Praesidium
Praesidium
A talismanic perfume created for Sphere + Sundry’s Deneb Algedi II election by thee Elizabeth Barrial of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (and Twilight Alchemy Lab!) —
If you have built castles in the air, your work needs not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
– Henry David Thoreau, ‘Walden’
It is almost impossible to have peace of mind without a strong foundation and a sense of safety, and the past few years have shaken many of us to the core. This oil was crafted to assist in finding equilibrium and strength in all aspects of your life. Praesidium is an oil of grounding, helping you construct a stable groundwork upon which you can build your dreams.
Jasmine absolute and petals (Jasminum grandiflorum), sweet marjoram essential oil (Origanum majorana), Spanish marjoram essential oil and herb from the TAL garden (Thymus mastichina), myrrh essential oil and tears (Commiphora myrrha), rose absolute and petals from the TAL garden (Rosa damascena), pink lotus absolute (Nelumbo nucifera), poplar bud absolute (Populus nigra), lavender essential oil and buds from the TAL garden (Lavandula angustifolia), wild-harvested pine needles (Pinus sylvestris), hyssop herb and oil (Hyssopus officinalis), fir balsam essential oil (Abies balsamea), borage leaf (Borago officinalis), motherwort herb (Leonurus cardiac), comfrey leaf and root (Symphytum officinale), frankincense essential oil and tears (Boswellia sacra), passionflower herb (Passiflora incarnate), hops flowers and essential oil (Humulus lupulus), sumac berries (Rhus coriaria), and blue chalcedony.
Available in BPAL’s iconic 5 ml apothecary bottle for $48
$48
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| Creation Date | Waxing Gibbous Moon conj. Deneb Algedi + Jupiter on the MC, September 17th, 2021. Chart in image gallery. |
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| Areas of Application | |
| Star | |
| Step / Function | |
| Size | 2.5 oz, 4 oz |
| Magical Applications | |
| Planetary Body | |
| Vegan | Yes — Vegan |
| Dimensions | 1 × 1 × 1 in |
| Weight | 1 oz |
Testimonials(10)
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SALE!
Less than 10
Primordial Bath Mud
Re-Labeling *SALE*, 30% OFF, Available, Saturn in Capricorn, Salts, Face + Body
Clay from a pristine Southern Oregon deposit and other earthen minerals, including ocean magnesium, epsom salt, Himalayan salt, humic and fulvic earth, and activated charcoal, to be added to a warm bath for grounding, detoxification, purification, and energetic protection.
Includes organically occurring live probiotics to benefit the skin’s natural defense barrier, and offers benefits similar to earthing (the practice of walking barefoot over grass and dirt to connect with Earth’s energies), in the convenience of your own bathtub.
Saturn and Capricorn each have their own distinct relationship to Earth and Sea, so it felt especially appropriate to offer some form of bathing paraphernalia alongside this series. *Too much* Saturn magic, however, directly applied to the living vessel, can drain vitality, cause tightness, and restrict energy flow, in addition to contributing to states of depression and hopelessness.
For this reason, Sphere + Sundry's Bath Mud has not been explicitly enchanted, operating instead on the basis of the naturally occurring Saturnian virtues possessed by its formulary.
Bathing in beneficent muck. A return to the most primordial of ooze...
Come down from magical or mundane events, wipe the slate clean, and prime your body and mind for meditation, contemplation, and rest on every level. Reduces the impact of electromagnetic overexposure in the body, making this a natural (and incredibly helpful) energetic detox from these everyday modern conditions.
Exfoliate first or within the bath to get increased skin softening, clarifying, and beautifying benefits (a natural extension of Saturn’s exaltation in the sign of aesthetic and lovely Libra).
Yin restoration at its most fundamental...
Bathe during Saturn’s day, night, and hours as a form of ritual observation and remediation, or as needed.
A small amount of Ritual Salt, Powder, or Oil from any series and sub-set can be added, should additional magical oomph be desired.
Add half a cup or more and soak for 15-40 minutes. Rinse well before drying. Septic safe.
