The carnival has come to town.

[kebechet]

Oh lord, what a year! The ship times are returning to normal, and – yet again – I have to offer our thanks to all of you for your patience and kindness during the roughest time that BPAL has ever experienced.

 

Without further adieu, let’s kick this off!

 

 

THE CARNAVAL HAS ARRIVED!

 

Carnaval Diabolique is a series comprised of seven acts. The first two are now presented for your pleasure and amusement, and the following acts will appear over the next 13 months. A million truly heartfelt thanks to Gennivre, L'Artiste du Diable, for all her blood and sweat, and for the phenomenal, perverse magick that she created for our devilish enterprise. Basil Hallward would be proud!

 

In addition to the Carnaval’s macabre offerings, we also submit the following general catalogue scents for your consideration…

 

++ BEWITCHING BREWS

I DIED FOR BEAUTY --

I died for beauty but was scarce

Adjusted in the tomb,

When one who died for truth was lain

In an adjoining room.

 

He questioned softly why I failed?

"For beauty," I replied.

"And I for truth, the two are one;

We brethren are," he said.

 

And so, as kinsmen met a night,

We talked between the rooms,

Until the moss had reached our lips,

And covered up our names.

 

The Venusian splendor of ylang ylang and violet stirred by hyssop, frankincense, and grave loam.

 

THE JERSEY DEVIL -- It was about three feet and half high, with a head like a collie dog and a face like a horse. It had a long neck, wings about two feet long, and its back legs were like those of a crane, and it had horse's hooves. It walked on its back legs and held up two short front legs with paws on them. It didn't use the front legs at all while we were watching. My wife and I were scared, I tell you, but I managed to open the window and say, 'Shoo', and it turned around barked at me, and flew away. The scent of the wild, hauntingly beautiful Pine Barrens of New Jersey! Pitch pine with blackberry leaf, cranberry, cedar wood and tomato leaf.

 

THE TAVERN OF HELL -- Sometimes I would venture from my sepulchre to the jazz of night Paris, where having gathered the colours, I would think them over in front of the fire. I could be seen walking through a funeral corridor of my house and descending down a black spiral of steep stairs; rushing underground to Montmartre, all impatience to see the fiery rubies of the Moulin Rouge cross. I wondered thereabouts, then bought a ticket to watch frenzied delirium of feathers, vulgar painted lips and eyelashes of black and blue.

 

Naked feet, and thighs, and arms, and breasts were being flung on me from bloody-red foam of translucent clothes. The tuxedoed goatees and crooked noses in white vests and toppers would line the hall, with their hands posed on canes. Then I found myself in a pub, where the liqueurs were served on a coffin (not a table) by the nickering devil: "Drink it, you wretched!" Having drunk, I returned under the black sky split by the flaming vanes, which the radiant needles of my eyelashes cross-hatched. In front of my nose a stream of bowler hats and black veils was still pulsing, foamy with bluish green and warm orange of feathers worn by the night beauties: to me they were all one, as I had to narrow my eyes for insupportable radiance of electric lamps, whose hectic fires would be dancing beneath my nervous eyelids for many a night to come. White gardenia, ambergris bouquet, lavender fougere, orange blossom, melissa, tobacco flower, coriander, ebony wood, ylang ylang, absinthe and aged whiskey.

 

 

++ LOVE POTIONS

LES BIJOUX --

My well-beloved was stripped. Knowing my whim,

She wore her tinkling gems, but naught besides:

And showed such pride as, while her luck betides,

A sultan's favored slave may show to him.

 

When it lets off its lively, crackling sound,

This blazing blend of metal crossed with stone

Gives me an ecstasy I've only known

Where league of sound and lustre can be found.

 

She let herself be loved: then, drowsy-eyed,

Smiled down from her high couch in languid ease.

My love was deep and gentle as the seas

And rose to her as to a cliff the tide.

 

My own approval of each dreamy pose,

Like a tamed tiger, cunningly she sighted:

And candour, with lubricity united,

Gave piquancy to every one she chose.

 

Her limbs and hips, burnished with changing lustres

Before my eyes, clairvoyant and serene,

Swanned themselves, undulating in their sheen;

Her breasts and belly, of my vine the clusters,

 

Like evil angels rose, my fancy twitting,

To kill the peace which over me she'd thrown,

And to disturb her from the crystal throne

Where, calm and solitary, she was sitting.

