from beauteous grove to grove; And let the critics know, whose pedant pride And awkward jests our sprightly sport deride: That all who honours, fame, or wealth pursue, Change but the name of things--they hunt for you. -- "Verses on a Butterfly", Joseph Wharton This month, we revisit the Metamorphosis: METAMORPHOSIS Lo, the bright train their radiant wings unfold! With silver fringed, and freckled o'er with gold: On the gay bosom of some fragrant flower They, idly fluttering, live their little hour; Their life all pleasure, and their task all play, All spring their age, and sunshine all their day. - " To Mrs. P--------., With Some Drawings...", Anna Laetitia Aikin The grace, beauty, and complexity of butterflies and moths have permeated myths all over the globe. The symmetry and elegance of their form and the coquettish rhythm of their dance inspires visions of fleeting romance: The dawn is smiling on the dew that covers The tearful roses; lo, the little lovers That kiss the buds, and all the flutterings In jasmine bloom, and privet, of white wings, That go and come, and fly, and peep and hide, With muffled music, murmured far and wide. Ah, the Spring time, when we think of all the lays That dreamy lovers send to dreamy mays, Of the fond hearts within a billet bound, Of all the soft silk paper that pens wound, The messages of love that mortals write Filled with intoxication of delight, Written in April and before the May time Shredded and flown, playthings for the wind's playtime, We dream that all white butterflies above, Who seek through clouds or waters souls to love, And leave their lady mistress in despair, To flit to flowers, as kinder and more fair, Are but torn love-letters, that through the skies Flutter, and float, and change to butterflies - " The Genesis of Butterflies", Victor Hugo Though in some myths - notably, China's Butterfly Lovers, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, and Japan's tale of Takahama and Akiko - butterflies are symbols of eternal love and devotion. Most often, butterflies and moths represent change, transition, and metamorphosis. Butterflies are also seen as personifications of the soul, and symbols of mankind's desire for spiritual evolution. They are harbingers of both love and death, and some believe that errant souls manifest in this form. Moths and butterflies are, to some, symbols of blind desire and madness, perilously drawn to the splendor of light and flame. This mad desire is also portrayed, at times, as transcendence: Tell it none except the wise, for the common crowd defames: of the living I shall praise that which longs for death in flames. In the love night which created you where you create, a yearning wakes: you see, intoxicated, far away a candle burning. Darkness now no longer snares you, shadows lose their ancient force, as a new desire tears you up to higher intercourse. Now no distance checks your flight, charmed you come and you draw night till, with longing for the light, you are burnt, O butterfly. And until you have possessed dying and rebirth, you are but a sullen guest on the gloomy earth. - " Blissful Yearning", Goethe, translation by Walter Kaufmann This series, though seemingly simple, is a complex narrative in scent. It was created with the intention of illustrating the beauty of transformation and transcendence, the sweetness of romance, the joy of freedom and personal liberty, and the perpetuity of true love. Wake, butterfly - It's late, we've miles To go together. - Matsuo Basho + THE MOTHS ATLAS Mallow, oak bark, coffee bean, hinoki wood, and khus. BRAHMIN Rose otto, red ginger, caraway seed, myrrh, orange peel, mandarin leaf, black peppercorn, and vanilla orchid. IO Red musk, pomegranate, cranberry, blackberry, mango, purple sage, thyme, and angelica root. PUSSY Orange blossom honey, brown sugar, saffron, tonka absolute, and tobacco leaf. + THE BUTTERFLIES BLUE MORPHO Wild orchid, pikake, honeysuckle, calla lily, agave nectar, pink geranium, violet leaf, and white amber. GOLIATH BIRDWING White sage, lemongrass, lemon balm, dusty beige musk, and drops of anise. MOURNING CLOAK Opoponax, kumaru, cocoa butter, Mysore sandalwood, verbena, almond milk, guiac wood, beeswax, and myrrh. PURPLE SPOTTED SWALLOWTAIL Black plum, opium poppy, dusky amber, opoponax, castoreum accord, dried berries, tolu balsam, clove bud, and lime. Butterfly, moth, and cicada illustrations by Alicia Dabney! The Metamorphosis series is dedicated, as always, to my daughter. Lilith, you're growing so quickly. Every day you blossom more and more. I love you, little butterfly. You are the joy of my life, and I'm so grateful to be your mother. And in other news: A new Dark Delicacies / Black Phoenix scent is live on the Dark Delicacies web site! It is also available at their brick and mortar shop in Burbank, CA! TATTERED LACE An allegory of Victorian melancholy and madness: tea-stained bourbon vanilla, with white cognac, coconut bark, Oman frankincense, and woodmoss over opium tar-stained silk. Tattered Lace is available exclusively through Dark Delicacies. Dark Delicacies 3512 W. Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, CA 91505 888-DARKDEL http://www.darkdel.com Please extend glops of love and a warm welcome to the newest member of the BPAL family: Pretty Indulgent in Quebec, Canada! Aw yeah - BPAL is international now. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Pretty Indulgent present a celebration of the rich culture and history of Quebec. For your consideration: + QUEBEC: SERIES I HOCHELAGA Warm musk with soft leather, a dusting of dry wildflowers and herbs, sweetgrass, sage, shagbark hickory, and Canadian balsam. Un musc chaud avec une note de cuir souple, saupoudré de fleurs sauvages et d'herbes, de foin d'odeur, de sauge, de caryer ovale, et de baume du Canada. UNE FOLLE ENTREPRISE A mélange of silvery musk, iris, licorice root, black currant, apple blossom, patchouli root, violet, heliotrope, anise, and tonka bean. Un mélange: musc argenté, iris, racine de réglisse, cassis, fleur de pommier, racine de patchouli, violette, héliotrope, anis, et fève tonka. VILLE-MARIE An elegant blend of native and imported flowers twirled around a sophisticated vanilla-touched white musk: Madonna lily, crabapple blossom, Begonia juliana, dendrobium and phalaenopsis orchids, and five varieties of lilac. Un musc blanc sophistiqué, touché de vanille et marié à des fleurs indigènes et étrangères: lys, fleur de pommier, Bégonia, orchidées dendrobium et phalaenopsis , et cinq variétés de lilas. These scents were created by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab for Pretty Indulgent, and are sold only through the Pretty Indulgent web site. Stuff is being posted all the friggin' time on BPAL's etsy shop, Trading Post's etsy shop, and the Black Phoenix ebay thingydooder. And for the moment... that's that!

If you order two bottles of any Dark Delicacies BPAL blends off of the Dark Delicacies web site you will get a random BPAL bottle for free! * Valid today only! *

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Pretty Indulgent present a celebration of the rich culture and history of Quebec. For your consideration: + QUEBEC: SERIES I HOCHELAGA Warm musk with soft leather, a dusting of dry wildflowers and herbs, sweetgrass, sage, shagbark hickory, and Canadian balsam. Un musc chaud avec une note de cuir souple, saupoudré de fleurs sauvages et d’herbes, de foin d'odeur, de sauge, de caryer ovale, et de baume du Canada. UNE FOLLE ENTREPRISE A mélange of silvery musk, iris, licorice root, black currant, apple blossom, patchouli root, violet, heliotrope, anise, and tonka bean. Un mélange: musc argenté, iris, racine de réglisse, cassis, fleur de pommier, racine de patchouli, violette, héliotrope, anis, et fève tonka. VILLE-MARIE An elegant blend of native and imported flowers twirled around a sophisticated vanilla-touched white musk: Madonna lily, crabapple blossom, Begonia juliana, dendrobium and phalaenopsis orchids, and five varieties of lilac. Un musc blanc sophistiqué, touché de vanille et marié à des fleurs indigènes et étrangères: lys, fleur de pommier, Bégonia, orchidées dendrobium et phalaenopsis , et cinq variétés de lilas. These scents were created by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab for Pretty Indulgent, and are sold only through the Pretty Indulgent web site. - - - ABOUT PRETTY INDULGENT I've worked more than ten years in retail, and in the beauty industry. I created Pretty Indulgent because I've been a fan of the brands featured here for a long time, and wanted to bring them all together under one roof - a little virtual boutique of all the things I find beautiful and fabulous and unique. These are the things I constantly rave to friends about, and I thought - why not rave to a whole web full of people? And better yet, give them the option of snagging all these goodies in one go? The idea really took shape when I considered the fact that this was something I could offer my fellow Canadians, when we more often than not have our shopping experience constrained by expensive rates, customs fees and the general inconvenience of some brands not offering shipping to Canada. I'm an inveterate shopper by nature, and a lover of indie brands by experience. I don't scoff at Big Names, but I've gravitated over time to the work created by artisans and entrepreneurs. In a retail landscape dominated by homogenous abundance, finding that unique vision and passionate creativity is all the more exciting. For Pretty Indulgent I wanted to pull together an interesting mix - some things you'll recognize more easily, while some will be more niche. What I've also tried to do is select items and brands that are reasonably priced, especially considering that many of them are hand-made. - Maggie Stepien