A small amount can also be added to water at the bedside or underneath a bed to quiet the mind and invite more grounded, less interrupted sleep. Can be added to mojos for the same.
Arrives in your choice of 8 oz glass jar ($36) or 16 oz bulk pot ($72); or an 18 oz bundle by weight (the same amount the bulk pot holds) for those who would rather not risk shipping glass or have more than enough jars already, for $68.
Note that reusable muslin bags are available as accessories, if you'd like to bathe without leaving herbal residue behind in the tub or going down the drain. They also work wonderfully as body scrub bundles for using magical Bath Salts in the shower, or for small travel portions without fear of glass breaking!
$36 – $72
$36 – $72
SALE!
Powder of Hermanubis II
Re-Labeling *SALE*, 30% OFF, Available, Hermanubis II, Powders
Herbal mix ritually fumigated during Mercury’s Eclipse of Sol on 11:11:2019 in the pre-dawn hour of Mercury, following prayers and offerings to Hermanubis for his empowerments and blessing.
Cemetery ivy, fallen leaves, poppy, hops, hair from a black dog, myrrh resin, and sundry herbs and additions of a Mercurial and Necromantic nature, left to incubate for almost a full Solar round before being powdered on Saturn's day and hour before release. Blood red wine, dark spiced rum, dried mushroom, and 24k gold.
Mix into the grave dirt or ashes of those with which you wish to commune. Add to mourning reliquaries. Dust over letters or gifts you wish to offer your dearly departed. Use in any way Necromantic dusts can magically serve.
Available in a 1/2 oz glass vial with cork top for $30, or a 2 oz bulk pot for $90
$30 – $90
$30 – $90
Oil of Hermanubis (First Edition)
Available, Anointing Oils, Reduced Price, Hermanubis I
As the Sun descended into the realm of the underworld on the day of Mercury’s exalted cazimi 2018, organic cold-pressed olive oil was combined with ritually harvested cemetery cypress, hops, barley, and other herbs and ingredients sacred to Hermes, Anubis, or favored by the dead, along with myrrh, hair from a black dog, and 24k gold leaf.
Anoint glassware or plates used to make offerings to the dead, to draw their attention and stoke their appetites. Use to dress candles for necromantic operations or apply to other icons employed as intermediaries between yourself and the deceased. Apply to images or items of dead loved ones and ask Hermanubis to support them in navigating their landscape and experience, and help guide them to where they ought to be.
Apply to the self to make communication with the dead easier or before channeling and seances. Apply to the heart and third eye as a meditative aid to excavate death gnosis from your immortal soul, beyond the confines of your incarnate experience, and generate comfort with your own mortality.
1/2 oz glass vial for $66 $20, since Hermanubis II is now available.
$20
$20
SALE!
Less than 10
Saturn in Capricorn Incense
Re-Labeling *SALE*, 30% OFF, Available, Saturn in Capricorn, Incense
Saturn in Capricorn herbal mix, largely comprised of various roots, beans, and fermented, dried, and aged ingredients — such as stone root, comfrey root, thyme, hemp seed, elder berries, black eyed peas, pu’erh tea, onyx, and fossilized dinosaur bone, ritually combined and fumigated using frankincense and myrrh during a strong Saturn in Capricorn election, made less malefic overall by the presence of Jupiter.
Ground to a fine powder following six months of silent incubation, and made into a smooth-burning and reasonably enticing (as far as the smells of Saturn go!) incense powder, which can be formed into a mound, line, or sigil and burned on a bed of ash or sand.
Burn as an offering to Saturn during weekly prayers on Saturdays (or Tuesdays following sunset), in Saturn's hour. Smoke bathe the body entire before engaging in Saturnian meditations, rituals, or activities, reinforcing personal boundaries and connecting to a profound sense of duty. Fumigate spaces to set a serious and productive tone, in advance of workings or meetings of Saturnian import. Charge Saturn talismans or pentacles.
100% pure, uncut organic and wildcrafted herbs and resins, marked by a hand stamped Saturn image.
