Once in a Blue Moon there is a Harvest Moon

[wickedgoddess]

HARVEST MOON 2012

Harvest Moon is celebrated in almost every culture, and the bounty of the season is marked in a myriad of ways. Harvest Moon touches the Equinox, the festival of Janus, the culmination of Homowo, the “crying of the neck” in Cornwall, and the Women’s Festival of the Moon. This is a day that celebrates abundance and beauty, fertility and progress, and the light of this full moon blesses new undertakings and reunites lost loves.

 

The Harvest Moon, by definition, is the Full Moon that falls closest to the Autumnal Equinox, and thus, it shares some of that Sabbat’s characteristics. This Full Moon was thus named because it rises within half an hour of the sun’s setting, in the Northern Hemisphere, and at this time farmers are able to work longer into the night by the light of this Moon. As the year draws to a close, the Full Moon rises an average of fifty minutes later each night, with the exception of a few nights surrounding the Harvest Moon, which only rises 10-30 minutes later. This moon is also, to the human eye, the fullest and largest of the year’s Moons, hanging gloriously huge, yellow and low in the night sky, and many lunar illusions play tricks on our eyes at this time.

 

The Harvest ushers in many celebrations, including the Equinox and the Festival of Janus, God of Doors. Janus is the Roman Lord of Gateways, beginnings and endings, and transitions. Thus, the Harvest Moon is a time for blessing new ventures, the onset of new and progressive phases in one’s life, and rites of passage into adulthood. This time of year also marks one of the Festivals of Dionysus, Lord of Ecstasy and the Vine.

 

This Harvest lunacy combines the autumnal scents of balsam fir, cedar, sorrel, thyme, juniper berry, clove, saffron, damson plum, chrysanthemum, sage, black cherry, and fennel with dry maple leaves, golden ale, the crushed wine grapes of Dionysus, and Janus’ lingum aloes.

 

 

 

Art by Abigail Larson.

 

 

 

BLUE MOON 2012

The spirit of the full moon is capricious, intense and passionate, yet still distant, aloof and cold. Luna herself governs glamours, bewitchments and dream-work, innocent wonder, transient pleasure and delight, the Moment, impulse, mystery and veils. The Blue Moon is one of her rarest manifestations, and this scent is formulated to encapsulate her most complex and profound nature:

 

Mugwort, for psychic sensitivity…

Calea Zacatechichi, yarrow, and mastic for divination through dreams…

Frankincense and hyssop for complexity, wisdom and noscere…

 

… with a potent lunar-charged, oneirongenic blend of blue musk, exquisite woods, moonflower, evening stock, Madagascan ylang ylang, Florentine iris, Greek cypress, green tea absolute, palmarosa, cucumber, rose milkweed, Clary sage, lavender, lemon balm, and passion fruit.

 

 

 

BLAUER MOND

Brian’s interpretation of the Blue Moon. A glimmer of hope emerging from a sea of dreams: sea buckthorn berry, terebinth pine, frankincense, hyssop, white sage, Neptune’s night-blooming jasmine, cucumber, lavender, ambergris accord, and violet leaf.

 

 

 

August’s single note offerings:

 

EIGHT-PETALED LOTUS

On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying,

and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded.

 

Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my

dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance in the south wind.

 

That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing and it seemed to

me that is was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion.

 

I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and that this

perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart.

 

- Rabindranath Tagore

 

The Sacred Lotus represents spiritual illumination, boundless creative regeneration, the mysteries of the cosmos, infinite consciousness, divine love, and purity of spirit, mind, and body.

 

 

 

SIBERIAN MUSK

Our vegetal musk blend that emulates the scent of Siberian musk deer gland secretions. The description doesn’t sound sexy, but the scent sure is.

 

This is a vegan, cruelty-free perfume. No animals were harmed, fondled, squeezed, prodded, or in any way violated in the making of this accord.

 

 

 

Harvest Moon, Blue Moon, Blauer Mond, Eight-Petaled Lotus and Siberian Musk are $23 each, and available on our Limited Edition page.

 

 

 

Also this month…

 

The first two scents from upcoming series based on Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, Butterscotch Balls and Blackbeetles, and Mouse Circus, are now live.

