Yule 2024

One of the fun parts about growing older while doing something you love: anniversaries! It’s officially been ten years since we first introduced An Evening With The Spirits, a series of fragrances inspired by historical accounts of Victorian-era spiritualism.

That’s just long enough to find ourselves feeling a little bit haunted while blending these beloved scents and further expanding the collection. Old ghosts, new ghosts, future ghosts: all are welcome to knock on our ceiling, or turn our table.

Looking back over the introductions to past years’ Yule releases – which, due to their timing, are inherently retrospective – we see so many variations on “What a hard year this has been!” And while 2024 has certainly been no exception (sighhhhhh) we simply can’t bring ourselves to keep beating the same old drum, or invite others to dance to such a soggy tune.

As dismal as our prospects may seem at times, whether personally or collectively, we are not unhappy by nature. We are industrious, hopeful, and passionate. We love, and are loved. We know by now that we’ll simply keep rolling with whatever we have to work with. And if amidst all the gloom there is occasion to be jolly… then jolly we shall be!

Innumerable hardships notwithstanding, it’s possible we may never know a year happier than this one, or the one waiting to greet us. So, come what may, let our story be told thusly: We flickered into existence and relished every moment of it.

Our spirits aren’t dispelled by darkness; that is where they flourish, sometimes waiting to be called forth, sometimes manifesting unannounced. A loving sigh, a wrathful shriek, a placating touch, a howl of grief: we shall rise to every occasion.

So here’s to at least another ten years of old ghosts, new ghosts, future ghosts. The more the merrier!

Yule 2024

One of the fun parts about growing older while doing something you love: anniversaries! It’s officially been ten years since we first introduced An Evening With The Spirits, a series of fragrances inspired by historical accounts of Victorian-era spiritualism.

That’s just long enough to find ourselves feeling a little bit haunted while blending these beloved scents and further expanding the collection. Old ghosts, new ghosts, future ghosts: all are welcome to knock on our ceiling, or turn our table.

Looking back over the introductions to past years’ Yule releases – which, due to their timing, are inherently retrospective – we see so many variations on “What a hard year this has been!” And while 2024 has certainly been no exception (sighhhhhh) we simply can’t bring ourselves to keep beating the same old drum, or invite others to dance to such a soggy tune.

As dismal as our prospects may seem at times, whether personally or collectively, we are not unhappy by nature. We are industrious, hopeful, and passionate. We love, and are loved. We know by now that we’ll simply keep rolling with whatever we have to work with. And if amidst all the gloom there is occasion to be jolly… then jolly we shall be!

Innumerable hardships notwithstanding, it’s possible we may never know a year happier than this one, or the one waiting to greet us. So, come what may, let our story be told thusly: We flickered into existence and relished every moment of it.

Our spirits aren’t dispelled by darkness; that is where they flourish, sometimes waiting to be called forth, sometimes manifesting unannounced. A loving sigh, a wrathful shriek, a placating touch, a howl of grief: we shall rise to every occasion.

So here’s to at least another ten years of old ghosts, new ghosts, future ghosts. The more the merrier!

  • BLACK CHERRY SUFGANIYOT

    Black Cherry Sufganiyot Perfume Oil

    Sugar-dusted and overflowing with Luxardo maraschino cherries and a hint of blackberry.

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  • black julbocken alchemy lab

    Black Julbocken Alchemy Perfume Oil

    Our winter mascot! A musky, snow-touched, forest-deep Yuletide blend: shaggy black wool and a slushy tangle of juniper, mistletoe, winter sage, spikenard, white moss, and terebinth.

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  • BUTTER RUM COOKIE

    Butter Rum Cookie 2024 Perfume Oil

    A boozy addition to the devil’s bake sale! Rum-soaked butter cookies, crusted with sugar, soaked in almond and garnished with orange rind.

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  • ded moroz

    Ded Moroz 2024 Perfume Oil

    Grandfather Frost! Accompanied by his granddaughter, Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, he bestows gifts to virtuous and hard-working people, rewarding their decency and integrity, and punishes those who are lazy, shiftless, and unkind, killing their fields with frost, cracking the trunks of their trees, and destroying their homes.

     

    The first incarnation of Father Frost was not at all benevolent. He was the personification of the darkest aspects of winter, winter’s destruction incarnate. He kidnapped unruly children, and slew people capriciously by freezing them to death.

     

    Light, darkness, kindness, and malice: golden amber, white amber, redwood, teak, bois du rose, sage, tree moss, and snow.

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  • EL DIA DE LOS REYES

    El Dia de Los Reyes 2024 Perfume Oil

    The Day of Kings, the Celebration of the Magi. In Mexico, on January 6th, children place their shoes by their windows. If they have been good during the previous year, the Wise Men tuck gifts into their shoes during the night.

     

    Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar.

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  • FAUNALIA

    Faunalia 2024 Perfume Oil

    Held on December 5th, this is the festival of the Horned God of the Forest, one of the di indigetes of Rome, god of cattle, fertility, wild, untamed nature, and prophecy through dreams. The scent of a thick, starlit, unspoiled forest, with a burst of wild musk, opobalsamum, black bryony, mandragora, and hemlock.

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  • FRAU HOLLE

    Frau Holle Perfume Oil

    Frau Holle, or Holda, is the personification of the changes wrought when winter seizes the land: she rides the chill winds in her chariot, shaking out her featherbeds in order to precipitate snowfall. The rolling fog is the smoke from her hearth fire, and thunder claps when she reels her flax. Holda is a goddess of matrons, who governs spinning, domestic chores, witchcraft and witches, and the Wild Hunt. She presides over the transition of souls, both to and from this world. Though she is childless, she watches over children, and the spirits of newborns spring forth from her sacred pool. Her festival falls during midwinter, when the dead roam free. She holds court in Hörselberg, from which the Wild Hunt is issued, and all the beasts in the land heed her call.

     

    Snow-covered pines, witches herbs, bestial musk, flax, and ethereal flowers that represent both birth and death.

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  • GELT

    Gelt 2024 Perfume Oil

    A bounty of chocolate coins! Dry cocoa and golden amber!

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  • HARD CIDER CAKE

    Hard Cider Cake 2024 Perfume Oil

    A thick, spongy white cake spiked with hard apple cider and frosted with whiskey-laden buttercream.

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  • HEARTHFLAME AND INCENSE

    Hearthflame and Incense Perfume Oil

    Crackling almond wood and the deep sweet smoke of burgundy pitch, Austrian amber resin, black copal, and frankincense.

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  • HILDEGARD'S CAKES OF JOY

    Hildegard’s Cakes of Joy 2024 Perfume Oil

    Nutmeg (Nux muscata) has great heat and good moderation in its powers. If a person eats a nutmeg, it will open up his heart, make his judgment free from obstruction, and give him a good disposition. Take some nutmeg and an equal weight of cinnamon and a bit of cloves, and pulverize them. Then make small cakes with this and fine whole wheat flour and water. Eat them often. It will calm all bitterness of the heart and mind, open your heart and impaired senses, and make your mind cheerful. It purifies your senses and diminishes all harmful humors in you. It gives good liquid to your blood, and makes you strong. 

