The Tribe Jasmineae

"You need regular doses of unreasonable beauty, sublime anomalies, 

beguiling ephemera, and inexplicable joys." 

~ Rob Brezsny

We have finally hit the time of the year where my Jasmine sambac plants begin their long flowering season here in the woodland. I gathered a handful of the little, waxy white flowers on Moon day morning to begin a new tincture. Before doing so I removed the tincture begun last summer from the fridge, filtered out the blossoms that were in it and now have a glorious, golden liquid which is thick with the vitality and scent of the flower.

The initial plan was to add this tincture to two jasmine perfumes in the works, although that isn't completely clear in my mind yet. Since I only have about 16 ounces of the Summer 2012 vintage, it may only go into one of the fragrances. In the meantime I plan to get even more plants.

Eve returned home from college in Vermont this weekend, thus the house is now filled with regular visitors coming to see her. Yesterday I decided to take advantage of the entourage of people and get impressions of the tincture without them knowing what it was. Here are some of the descriptive words that were shared when I placed the precious liquid on each persons inner wrist:

Gardenia
Hawaiian blossoms
Fresh
Floral
White
Clean
Jasmine

Eve said that it smells very clean and modern with almost a metallic note. To my nose, I also get honey. Too bad the bees don't pollinate these flowers, Jasmin sambac honey would be pretty amazing.

Photos: 1st and 2nd photo by me 3rd photo by Rebecca Fishman.