 

Coraline features art from Vera Brosgol, author/artist of the Eisner-winning graphic novel Anya’s Ghost.

 

Only 180 bottles of Butterscotch Balls and Blackbeetles remain, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

 

 

 

 

 

BUTTERSCOTCH BALLS AND BLACKBEETLES

The other mother sat down on the big sofa. She picked up a shopping bag from beside the sofa and took out a white, rustling, paper bag from inside it.

 

She extended the hand with it to Coraline. “Would you like one?” she asked politely.

 

Expecting it to be a toffee or a butterscotch ball, Coraline looked down. The bag was half filled with large shiny blackbeetles, crawling over each other in their efforts to get out of the bag.

 

“No,” said Coraline. “I don’t want one.”

 

“Suit yourself,” said her other mother. She carefully picked out a particularly large and black beetle, pulled off its legs (which she dropped, neatly, into a big glass ashtray on the small table beside the sofa), and popped the beetle into her mouth. She crunched it happily.

 

“Yum,” she said, and took another.

 

“You’re sick,” said Coraline. “Sick and evil and weird.”

 

“Is that any way to talk to your mother?” her other mother asked, with her mouth full of blackbeetles.

 

Butterscotch candies flecked with dirt, encased in a shiny black shell of myrrh, patchouli, and anise seed.

 

 

 

MOUSE CIRCUS

In the flat above Coraline’s, under the roof, was a crazy old man with a big mustache. He told Coraline that he was training a mouse circus. He wouldn’t let anyone see it.

 

“One day, little Caroline, when they are all ready, everyone in the whole world will see the wonders of my mouse circus. You ask me why you cannot see it now. Is that what you asked me?”

 

“No,” said Coraline quietly, “I asked you not to call me Caroline. It’s Coraline.”

 

“The reason you cannot see the mouse circus,” said the man upstairs, “is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed. Also, they refuse to play the songs I have written for them. All the songs I have written for the mice to play go oompah oompah. But the white mice will only play toodle oodle, like that. I am thinking of trying them on different types of cheese.”

 

A toodle oodle of pink cotton candy noses, vanilla spun sugar fur, scattered kernels of popcorn, and a touch of polished golden wood.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, August brings us a series of scents based on Carolyn Hennesy’s Pandora series of young adult books.

 

 

 

Carolyn Hennesy’s published series of “Pandora” books follows the adventures of Pandora Atheneus Andromaeche Helena (or “Pandy” for short), a typical, average “tween” semi-immortal girl of Athens, as she and her two best friends, Alcie & Iole, set out to recover the 7 great Evils of the world that Pandy accidentally unleashed from Zeus’ box which was under the protection of her father Prometheus the Titan. If she fails, the world will forever be savaged by the destruction of the freed Evils, and Pandy & her family will be doomed by Zeus to suffer eternal torment! (Whew! You know – the usual Greek thing minus the eye-gouging.)

 

 

 

The official site for Carolyn Hennesy’s Pandora.

 

 

 

She walked up the steps and out into the middle of the stage, the sack held behind her, and turned to face the crowd.

 

“My name is Pandora Atheneus Andromaeche Helena, daughter of the House…the great House of Prometheus.”

 

She heard a few whispers and a loud hoot.

 

“You all know the story,” she plunged on, “of how my father stole fire from Zeus and brought it down to earth so that mankind could be warm and safe. And you know of my father’s horrible punishment. But there was a second part to his punishment that you do not know about. Something that my father never talks about because it is so terrible that many of you will…faint. And because that’s just my dad.”

 

Several girls stopped whispering.

 

“Zeus gave my father a box containing,” she paused, “all of the misery of the world.”

 

The teachers began staring at her strangely.

 

“Each of the great Olympians put something really bad into the box and they gave it to my dad for safekeeping. If the box is ever opened, plagues of every kind will…will…fly out and torment each of you for the rest of your lives. Your skin will bubble. Your hair will fall out. Wild beasts will eat you in your sleep. It will hail everyday and there will be lots of floods. And, there will be nothing you can do but cry and beseech the gods. Nothing!”