     

    The best grain is spelt (spelta). It is hot, rich, and powerful. It is milder than other grains. Eating it rectifies the flesh and provides proper blood. It also creates a happy mind and puts joy in the human disposition.

    – Hildegard von Bingen’s Physica, translated by Priscilla Throop

     

    A hearty, humor-balancing, cheer-inducing cake crafted with spelt, nutmeg, clove, and a dollop of honey.

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  • HONEY SNOWBALLS

    Honey Snowballs 2024 Perfume Oil

    A splort of honey in a pile of snow.

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  • HOT BUTTERED SNAKE OIL

    Hot Buttered Snake Oil Perfume Oil

    Who doesn’t want a hot, buttery snake? Spiced buttered rum splooshed into Snake Oil with a bit of molasses and cream.

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  • LICK IT WITH CONSENT

    Lick it With Consent 2024 Perfume Oil

    A sugar-crusted vanilla peppermint stick!

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  • Mari Lwyd

    Mari Lwyd 2024 Perfume Oil

    An echo of the rites of Rhiannon, the Great Queen and Mother of Horses, the Mari Lwyd is a Midwinter tradition in Wales. The beribboned Grey Mare travels door to door with her entourage, seeking permission to wassail and initiate a contest of wit: the pwnco, a battle of improvised verses filled with good-natured ridicule set to song. If the Mari party were victorious, they were invited into the home to partake of ale and cakes and provide entertainment for the family.

     

    Welsh cakes and ale with a smattering of dried lavender.

     

    Art by Pierre-Eugène Grandsire, 1867

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  • MIDNIGHT MASS

    Midnight Mass 2024 Perfume Oil

    I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord: That I may hear the voice of thy praise: and tell of all thy wondrous works. I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth. Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men: In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with gifts.

     

    But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord.

     

    In Roman Catholic tradition, the Christmas season begins liturgically on Christmas Eve, though it is forbidden to celebrate the Christmas Mass before midnight. The most devout attend Midnight Mass, celebrating both the Eucharist and the drama of the Nativity.

     

    This perfume is a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense, most often used during a Solemn Mass. Traditionally, five tears of this incense, each encased individually in wax that has been fashioned into the shape of a nail, are inserted into the paschal candle. This is, of course, represents the Five Wounds of Our Risen Savior. Symbolically, the burning of the incense signifies spiritual fervor, the fragrance itself inspires virtue, and the rising smoke carries our prayers to God.

     

    Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.

     

    Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri; per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est, et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas, et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos, cuius regni non erit finis.

     

    Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per prophetas. Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.

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  • NOW WINTER NIGHTS ENLARGE

    Now Winter Nights Enlarge 2024 Perfume Oil

    Now winter nights enlarge

    The number of their hours,

    And clouds their storms discharge

    Upon the airy towers.

    Let now the chimneys blaze,

    And cups o’erflow with wine;

    Let well-tuned words amaze

    With harmony divine.

    Now yellow waxen lights

    Shall wait on honey love,

    While youthful revels, masques, and courtly sights

    Sleep’s leaden spells remove.

     

    This time doth well dispense

    With lovers’ long discourse;

    Much speech hath some defence,

    Though beauty no remorse.

    All do not all things well;

    Some measures comely tread,

    Some knotted riddles tell,

    Some poems smoothly read.

    The summer hath his joys

    And winter his delights;

    Though love and all his pleasures are but toys,

    They shorten tedious nights.

     

    Shorten those tedious nights with a surge of body heat: vanilla-infused red musk, champaca, petitgrain, ylang ylang, patchouli, nutmeg, honey, galbanum, and traces of caramel.

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  • PERE NOEL

    Père Noël 2024 Perfume Oil

    On Christmas Eve, French children leave shoes filled with carrots by their fireplaces as a treat for Gui, Père Noël’s donkey. If the child has been good, Père Noël takes Gui’s offering and fills the child’s shoes with sweet fruits, candies, and small toys.

     

    Bright Sicilian oranges and sweet tangerines with a clink of lavender candy and a drop of anise.

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  • PAYSAGE

    Paysage 2024 Perfume Oil

    Je veux, pour composer chastement mes églogues,

    Coucher auprès du ciel, comme les astrologues,

    Et, voisin des clochers écouter en rêvant

    Leurs hymnes solennels emportés par le vent.

    Les deux mains au menton, du haut de ma mansarde,

    Je verrai l’atelier qui chante et qui bavarde;

    Les tuyaux, les clochers, ces mâts de la cité,

    Et les grands ciels qui font rêver d’éternité.

    II est doux, à travers les brumes, de voir naître

    L’étoile dans l’azur, la lampe à la fenêtre

    Les fleuves de charbon monter au firmament

    Et la lune verser son pâle enchantement.

    Je verrai les printemps, les étés, les automnes;

    Et quand viendra l’hiver aux neiges monotones,

    Je fermerai partout portières et volets

    Pour bâtir dans la nuit mes féeriques palais.

    Alors je rêverai des horizons bleuâtres,

    Des jardins, des jets d’eau pleurant dans les albâtres,

    Des baisers, des oiseaux chantant soir et matin,

    Et tout ce que l’Idylle a de plus enfantin.

    L’Emeute, tempêtant vainement à ma vitre,

    Ne fera pas lever mon front de mon pupitre;

    Car je serai plongé dans cette volupté

    D’évoquer le Printemps avec ma volonté,

    De tirer un soleil de mon coeur, et de faire

    De mes pensers brûlants une tiède atmosphère.


    – – –

    More chasteness to my eclogues it would give,

    Sky-high, like old astrologers to live,

    A neighbour of the belfries: and to hear

    Their solemn hymns along the winds career.

    High in my attic, chin in hand, I’d swing

    And watch the workshops as they roar and sing,

    The city’s masts — each steeple, tower, and flue —

    And skies that bring eternity to view.

     

    Sweet, through the mist, to see illumed again

    Stars through the azure, lamps behind the pane,

    Rivers of carbon irrigate the sky,

    And the pale moon pour magic from on high.

    I’d watch three seasons passing by, and then

    When winter came with dreary snows, I’d pen

    Myself between closed shutters, bolts, and doors,

    And build my fairy palaces indoors.

     

    A dream of blue horizons I would garble

    With thoughts of fountains weeping on to marble,

    Of gardens, kisses, birds that ceaseless sing,

    And all the Idyll holds of childhood’s spring.

    The riots, brawling past my window-pane,

    From off my desk would not divert my brain.

    Because I would be plunged in pleasure still,

    Conjuring up the Springtime with my will,

    And forcing sunshine from my heart to form,

    Of burning thoughts, an atmosphere that’s warm.

    — Charles Baudelaire, translation by Roy Campbell

     

    The pale moon pouring magic: Tunisian opium and mugwort with blackened bourbon vanilla, tuberose, glittering white musk, datura accord, wild plum, and tobacco absolute.

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  • peacock queen

    Peacock Queen 2024 Perfume Oil

    In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Haughty and imperious, vain, yet incomparably lovely to the eye, but thick with thorns of jealousy, pride and hatred.

