The Dark is Rising

When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.

~ Susan Cooper,  from The Dark is Rising

Here we are, once again, at the cross roads moving into the dark half of the year. In my little universe here at the edge of the Santa Monica Mountians it doesn't quite feel like the dark half yet. The weather has been particularly strange and erratic, as if she needs some some Clary Sage to bring her hormones back into balance or something.

The title and quote above are from one of my very favorite series of books by Susan Cooper. In the Celtic, Wiccan and Pagan traditions we just celebrated All Hallows Eve and Samhain. In ancient times the people saw correlations between things much more so than we do now in modern society. The changing of the landscape from warm to cool and as nature begins her winter sleep indicated a time for sentient beings to go within as well. A time to tend the inner flame within. Samhain is one of the many festivals of light during the season that calls forth our inner light as nature goes into her winter sleep. The first to start of the season was Michelmas in September.

Many of the dark and viscous essences we use for botanical perfume are base notes. These are essences that have a fixating quality, similar to "earth" element. Theses essences facilitate in holding things down, as if they have a gravitational pull in their tenacity.

For this time of the year I suggest blends that match the energetics of the season. Pairing earthy basenotes with those of fire, like the spices is a particularly nice combination.

“No matter how dark the night, 

somehow the sun rises once again and all shadows are chased away”
~ David Matthew Click

Image above by Greg Spalenka