Labdanum

Labdanum, or rock rose, is the resin from an evergreen Mediterranean shrub. It is a sweet, warm, balsamic-floral scent and has been used a replacement for ambergris. The soft resin is traditionally harvested by collecting the resin from wandering goats that would collect it in their hair or by separating it from the plant with a scourge. The sensuous scent is associated with Venus, as it was a key ingredient in perfumes created in her temple at Cyprus, with variations on that ancient recipe surviving through the Renaissance and up to the modern day as Chypre.

We suggest, that taken altogether, Labdanum is ideal for blends used in sex magic, diabolic work, and the black mass. Of course if summoning demons and profaning the rites of the Christian church isn’t your bag, labdanum is appropriate for other rites too—the summer moonlit rites of the Wica, to accompany paens sung to Babalon, ritual attempts to woo the Bright Lady of the Hollow hills, to perfume Dionysian revels. The scent of Labdanum calls for uses that are sensual and subversive, wild and free, glamorous and embodied.