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  • POOR MONKEY

    Poor Monkey 2024 Perfume Oil

    cold first winter rain

    poor monkey, you too could use

    a woven straw cape

     

    Compassion: pink lotus root and fig milk with ylang ylang, bourbon vanilla, soft myrrh, fir, khus, and sandalwood incense.

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  • PUMPKIN SPICE SUFGANIYOT

    Pumpkin Spice Sufganiyot Perfume Oil

    Because it’s almost Hanukkah and we still haven’t taken down our Halloween decorations. Sorry, neighbors!

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  • ROSE RED

    Rose Red 2024 Perfume Oil

    The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut.

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  • Santa Doesn't Need Your Help

    Santa Doesn’t Need Your Help Perfume Oil

    When a K-pop boy band shows up to “save Christmas,” it’s the last straw!

    Santa Claus may be getting older, achier, more forgetful over the years, but he is determined to prove to the world he can still do his job without anyone’s help. “On Dasher, on Dancer, on Cupid, on Comet, I must show the world that Santa’s still got it!”

    Award-winning filmmaker Kevin Maher and New Yorker cartoonist Joe Dator have given the timeless tale of saving Christmas a clever twist when Santa decides to save the day himself this year. What follows is a laugh-out-loud adventure about refusing help.

    Will old Saint Nick discover the true meaning of Christmas? Or will he ruin everyone’s holiday because he’s too stubborn to admit when he’s wrong?

    Various sites where the book is sold:
    Amazon.com
    Barnes & Noble
    Astoria Bookshop
    Bookshop.org
    Books-A-Million

    SANTA DOESN’T NEED YOUR HELP
    A calming, affirming fragrance to help motivate Santa through the daunting tasks which await him year after year: sugar plum lavender marshmallows.

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  • SNOW WHITE

    Snow White 2024 Perfume Oil

    A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.

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  • SUGAR PLUM SNAKE OIL

    Sugar Plum Snake Oil Perfume Oil

    Snake Oil squished into a smushy, sugar-coated dragée.

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  • THE BEAR PRINCE

    The Bear Prince 2024 Perfume Oil

    Shaggy fur, snow-flecked and rose-touched.

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  • THE FLAME OF THE BEAR

    The Flame of the Bear 2024 Perfume Oil

    An incense for Solstice rites: fir resin, bayberry, myrrh, mistletoe, and oak bark.

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  • The Poinsettia Gown

    The Poinsettia Gown 2024 Perfume Oil

    A perfume simply inspired by a vintage Christmas postcard. Rose cream, jasmine cream, mallow, vanilla foam, and sweet amber.

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  • The Season of Ghosts 2024 Perfume Oil

    In Latvia, the Ziemassvetki, or Winter Party, is a celebration of the birth of Dievs, the Sky God and Supreme Ruler of the Latvian pantheon. The two weeks prior to the Ziemassvetki is Ve?u laiks: the Season of Ghosts. Candles are lit to honor the gods and a fire is kept burning throughout the Season, burning away the unhappiness of the previous year so men’s spirits can be renewed. At the feast of the Ziemassvetki, places are left as a courtesy to the ghosts, who arrive by sleigh.

     

    A scent created to burn away sorrow: bergamot, frankincense, rose geranium, ginger, lemongrass, and blood orange.

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  • Tinsel Roses

    Tinsel Roses Perfume Oil

    A twinkling rosy rosé garnished with a curly sliver of clove-studded orange peel

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  • TKSNOW

    TKSnow 2024 Perfume Oil

    Our most potent lavender sleep blend, frozen.

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  • UBE SUFGANIYOT

    Ube Sufganiyot Perfume Oil

    A little nod to my Filipino-Ashkenazi heritage!

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Yule 2024 - An Evening with the Spirits 2024

I felt my hair blown and lifted by currents of air, and cool breezes played about my face and hands. Then began a strange sensation, which I had sometimes felt at seances. Frequently I have heard it described by others as of cobwebs being passed over the face, but to me, who watched it curiously, it seemed that I could feel fine threads being drawn out of the pores of my skin.

I experienced none of the fear of the previous evening. At first I had a strange eerie feeling somewhat akin to it, but that passed off, and I became perfectly calm and indisposed to move, or to answer any of the many questions addressed to me by my friends outside. At the same time I took a great interest in analysing my own sensations and wondered as to what would come of the experiment, for that something was about to happen I was certain.

  • A Commotion Among a Man’s Furniture Atmosphere Spray

    … it is very far, indeed, from being an acknowledged fact that the spirits of the departed return to earth and make their presence known by causing a commotion among a man’s furniture.


    Glasgow Morning Journal, February 22, 1865

    A raucous thump of polished mahogany, rosewood, red leather, and walnut hurling through a haze of whiskey and cigar smoke.

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  • a cup of tea on the verandah

    A Cup of Tea in the Verandah Perfume Oil

    Whilst I was residing at Maulmain I saw a ghost with my own eyes in broad daylight, of which I could make an affidavit. I had an old schoolfellow, who was afterwards a college friend, with whom I had lived in the closest intimacy. Years, however, had passed away without our seeing each other. One morning I had just got out of bed, and was dressing myself, when suddenly my old friend entered the room. I greeted him warmly, told him to call for a cup of tea in the verandah, and promised to be with him immediately. I dressed myself in all haste, and went out into the verandah, but found no one there. I could not believe my eyes. I called to the sentry, who was posted at the front of the house, but he had seen no strange gentlemen that morning, The servants also declared that no such person had entered the house. I was certain I had seen my friend. I was not thinking about him at the time : yet I was not taken by surprise, as steamers and other vessel were frequently arriving at Maulmain. A fortnight afterwards, news arrived that he had died, six hundred miles off, almost the very time I saw him at Maulmain. It is useless to comment upon this story. To this day I have never doubted that I really saw the ghost of my deceased friend.

    Banbury Advertiser, 18 July 1878

    A fragrance steeped in wistful melancholy and the ache of near-forgotten longing. Black tea and bergamot shimmer in the glow of sunlit amber as cypress boughs cast lingering shadows. The heart blooms softly with jasmine sambac and tender orris.

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  • advanced manifestations for members only

    Advanced Manifestations for Members Only Perfume Oil

    Seances for Inquirers are held weekly at 38, Great Russel-street. Inquirers may have Tickets free, on application to the Secretary, with personal recommendations from a Member. Admission to Members and one Friend, 1s. each. Private Seances for advanced manifestations for Members only, by special arrangement. Admission 5s.

    The Spiritualist, 8 February 1878

    A clandestine assembly of elite ghost-seekers: smoky oud, fiery crimson peppercorn, and wild patchouli swirl in a heady haze, unfolding through plush velvet labdanum, lush plum damask, molten beeswax, and a glimmer of cognac spilled over a cracked quartz sphere.