Happy Friday the 13th! We’ve taken a slightly different angle on the traditional BPAL 13: this 13 is all about getting lucky! 13 13 is significant, whether you consider it lucky, unlucky or just plain odd. Many believe it to be unfortunate... ... because there were 13 present at the Last Supper. ... Loki crashed a party of 12 at Valhalla, which ended in Baldur's death. ... Oinomaos killed 13 of Hippodamia's suitors before Pelops finally, in his own shady way, defeated the jealous king. ... In ancient Rome, Hecate's witches gathered in groups of 12, the Goddess herself being the 13th in the coven. Concern over the number thirteen echoes back beyond the Christian era. Line 13 was omitted form the Code of Hammurabi. The shivers over Friday the 13th also have some interesting origins: ... Christ was allegedly crucified on Friday the 13th. ... On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and sixty of his senior knights. ... In British custom, hangings were held on Fridays, and there were 13 steps on the gallows leading to the noose. To combat the superstition, Robert Ingersoll and the Thirteen Club held thirteen-men dinners during the 19th Century. Successful? Hardly. The number still invokes trepidation to this day. A recent whimsical little serial killer study showed that the following murderers all have names that total thirteen letters: Theodore Bundy Jeffrey Dahmer Albert De Salvo John Wayne Gacy And, with a little stretch of the imagination, you can also fit 'Jack the Ripper' and 'Charles Manson' into that equation. More current-era paranoia: modern schoolchildren stop their memorization of the multiplication tables at 12. There were 13 Plutonium slugs in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apollo 13 wasn't exactly the most successful space mission. All of these are things that modern triskaidekaphobes point to when justifying their fears. For some, 13 is an extremely fortuitous and auspicious number... ... In Jewish tradition, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy. Also, there were 13 tribes of Israel, 13 principles of Jewish faith, and 13 is considered the age of maturity. ... The ancient Egyptians believed that there were 12 stages of spiritual achievement in this lifetime, and a 13th beyond death. ... The word for thirteen, in Chinese, sounds much like the word which means “must be alive” . Thirteen, whether you love it or loathe it, is a pretty cool number all around. ... In some theories of relativity, there are 13 dimensions. ... It is a prime number, lucky number, star number, Wilson Prime, and Fibonacci number. ... There are 13 Archimedean solids. AND... ... There were 13 original colonies when the United States were founded. Says a lot about the US, doesn't it? A base of rich cacao absolute and honey with thirteen lust-inspiring oils: patchouli, vanilla absolute, rose otto, red sandalwood, devil’s bit, caraway, cardamom, cubeb, carrot seed, ginseng, yohimbe, saffron, and grains of paradise. Moon of Horses is also live on BPAL and BPTP! MOON OF HORSES One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. Grape vines, cinnamon, frankincense, olive leaf, red wine, saffron, stacte, galbanum, costus root, smoke, and brimstone. Charmingly apocalyptic artwork by Julie Dillon! The bees in Rappaccini’s Apiary have been busy this month: Chokecherry Honey and Redoul Honey. This month, we’re proud to present what amounts to a Twilight Alchemy Lab Limited Edition blend. Created on May 11, 2011 to encapsulate the conjunction of Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter, this liquid talisman unites the energies of the two Benefics with Mercury, resulting in an oil of movement, adaptability, expansion, optimism, creativity, confidence, attraction, and inspiration. It holds the qualities of positive fearlessness, expansive courage, and helps to bolster the spirit so barriers that we have erected for ourselves in the past can finally be overcome. Through this liquid talisman, your possibilities are limitless, and reality is yours to create. 283 bottles were created. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. The Black Phoenix Trading Post RPG line of atmosphere sprays will be live later this month!

