Mandrake Apothecary

Mandrake Apothecary is the November 2008 Le Parfumeur Rebelle giveaway sponsor.

Giveaway items are: A bottle of Thriae perfume, and a bottle of Hecate perfume.

"The bee is the most mentioned insect throughout mythology. She is nature's alchemist, creating a life-giving substance, of herself and flowers. Bees were seen as a bridge between the natural world and the underworld, in the ancient Near East and throughout the Aegean. They were carved on tombs, and Mycenaean tholos tombs even resemble beehives. Zeus was saved from his father Cronos by the nymph Melissa (name origin in Greek, "honey bee"), and in his gratitude he transformed her into a Queen Bee. Apollo's gift of prophecy came from a trio of pre-Hellenic bee-goddesses, the Thriae.

Beeswax absolute blends seamlessly with most florals, citrus fruits, and will add sunshine to the heart accord of a blend. Honey absolute tends to sweeten the heart and base of a blend, without making its presence overtly known or coloring a
blend significantly. Both of these add a glow to whatever they are blended with, and it is hard to not observe that as a mechanism of alchemy.

vanilla-infused biodynamic grain spirits
rooibos tea absolute
champaca flower absolute
beeswax and honey absolutes
carob absolute
carrot seed essential oil
jasmine sambac absolute
cassis concrete, diluted

Thriae brings the height of summer, and the hum of bees in the garden, into the darker days of the fading year. It is a light at the end of the tunnel."
Sara Philips, Mandrake Apothecary

"Hekate is not an Olympian deity in the Greek pantheon but rather a Chthonic deity, and originates in Anatolia. She was a goddess of childbirth and the wilderness in Thrace, but most of us know her as the goddess of witches and sorcery. Queen of the ghosts. Medea and Circe were priestesses of Hekate. She was also known as the guardian of thresholds and of the crossroads. Being a Chthonic deity, she is closely associated with the underworld and the earth, or rather the place beneath the earth.She predates the Greeks, and was written into the pantheon where it was easy to embroider her in via indigenous tradition and folk tales. She's an attendant at the birth of Zeus in one telling, for example, going so far as to hide the infant from Cronus with the other midwives. In other myths, her powers are a gift of Zeus.

Organic golden jojoba
blue lotus
amber spikenard
henna attar
frankincense
clary sage
Turkish rose

Mystery, the ethereal realm, and deep ancient
places in the world. Ghostly and forbidden
knowledge. The oracle at Delphi breathed in
vapors from cracks and deep fissures in the
rocks, and this was formulated to create a
meditative state with essences of the ancient
world.

Blue lotus breathes and whispers florals into a
woodsy and earthy heart of spikenard and sage
tempered with rose. The attar and the
frankincense are the incense smoldering in
the censer, while the dry dusty flowers and
sage waft into the atmosphere.

Hekate is the long cool midnight of winter, that
deep cave of the soul where many treasures
await and charm, if one is brave enough to
venture into the darkness."
Sara Philips, Mandrake Apothecary

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