Samhain 2024: Slavic Underworld Collection

This year’s collection for the thinning veil draws its inspiration from the life and afterlife of Eastern Europe. From historical gourmands of the past, offerings to the dead, and scents of the gods, this has proved to be a more transformative and dynamic release than perhaps ever before. Focusing on notes associated with the region like Baltic Amber or Bulgarian lavender deepened the intent and creative direction which allowed for new products in symbiosis. Meant to be layered, experienced, and at times burned in tandem, there is no limit to the combinations of olfactory presence here.
In honor of our ancestors, 10% of this collection will be donated to @radicalaidforce, and in honor of our community, 5% will go towards those rebuilding after Hurricane Helene.

𝔙𝔢𝔩𝔢𝔰 𝔓𝔢𝔯𝔣𝔲𝔪𝔢 (10ml jojoba based roller) An ode to the Slavic god of the underworld, and the inspirational piece de resistance of this collection. Deity of magic, death, woodlands and earth, Veles is the often chimerical enemy, yet counterpart to the god Perun, the god of thunder. A god of troublemaking and musicians and oft represented as a dragon. His fragrance drew heavy inspiration from not only folkloric elements, but from the intense eclipses upon the nodes of Libra and Aries. The head and tail of a hungry ghost.
Top notes of earthy, damp mushroom and dark earth. Sweet decay pulling the senses downward. The unexpected safety of a scent inspired by the passage of corporeal form. The breath of the dragon, and battle torn broken amber tears upon the shore of the Baltic. Perhaps Perun and Veles are an axis rather than opposition.

ᴛᴏᴘ: ᴍᴜꜱʜʀᴏᴏᴍꜱ, ᴡɪʟʟᴏᴡ ʙʀᴀɴᴄʜ
ᴍɪᴅᴅʟᴇ: ᴄᴏꜰꜰᴇᴇ, ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴ’ꜱ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴀᴄᴄᴏʀᴅ
ʙᴀꜱᴇ: ɢʀᴀᴠᴇʏᴀʀᴅ ᴅɪʀᴛ, ᴘᴀᴛᴄʜᴏᴜʟɪ, ꜰᴏꜱꜱɪʟɪᴢᴇᴅ ᴀᴍʙᴇʀ

𝔇𝔷𝔦𝔞𝔡𝔶 - An ancestral ritual of honor (6.5 ml solid perfume and fixative)

A holiday celebrated in liu or in tandem with All Souls Day in Eastern Europe, and the first reveal from the Slavic underworld collection for Samhain 2024. Etymologically, the term Dziady has roots in the proto-Slavic term for ancestor, yet even the Polish word for demon, and Ukrainian “shadows in the corners of the room at dusk”. It is a ritual of offerings and remembrance, all at once ancient and modern.

Spiced black tea on an altar. Chrysanthemums and carnations on a gravestone. Sweet caramels, dripping honey, and tears of golden Amber. How can we best venerate those we descended from in our lifetime, and offer a taste of their long gone corporeal pleasures? Fragrance is more than just folly. Here it is materia for summoning, a mood elevator on its own, or a fixative base for other perfumes representing the tenacity of the bonds with our dead. Balsamic, sweet, and dark. Contains honey and coconut products.

𝔊𝔩𝔞𝔰𝔰 ℭ𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔶 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔯𝔡𝔰: Eastern European libations (1.75 ml vials)

Traditional and modern, beverages are a surprising space for the mundane to meet the magical. Fermenting, distilling, and steeping herbs for health and flavor have been incorporated into folk magic and culture since time immemorial. These are three of our favorite, and most nostalgic drinks from Eastern Europe, visualized as accords. Use alone, layered, or even in your own creations for a boon.

Absinthe Boheme - This version of the Green Fairy tends to be higher in Fennel and Wormwood than its French counterpart, and perhaps less herbally complex. Sometimes tinted unnatural shades of green and teal, it plays off the Belle Epoque imagery by pushing the envelope with how much Artemisia Absinthum it contains. As an accord, it is imagined with these two herbs as the main scents which build up each other— a green swath somehow bringing out Wormwood’s unusual plastic or frostinglike notes the way water opens it up in the beverage. Can be used as an energetically protective edge, and during Mars/Pluto squares. Herbal, verdant, and a little numbing.

Kofola (Czech Cola) - fruitier and more resourceful than American colas, this national beverage created by the Institute of Herbal research uses its own proprietary blend of flavors and was introduced before certain Western sodas were available. Its popularity still exceeds these same major brands today, and though we cannot fully recreate its secret formula, this scent celebrates the art of soda as occult. A carbonated cauldron of spice, citrus, incense, and dark patchouli.

Kvass - A sweet, pan-Slavic malted or fermented grain beverage, which likely originated in the 10th Century Kievan Rus.
This sweet, almost cereal-like beverage is a staple of Eastern Slavs, and has become more ubiquitous as a malted soda version of its original self. This accord captures the sweetness and the grist recreated largely with actual wheat absolute, benzoin and vanilla. A fixative as well as a perfume all on its own. (Contains wheat ingredients).

𝔖𝔦𝔠𝔨𝔩𝔢 𝔐𝔬𝔬𝔫 (20 charcoal incense cones)

An offering for the dark mother Marzanna, who symbolically dies each winter so that spring may live. Her name itself is associated with dreams, particularly nightmares— Mara is one of her many titles. Traditionally, an effigy of plants and branches in her image is burned and drowned to ensure the triumph of life of over death. To some, she is winter personified, and the sickle moon… the reaping moon… is her scythe. This smoldering suffumigation is a blend of Bulgarian lavender, dreamy Armoise, Carpathian spruce, dripping Blood cedar on gleaming silver birch, dark opopanax and wormwood. Intensely herbal, cold, and dark. For hypnogogic rituals and energetic shifting. Especially potent during the days leading up to November 1st’s new moon.

𝔇𝔞𝔤𝔞𝔷 ᛞ Daybreak candle (8oz soy wax)

An optional add on for the deluxe collection is the newest seasonal Runic candle, which celebrates the endless cycle of death and rebirth. Dagaz is the rune of dawn after darkness. Darkness before dawn. Some can argue that perhaps this is the true death rune, potentiating infinity and loss, and the rebuilding of hope. The last letter of the elder futhark, which is sometimes conceptualized as a neverending circle rather than the end of an alphabet. The brightness of grapefruit fades to orange osmanthus. Here, the trading of places between light and dark becomes seamless; Labdanum acts as a balsamic anchor making the switch. Dark patchouli fixates on nightfall, only for the sun to rise again, finding the stability in impermanence.