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  • all worlds are in motion

    All Worlds are in Motion Perfume Oil

    Electricity, which is an atmospheric emanation from God, and which is moved by his will, is that substance out of which all worlds and their splendid appendages were made. Hence, it will be perceived, that electricity contains all the original properties of all the various substances in being. All the varieties of the universe around us – all the beauties and glories of creation upon which we look with so many thrilling emotions of delight, were produced from electricity, which is the inexhaustible fountain of primal matter. By the living energies of the Divine Mind, electricity was condensed into globes ; not instantly, but gradually. The heaviest particle took the lowest point, or common centre, of our globe, and so on, step by step, lighter and lighter, till we reach the surface, which is a regular mould. On this we find water, a substance still lighter than earth ; next air, which is lighter than water, and so on till we reach the sun, which is the highest point in relation to our system, because it is the common centre. The sun is, therefore, pure electricity. Hence, the twenty-nine globes, belonging to our system, are electrically, geologically, and magnetically made. They are but twenty-nine magnets revolving around our sun as a centre. The sun being pure electricity or primal matter, is but an emanation from the Deity. It is consequently in a positive state. Hence, electricity is continually passing from the sun, as a common centre to the twenty-nine surrounding worlds : on the same principle that it passes from a positive to a negative cloud. Having done its duty in giving light, heat, and vegetation, as well as magnetic power to the globes, it is returned by reaction to the sun, and these two motions from the vertices that roll worlds around him. It is impossible that there can be any inherent attraction or repulsion in matter. Attraction and repulsion are but different dispositions of electricity. The best magnets are now made for the galvanic battery. Hence, electricity, galvanism and magnetism, are but in substance one and the same fluid, and the Eternal Mind, so that all the powers of attraction and repulsion originated in Deity. His will comes in contact with electricity, and through that subtle agent he moves the whole immeasurable universe in accordance with nature’s law.

    All worlds are in motion. They roll rapid as the lightning’s blaze, and in the most apparent confusion ; yet all is calm, regular, and harmonious. God is, therefore, connected with his universe, and superintends all its multifarious operations. Tho’ he is thus intimately united with inert matter, yet is he distinct from the whole.

    Thou apart,
    Above, beyond ; O tell me, mighty Mind,
    Where art thou? Shall I dive into the deep:
    Call to the sun? or ask the roaring winds
    For their Creator! Shall I question loud
    The thunder, if in that the Almighty dwells!
    Or holds he furious storms in straitened reins,
    And bids fierce whirlwinds wheel his rapid car!

    The Pittsburgh Post, 9 August 1847

     

    The divine spark from which all things emanate; the perfume of the profound, unseen forces that connect us to the cosmos: the cold brilliance of metallic aldehydes, lemon pith, ambergris accord, and white lavender tethered to terrestrial patchouli, violet leaf, and a mineralic musk.

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  • claircognizance

    Claircognizance 2024 Perfume Oil

    Dr. E. S. Packard, of Corunna, Me., in the Eastern Star, states that Mr. David Prescott, of South Sangerville, over ninety years of age, “wandered away into the woods, and not returning, a crowd of over a hundred men hunted for him nearly two days; the mill pond near his house was drained. Search was made in every direction but to no success.

    “A gentleman of that place decided to call in the aid of Mrs. Stevens; she told him somebody was lost, and not being able to visit the place she drew a map or chart of the locality, giving directions, by which, on his return he was immediately found alive, but died the next day. The day following I was at South Sangerville, and stopping at this gentleman’s house, examined the map, which was perfect in every respect. The house and shed were correctly drawn, the mill and pond near the house were marked, the field and woods, two fences over which Mr. Prescott must climb, even to the swinging of the road by the house was definitely given.

    “The spot where she said he was, was shown by a large black mark, and he was found exactly in that place. When we consider that Mrs. Stevens never saw this place in her normal condition, it is to me a wonderful test of spirit power.”

    Absolute and perfect clarity: rockrose, white amber, Corsican immortelle, Siamese benzoin, white sandalwood, and life everlasting.

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  • ectoplasm

    Ectoplasm 2024 Perfume Oil

    In examining and reporting these cases the witnesses averred that certain people, whom they called “materializing mediums,” had the strange physical gift that they could put forth from their bodies a viscous, gelatinous substance which appeared to differ from every known form of matter in that it could solidify and be used for material purposes, and yet could be reabsorbed, leaving absolutely no trace even upon the clothes which it had traversed in leaving the body.

     

    This substance was actually touched by some enterprising investigators, who reported that it was elastic and appeared to be sensitive, as though it was really an organic extrusion from the medium’s body.
    —Arthur Conan Doyle, 1930

    A luminous, viscid blend of white amber, lemongrass, white oakmoss, and davana.

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  • eusapia

    Eusapia 2024 Perfume Oil

    The case I allude to is that of an invalid woman who belongs to the humblest class of society. She is nearly thirty years old and very ignorant; her look is neither fascinating nor endowed with the power which modern criminologists call irresistible; but when she wishes, be it by day or by night, she can divert a curious group for an hour or so with the most surprising phenomena. Either bound to a seat or firmly held by the hands of the curious, she attracts to her the articles of furniture which surround her, lifts them up, holds them suspended in the air like Mahomet’s coffin, and makes them come down again with undulatory movements, as if they were obeying her will. She increases their weight or lessens it according to her pleasure. She raps or taps upon the walls, the ceiling, the floor, with fine rhythm and cadence. In response to the requests of the spectators, something like flashes of electricity shoot forth from her body, and envelop her or enwrap the spectators of these marvellous scenes. She draws upon cards that you hold out, everything that you want – figures, signatures, numbers, sentences – by just stretching out her hand toward the indicated place.

    If you place in the corner of the room a vessel containing a layer of soft clay, you find after some moments the imprint in it of a small or a large hand, the image of a face (front view or profile) from which a plaster cast can be taken. In this way portraits of a face taken at different angles have been preserved, and those who desire so to do can thus make serious and important studies.

    This woman rises in the air, no matter what bands tie her down. She seems to lie upon the empty air, as on a couch, contrary to all the laws of gravity; she plays on musical instruments – organs, bells, tambourines – as if they had been touched by her hands or moved by the breath of invisible gnomes… This woman at times can increase her stature by more than four inches.
    —Chiaia, in a letter to Lombroso

     Pale lilacs, white tea, and candle wax.

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  • gently gently

    Gently, Gently, They are Timid Perfume Oil

    Softly, softly, hear the rustle
    Of the Spirits airy wings;
    They are coming down to mingle
    Once again with earthly things,
    With their rapping, and their tapping
    Rap-tap-tap to wake our napping,
    In the restless dream of error:
    Hear the weird the Spirit brings –
    Rap-tap-tap lost friends are near you;
    Rap-tap-tap they see and hear you;
    In their mystic converse rappy
    They declare good Spirits happy.

    Gently, gently, they are timid
    If a medium is not there;
    They may leave you in delusion,
    And dissolve again to air.
    Tis no fable – beings able –
    Rap-tap-tap upon a table;
    And their language is translated,
    While the watch with guardian care
    Rap-tap-tap lost friends are near you;
    Rap-tap-tap they see and hear you;
    In their mystic converse rappy
    They declare good Spirits happy

    Spirit Rappings, lyrics by T.E. Garrett, music by W.W. Rossington

    A joyful undeath: candied orange and pink peppercorn, sugared freesia petals, vanilla bean, and white honey.

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  • o beautiful white mother death

    O Beautiful White Mother Death Perfume Oil

    This Spiritualism is the nepenthe which the ancient philosophers sought, to prolong life for ever; you cast off your bodies like an old garment. The pathway of this new science is as clear to the spirit as the names of the constellations are to the astronomer. In the great realm of the spirit there is no room for death to abide ; he has gone out with the ignorance, and blindness, and prejudice of the past, and life, only life, remains as your inheritance.

