Halloween & Hunter Moon at BPAL & BPTP!

[kebechet]

Happy Halloween, ladies and gents! New, for the holiday season...

 

++ LUNACY

HUNTER MOON

As the winter encroaches, the time comes to embark on the last Great Hunts of the year. The deer are fattened, the fields have been reaped, and the light of the full moon illuminates the wild creatures that have come out to glean. This scent is redolent of night skies, falling leaves, and the high-pitched tension and release associated with the Hunt. Dry leaves, autumn bonfires, blood red wine, feral, animalistic notes and the chill of approaching winter.

 

AEAEA

This is her island squared in cypress lines;

With cedar ranks about her alley walks

Set frequent, and the faces of the boles

Are crimson, deep as sunset stains of cloud.

The floor between them, rank and overgrown,

Is tangled with luxuriant heads of bloom,

All in a mat together, mixed with sedge.

There are bells of some wide wine-deep flowers,

Great apple fruits and tawny orange globes;

And bunchy cactus tipped in fire-bright buds.

Grey aloe spikes and heavy curling vines,

And speckled poison berries intertwined.

Her groves lead down upon the light free waves;

Her foam-heads dance and ripple into sound.

The laughter of many birds is in her elms

Jays, owls, sea-crows, larks, lapwings, nightingales,

As jumbled as the flowers beneath their notes.

The isle-grove ends abruptly on the sea,

A stranded star-fish neighbors by the sward,

Where the snail toils beneath his painted walls.

Small seaward gust irresolute breathe near;

And sweeter waftings, sent from the middle brine,

Stir the deep grasses at her perfect feet,

Where Circe, shining down the gaudy flowers,

Leans centre-light of all this paradise.

One ankle gleams against the margin turf,

Just beyond where the wave-teeth cease to bite.

And the sea-pinks grow less rosy at her feet.

 

But this enchantress, island-queen, herself

Bears on her head a bright tire marvelous,

And for a girdle one of many dyes

Woven and traced with curious pattern-spells.

Her face is not at first so beautiful,

That one should say ”˜Fear her, she will slay men

And draw them into deaths by her strange ways,

And some soft snare hid under all of her.'

We must consider well upon her face,

And the silent beauty of it all

Begins upon us, grows and greatens on,

Like sweet increasing music, chord on chord,

Till all our being falters overthrown;

And she lures out our soul into her hands,

As faint and helpless as a new-born babe,

To have her will and way with all of it.

 

O, she, this Circe mage, is strange and great,

And deadlier than those terrible bright forms,

That beam out on us with their grace.

Her love eats deeper to the core of men,

Scathing and killing, fierce and unappeased;

Until not only the divine in us,

But all the human also (which indeed

Are one, tho' this less perfect) fade and change,

And fall corrupted into alien forms.

Till we resemble those strange-headed things,

Herded away behind her island throne,

Chimaeras, tiger-apes, and wolfish swine.

 

A dark ocean breeze, electric with adrenaline, magic, and fear, clashing with the thick scent of poisoned berries and spiny aloe, against a backdrop of snowdrop, cedar, and cypress.

 

 

LIBRA 2007

Cardinal air: the essence of balance.

Rose, black cherry, carnation, fig, honey, plum, and black currant.

 

 

 

++ HALLOWEEN BLENDS

ALL SOULS 2007

A day of remembrance and intercession. Without the prayers and sacrifices of their families and loved ones, the faithful departed may not be cleansed of their venal sins, and thereby cannot attain beatific vision. On November 2nd, prayers are sung and offerings are made to aid lost souls in transcending purgatory. An incense blend that invokes the higher qualities of mercy and compassion, mingled with the soft, sugared currant scent of offertory soul cakes.

 

 

BONFIRE NIGHT

Guy Fawkes, Guy;

Stick him up on high!

Hang him on a lamp post

And there let him die!

Guy, Guy, Guy!

Poke Him in the eye!

Put him on the fire,

And there let him die!

Burn his body from his head:

Then you'll say

Guy Fawkes is dead!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

 

Beer, woodsmoke, tar, and treacle.

 

 

THE DEATH OF AUTUMN

When reeds are dead and a straw to thatch the marshes,

And feathered pampas-grass rides into the wind

Like aged warriors westward, tragic, thinned

Of half their tribe, and over the flattened rushes,

Stripped of its secret, open, stark and bleak,

Blackens afar the half-forgotten creek, --

Then leans on me the weight of the year, and crushes

My heart. I know that Beauty must ail and die,

And will be born again, -- but ah, to see

Beauty stiffened, staring up at the sky!

Oh, Autumn! Autumn! -- What is the Spring to me?

