To think, last summer, before I started my Monster Powers journey, I thought I had nothing left to say on this blog. lol. For those just joining this series now, it begins last fall when I first started my Gila Lizard Powers medicine (GLP-1) and became obsessed with perfume.

I resumed working on the Gila Monster tapestry after my housemate's family's visit. I put all my weaving stuff back in the front room that gets good morning light.

(more experiences go here)

xxx

It was Poisons and Venoms Week on the Gourmand Board of the perfume forum. One of the themed days for that week was Mythology Day. So of course I had to try to come up with something to contribute.

My contribution:

"For Mythology Day, I was trying to come up with some scholarly lore to share but there is remarkably little about poisons and venoms in "Norse" (heathen) mythology. Especially considering one of the recurring characters is a giant snake.

The closest match is the description of the world of ice, which is both a separate world and also a description of one of the states of matter in the early universe. It mentions rivers of venom. This is clearly not of living origin though, it's a description of a world with no living things in it. So it's not really venom, that's a poetic device describing some type of river that is composed of a substance humans would not like.

The characteristics are very cold, flowing like water, and inimical to life, which could also describe some parts of the far north. It's not a perfect match, but the closest thing I have in my collection is Artik Sea by Lorenzo Pazzaglia."

Another forum participant suggested the venom that falls on Loki, which Sigyn catches in her bowl. I commented back, "How could I forget that one? Perhaps because I prefer a different version of that story. Since it's Saturday and Poisons and Venoms Week is drawing to a close, perhaps I shall suggest a slightly less poisonous cinnamon whisky for Loki. And a lavender scented nap for Sigyn."

I had been on my phone when I was looking at that because I had been cat sitting, but I looked at the thread again when I went to put my thoughts about it into this blog entry and saw a photo of a Loki perfume in her post that I couldn't see on my phone. So of course I had to go investigate that. It was Loki by Aaron Terence Hughes. It looks sweet and spicy, just like Loki. It also has oud in it and I have learned through much sampling that I hate oud, but I still want to sample it because it's dedicated to Loki. I need all the Loki.

We used to have conversations like this on the Asatru Facebook Forum, before Facebook started throttling post reach and prompting me to pay money to promote individual posts, which I never do. One of the reasons I find the Fragrantica forum so relaxing is because it's a true old fashioned forum, not social media. There's no algorithm to fight. Every step on Facebook is fighting against the wind. Clicking over from fb to a real forum is like coming in out of the blast of an arctic gale to a gently candle-lit, warm chamber with tea and a public bath.

My thank-you post for that week neatly sums up the relationship between my Monster Powers and perfume, so I'm copying that here too:

xxx

When I talk about substituting the pleasure of scent for the pleasure of taste, I must clarify that I'm not talking about willpower or mind over matter. And I'm definitely not talking about positivity. I'm talking about a physiological process that does not require any of that. With the help of the Gila Monster and its precious venom, I have discovered that my brain can't tell the difference between smell and taste.

Most of the time, that's good. I get to experience most of the pleasures of gourmet food using gourmand perfume. I get to experience non food pleasures from other types of perfumes as well, so it's even better. The process of planning, selecting, growing, buying, processing, and cooking food results in a pleasure that lasts a few minutes, while the same process devoted to perfume can last for hours per spray and years per bottle.

Once in a while a scent craving turns out to be a genuine food craving that I need to provide for my body. This December I thought I wanted a "xmas orange," a holiday treat that's traditional and nostalgic. I provided myself several orange scented fragrances. The perfume would satisfy the craving but it came back the next day, stronger. Eventually I realized in that case my body was actually trying to signal me to actually eat a real food containing real vitamin C. After I was careful to add citrus fruit to my diet regularly the craving passed, although I still enjoy my orange fragrances.

So I have to be careful to still listen to my body and heed its communications. If any other particular thing becomes a craving that keeps coming back after I satisfy it with perfume I plan to pay attention to that too and see what I think it's trying to tell me I need.

xxx

I made some of the birch cream I used to make for mom. It was made of birch EO and she put it in her gloves and wore it to bed at night. My new version also has EOs of cypress and wintergreen so it will smell a little fresher and a bit less medicinal. I got it listed on my eBay, magicalrealistartist. Of course I can not make any health claims for any of my products. But it's fairly easy to look up the uses of birch essential oil. 

xxx

Feb. 20: my 3 month check in with my dr. including a weigh-in, and a prescription renewel so I can keep up my Monster Powers. I lost 23 more lbs. since my appt. in Dec. For a total of 33 lbs. since the beginning of Oct.

To celebrate-- and also because I had a coupon for a free item lol-- I went to a BBW and smelled all the new things and brought home a Carrot Cake scented hand cream. It's exactly like eating a bite of carrot cake every time I bring my hand up to my face. My brain can't tell the difference. So, I am celebrating by doing more of what is working for me!

xxx

I had not done as much "sporty" stuff in February as I had wanted to do. That includes walking or hiking on a walking trail, even if it's only for a few minutes. I chose a "sporty" perfume, Olympea Solar, and put it on my preselect tray to set my intention and remind myself to put it on and go be sporty.

I went for a walk at Sunset Dune. I had not done it in a while and I'm glad I got back to it. And making it about perfume definitely helped. It helped me put it on my intended things to do today and it helped remind me as I was going about my town errands to stop at the park too because I would get little reminder whiffs.

xxx

After the wonderful experience with the Mariner's Rhyme perfume, I decided to seek out other literary based fragrances, and did some sample swapping to obtain Heart of Darkness and White Whale, based on 2 books I read as a teenager that stayed with me. The Heart of Darkness perfume is unexpectedly beautiful and has only one thing it says to me: "Wood4U!"

The White Whale by Masque Milano gave me some of the same sea and ship associations as The Mariner's Rhyme but that was where the similarities ended.

I sense the whale moving in the ocean. The sea, the ship, flowers on an island or landmass that passes early on in the voyage. One hunts in the darkness of the deeps of the sea, the other in the light of day in the air. The white whale is a white spot in the dark sea, Capt. Ahab the dark spot in the daylight, a perfect set of yin and yang hunters hunting each other round and round. 

Literary fragrances of course include several of the Cherry-Ka's Trunk fragrances I already sampled, including several based on Tolkien. Pineward has a Tolkien based fragrance I've already sampled too, Fanghorn. I'm sure there are many others I've already tried if I can think of them. One of the Bath & Body Works lotions my brother and his partner gave me for my birthday is a literary reference, Emily in Paris. 

On the perfume website, there's a theme a week on the gourmand board, and each month this year one of the themes is a decade starting with 1900s. This week it's the 1910s. Today, Feb. 28th, is Literature and Ideas day for the 1910-1919 decade. This was my contribution to the Literature and Ideas discussion: "2 stories of the decade that otherwise seem to have little in common: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Metamorphosis. One bright, one dark. One with a relatable child heroine, the other with a man who becomes a monster. But both are surrealistic, bending reality to illustrate the story with symbolism-- silver shoes as economic metaphor, apples as stones thrown to reject a sinner from society."

Today, Feb. 28, 2025, some of my friends are participating in a Don't Buy Corporate day. So if you want to shop for a soap, lotion, or lip balm today, please consider shopping small business and check out my eBay: https://www.ebay.com/usr/magicalrealistartist  Or if you have not yet read my Asatru book, consider buying it from an indie bookstore:
IndieBound (independent bookstores)
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781578637027