    Mrs. Tappan then paused. After a moment’s silence she delivered the following inspirational poem:—

    O beautiful white mother Death,
    Thou silent and shadowy soul,
    Thou mystical, magical soul,
    How soothing and cooling thy breath!
    Ere the morning stars sang in their spheres,
    Thou didst dwell in the spirit of things,
    Brooding there with thy wonderful wings,
    Incubating the germs of the years.
    Coeval with Time and with Space,
    Thy sisters are Silence and Sleep ;
    Three sisters—Death, Silence, and Sleep,
    How strange and how still is thy face!
    In the marriage of matter to soul,”
    Thou wert wedded to young fiery Time,
    The now weary and hoary-haired Time,
    With him thou hast shared earth’s control.
    O beautiful spirit of Death,
    Thy brothers are Winter and Night;
    Stern Winter and shadowy Night,
    They bear thy still image and breath.
    Summer buds fall asleep in thy arms,
    ’Neath the fleecy and soft-footed snow,
    The silent, pure, beautiful snow;
    And the earth their new life-being warms.
    All the world is endowed with thy breath,
    Summer splendours and purple of wine
    Flow out of this magic of thine,
    O beautiful angel of Death
    What wonders in silence we see
    The lily grows pale in thy sight;
    The rose thro’ the long summer night
    Sighs its life out in fragrance to thee.
    O beautiful angel of Death,
    The beloved are thine, all are thine !
    They have drunk the nepenthe divine,
    They have felt the full flow of thy breath.
    Out into thy realm they are gone,
    Like the incense that greeteth the morn,
    On the wings of thy might they’re up-borne,
    As bright birds to thy Paradise flown.
    They are folded and safe in thy sight,
    Thro’ thy portals they pass from earth’s prison;
    From the cold clod of clay they have risen,
    To dwell in thy temple of light.
    O beautiful Angel of Life,
    Germs feel thee and burst into bloom,
    Souls see thee and rise from the tomb,
    With beauty and loveliness rife.
    On earth thou art named cold Death,
    Dim, dark, dismal, dire, dreadful Death,
    In heaven thou art “Angel of Life.”
    We are one with thy spirit, O Death ;
    We spring to thy arms unafraid,
    One with thee are our glad spirits made.
    We are born when we drink thy cold breath,—
    Oh, Angel of Life, lovely Death.

     

    The concluding hymn was then sung, after which Mrs. Tappan uttered the following benediction—“ May the peace of the loving spirit of the Heavenly Father and His angels abide with you, and the life that knows no death bear you on to the immortal world.”


    The Spiritualist, Oct. 15, 1873
    Poem by Cora L.V. Richmond

    The lily grows pale in thy sight; the rose, through the long summer night, sighs its life out in fragrance to thee.

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  • phantom team of horses

    Phantom Team of Horses Perfume Oil

    About two miles from the village of Canton, Me., is a cosey, old-fashioned farm-house which is located directly opposite a graveyard, with no other house in sight. From the window of this little house nothing can be seen except the graveyard with its gleaming stones, and the hills and mountains round about.

    The family that has been occupying the house moved out not long ago, declaring that they could not stand it any longer, that they were wellnight distracted by the demonstrations. When they told their story a former resident, who now lives in Hartford, announced that he had known for years that the place was haunted. He had not told any one for fear of the ridicule of his neighbors.

    The demonstrations were not only in the house, but in the barn and around the premises. Regularly every night at 12 o’clock a team of horses rushes from the direction of the village, rumbles over the little bridge at a slashing gait, and then disappears. It never reaches the house. Instead, ghostly voices address the members of the family who have the temerity to live there, the voices coming from all parts of the house, but never so clearly that they can be located.

    On one memorable night a member of the family went to the barn just at dusk without a lantern. A figure stood at the corner of the building, and he ran to learn what the straggler wanted about the place. The figure silently and mysteriously melted into the shadows and was gone.

    The Buffalo News, April 20, 1904

    A spectral cacophony of shimmering, translucent dun sandalwood, grey amber, and wraith-chilled chestnut galloping through the mist-cloaked shadows of time, a clattering of clove and black pepper, and a crack of phantom leather.

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  • practical occultism

    Practical Occultism 2024 Perfume Oil

    Practical Occultism consists, first, of a perfect mastery of the individual’s own spirit. No advance whatever can be made in acquiring power over other spirits, such as controlling the lower or supplicating the higher, until the spirit within has acquired such perfect mastery of itself, that it can never be moved to anger or emotion—realizes no pleasure, cares for no pain; experiences no mortification at insult, loss, or disappointment—in a word, subdues every emotion that stirs common men’s minds.

    To arrive at this state, severe and painful as well as long continued discipline is necessary. Having acquired this perfect equilibrium, the next step is power. The individual must be able to wake when he pleases and sleep when he pleases; go in spirit during bodily sleep where he will, and visit—as well as remember when awake—distant scenes.

    He must be enabled by practice, to telegraph, mentally, with his fellow associates, and present himself, spiritually, in their midst.

    He must, by practice, acquire psychological control over the minds of any persons—not his associates—beneath his own calibre of mind. He must be able to still a crying infant, subdue fierce animals or angry men, and by will, transfer his thought without speech or outward sign to any person of a mental calibre below himself; he must be enabled to summon to his presence elementary spirits, and if he desires to do so (knowing the penalties attached), to make them serve him in the special departments of Nature to which they belong.

    He must, by virtue of complete subjugation of his earthly nature, be able to invoke Planetary and even Solar Spirits, and commune with them to a certain degree.

    To attain these degrees of power the processes are so difficult that a thorough practical occultist can scarcely become one and yet continue his relations with his fellow-men.

    He must continue, from the first to the last degree, a long series of exercises, each one of which must be perfected before another is undertaken.

    A practical occultist may be of either sex, but must observe as the first law inviolable chastity—and that with a view of conserving all the virile powers of the organism. No aged person, especially one who has not lived the life of strict chastity, can acquire the full sum of the powers above named. It is better to commence practice in early youth, for after the meridian of life, when the processes of waste prevail over repair, few of the powers above described can be attained; the full sum never.

    Strict abstinence from animal food and all stimulants is necessary. Frequent ablutions and long periods of silent contemplation are essential. Codes of exercises for the attainment of these powers can be prescribed, but few, if any, of the self-indulgent livers of modern times can perform their routine.

    The arts necessary for study to the practical occultist are, in addition to those prescribed in speculative occultism, a knowledge of the qualities of drugs, vapors, minerals, electricity, perfumes, fumigations, and all kinds of anæsthetics.

    And now, having given in brief as much as is consistent with my position—as the former associate of a secret society—I have simply  to add, that, whilst there are, as in Masonry, certain preliminary degrees to pass through, there are numerous others to which a thoroughly well organized and faithful association might advance. In each degree there are some valuable elements of practical occultism demanded, whilst the teachings conveyed are essential preliminaries. In a word, speculative occultism must precede practical occultism; the former is love and wisdom, the latter, simply power.