 

Dark amber, dead leaves, khus, saffron, bitter clove, chrysanthemum, camellia, galangal, and a drop of oud.

 

 

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS 2007

A joyous celebration of La Catarina, La Flaca, La Muerte... Glorious, Beautiful Death. In Mexico, death is not something to be feared or hated; She is embraced, loved, and adored. La Muerte is fêted, as the celebrant "...chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love." This is a Mexican paean to La Huesuda: dry, crackling leaves, the incense smoke of altars honoring Death and the Dead, funeral bouquets, the candies, chocolates, foods and tobacco of the ofrenda, amaranth, sweet cactus blossom and desert cereus.

 

OCTOBER

AY, thou art welcome, heaven's delicious breath!

When woods begin to wear the crimson leaf,

And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief

And the year smiles as it draws near its death.

Wind of the sunny south! oh, still delay

In the gay woods and in the golden air,

Like to a good old age released from care,

Journeying, in long serenity, away.

In such a bright, late quiet, would that I

Might wear out life like thee, 'mid bowers and brooks

And dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks,

And music of kind voices ever nigh;

And when my last sand twinkled in the glass,

Pass silently from men, as thou dost pass.

 

Dry, cold autumn wind. A rustle of red leaves, a touch of smoke and sap in the air.

 

 

SAMHAIN 2007

Truly the scent of autumn itself -- damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein.

 

 

SAMHAINOPHOBIA 2007

The fear of Halloween. Menacing Haitian vetiver, patchouli, and clove with a shock of bourbon geranium, grim oakmoss, and dread-inspiring balsams pierce the innocuous scent of autumn leaves.

 

 

SUGAR SKULL 2007

Vibrant with the joy and sweetness of life in death! A blend of five sugars, lightly dusted with candied fruits.

 

 

 

++ HALLOWEEN: the HAUNTED HOUSE

We're going back to our campy, spooky roots with the Haunted House Collection! Seven Guignolesque, chilling atmospheric blends are being offered for your pleasure and amusement.

 

THE ATROCIOUS ATTIC

A shadowy shrine filled with forgotten toys, broken dolls. The altar: a collapsing trunk distended by a rotted wedding gown. The air of the room is dusty, laced with the scent of a child's perfume and the remnants of a dried, crumbling bridal bouquet: tea rose, violet, white sandalwood, French lavender, and Calla lily.

 

THE CHILLING CELLAR

Wine just turning to vinegar, crumbling mortar, red clay, and the coppery tang of old blood.

 

THE FORBIDDING FOYER

Thick shadows hang heavy across fungus-smeared, dilapidated wainscoting, cobwebs hang like fine lace across sagging mouldings, rats scuttle past gaping doorways. The faint scent of brimstone, ghostly breath laced with cognac, neglected mahogany panels, and rot.

 

THE GHASTLY GARDEN

Overgrown oleander, marshy water hemlock, the sugared nectar of carnivorous blooms, putrefying wet greenery, oozing sap, crushed rosary peas, withered climbing roses, and nightshade berries.

 

THE LURID LIBRARY

The incense-tinged scent of forbidden tomes and the musk-laden remnants of infernal servants.

 

THE PERILOUS PARLOR

A memory of pleasure passed. A ghostly rendezvous, delight beyond death. Faint echoes of laughter and the distorted music of a harp drift by, along with the scent of soft white pear and sweet vanilla.

 

THE TWISTED OAK TREE

Blackened, rotted oak wood blanketed in moss and choked by a cloak of grasping ivy.

 

 

 

++ HALLOWEEN: the PUMPKIN PATCH

The 'Patch is back, with five new pumpkin blends to choose from. Pick individual pumpkins from the field, or snatch up the whole bushel!

 

PUMPKIN I

Pumpkin with pear, white wine grapes, and jasmine-laced tea.

 

PUMPKIN II

Pumpkin with tobacco, champaca flower, carnation, and tonka.

 

PUMPKIN III

Pumpkin with white chocolate, caramel, pomegranate, and cream.

 

PUMPKIN IV

Pumpkin with cactus blossom, sage, and sweetgrass.

 

PUMPKIN V

Pumpkin with benzoin, bourbon vanilla, lemon peel, neroli, blood orange, and red ginger.

 

PUMPKIN PLUNDER SET

If you purchase Pumpkin Plunder, you will receive an imp of a Murder of Crows: a scent created to compliment and complete the collection. What is a pumpkin field without crows?

 

A Murder of Crows

Sleek iris and verbena, grey amber, benzoin, davana, and glossy herbs.

