O, hello, Strawberry Moon!

STRAWBERRY MOON 2012
Strawberries that in gardens grow
Are plump and juicy fine,
But sweeter far as wise men know
Spring from the woodland vine.

No need for bowl or silver spoon,
Sugar or spice or cream,
Has the wild berry plucked in June
Beside the trickling stream.

One such to melt at the tongue’s root,
Confounding taste with scent,
Beats a full peck of garden fruit:
Which points my argument.

May sudden justice overtake
And snap the froward pen,
That old and palsied poets shake
Against the minds of men.

Blasphemers trusting to hold caught
In far-flung webs of ink,
The utmost ends of human thought
Till nothing’s left to think.

But may the gift of heavenly peace
And glory for all time
Keep the boy Tom who tending geese
First made the nursery rhyme.

Wild strawberries, strawberry flower, strawberry blossom honey, vanilla-infused sugar, early summer grasses, and milky dandelion sap.

 

A little while back, we wrote a bit about strawberries on the Gazette: http://www.blackphoenixgazette.com/?p=1425.

 

Strawberry Moon is also live on Black Phoenix Trading Post! Please welcome Tanya Bjork to our family of artists!

 

 

“Just living is not enough,” said the butterfly, “one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.”

 

This month, we revisit the Metamorphosis:

 

++ METAMORPHOSIS
Lo, the bright train their radiant wings unfold!
With silver fringed, and freckled o’er with gold:

On the gay bosom of some fragrant flower
They, idly fluttering, live their little hour;
Their life all pleasure, and their task all play,
All spring their age, and sunshine all their day.
- ” To Mrs. P——–., With Some Drawings…”, Anna Laetitia Aikin

 

The grace, beauty, and complexity of butterflies and moths have permeated myths all over the globe. The symmetry and elegance of their form and the coquettish rhythm of their dance inspires visions of fleeting romance:

 

The dawn is smiling on the dew that covers
The tearful roses; lo, the little lovers
That kiss the buds, and all the flutterings
In jasmine bloom, and privet, of white wings,
That go and come, and fly, and peep and hide,
With muffled music, murmured far and wide.
Ah, the Spring time, when we think of all the lays
That dreamy lovers send to dreamy mays,
Of the fond hearts within a billet bound,
Of all the soft silk paper that pens wound,
The messages of love that mortals write
Filled with intoxication of delight,
Written in April and before the May time
Shredded and flown, playthings for the wind’s playtime,
We dream that all white butterflies above,
Who seek through clouds or waters souls to love,
And leave their lady mistress in despair,
To flit to flowers, as kinder and more fair,
Are but torn love-letters, that through the skies
Flutter, and float, and change to butterflies
- ” The Genesis of Butterflies”, Victor Hugo

 

Though in some myths – notably, China’s Butterfly Lovers, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, and Japan’s tale of Takahama and Akiko – butterflies are symbols of eternal love and devotion.

 

Most often, butterflies and moths represent change, transition, and metamorphosis. Butterflies are also seen as personifications of the soul, and symbols of mankind’s desire for spiritual evolution. They are harbingers of both love and death, and some believe that errant souls manifest in this form.

 

Moths and butterflies are, to some, symbols of blind desire and madness, perilously drawn to the splendor of light and flame. This mad desire is also portrayed, at times, as transcendence:

Tell it none except the wise,
for the common crowd defames:
of the living I shall praise
that which longs for death in flames.

In the love night which created
you where you create, a yearning
wakes: you see, intoxicated,
far away a candle burning.
Darkness now no longer snares you,
shadows lose their ancient force,
as a new desire tears you
up to higher intercourse.

Now no distance checks your flight,
charmed you come and you draw night
till, with longing for the light,
you are burnt, O butterfly.

And until you have possessed
dying and rebirth,
you are but a sullen guest
on the gloomy earth.
- ” Blissful Yearning”, Goethe, translation by Walter Kaufmann

 

This series, though seemingly simple, is a complex narrative in scent. It was created with the intention of illustrating the beauty of transformation and transcendence, the sweetness of romance, the joy of freedom and personal liberty, and the perpetuity of true love.

 

Wake, butterfly -
It’s late, we’ve miles
To go together.
- Matsuo Basho

 

This year’s butterfly series was inspired by our many, many trips to Mexico, and is focused on the butterflies and moths of the Yucatan and Quintana Roo.

 

BERNARDINO DOTTED BLUE
Lily of the valley, patchouli, copal, violet leaf, ambrette seed, Cyprian bergamot, chocolate peppermint, and tobacco absolute.

 

CEANOTHUS SILKMOTH
Blood orange, night-blooming jasmine, vanilla bean, bog wood, Spanish moss, benzoin, and oudh.

 

JUNIPER HAIRSTREAK
Smoky brown musk, cucumber, green-tinged ozone, cypress, white mint, jungle orchid, and juniper berry.

 

RUDDY DAGGERWING
Cacao, tobacco absolute, Chilean coffee bean, osage-orange, and ebony.