    A Victorian occultist’s incense, invoking the Four Archangels: precious wildcrafted Indian frankincense with myrrh, cassia, sandarac, palmarosa, white sage, red sandalwood, elemi, and drops of star anise bound with grains of kyphi.

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  • psychodynamic discharge

    Psychodynamic Discharge 2024 Perfume Oil

    In certain cases, emotionally charged complexes of representation, which have become autonomous and dissociated, seem to automatically and compulsively press for discharge and realisation through haunting phenomena…. Hence, the so-called haunting occurs in place of a neurosis.
    —Albert von Schrenck-Notzing

    Repressed rage, terror, and subjugated sexuality erupting through fierce bursts of uncontrollable psychic phenomena: black leather and red musk with aged black patchouli, Chinese rose, black pepper, coconut meat, Haitian vetiver, and igneous red ginger.

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  • spirit board

    Spirit Board 2024 Perfume Oil

    CRAZED THROUGH “OUIJA”
    Neglected by Her Lover She Seeks Comfort of a Fortune-Telling Device

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn., Nov. 20.— Mrs. Eugenia Carpenter, a young woman living at 221 Myrtle, av., has been receiving attention from a young man who very recently ceased to call upon her.

    Mrs. Carpenter bought a fortune-telling board called “ouija,” and from it received the prediction that her suitor would not return to her.

    Last night she was found wandering almost nude in the streets.

    Her reason was gone and at intervals she cried out “Ouija said so and I knew it was true.”

    Boston Daily Globe, November 21st 1891

    Redwood and bois de rose with white lilac, dried pink roses, and black tea.

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  • the fox sisters

    The Fox Sisters 2024 Perfume Oil

    For the sake of continuity the subsequent history of the Fox sisters will now be given after the events at Hydesville. It is a remarkable, and to Spiritualists a painful, story, but it bears its own lesson and should be faithfully recorded. When men have an honest and whole-hearted aspiration for truth there is no development which can ever leave them abashed or find no place in their scheme.

    For some years the two younger sisters, Kate and Margaret, gave séances at New York and other places, successfully meeting every test which was applied to them. Horace Greeley, afterwards a candidate for the United States presidency, was, as already shown, deeply interested in them and convinced of their entire honesty. He is said to have furnished the funds by which the younger girl completed her very imperfect education.

    During these years of public mediumship, when the girls were all the rage among those who had no conception of the religious significance of this new revelation, and who concerned themselves with it purely in the hope of worldly advantage, the sisters exposed themselves to the enervating influences of promiscuous séances in a way which no earnest Spiritualist could justify. The dangers of such practices were not then so clearly realized as now, nor had it occurred to people that it is unlikely that high spirits would descend to earth in order to advise as to the state of railway stocks or the issue of love affairs. The ignorance was universal, and there was no wise mentor at the elbow of these poor pioneers to point the higher and the safer path. Worst of all, their jaded energies were renewed by the offer of wine at a time when one at least of them was hardly more than a child. It is said that there was some family predisposition towards alcoholism, but even without such a taint their whole procedure and mode of life were rash to the last degree. Against their moral character there has never been a breath of suspicion, but they had taken a road which leads to degeneration of mind and character, though it was many years before the more serious effects were manifest.

     

    Some idea of the pressure upon the Fox girls at this time may be gathered from Mrs. Hardinge Britten’s* description from her own observation. She talks of “pausing on the first floor to hear poor patient Kate Fox, in the midst of a captious, grumbling crowd of investigators, repeating hour after hour the letters of the alphabet, while the no less poor, patient spirits rapped out names, ages and dates to suit all comers.” Can one wonder that the girls, with vitality sapped, the beautiful, watchful influence of the mother removed, and harassed by enemies, succumbed to a gradually increasing temptation in the direction of stimulants?
    —Arthur Conan Doyle

    Deception and despair: rose geranium and tea roses with mahogany wood, bourbon vanilla, and apple peel.

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  • the human double

    The Human Double Perfume Oil

    Among the most intelligent inquirers with whom I converse at Brighton was a lady of title. She told me that she was one of those present at the Davenport séance, held at the residence of Sir Hesketh Fleetwood. She was seated in the dark séance by the side of a gentleman whose previous scepticism, he confessed to her, was fast disappearing in the face of the facts they were witnessing, when a light was suddenly struck, and both of them distinctly saw the form of Ira Davenport glide close past them. This incident very much disturbed the confidence of Lady L—, and entirely satisfied the sceptic that imposition was practiced, and he left the room a confirmed unbeliever. I told Lady L—that, on his return to London, Mr. Ferguson spoke to me of this very fact, as one of the most curious that had yet occurred at any of the séances. He was holding, he said, the box of matches, as he usually does, when the box was snatched from his hand, and a light was struck by the invisible operator, and during the momentary ignition of the match he plainly saw a form, apparently of a human figure. He said nothing at the moment, but whispering the fact to Mr. Fay, he confirmed it, and afterwards several of those present admitted that that, too, had seen it. Mr. Ferguson, however, was not aware that anyone present supposed it to be the actual person of Ira Davenport, as no observation to that effect was made, and as Ira Davenport was seen instantly afterwards when the light was restored, fast bound to his chair, it was simply impossible that the suspicions of Lady L—or her friend could have been well founded.

    But, admitting that two competent witnesses did actually see the form of Ira Davenport on that occasion, it is corroborative of a very important and interesting fact, and distinct phase of these puzzling mysteries of spiritual appearances – viz., the duplication of individual form. Mr. Ferguson, who did not on that occasion recognize the resemblance to Ira Davenport, nevertheless has, as he solemnly asserts, seen at other times, when alone with them, the entire duplicated form of Ira Davenport, and a part of Mr. Fay ; and in my first conversation with the Davenport Brothers they told me, among other curious facts of their extraordinary history, that persons had said they had met one or other of them in places where they had not been. On one occasion their father went to a neighbouring shop to order some fruit, when he was told by the shopkeeper that his son Ira had just been there, and had ordered the fruit. It was, however, satisfactorily proved that Ira had not left the house, and that the man must have seen his “wraith,” or “double.”

    The Spiritualist, December 19, 1873


    The uncanny echo of your second self: a shadow-blackened fougere steeped in an uncanny, discomfiting lavender tar.

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  • the phenomena of witchcraft

    The Phenomena of Witchcraft Perfume Oil

    The Rev. Joseph Glanvil, chaplain in ordinary to Charles II., was a writer of great erudition and ability. In his “Sadducismus Triumphatus,” written to show that the phenomena of witchcraft were genuine occurrences, he gives an account of Mr. Mompesson’s haunted house at Tedworth, where it was observed that, on beating or calling for any tune, it would be exactly answered by drumming. When asked by some one to give three knocks, if it were a certain spirit, it gave three knocks and no more. Other questions were put, and answered by knocks exactly. Glanvil himself says, that, being told it would imitate noises, he scratched, on the sheet of the bed, five, then seven, then ten times ; and it returned exactly the number of scratches each time.

    Melanethon relates that at Oppenheim, in Germany, in 1620, the same experiment of rapping, and having the raps exactly answered by the spirit which haunted a house, was successfully tried ; and he tells us that Luther was visited by a spirit who announced his coming by “a rapping at his door.”