 

 

 

The general catalogue also has a few new additions:

 

 

++ BEWITCHING BREWS

EVENT HORIZON

A disconcerting scent, heavy and oppressive, through which no light, no matter, and no spirit can escape. Black opium, labdanum, opoponax, black orchid, and benzoin.

 

 

MARY READ

Salt air, ocean mist, aged patchouli, sarsaparilla, watered-down rum, leather-tinged musk, and a spray of gunpowder.

 

 

SCHRODINGER'S CAT

One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following diabolical device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of one hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The first atomic decay would have poisoned it. The Psi function for the entire system would express this by having in it the living and the dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts. It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks.

 

A paradoxical scent experiment! -- tangerine, sugared lime, pink grapefruit, oakmoss, lavender, zdravetz, and chocolate peppermint.

 

No cats were mistreated during the formulation of this paradox, or in the process of creating this perfume.

 

 

KUBLA KHAN

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

 

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round:

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

 

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,

As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

A mighty fountain momently was forced:

Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst

Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,

Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:

And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever

It flung up momently the sacred river.

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,

Then reached the caverns measureless to man,

And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:

And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far

Ancestral voices prophesying war!

 

The shadow of the dome of pleasure

Floated midway on the waves;

Where was heard the mingled measure

From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

 

A damsel with a dulcimer

In a vision once I saw:

It was an Abyssinian maid,

And on her dulcimer she played,

Singing of Mount Abora.

Could I revive within me

Her symphony and song,

To such a deep delight 'twould win me

That with music loud and long

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread,

For he on honey-dew hath fed

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

 

Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst dancing waves of serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine.

 

 

 

++ ARS MORIENDI

EPITAPH

Heap not on this mound

Roses that she loved so well:

Why bewilder her with roses,

That she cannot see or smell?

 

She is happy where she lies

With the dust upon her eyes.

 

Roses and funeral lilies perceived, faintly, through an indistinct, ghostly mist.

 

 

THE PHANTOM WOOER

A ghost, that loved a lady fair,

Ever in the starry air

Of midnight at her pillow stood;

And, with a sweetness skies above

The luring words of human love,

Her soul the phantom wooed.

Sweet and sweet is their poisoned note,

The little snakes' of silver throat,

In mossy skulls that nest and lie,

Ever singing "die, oh! die."

 

Young soul, put off your flesh, and come

With me into the quiet tomb,

Our bed is lovely, dark, and sweet;

The earth will swing us, as she goes,

Beneath our coverlid of snows,

And the warm leaden sheet.

 

Dear and dear is their poisoned note,

The little snakes' of silver throat,

In mossy skulls that nest and lie,

Ever singing "die, oh! die."

 

A lifeless love song: stargazer lily, bone dust, tomb mosses, buttonweed, moonflower, and honey myrtle.

 

 

 

++ DIABOLUS

A COUNTENANCE FORBODING EVIL

Thy gloomy features, like a midnight dial,

Scowl the dark index of a fearful hour.

 

Patchouli, ylang ylang, blood orange, and vetiver.

 

 

GOBLIN

Dab a bit behind each ear, and you'll be instantly inspired to alter street signs, shake fruit from your neighbor's trees, and hide your roommate's car keys. Black coconut, gnarly patchouli, and sweet benzoin.

 

 

INCUBUS

As if, with beasts' eyes, angels led

The way, I slip back to your bed,

Quiet as a hooded light,

Hushed by the shadows of the night.

 

And then, my dark one, you shall soon

Embrace the cold beams of the moon,

Around a fresh grave, the chilling hiss

Of serpent coiled shall be my kiss.

 

When morning shows his livid face

Your bed shall feel my empty place,

As cold as death, till fall of night.

 

Others take tenderness to wife:

Dread gives away your youth and life

To me, to be bride of fright.

 

Spectral white musk and the heart-stopping chill of sheared mint, fanned by caramel-touched body heat, and the diabolical sensuality of black musk, nicotiana, and sage.

 

 

TROLL

They call me Troll;

Gnawer of the Moon,

Giant of the Gale-blasts,

Curse of the rain-hall,

Companion of the Sibyl,

Nightroaming hag,

Swallower of the loaf of heaven.

What is a Troll but that?

 

A lurching, hateful, bitter scent. This is a gruesome blend of ghastly greens and blacks: vetiver, pine pitch, troll musk, black basil, clove smoke, and scorched cumin.

 

 

 

++ RAPPACCINI'S GARDEN

HAIRY TOAD LILY

Spotty, hairy, purple, sweet!

 

 

 

++ WANDERLUST

HAVANA

Date palm, dried tobacco, snakeroot, and leather.