Arrives in your selection of glass 1/2 oz cork top vial for $33, or 2 oz bulk pot for $99.
Note that Sphere + Sundry's Incense Powders are designed to be burned *without* charcoal, on beds of premium ash in a firesafe dish or plate. Pour ash, then pat or use a tool to create a relatively smooth surface. Pour the desired amount of Incense Powder into the palm of your non-dominant hand, and use the other to assemble a thin peaked mound, line, or sigil, pinch by pinch. These can be quite thin if desired. The neater and more ridged your shape is, the better it will burn! Light the top of the ridge to ignite.
Taking time to prepare Incense in this way can be a meditative and centering experience, and allows the practitioner to create custom burn times with zero waste. If your line ends up too long, simply use a knife to 'cut' the fresh powder away from the ignited portion to use later.
$33 – $99
$33 – $99
Praesidium smells like floral rebar to me, particularly when diluted into a spray. It’s flower heavy with a resinous, metallic tang. It’s not soft, it’s structured and upright but still gentle and affirming, as I find all DAII offerings to be. I like it for ambient use when I want clear space to get stuff done or think something through.
An elegant, serene, woodsy scent that evokes the feeling of being in a temple. Inviting of deep contemplation and a sense of settling down to earth. Very lovely, supportive, and reassuring in a muted way.
Such a beautiful perfume oil! The most noticeable scent to me is the jasmine. I can be a bit sensitive to myrrh notes in some perfume blends, but this one doesn’t bother me, which is wonderful. I’ve used this as part of my DA offerings, and the sweet scent of the jasmine permeates the area around the altar for hours. It’s calming, in a surprisingly gentle way- as well as being very grounding in the way that DA so often is. Very happy that I took a chance and purchased this one!
This smells so lovely, very jasmine rich with a strong backbone. I find this to be pleasantly grounding, a nice day to day fragrance.
What a blessing this oil has been to me. I feel like it highlighted some ways that I was not living from a grounded place, whether it be in my career or romantic life. I have learned a lot over the past few months of application, and I feel myself becoming more steady and serious in the areas in which I need to. Thank you!
This BPAL is very grounding and motivating for me. It’s part no nonsense, part get the important stuff done and imbibes a sense of structure and foundation to tasks. For anyone who needs perspective, the ability to thwart procrastination or a sense of direction I highly recommend!
This is such a lovely scent. Strongly floral, I get jasmine from it the most. Not overwhelming though, I really enjoy it. It has this sort of classic allure and it feels very tranquil and soothing to me.
I put this in our diffuser and keep it running in our living room. It pulls me towards a sense of uprightness in the home: getting the good stuff done, less procrastinating, less drama. More pragmatic, no frills, when compared to other S&S materia but super helpful!
Praesidium to me smells absolutely floral (no herbs/pine), and the experience was akin to finding a fully made flower crown on the ground and putting it on your head. It felt easy and natural. (Again, more analogous to Empress experiences than the OG DA). Can say from a scent perspective, the jasmine/honeysuckle notes in Praesidium is very much making me think Venusian influence, but that might be my natal Venus in Capricorn being happy about the flower crown.
On the 2nd opportunity I wore Praesidium layered on with other DA2 materia, I was told that it was more like akin to ivy on a building. It’s there, anchored. Not really calling attention to itself, and felt natural.
BPAL magic at its best…some of Elizabeth’s fragrances take me on trips down memory lane for healing and regathering past selves. This one started off at Juniper Breeze/Cucumber Melon, Bath and Body Works circa 1990s? last night, upon drifting off to sleep, I moved further back in time to the scent of Lancome and Coppertone sunscreen mixed together, basking and baking all summer long at the town pool on thin cotton terry towels as a kid. I haven’t felt that sense of being in my body with such ease in a long time, that was a good reminder. I wonder where it will take me next? This oil has not been the easiest to work with personally, but anointing it forehead, nape of neck, solar plexus, sacrum, achilles heel has been the journey we are on, forging that core stability anew.