    In the famous Wesley case, the haunting of the house of John Wesley’s father, the Parsonage at Epworth, Lincolnshire, in 1716, for a period of two months, the supposed spirit used to imitate Mr. Wesley’s knock at the gate. It responded to the Amen at prayers. Emily, one of the daughters, knocked ; and it answered her. Mr. Wesley knocked a stick on the joists of the kitchen ; and it knocked again, in number of strokes and in loudness exactly replying. When Mrs. Wesley stamped, it knocked in reply.

    It is not surprising that John Wesley was a Spiritualist. “With my last breath,” he writes, “will I bear my testimony against giving up to infidels one great proof of the invisible world ; I mean that of witchcraft, confirmed by the testimony of all ages.”

    Planchette, or The Despair of Science : being a full account of modern spiritualism, its phenomena, and the various theories regarding it : with a survey of French Spiritism, Epes Sargent

    Green balsam, bay leaf, fossilized amber, blackened vetiver, and clove bud cloaked in oud.

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  • where are the dead

    Where are the Dead Perfume Oil

    WHERE ARE THE DEAD? or, SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED

    Containing well authenticated and selected reports of all the different phases of modern spirit phenomena, from table-turning to the visible materialisation of the faces and forms of the departed, and the photographing of spirits ; proving by undeniable facts that those we mourn as


    DEAD ARE STILL ALIVE,


    and can communicate with us ; and that Spiritualism is sanctioned by Scripture, and consistent with science and common sense ; with specimens of intensely interesting communications received touching death, the future life, and the experiences of the departed. Also extracts from the literature of Spiritualism, advice to investigators, list of books, addresses of mediums, and all useful information.

    The Spiritualist, June 19, 1874

    An unsettling dance of ethereal murmurs, with ghostly wormwood drifting through the husky warmth of cardamom — a whisper in a shadowed corridor. Hazy lavender and velvety orris cast an otherworldly glow in the darkened corners.

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  • who would not tremble too

    Who Would Not Tremble, Too? 2024 Perfume Oil

    The new discovery of “Table Moving,” by means of an unseen power from the human hand, has only been introduced into England within the last few weeks; but it would be difficult to dingle out any scientific subject which has with such rapidity, taken so extensive a hold of the popular mind. If we travel by railway carriage, steamboat, or omnibus, this is the universal topic of conversation. From the aristocratic saloons of Belgravia to the “Parlours” of Whitechapel – the Green Park to the Cat and Mutton Fields, “table moving” is all the rage. From the Royal Institution, where the secretary pokes his head through a forest of electrical apparatus, to inform the audience that the facts are established, down to the humblest Mechanics’ Institute, all are full of it, and the tables, to quote the words of the old song – “are all a moving, move, move, moving,” – Every evening party must of course have its experiments; accordingly, gentlemen come provided with very elegant chapeaux for the occasion, and many an innocent flirtation occurs consequent on the proper arrangement of the little fingers of some of the fair operators. As “sweet eighteen,” with her blue eyes and golden locks, gracefully links her little finger with Charles’s, in a retired corner, what wonder if the hat should tremble? And Charles, being of course fond of poetry (his very name is a guarantee for that), cannot resist softly breathing into Lucy’s ear, that exquisite line from Waller, on his fair one’s harp –

     

    “Touched by that hand – who would not tremble too?”

     

    And after a little more conversation of a strictly scientific character, they feel quite satisfied with the success of the experiment. Mamma, who has been watching the progress of the magnetic influence at a distance, “has no patience with such nonsense, and wonders young men and young women cannot find something better to do.” She forgets that there was a magnetic influence at work about twenty years since, and what little trifles served as conductors then.

    – Table Moving, its causes and phenomena: with directions how to experiment

     

    A spirit-touched courtship: sweet orange blossom, white honey, jasmine tea, white sandalwood, green apple, and lily of the valley.

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Yule 2024 - Ars Kramponis

Ars Kramponis

We love Krampus! (And we’re not just saying that to stay in his good graces.) There’s something about this monstrous figure that rekindles tiny flickers of memory: passionate exultations, boisterous ceremonies, and wild winter nights that extend back into the darkness of our collective past.

A brief timeline of our tribute to Krampus in scent form:

In 2006, we went live with our first eponymous Krampus-inspired perfume, bringing scented holiday horror to the masses.

In 2012, Dark Delicacies held their first Krampus Holiday Event, featuring our dear friend Bill in the role of Krampus. The Dark Delicacies Krampus events have a very special place in my heart – it was through them that our kiddo, Lilith, was first introduced to Krampus, and it sparked a lifelong love of Krampus for her. When she was little, she’d leave beef jerky out at night for him during Yuletide, and she looked forward to the Los Angeles Krampus Runs every year.

In 2017, we attended the Gnigler Krampuslauf, and it was life-changing. I can remember every single moment of the experience: the smell of spiced hot wine, sausages, and sleet… the needles of the cold on my hands, the sparkle of rapture on my daughter’s face, the eerie amber light that cascaded down on everything. I can remember the smell of wet fake fur and the sensation of the birch branches on my legs, the tugs on my hair, the otherworldliness of it all. There was something absolutely primal and raw present that night; echoes of a thousand years of ritual trembled in the air, buoyed on the gasps and laughter of the crowd.

At the Los Angeles Krampus event in 2019, our kiddo was presented with an invitation to join the Krampuslauf and was going to begin to build her costume, but the pandemic put that on pause.

And now, here we are: 2024 marks the eighteenth consecutive year that BPAL has observed the dark o’the year with Krampus-inspired smells! In 2018, we laid out some spanks – twelve, to be exact – to celebrate each year of BPAL’s scented Krampusse. This year, we’re adding six more Lashes representing six more years, all of which are suitable for wearing alone, layering with our original Krampus scent, or layering with one another!

If you are in Los Angeles, please join Sue and Del at Dark Delicacies on November 22nd for their Final Night of Punishment – a holiday event with Krampus. Sue and Del are retiring, so this will be the last time Krampus’ whip will crack at Dark Delicacies.

Want to send a bit of dark holiday cheer to a loved one? Our favorite Krampus is now on Cameo!

And without further blabbling, we present ARS KRAMPONIS: a series of sinister sniffs including our beloved original Krampus fragrance, a Porcelain Krampus scent celebrating eighteen years of mayhem, a highly caffeinated Krampus latte scent, six more Lashes, and the return of Krampus beard oil!

  • eighteenth lash

    Eighteenth Lash

    Vanillekipferl plunked in a pile of pine needles.

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  • fifteenth lash

    Fifteenth Lash

    Black leather, coal dust, scorched cedarwood, and incense ash.

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  • fourteenth lash

    Fourteenth Lash

    Cacao, scorched patchouli, roasted chestnuts, and champaca absolute.

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  • Krampus 2024

    This scent is anything BUT jolly! Draped with chains and bells, wielding both whip and rod, this rag-clad, horned, red-skinned, soot-covered leering creature is both the companion and the antithesis of rosy-cheeked and ebullient Kris Kringle. He is called by many names, and, in a myriad of cultures, he is seen with different robes and faces, but he is nevertheless always a sinister and fearsome instrument of Santa’s wrath: he wields a switch on all irredeemably naughty children before tossing them into his large black sack and whisking them away.