 

PASSION BUTTERFLY
Red mandarin, mimosa, pink grapefruit, copal, petitgrain, and black amber.

 

SPHAEROMACHIA GAUMERI
Iris, iced lemon peel, anise seed, red current, coriander, cilantro, and white musk.

 

TWO-BARRED FLASHER
Orris root, lilac, galbanum, white tea, Italian bergamot, and blueberry.

 

WHITE PEACOCK
Teak, ebony wood, osmanthus, patchouli, red sandalwood, vanilla orchid, tonka bean, tobacco, wild musk, spikenard, and sugandh kokila.

 

ZEBRA HELICONIAN
Opium tar, frankincense, lemongrass, ambergris accord, Himalayan cedarwood, coffee absolute, coconut meat, clary sage, tobacco flower, vetiver, and white plum.

 

 

The Metamorphosis series is dedicated, as always, to my daughter. Lilith, my angel, my dearest love. I love you, little butterfly. I love your laugh, I love your smile, I love your huge, compassionate heart. You are the joy of my life, you are the song of my spirit. I’m so very grateful to be your mother.

 

Inspired by our sojourns into the jungles of Latin America, we present two sweet, raw, prickly blends as a small tribute to our omnipresent hematophagous travel companions:

 

AE. ALBOPICTUS
Saffron, pimento, cardamom, beeswax, cajeput, tomato leaf, geranium, and pink pepper honey.

 

AE. AEGYPTI
Five honeys with vanilla orchid, gardenia, dragon’s blood resin, gingergrass, and turmeric.

 

Butterflies are also swarming the ‘Post!

BUTTERFLY GARDEN ATMOSPHERE SPRAY
Butterfly bush blossoms, dew-damp moss, mist flower, purple coneflower, Brazilian verbena, ground ivy, pink clover, lantana accord, and sunflower.

 

CANDLELIGHT ATMOSPHERE SPRAY
O Candle! Why does the moth love you?
Why is this restless soul devoted to you?

Your charm keeps it restless like mercury
Did you teach it the etiquette of Love?

It circumambulates the site of your manifestation
Is it inspired with the fire of your lightning?

Do the woes of death give it the peace of life?
Does your flame possess the quality of eternal life?

If you do not brighten this sorrowful world
This burning heart’s tree of Longing may not green up

Falling before you is the prayer of this little heart
The taste for impassioned Love knows this little heart

It has some zeal of the Primeval Beauty’s Lover
You are a small ñër , it is a small Kalam

The moth and the taste for the Sight of the Light!
This small insect and the Longing for the Light!

Beeswax candles burning softly in a shadowed room, touched with a wisp of smoky foreboding.

 

BUTTERFLY NECTAR BATH OIL
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
- Rabindranath Tagore

A bath of honeyed petals and sugar-dusted leaves.

 

Black Phoenix Trading Post has added a few new hair glosses:

AMBER & PATCHOULI
COCONUT, VANILLA BEAN, AND TIARE
JUNIPER MINT
MOROCCO

 

 

Dark Delicacies will be debuting a new scent in the Lace series at West Coast Will Call! It will also be available on the Dark Delicacies web site.

 

DARK DELICACIES: ABSINTHE AND LACE
Inspired by Edgar Degas’ L’Absinthe, and created in the vein of the Dark Delicacies / Black Phoenix lace-themed collaborations. A scent of dissipation and ennui: green cognac and icy absinthe, louched, spilling onto lace that is drooping with neglect and darkened by tobacco smoke.

 

 

The following bat-themed scents will be available at Bats Day:

++ BPAL: BATS DAY 2012
GREAT VAMPIRE BAT
Incense-touched jungle orchid.

 

SILVER-HAIRED BAT
Gleaming white amber and silvered ambergris accord with copoiba balsam, benzoin, Atlas cedar, black pepper, and oudh.

 

VESPERTILIO PROTERUS
Warm golden ginger, wild fig, and vanilla cream spiced with saffron, limu amani, nutmeg, coriander, and angelica.

EPOMOPHORUS MONSTROSUS
Black patchouli, tonka bean, mahogany bark, gurjum balsam, and decadent cacao absolute surrounded by two dark, feral musks and sweet sarsaparilla.

 

PTEROPUS LEUCOPTERUS
White sandalwood, white sage, East Indian patchouli, muguet, golden frankincense, and Balsam of Mecca.

 

And also at Bats Day, these Black Phoenix Trading Post offerings:

++ BPTP: BATS DAY 2012
VIRGIN’S BLOOD BATH OIL
Rose petals and fresh cream.

No virgins were harmed in the making of this product. Everlasting youth and eternal beauty not guaranteed.

PYRIPHLEGETHONIAN POMEGRANATE ATMOSPHERE SPRAY
An infernal bounty: fiery, blood red pomegranate, black fig, opoponax, patchouli, black pepper, tobacco absolute, cypress, yew berry, and dragon’s blood resin.