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My Monster Powers really are powers, in the sense that they are at least partly in my control. They are my Gila Lizard Powers (GLP-1) but they are not solely the effect of the medicine. I kind of knew that before, but I really know it now. 

It was clear that I could maintain my weight loss on my own last fall when I went without the medicine for a month due to the insurance company, and I did not regain the weight I had lost the month before. I was able to keep it steady because by then I had abandoned my old habit of spending an enormous amount of time planning, shopping for, growing, and cooking food, and started devoting that attention to perfume instead. I was able to keep doing that even without the medicine.

When I first started my perfume and health journey with my Gila Lizard Powers (GLP-1) I was amazed at how many pagan indie perfume houses there were. Later I became amazed at how pagan-friendly the Fragrantica forum was, and at how many pagan mythology inspired fragrances there were from mainstream niche houses. It's been about a half a year and I have dug into the database enough to find out that Lancome was openly working Magie Noire in 1978.

On March 28 the front page of Fragrantica carried an article in which a perfume reviewer expressed a desire to give a blood sacrifice to Artemis. Link here: https://www.fragrantica.com/news/Hellenist-A-French-House-Greek-Myths-22332.html

I headed in to March on the great health news I got in February (see previous post) and I am definitely ready to keep up my Monster Powers and my dedication to perfume. One of my most significant magical and religious experiences of early March is not about perfume, though, but about dance. And of course, Thor. And the Gila Monster!

It was the 5th and it was supposed to be raining. My housemate showed me the weather radar and asked why it wasn't raining yet. I went outside to check, and it smelled like rain. Not the petrichor smell, that happens after it starts raining. There's a particular smell to the air when it's full of water. I had already ground coffee and brewed a fresh pot, which often is enough for Thor to appear. I said, "Maybe if I do my Rain Dance it will rain."

To think, last summer, before I started my Monster Powers journey, I thought I had nothing left to say on this blog. lol. For those just joining this series now, it begins last fall when I first started my Gila Lizard Powers medicine (GLP-1) and became obsessed with perfume.

I resumed working on the Gila Monster tapestry after my housemate's family's visit. I put all my weaving stuff back in the front room that gets good morning light.

I look like me. As the weight melted off, thanks to my Gila Lizard Powers (GLP-1) , the bones in my face re-emerged. One day I happened to look in the mirror over the bathroom sink while I was washing my hands and was startled to see-- me.

"I look like ME." I said it out loud.

Continuing my diabetes health, weight loss, and perfumery journey, summarized as Gila Lizard Powers (GLP-1) or my Monster Powers. (For those who have not seen my other Monster Powers posts, the Monster Powers series starts last fall. The early posts contain a more complete explanation of how that relates to Gila Monsters.)

January is my birthday month, and it was also my mom's. For decades, we celebrated our birthdays together, and bought ourselves a bouquet of carnations to keep on the table and smell. We both loved the spicy floral smell of carnations. And then one day carnations didn't have a scent anymore. Suddenly the bouquet of carnations was a form without substance, like fire that produces no heat. It was as if we had fallen into a parallel universe where things had the appearance of reality but were not actually real.

Florist carnations are still like that, but I have gotten back the scent I love, because somebody put it in a bottle. In selecting perfumes for January, of course I picked carnations. L'Heure Bleu, which is also a favorite of my brother's. Brightest Bloom by Bath & Body Works, which I mostly use in the form of lotions and soaps. I also have a white glitter product, so it will do double duty this winter by also representing glittering snow. I also had bottle of real carnation extract which I put in my own lotions, soaps, hand sanitizer, etc.