The Weeping Moon update is live at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Black Phoenix Trading Post! WEEPING BRANCHES MOON The moon glimmers like bright snow, and plum blossoms appear like reflected stars Ah! The golden mirror of the moon passes overhead as fragrance from the jade chamber fills the garden Graceful, arching branches, heavy with plum and apricot blossoms, sweet ichigo, and a bouquet of peony, anemone, honeysuckle, spider lily, and hydrangea against a backdrop of luminescent, gently glowing lunar oils. So much thanks to Julie Dillon for illustrating Weeping Branches Moon! Weeping Branches Moon will be live on both sites until April 19, 2011. Also live: a scent created to benefit the CBLDF's ongoing fight to protect First Amendment rights - COHEN V. CALIFORNIA In April of 1968, Paul Robert Cohen was arrested for wearing a jacket emblazoned with "Fuck the Draft" inside a Los Angeles County Courthouse. He was convicted of violating California Penal Code § 415, prohibiting "maliciously and willfully disturb[ing] the peace or quiet of any neighborhood or person [by] offensive conduct," and was sentenced to thirty days imprisonment. The California Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, and the California Supreme Court denied review: On April 26, 1968, the defendant was observed in the Los Angeles County Courthouse in the corridor outside of division 20 of the municipal court wearing a jacket bearing the words 'Fuck the Draft' which were plainly visible. There were women and children present in the corridor. The defendant was arrested. The defendant testified that he wore the jacket knowing that the words were on the jacket as a means of informing the public of the depth of his feelings against the Vietnam War and the draft. In affirming the conviction, California's Court of Appeal held that offensive conduct translates to "behavior which has a tendency to provoke others to acts of violence or to in turn disturb the peace," and that "it was certainly reasonably foreseeable that such conduct might cause others to rise up to commit a violent act against the person of the defendant or attempt to forcibly remove his jacket." However, the US Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari, and the case went off to the highest court in the land. In essence, the Supreme Court had to decide whether or not Cohen's unseemly speech was punishable or protected under the auspices of the First Amendment. The Court held, by a vote of 5–4, that "Absent a more particularized and compelling reason for its actions, the State may not, consistently with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, make the simple public display of this single four-letter expletive a criminal offense." Cohen, by way of his "Fuck the Draft" jacket, was not tossing out "fighting words," and was not provoking violence through his sartorial display. The Court denied the State the broad power to censor its citizens in the name of creating a clean, civil society through the censorship of public discourse: "[T]he issue flushed by this case stands out in bold relief. It is whether California can excise, as 'offensive conduct,' one particular scurrilous epithet from the public discourse, either upon the theory . . . that its use is inherently likely to cause violent reaction or upon a more general assertion that the States, acting as guardians of public morality, may properly remove this offensive word from the public vocabulary." The whole of Justice John Marshall Harlan II's closing arguments were eloquent and compelling, but there is one phrase that strikes to the core of what I feel is the essence of the First Amendment: "For, while the particular four-letter word being litigated here is perhaps more distasteful than most others of its genre, it is nevertheless true that one man's vulgarity is another's lyric." One man's vulgarity is another's lyric: black tea, apricot, honey, saffron, apple blossom, tolu balsam, ginger grass, white ginger root, and vetiver. Cohen V CA is a charitable, not-for-profit venture: proceeds from every single bottle go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which works to preserve and protect the First Amendment rights of the comics community. Beanworld art on the Cohen v. CA label courtesy of Larry Marder. Used with permission. Thank you so much, Larry! Also new this month! - The RPG Series is live! ++ THE RPG SERIES "You all meet at an inn…" Pen and paper role-playing games have been a tremendous influence in my life since my formative years. My parents bought me the magenta D&D boxed set back in 1982, along with the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual. My lifelong passion for fantasy, science fiction, war games, and mythology was well-channeled through RPGs, and I credit playing D&D with helping me sustain my imagination and sense of wonder through adulthood. I played with one particular group through the bulk of my late teens and early 20s, and this series - along with the atmosphere tools that Black Phoenix Trading Post will be introducing - was inspired, specifically, by the time that we spent campaigning together. Our group was somewhat prop-driven in our gaming: we felt that setting a mood was conducive to our style of gameplay. Little