 

So swerved her pelvis that, in one design,

Antiope's white rump it seemed to graft

To a boy's torso, merging fore and aft.

The talc on her brown tan seemed half-divine.

 

The lamp resigned its dying flame. Within,

The hearth alone lit up the darkened air,

And every time it sighed a crimson flare

It drowned in blood that amber-coloured skin.

 

Skin musk and honey, blood-red rose, orange blossom, white peach, red apple, frankincense and myrrh.

 

 

++ ILLYRIA

CALIBAN --

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,

Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices

That, if I then had waked after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open and show riches

Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,

I cried to dream again.

 

The scent of the salty seas, bittersweet wine, palm and tropical ferns.

 

 

++ ARS DRACONIS

LADON -- The hundred-headed dragon that guards the garden of the Hesperides: dragon’s blood resin, golden apple, apple blossom, white musk and hyacinth.

TANIN'IVER -- Lilith’s monstrous dragon steed: dragon’s blood resin, patchouli, pomegranate, myrrh, mimosa, cassia, blood musk and smoke.

 

 

++ WANDERLUST

MAG MELL -- The Plane of Joy, eternal reward for a lifetime of valor and glory. A place of eternal youth and beauty, strength and honor, music and revelry. The warmth of amber, the puissance of white ginger and the clarity of verbena, with fresh green grass, lush sage and cleansing droplets of summer rain.

MANHATTAN -- Sexuality, power, confidence. A meeting of modern, sleek elegance and rich, passionate history: sheer amber, black leather, white mint, lemon peel, white tea, grapefruit, kush, teakwood and orchid.

PONTARLIER -- The legendary birthplace of the Green Fairy. Swiss ferns, lilac, blackcurrant, Gallic rose and lavender with a dollop of sugar and absinthe.

PORT ROYAL -- The Sodom of the New World! -- touted as the richest and wickedest city in all creation! Port Royal was the center of 17th century Caribbean commerce, a notorious safe harbor for pirates, and the site of our third flagship store, which was, sadly, destroyed in the earthquake of 1692. Spiced rum and ship’s wood mixed with the body-warmed trace of a prostitute’s perfume and a hint of salty sea air on the dry-down.

URUK -- A city of mystery, wonder and majesty, said to have been built by order of Gilgamesh. Thick bitter almond and heady night-blooming jasmine with saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and the sacred incense of Inanna.

 

 

LAND HO, MATEYS! The Phantom Islands are in our sights!

 

 

++ WANDERLUST: PHANTOM ISLANDS

COCKAIGNE -- “The weather is always mild, the wine flows freely, sex is readily available, and all people enjoy eternal youth.” The Land of Plenty, also called Luilekkerland – the Lazy, Luscious Land: milk and honey, sweet cakes and wine.

THE ISLES OF DEMONS -- Twin islands near Newfoundland, now lost, that were believed to be gateways to Hell. The scent is of wet, dark greenery, carnivorous flowers, volcanic gas, and the hot black musk of the demons and wild beasts that populated the islands.

JEZIRAT Al TENNYN -- The Dragon’s Isle: smoke and fire, earth and wind. The rage of the elements blasting over a primordial paradise.

KUMARI KANDAM -- The hollow scent of a vast antediluvian civilization, now frozen and buried, smothered by a thick sheet of ice and trapped deep beneath the ocean. Thick incense, clay, stone, and hothouse blooms with a spike of frost, a hint of decay, and heavy, dolorous aquatic notes.

LYONESSE --

Then rose the King and moved his host by night

And ever pushed Sir Mordred, league by league,

Back to the sunset bound of Lyonesse --

A land of old upheaven from the abyss

By fire, to sink into the abyss again;

Where fragments of forgotten peoples dwelt,

And the long mountains ended in a coast

Of ever-shifting sand, and far away

The phantom circle of a moaning sea.

 

Golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris and sea moss.

 

 

At long last, there are two new additions to our aromatherapy line: Panacea.

 

 

++ PANACEA: THE ELIXIRS

ELIXIR VIII: BITCH -- Snappy-quick PMS relief.

ELIXIR IX: TKO -- ”Many things -- such as loving, going to sleep, or behaving unaffectedly -- are done worst when we try hardest to do them.” Sleep, sleep, and more sleep.

 

 

And the lastest edition to the Salon...