 

In one swift motion she brought the sack out from behind her back, withdrew the box and lifted it high over her head.

 

“And they’re all in here!”

 

 

 

IOLE

The newcomer. The brains. Pensive and thoughtful. Small and frail, even now Iole sometimes can’t keep up as Pandy and Alcie stride through the market place or the olive orchards or swim in nearby lakes and rivers. But…but…she’s smart as a whip; often using big words when she speaks; not to show off, but only because her mighty mind can’t come up with anything smaller. Will gladly tutor in algebra and calculus!

 

A serious, studious scent: fig, night-blooming jasmine, red sandalwood, bourbon vanilla, oak bark, leather accord, and black amber.

 

 

 

ALCIE

Sassy. Impetuous. Loyal. Alcestis Artemisia Medusa, with her red hair and brown-green eyes, is prettier than most and is having a much easier time with all the “maiden stuff.” Alcie’s father, a wealthy man, buys all the latest toga clasps, hair irons and ankle bracelets for his daughter, so she’s always rather lovely. However, Alcie is also a distant niece of the great Gorgon Medusa, a creature so hideous that anyone who looked into its eyes would immediately turn to stone. A young hero, Perseus, had cut off Medusa’s head some years earlier, so at least all the relatives didn’t have to worry about Medusa showing up for feast days, but Alcie was still embarrassed by the blot on the family name.

 

Just a hint of gorgon blood: bright nectarine, honey, sandalwood, green musk, sea buckthorn berry, and oakmoss.

 

 

 

PANDY

Every girl you’d ever want to be or know. Although she doesn’t quite know it…yet. Ever since she had turned thirteen and had officially become a maiden, Pandora Atheneus Andromaeche Helena, only daughter of the titan Prometheus, was bored to tears. Well…not bored exactly…but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what she was feeling. She looked skyward and saw Bellerophon, now a tiny speck, rocketing about on his magnificent winged horse. Gods, how exciting that must be! And there were other heroes, men and women, all over Greece doing wonderful, brave, death-defying things right at that very moment. Her curiosity rose inside her like steam. What would it feel like to have a sword in her hand or fly on the back of a magical animal? How she wished she could have some kind, any kind, of adventure.

 

Fresh white musk, honeycomb, sweet apricot, elemi, orange blossom, and mischievous pink pepper.

 

 

 

Art by Abigail Larson.

 

 

 

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And over at Black Phoenix Trading Post…

 

There are four new t-shirts!

 

 

Harvest Moon tee featuring art by by Abigail Larson.

 

 

Blue Moon tee featuring art by Sarah Coleman.

 

 

 

 

Tentacly Cupcake and Skelly Cupcake by Mariah Huehner.

 

 

 

Also on the Blue Moon page is Ted’s take on Blue Moon…Luna Azul:

 

LUNA AZUL

Ted’s interpretation of the Blue Moon. This is the scent of star-crossed love, folly, and passionate lunacy: white mango, French lavender, orris root, fig leaf, ylang ylang, mugwort, styrax, oakmoss, camphor, and black opium tar.

 

 

 

A new addition to our soap line:

 

 

 

MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY SOAP

The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls.

 

The soap: Spent coffee grounds for gentle exfoliation in a silken, wood-warm lather

 

 

 

A silver Last Unicorn pendant featuring art by Renae de Liz.

 

 

 

and a line of candles, hand-made by Sara Robey:

 

BLISS CANDLE

A shot of pure, self-indulgent euphoria! A scent that is very, very wicked in its own way: the serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate.

 

DRAGON’S BLOOD

Powerful, commanding, blazing with strength.

 

MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY

The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls.

 

SPANISH RED CARNATION

A celebratory scent, spicy and joyful. This is the nation flower of Spain. It symbolizes the suffering of Christ, the passion of lovers, and the laurels of victory.

 

SHUB-NIGGURATH

The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices.

 

WHITE RABBIT

Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen.

 

 

 

And last but not least, check out Etsy shop for some new additions! BPAL orders can be combined with BPAL Etsy orders; add a note to your order and email answers @ blackphoenixalchemylab.com for further information.