    Be good, or Krampus will toss you in a river! Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches.

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  • krampus

    Krampus Beard Oil 2024

    This scent is anything BUT jolly! Draped with chains and bells, wielding both whip and rod, this rag-clad, horned, red-skinned, soot-covered leering creature is both the companion and the antithesis of rosy-cheeked and ebullient Kris Kringle. He is called by many names, and, in a myriad of cultures, he is seen with different robes and faces, but he is nevertheless always a sinister and fearsome instrument of Santa’s wrath: he wields a switch on all irredeemably naughty children before tossing them into his large black sack and whisking them away.

    Be good, or Krampus will toss you in a river! Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches.

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  • krampus kreme latte

    Krampus Kreme Latte

    If you don’t have access to fresh Krampus Kreme, store-bought is fine! Here’s a warm draught for the naughty-listers: hazelnuts, almonds, and coffee beans sweetened with heavy cream froth and honey and spiced with ginger, black pepper, black cardamom, and cacao.

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  • porcelain krampus

    Porcelain Krampus

    Happy EIGHTEENTH ANNIVERSARY to our Krampus perfume!

    Brown leather and a bundle of switches encased in pale white orris root and rice powder, translucent white musk, Himalayan ambrette seed, and milky vanilla.

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  • seventeenth lash

    Seventeenth Lash

    Red musk, red pepper, and honeycomb.

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  • sixteenth lash

    Sixteenth Lash

    Cinnamon, nutmeg, Austrian chocolate, and black musk.

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  • thirteenth lash

    Thirteenth Lash

    Icicle-laden birch branches and clove bud.

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Yule 2024 - Carved Wooden Holiday Village

Carved Wooden Holiday Village

Lift the box down from its shelf, gently unwrap the tissue paper, arrange everything just so. You now preside godlike over your very own simulacrum of holiday cheer!

What fate awaits the fictitious revelers in your care? Can they feel the warmth of your kindly attention, the indolent chill of your disdain? Have they any respect for the precarious nature of their reality, the lowliness and relative simplicity of their station in the extended microcosm? Or will they alleviate their existential crisis by gazing further inward, laying out a smaller carved village of their own, accessing elusive forms of coziness on a miniature scale?

No judgment, we get it. Tiny shit is so cute!

Yule 2024 - Grove of Pomegranates

About the pomegranate I must say nothing, for its story is something of a mystery.
– Pausanias

Label art: Flowers and Fruit, Rachel Ruysh

Yule 2024 - The Lavender Kitchen

In the last hour before waking, we dream of a fey place where aromatic fantasies end up pressed between pastry sheets, distilled into rich, oily tinctures, or salted and stashed away for future use.

It’s a place of labor, a place of love; among these jets of steam, puddles of batter, and piles of dishes, we anticipate the arrival of those depending on us for succor and sustenance. We dream so redolently of love that a trail of fragrant crumbs is scattered across our waking life — one which, in quiet moments, can be followed back to this lively place, bluely infused with evidence of our own belonging, stocked with all the tools and ingredients necessary to bestow this feeling upon others… who should be arriving any moment now.

Welcome to this tiny corner of our dream home, the Lavender Kitchen.

Yule 2024 - Transanta

Each year, the organization Transanta gathers holiday wish lists from young trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people, setting them up with registries so that well-wishers online can provide everything they can’t count on from their family or community — including gender-affirming items which might otherwise elude them. You may learn more and/or donate directly here: https://www.transanta.com/

You can view the wish lists on their Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/transanta/

Proceeds from these three scents will be donated to Transanta through their fiscal sponsor, Allies in Arts, a 501(c)3 non profit.

Yule 2024 - Yule Atmosphere Sprays 2024

These are atmospheric linen and room sprays used to establish a distinctive ambience in your living spaces.

These sprays are generously scented with copious amounts of Black Phoenix oils and disperse beautifully.

Vegan friendly and environmentally responsible!

Black Phoenix abhors animal testing; all Black Phoenix products are tested on friends and family.

Yule 2024 - Yule Hair Gloss

Black Phoenix’s Hair Gloss is paraben and sulfate free, and contains no petro-chemicals, no GMOs, and no triclosan.

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.
Please exercise common sense when using our HAIR GLOSS: do not eat, do not snort, do not drink, do not pour into eyes, etc. If irritation occurs, discontinue use immediately.
Cyclomethicone, botanisil, Vitamin E, argan oil, Tahitian monoi oil, camelina oil, and karanja oil.

  • chocolate stout cupcake

    Chocolate Stout Cupcake Hair Gloss

    Bittersweet chocolate cupcakes whisked with stout and topped with inky dark chocolate frosting.

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  • hot buttered rum

    Hot Buttered Rum Hair Gloss

    Hot buttered rum with a touch of molasses, lightly spiced and swirled with a touch of cream.

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  • lick it with consent

    Lick it with Consent Hair Gloss

    A sugar-crusted vanilla peppermint stick!

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  • midnight mass

    Midnight Mass Hair Gloss

    This perfume is a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense, most often used during a Solemn Mass. Traditionally, five tears of this incense, each encased individually in wax that has been fashioned into the shape of a nail, are inserted into the paschal candle. This is, of course, represents the Five Wounds of Our Risen Savior. Symbolically, the burning of the incense signifies spiritual fervor, the fragrance itself inspires virtue, and the rising smoke carries our prayers to God.

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  • peacock queen

    Peacock Queen Hair Gloss

    In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Haughty and imperious, vain, yet incomparably lovely to the eye, but thick with thorns of jealousy, pride and hatred.

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  • poinsettia gown

    Poinsettia Gown Hair Gloss

    A perfume simply inspired by a vintage Christmas postcard. Rose cream, jasmine cream, mallow, vanilla foam, and sweet amber.

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  • snow white

    Snow White Hair Gloss

    A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.

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  • to a wreath of snow -

    To a Wreath of Snow Hair Gloss

    O transient voyager of heaven!

    O silent sign of winter skies!

    What adverse wind thy sail has driven

    To dungeons where a prisoner lies?

     

    Methinks the hands that shut the sun

    So sternly from this mourning brow

    Might still their rebel task have done

    And checked a thing so frail as thou

     

    They would have done it had they known

    The talisman that dwelt in thee,

    For all the suns that ever shone

    Have never been so kind to me!

     

    For many a week, and many a day

    My heart was weighed with sinking gloom

    When morning rose in mourning grey

    And faintly lit my prison room

     

    But angel like, when I awoke,

    Thy silvery form so soft and fair

    Shining through darkness, sweetly spoke

    Of cloudy skies and mountains bare

     

    The dearest to a mountaineer

    Who, all life long has loved the snow

    That crowned her native summits drear,

    Better, than greenest plains below –

     

    And voiceless, soulless messenger

    Thy presence waked a thrilling tone

    That comforts me while thou art here

    And will sustain when thou art gone

    – Emily Brontë

     

    Morning rising in mourning grey: tobacco flower, white oud, lavender bud, and ambergris accord.

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