things like changes in lighting, minor sound effects, and music made a world of difference, and we found that utilizing miniatures, model railroad scenery, and other tools in order to physically illustrate strategies and provide visual cues was tremendously useful. How much more immersive would it have been if we'd been able to smell the crypt we were crawling through? Or the stench of steel and blood that permeates a warrior's cloak? What do the wizard's spell components smell like? What does winter in the desert smell like? Or spring in a druid's sanctuary? Pen and paper role playing games are, to me, dynamic stories that are propelled by the active participation of many individuals. You can't have a strong storyline without creating characters of some depth. When you create a character, you generally have their personalities, priorities, and history in mind, along with a clear vision of what your character looks and sounds like. But how does she smell? What does the world around her smell like? In most pen and paper fantasy RPGs, three of the primary attributes that you must choose for your character are race, class, and alignment. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's RPG scent series was designed to emulate the character creation process, and are meant to be layered in order to create a character concept. In short: you layer your class, race, and the two fragrances that compose your alignment to construct your character scent. RPGs in all their myriad forms - CRPGs, MMOs, and old school pen and paper - have brought me immeasurable joy. This is my homage. This series is dedicated to my first DMs - my parents - for laughing off the nutter-perpetuated AD&D Satan Scare of the 80's. Thanks for taking the time to play with your little girl. I miss you, and I love you. This series was illustrated by Julie Dillon! + RACES In gaming terms, choosing your character's race means you will select which sentient species you would like to belong to. DWARF Iron filings and chips of stone, Styrian Golding hops, and soot-covered leather. ELF Pale golden musk, honeycomb, amber, parma violet, hawthorne bark, aspen leaf, forest lily, life everlasting, white moss, and a hint of wild berry. HALF-ELF White sandalwood, beeswax, white tea leaf, oud, and a hint of sophisticated urban musk. HALFLING Porridge, kukui nuts, and pastry crumbs. ORC Field grey courgette musk, roughly cured leather, and vetiver. + CLASSES Class refers to your character's choice of adventuring profession. CLERIC Rose amber, frankincense, myrrh, champaca flower, Peru balsam, cistus, palisander, cananga, hyssop, and narcissus absolute. FIGHTER Leather, musk, blood, and steel. MAGE All mystique and thrumming power: gurjum balsam, Sumatran dragon's blood resin, olibanum, galangal, oleo gum resin, and frankincense. PALADIN Immaculate white musk, sweet frankincense, bourbon vanilla, white leather, and shining armor. RANGER Untamed wilderness: buckskin accord with Terebinth pine, Russian birch, black ironwood, elder bark, hay, armoise, juniper, patchouli, galangal root, Spanish moss, and cabreuva. ROGUE Soft, well-worn black leather, hemp, and rosin. + ALIGNMENT Alignment refers to your character's ethics: which way does his or her moral compass point? There are two aspects to alignment: law vs. chaos, and good vs. evil. Does your character respect authority and venerate tradition? She's likely Lawful. Does she value personal freedom above all else? Chaotic. Does your character give alms to the poor and protect the innocent? He's Good. Is your character of a mercenary bend, willing and eager to step on others to get ahead? Evil. A character that is Neutral (or any combination of Neutral) either finds perfect balance in their worldview, or is apathetic towards the constraints of either good and evil or law and chaos. A lawful neutral character values the letter of the law above any concern for good or evil, and the chaotic neutral character is, generally, driven completely by a desire for absolute freedom. Sometimes they're just nuts. NEUTRAL A flawless skin musk. LAWFUL Rigid oak, blue chamomile, rhubarb, and fig leaf. CHAOTIC A whirling mélange of multicolored musks with wasabi, rooibos, heliotrope, and mastic. GOOD Shimmering celestial musk with vanilla, white honey, acacia, and sugar cane. EVIL Smouldering opium tar, tobacco absolute, green tea, black plum, kush, ambergris accord, ambrette seed, and costus root. Gamers! Please take a moment and join our RPG discussion on the Gazette! This month, Black Phoenix Trading Post is introducing Snow, Glass, Apples soap! She said nothing. Her eyes were black as coal, black as her hair; her lips were redder than blood. She looked up at me and smiled. Her teeth seemed sharp, even then, in the lamplight. "What are you doing away from your room?" "I'm hungry," she said, like any child. It was winter, when fresh food is a dream of warmth and sunlight; but I had strings of whole apples, cored and dried, hanging from the beams of my chamber, and I pulled an apple down for her. "Here." Autumn is the time of drying, of preserving, a time of picking apples, of rendering the goose fat. Winter is the time of hunger, of snow, and of death; and it is the time of the midwinter feast, when we rub the goose-fat into the