BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LAB

Scroll to Info & Navigation

‹ ›

We are thrilled to be a part of Century Guild’s kickstarter project - Century Guild Magazine 2013: from Klimt to The Great Gatsby.

THE SCENT! —

PURSUE RABBIT
Inspired by one of Gail Potocki’s extraordinary interpretations of the Cheshire Cat, and created exclusively for Century Guild! An enigmatic blend of vanilla-infused sandalwood with wild black tobacco, white tea leaf, matcha, white musk, orange blossom, pale incense, and opium tar.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/337503446/century-guild-magazine-2013-from-klimt-to-the-grea/posts/484614



The oil is limited to fifty bottles, all emblazoned with Gail Potocki’s artwork, and is available in three packages: $26 for the oil alone, $47 for a package including the magazine, and $99 for a special package with the oil, the magazine, and a signed and numbered print of Gail’s Cheshire Cat!

Even if you don’t choose to purchase the oil packages, please consider supporting this project! Century Guild is an incredible salon, Gail is a phenomenal artist, and Tom, Chandra, and Melissa are three of our favorite people!

 

Visit Century Guild!
6150 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232

BPAL Honey Moon Update Is Live

Hullo, all! The BPAL side of the full moon update is going live a wee bit early this month, as we’re taking a Sanity Reset Trip to Yosemite, and I wanted to make sure all was well before we headed north! Black Phoenix Trading Post’s update will be live at Standard Update Time (just before the full moon), but here’s an art teaser -

image

Honey Moon was illustrated by Tanya Bjork. There are no words to describe how much I love this!

Speaking of Trading Post… have y’all checked out the new site? We are beyond thrilled with it, and we’re so grateful to Kaitlin at Form and Function for all of her hard work, her dedication, and her kindness, and for lending us both her time and her talent. We love you, Kaitlin!

And without further ado… smelly things…

HONEY MOON 2013
From honey sprang this Plant to life; with honey now we dig thee up.
Make us as sweet as honey, for from honey hast thou been produced.
My tongue hath honey at the tip, and sweetest honey at the root: 
Thou yieldest to my wish and will, and shalt be mine and only mine.
My coming in is honey-sweet and honey-sweet, my going forth:
My voice and words are sweet: I fain would be like honey in my look.
Sweeter am I than honey, yet more full of sweets than licorice:
So mayst thou love me as a branch full of all sweets, and only me.
Around thee have I girt a zone of sugar-cane to banish hate.
That thou mayst be in love with me, my darling never to depart.
- Hymns of the Atharva Veda, XXXIV

Honey Moon contains five different honeys, ranging from pale and sweet to deep and heady, with hints of jasmine, white gardenia, Hawaiian white ginger and thyme.


SINGLE NOTE: PASSION FLOWER
An elegant botanical sigil representing the crucifixion of Christ, this plant is said to grant blessings of peace and love (philía and storge) to a home, especially when grown around the door, gate, or fence. 


SINGLE NOTE: SUMATRAN RED PATCHOULI
Sexy, dirty, much-maligned and much-loved patchouli… oh, how you get a bad rap. Though some associate you with head shops and Dead show parking lots, you really are so much more:

You are utilized in Chinese medicine to normalize the flow of qi.

In aromatherapy, you are used to diffuse stress, bring comfort and succor, and alleviate depression.

You inspire lust, passion, and carnality, and create a veil of sexual intrigue unmatched by any other fragrance.

You correspond with Saturn and Earth, facilitating grounding, stability, and protection, as well as the acquisition of property and money.

You form the oft-unrecognized basis of innumerable perfumes, adding a unique depth and sensuality, sometimes imperceptibly.

Your olfactory profile is incredibly fluid, ranging from mossy and gritty to wine-rich and voluptuous, and you age like a glorious silver screen goddess.

So the next time someone tells you that you smell like an unwashed hippie, Patchouli, just smile your enigmatic smile. The enlightened know how amazing you are.


SINGLE NOTE: WILD DANDELION
Simple and fresh and fair from winter’s close
            emerging,
As if no artifice of fashion, business, politics,
            had ever been,
Forth from its sunny nook of shelter’d grass -
            innocent, golden, calm as the dawn,
The spring’s first dandelion shows its trustful
            face.
- Walt Whitman

A scent as fresh as spring and as radiant as summer: the splendor of a crown of golden petals, the tartness of sap and pungent greens, and the gentle touch of white seed florets drifting in the breeze.

We’re going to be posting an etsy boom concurrent with this update! We are happy to combine etsy and BPAL orders - just email us with the info on the orders you’ll be combining! 

Alchemy Lab and Trading Post are busy prepping some exciting new (and old!) stuff for summer, so keep your eyes peeled!

‹ ›

Plague doctors were individuals in the Middle Ages who were given the task of tending to people infected with the plague. In most cases, they were either second rate or under-trained physicians, incapable of maintaining their own practice. Many were not doctors at all, but people of various other employments paid by towns to cater to the sick. 

Plague doctors were employed in various methods whenever plague set in. The earliest documentation of these individuals being hired go as far back as the mid 500s AD. The plague doctor image that we as a general public are familiar with was not seen until the 1600s. It was then that the “traditional” plague doctor costume was created. The costume consisted of a cloak made of heavy fabric covered in wax to protect the doctor’s body, and a mask to keep out the sick air. The masks had a long cone shaped structure at the nose, to be filled with scents that would protect the doctor from the bad air.

Because of the nature of their work, plague doctors often became victims of the plague themselves, or were quarantined for the protection of the public.

(via metalonmetalblog)

kebechet: I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be. Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald[Illustration by Ronald Balfour from the Rubáiyát ]

kebechet:

I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.

Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald

[Illustration by Ronald Balfour from the Rubáiyát ]

Fair flower, that dost so comely grow,Hid in this silent, dull retreat,Untouched thy honied blossoms blow,Unseen thy little branches greet:No roving foot shall crush thee here,No busy hand provoke a tear.By Nature’s self in white arrayed,She bade thee shun the vulgar eye,And planted here the guardian shade,And sent soft waters murmuring by;Thus quietly thy summer goes,Thy days declining to repose.Smit with those charms, that must decay,I grieve to see your future doom;They died—nor were those flowers more gay,The flowers that did in Eden bloom;Unpitying frosts and Autumn’s powerShall leave no vestige of this flower.From morning suns and evening dewsAt first thy little being came;If nothing once, you nothing lose,For when you die you are the same;The space between is but an hour,The frail duration of flower.- the Wild Honeysuckle, Philip Freneau[ Image: Ophelia, John Austen ]

Fair flower, that dost so comely grow,
Hid in this silent, dull retreat,
Untouched thy honied blossoms blow,
Unseen thy little branches greet:
No roving foot shall crush thee here,
No busy hand provoke a tear.

By Nature’s self in white arrayed,
She bade thee shun the vulgar eye,
And planted here the guardian shade,
And sent soft waters murmuring by;
Thus quietly thy summer goes,
Thy days declining to repose.

Smit with those charms, that must decay,
I grieve to see your future doom;
They died—nor were those flowers more gay,
The flowers that did in Eden bloom;
Unpitying frosts and Autumn’s power
Shall leave no vestige of this flower.

From morning suns and evening dews
At first thy little being came;
If nothing once, you nothing lose,
For when you die you are the same;
The space between is but an hour,
The frail duration of flower.

- the Wild Honeysuckle, Philip Freneau


[ Image: Ophelia, John Austen ]