Graveyard Dirt

The Baltic States have yet to receive acknowledgement for the horrors that happened here from ones that did this to us, let alone an apology.

The Baltic States have yet to receive acknowledgement for the horrors that happened here from ones that did this to us, let alone an apology.

One of the coolest talismans that I've made.

Deer antler pre consecrated and suffumigated multiple times as a talisman of Jupiter, blessed with holy water and Psalms. The symbols were painted with blue nail polish last Thursday when the planet was conjunct Venus near the Ascendant. Later on the same day at Jupiter's hour it was properly consecrated with four blue candles, frankincense, palo santo, brown sugar and Haus of Ophidious' 4th Pentacle of Jupiter Oil. Jupiter and its intelligence were petitioned with lenghty prayers from the Picatrix.

 It has nothing to do with Satan, Mama. It's me.

PARIS–ÉDIMBOURG is inspired by the Scottish Highlands, where vast expanses of green dotted with crystal-clear lakes are surrounded by rugged forests. Featuring crisp notes of juniper berry and cypress paired with the smoky, peaty scent of vetiver, PARIS-ÉDIMBOURG is suggestive of the untamed lands to which Gabrielle Chanel would retreat with the Duke of Westminster. [...] A mysterious fragrance, distinguished by the tension between freshness and obscurity. Notes: Cypress, Juniper Berries / Lavender, Cedar, Vetiver / Musk, Vanilla

29 years ago today, I met my Scottish boyfriend-turned-husband face-to-face for the first time at O'Hare Terminal 5. Little did those two Star Crunch-tossing 17-year-olds know they were meeting their future spouses that June afternoon… 💍

To celebrate the anniversary, I went sample-diving to find something suitable for the occasion and found Chanel's Paris – Édimbourg at the bottom of our untested bag.

("Our" because this perfume thing is something of a shared hobby, although he's largely content just testing, while I'm compelled to test and then word-vomit every thought that crosses my mind.)

Let's experience Olivier Polge's (the nose behind this scent) interpretation of the Scottish Highlands...

Blue-green zingy-fresh. The way wintergreen gum hits with the first few frosted chews, or the way freezing air nips at the depth of your lungs when you first step outside into the cold - that crisp, icy freshness that reminds you you're alive.

As the perfume settles on the skin, the rugged blue-green freshness of the great outdoors shifts from the heather-clad hills of the Highlands to the traditional clothing worn there. Paris – Édimbourg transforms from a place into a thing, becoming a faded perfume scent-stain absorbed into a tweed jacket.

I'm feeling a little cagey about the dry-down because I can easily see the coniferous blue-green going soapy, or, even worse, Lynx-y (a bit of Scottish humour for you). It feels like you're delicately straddling the threshold between perfume and bath product, and the weight threatens to tip towards the "cool mountain air" abyss of men's shower gel.

One jasmine tea, a leftover chicken madras lunch, and a thirty-minute kickboxing workout later, I find I was right to be apprehensive about that blue-green freshness. I was slightly off with the bathroom product prediction, though - it hasn't gone soapy or shower-gel-like, but chalky like toothpaste and crisp like "cool mint" mouthwash.

(Right room, wrong activity. 🤷)

“Golden Silk Orb Weaver” denim jacket and hand-embroidered appliqué patch by Glenn Davis/DoomNGlam on Etsy

"Birds and Flowers" by Olia Fedorova. Hand embroidery, intervention into old embroideries, 2025.

Embroidery project that depicts birds and flowers that share the names with russian weapons, thus changing the associations Ukrainians have with them.

Source details and larger version.

The Orchid’s Dream, 2026 , watercolor & gouache

✨ “Not forever on Earth, only a little while here…”

I finally finished this painting that I’ve been working on since 2020. The original watercolor thumbnail I did was done pre-2020, if you can believe it. Sometimes art takes its time, and sometimes it takes time because it’s sitting on my easel neglected while I work on higher priority work for years. I’m going to miss this strange thing looking over me while I work, but I think it deserves a frame and a wall… and perhaps a better view than my greasy, shrimp-mode goblinself working.

This piece was inspired by a dream I had, though the details are buried in some journal which I’ll have to dig up for the full write-up on my process creating this painting. Prints are in the works, I highly recommend my newsletter if that’s something you’re interested in.

'June Roses'(1898) by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864 – 1933).

Pencil and water-based colour on paper.