 

 

 

++ EXCOLO

HI'IAKA

Sister to Pele, Patroness of Hula Dancers, she is a Lady of Hawa'ii, and is caretaker, mother, and beloved of the land itself. The heart of the forest beats along with Her dance, and the air is suffused with Her scent: mai'a, hibiscus, white ginger, akala, na'u, Hawaiian moon flower, yellow ilima, pink lokelani, jewel orchid, and fringed orchid.

 

 

 

As I mentioned before, over the next few months, there is going to be a lot of movement on the Black Phoenix site. This month, the Voodoo Blends section was been assimilated into Bewitching Brews to make some room for an upcoming category: Märchen. Sometimes I think BB should be subcategorized completely, but I still haven't made my mind up about it. The pirates really should get their own subsection. Or section. Its hard being a Pisces sometimes. I think to myself.. is it weird that Mata Hari is hanging out with the Jersey Devil?

 

Some additional information...

Hunter Moon and Aeaea are $17.50, and Libra 2007 is $20.00.

Hunter Moon, Aeaea, and Libra 2007 will be live until Wednesday, August 29, 2007.

 

All of our Halloween seasonal blends, including the Haunted House scents and the Pumpkins are $17.50 each. The Haunted House can be purchased in a full set for $120, and the Pumpkin Patch can be purchased in a full set for $86. Purchase of a Pumpkin Plunder set (the complete collection of Pumpkins) comes with an imp's ear of Murder of Crows.

 

The Halloween blends will be available until November 15, 2007.

 

Orders placed after October 7, 2007 are not guaranteed to arrive before Halloween.

 

 

 

 

And here's what's new at Black Phoenix Trading Post! --

 

 

+ LUNACY

First things first! For your pleasure, we are offering this month's Lunacy tee in three styles: chocolate brown crew neck, chocolate brown babydoll v-neck, and heather green babydoll ringer.

 

 

Hunter Moon will be available until Thursday, August 30.

 

 

+ HALLOWEEN: TRICK OR TREAT

It may be August, but here at the Trading Post, the Halloween season is starting! This means, of course, that the Trick or Treat Inquisition is back!

 

 

What'll it be this year, kids?

Will you be gorging yourself on candy or cleaning egg off of your front door?

Let the Alchemy Lab Imps and Trading Post Goblins decide!

 

 

+ HALLOWEEN: LIMITED EDITION SOAPS

Silk Road Trading Company and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab have come together to create a miniseries of gleefully creepy soaps just in time for Halloween!

 

 

Soaps have been created with two of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's most popular Halloween blends: Samhain and Sugar Skull. The scents Cauldron Gunk and Pumpkin were formulated specifically for this project.

 

Your skin will be silky, you will smell spooky'riffic, and your conscience will be clean, too!

 

100 bars have been made of each scent, and once they're gone, they're gone.

 

 

+ HALLOWEEN: LIMITED EDITION CRYPT QUEEN PERFUME AND COFFIN SET

The oil is presented in a sturdy gold-gilded resin coffin unique to Black Phoenix Trading Post. The coffin is 2 3/4" wide x 5 1/2" long x 2" deep, and can hold at least 45 imp's ears laid out in repose.

 

 

CRYPT QUEEN

As sweet as death, as deep as the grave: pomegranate, raspberry, gardenia, plum, and rose with patchouli, black pepper, rose musk, and a hint of blood accord.

 

Available while supplies last.

 

 

 

Also new at Black Phoenix Trading Post...

 

++ BLACK PHOENIX MASSAGE OILS

These gentle, balancing massage oils were created with the finest environmentally-responsible and body-friendly ingredients. They are vegan, and are blissfully lacking in harsh chemicals or unwholesome fillers. Our massage oils are paraben and formaldehyde free, and do not contain sodium lauryl or sodium laureth sulfate. Our labels are printed on an Earth-friendly corn biopolymer.

 

These luxurious oils absorb well, granting you the power of the aromatherapeutic properties of the essential oils, as well as the healing and soothing aspects of the base oils' health-affirming properties.

 

... and the smooth, even texture of the blends are easy on your masseuse's hands!

 

Handmade by Black Phoenix. As always, no animals were harmed during the creation of this product, and all products were tested on friends and family.

 

 

++ BLACK PHOENIX NAIL POLISH

Synesthesia! These are our interpretations of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfumes, expressed through color.

 

Black Phoenix nail lacquer is quick drying and chip resistant. Our formula is free of toluene, DBP, and formaldehyde, providing you with excellent long-lasting color without sacrificing your health or the environment to do so!

 

 

 

And that's that!