 

 

++ THE SALON

CLOISTER GRAVEYARD IN THE SNOW -- Three white musks, ozone, frankincense, mint.

DEATH OF THE GRAVE DIGGER -- Snow, soil, opoponax and myrrh.

THE FOX-WOMAN KUZUNOHA LEAVING HER CHILD -- White tea, cherry blossom, wisteria, star jasmine, and teak.

THE PENITENT MAGDALEN -- Immortelle, lily of the valley, gaiac, amber, honey, white sandalwood, almond flower, blonde musk, and hyssop.

SILENCE -- White sandalwood, iris, blue musk, lotus root, moonflower, plum blossom, green tea, white mint and white peach.

THREE BRIDES -- Moroccan rose, king mandarin, red sandalwood, Egyptian amber, orchid, carnation, benzoin, tonka, calla lily, vanilla flower.

 

 

AND… for all you wonderful people on the bpal.org forum…

 

F5

 

 

We have also added imp packs to several previously unimpable sections of the catalogue. Full imp sets of the Chakras, the Salon, the Sephiroth and Qliphoth, the Panaceas, and the Tarot Blends. Imps in these categories can only be purchased in a set, and the prices are scaled from section to section. Please refer to the specifc catalogue page or the Imp’s Ears page for more information.

 

At this time, imp's ears are not available for Carnaval Diabolique or any other Limited Edition scent.

 

Later this month, you can expect a few wonderful additions to the Trading Post in addition to a restocking of the perfume lockets. Our beloved Tedwin has been hard at work acquiring some stupefyingly cool products that we KNOW will thrill you!

 

Every rose has its thorn, as they say, and along with this update comes the new pricing scale on the oils. To paraphrase an announcement of mine that was cross-posted to the independent BPAL forum and our LiveJournal announcement community, BPAL Ex Cathedra…

 

We fought it for as long as we could, but in the face of skyrocketing oil costs (which in turn has raised the prices on all our overseas shipment costs), increased packaging and bottle costs, the rising cost of utilities and rent, and increases in virtually every aspect of the supply chain, from insurance to packing and manufacturing materials. we're finally left with no choice but to bump the price of the oils slightly. We have not raised prices in many years, and if it were at all possible, we would never do so.

 

We have done our best to make this as painless as possible. To that end, the following changes to oil prices are in effect as of the inception of Carnaval Diabolique on August 3rd, 2006:

 

General Catalogue 5ml: $15.00

General Catalogue 10ml: $24.50

The Salon 5ml: $25.50

Tarot Oils 10ml: $24.00

Sephiroth / Qliphoth 10ml: $24.00

The Chakras 5ml: $27.50

Panaceas 5ml: $25.50

Carnaval Diabolique 5ml: $20.00

Single Imp's Ear: $3.50

6 pack of Imp's Ears: $19.50

 

The price for limited edition oils may vary, but will average $17.50 - $20.00 per 5ml, depending on the cost to manufacture.

 

I hope that you all will understand our position. This was not an easy thing to have to do.

 

One last wee little thorn: when the next Lunacy comes down, so shall the 10ml's. In an effort to streamline and speed up the bottling and packing processes the 10ml's for all GC scents are being pulled. The oils that are only offered in the 10ml size will still be in the 10ml bottles (Tarot Oils & Sephiroth), but 10ml will no longer be an option for any other scents.

 

RIP, little 10ml's.

 

In closing, some web site news and a smidgen of what's to come:

 

We are still formatting all the entries for the Coterie. In the meantime, please feel free to contribute your creations! The links page is still being updated. Our friends, customers, and co-conspirators are a frighteningly talented bunch, and we love to spread the love. If you have a link you’d like us to share, shoot us an email!

 

As we head into August, we approach the revisiting of a venerable Black Phoenix tradition: the Halloween LE extravaganza. Keep an eye out for it later this month.

 

I know that no one needs reminding, but I have to say it from time to time: all copy contained within this site is © Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab with the exception of public domain works. There are trademarks tucked away all over this labyrinth, and the bulk of the artwork at Black Phoenix Trading Post, the BPAL logo, and ALL of the Carnaval Diabolique artwork is © Jennifer Williamson & Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Please be respectful, and treat our work the same way you would want your creative work to be treated. Golden rule, and all that.

 

Besides, our lawyer wields a mean bullwhip.

 

Eat your veggies, call your mom, and please recycle.

 

And that, friends and loved ones, is all the news I've got!