skin of a whole pig, stuffed with that autumn's apples, then we roast it or spit it, and we prepare to feast upon the crackling. She took the dried apple from me and began to chew it with her sharp yellow teeth. "Is it good?" She nodded. I had always been scared of the little princess, but at that moment I warmed to her and, with my fingers, gently, I stroked her cheek. She looked at me and smiled -- she smiled but rarely -- then she sank her teeth into the base of my thumb, the Mound of Venus, and she drew blood. I began to shriek, from pain and from surprise; but she looked at me and I fell silent. Black Phoenix Trading Post is thrilled to present a handcrafted soap inspired by Neil Gaiman's acclaimed short story, Snow, Glass, Apples. The soap was created by the fiercely talented master soaper Brooke Stant, and the label, designed by Kira Butler, includes one of Julie Dillon’s haunting illustrations from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's chapbook of the tale. The soaps are scented with Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s 2008 Limited Edition scent, Snow, Glass Apples. In Neil's words, 'It smells like green apples and like sex and vampires, all at the same time. (Actually, it smells like sexy vampire apples.)' Snow, Glass, Apples will be available as long as supplies last. These gloriously luxuriant soaps were created with the finest skin-nurturing ingredients. They are made by hand, from scratch, by Villainess, and are generously scented with Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume. Each bar is at least 3.5oz (without any water weight), and are cut 1" thick from a 3" square block of soap. The faces of the bars are smooth and bear unique, undulating, surrealistically beautiful swirls and marbles - rivulets of blood swirling though snow - and the sides are textured and raw, exhibiting the complex landscape of unsculpted handmade soap. As always, no animals were harmed during the creation of this soap, and all products were tested on friends and family. This is a charitable, not-for-profit venture: proceeds from every single set go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which works to preserve and protect the First Amendment rights of the comics community. A million thanks and all our love to Neil, and to Charles Brownstein and his staff at the CBLDF! In other news, @EmpressPixie set up a great feed that you can subscribe to on twitter (@bpaletsyupdates) that'll keep you posted whenever the BPAL or BPTP etsy sites are updated! We are grieved to announce that the Atomic Luau Lounge will be disappearing when next month's lunacy comes down. Any orders placed before the pull date will be honored. And that's that!

Voilà!

Black Phoenix Trading Post now has its own Facebook page! Huzzah for new ways to post your Headless Torso pics! Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's facebook page is here. Thanks for visiting!

Nobody is slamming anyones willingness to help. We have a very important policy in place that prohibits us from answering customer service inquiries in any format other than email. In order to answer peoples questions efficiently and correctly, we need to be able to access the customer information pertinent to the inquiry and we have to be able to contain all previous communications with that customer in one place. Most often, most of the Labbies, myself included, go onto Facebook, Twitter, and bpal.org from home in our free time. The BPAL staff dont have remote access to order information, production queue info, or previously sent emails if were not actually at the Lab, so we cant help much anyway when were not physically there. While many of us also work from home, the only one of us that answers CS questions from home is Ted. Even though he is able to access order information from home, answering inquiries that are spread out over multiple channels still poses the problem of not being able to retain or easily access message and conversation history. Bill, who is the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Customer Service Angel, doesnt manage our Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace, and he doesnt come onto the forum often. Hes simply not going to see any inquiries that are posted in these places, and things will get even more muddled if Kathy and I are forwarding c/ps of pms or Twitter and Facebook posts to him as a third party. Basically, if people send us inquiries through multiple channels, they get lost in the shuffle, and we are left with no record of the messages. It makes things a lot more complicated for both us and the customer. If you have sent us an email, at BPAL, BPTP, or TAL, and have not received a reply, please resend the email. Please keep in mind that our customer service hours are generally 10am 6pm (Pacific), Monday through Friday. When there is trouble with one of our customer service email addresses (like the one were having with TAL at the moment), we post notices for specific alternatives. This information can be found in our announcements here on bpal.org, on the Gazette, and on our Facebook page. Its not that were trying to be difficult with regards to communication: we just need to keep all of our communications in one place. Thank you guys so much for understanding!