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Those of you who have been following my Monster Powers / Gila Lizard Powers (GLP-1) posts know I became obsessed with perfume after starting the GLP-1 drug Mounjaro. I like to call it getting Gila Monster powers because GLP-1 drugs were derived from a Gila Monster natural product. I have been trading perfume samples and posting reviews in the What Did You Test Today thread on Fragrantica. Recently another fragrance afficianado posted on the thread to congratulate me on my great review posts and suggest I have a soft launch as a fragrance influencer. I replied that I was planning to launch my own brand. My reply was the simplest and clearest explanation I've ever given for what I'm doing and why, so I copyied and pasted it here for all of you, with a few minor edits:

I'm planning to launch my own brand, to be called Magical, which will be mostly soaps and lotions but with perfumes too. I have a handful of test batches already made for the Erin's Garden collection and notes for many future collections.

The dark and cold of the Winter Solstice is traditionally cheered up with fire and food. "Good cheer" is used to mean the company of friends and family, holiday foods, and especially holiday drinks. Mulled, spiced apple cider is also called wassail, which is also the name of a custom of a group of people singing to the apple trees, similar to caroling but singing to trees instead of going around to different houses singing to people.

I still want good cheer at this time of year, but, I started out the month trusting and hoping that I will have my new Gila Lizard Powers (GLP-1) back in time for the holidays-- I had been off my monster medicine since before Thanksgiving due to a "pre-authorization" issue, but hoped to be back on it by Yule-- so I was planning to have my cheer with perfume and other sensory pleasures. I will still have some food and drink too, but it is going to be a small part of my celebration rather than the main focus. 

The ritual use of the sense of smell can include literally stopping to smell the roses. A pause on one's way, appreciating a flower, a whisper of "Hail Freya" as one sniffs, this is a ritual. Rituals do not have to be elaborate.

One can plant specific plants to honor particular god, or ancestor, or other being. If the nature of the plant includes fragrance, the smelling of the plant scent can be incorporated into ritual. I have a pink rose in my garden and when I smell it I honor Freya. Roses are usually Freya flowers but I also have one specific rose bush that is for Sigyn due to my personal experiences; see my "pranked by nature" post. 

My Monster Powers journey continues. I started weaving a small tapestry in honor of the Gila Monster.

I've been participating in the forum on the website my brother introduced me to. I'm not only learning a lot but also coming to consider new ways of thinking about perfumes. Of course I'm already familiar with the idea of honoring certain powers and gods at certain times.

Typical Asatru holiday rituals involve toasts. Many holiday celebrations include feasts as part of the holiday. There lies before us a whole world of senses to explore besides taste, though. There are of course also many actions beyond the sensory and beyond simply giving a thing, and I'll get to those in a future part of this series, but first I want to focus on the senses other than taste.

This will be a multi part series, starting with this overview which includes a section on: why now in my personal journey. I'll review some terms, and then get to the senses other than taste: hearing, sight, touch, smell, and proprioception. Then I'll go over some actions one can do that don't involve the senses, such as donating to causes, and some meditations and journeys inward and through the other worlds leaving the body and the sensory world behind.

White daturas open gradually as the long summer evening deepens. Their scent blends with the scents of the perfume ritual. Gigantic sphinx moths hover like hummingbirds as they pollinate the humongous flowers. The perfumes take you on a journey, a journey to the Old West, as it exists in the dream plane where iconic figures like the Gunfighter come forth to guide you on a quest that is just as queer as it needs to be. 

A smell-o-story is a really original idea. Science fiction novels and movies have portrayed characters experiencing smell-o-vision movies, but they have not delivered the experience to the reader or viewer. Smoke and Silver by author / perfumer Derin Deschain of Cherry-Ka’s Trunk actually delivers that experience. 

This is a story about inspiration. I was chatting online with a friend and received some inspiration, which came to me as a poetic description, and then he used that prompt to meditate and receive his own inspiration, which came to him as a formula for his craftwork. 

My local friend Derin Deschain is a perfumer. He is Romani, and a hedge rider and witch. And this week he has green hair, lol. He sells his perfumes from his Etsy store Cherry-ka's Trunk.