The astrological influences for the month of June are excellent for the first three weeks. In fact, Wednesday the 12th is aligned with Separation and falls right on the full moon. After I get home from Ashland I'll need to do a bit of cleaning (de-twigging) of plant material so I can get going on a few things. I have things ready for filtration and others that need to get bottled with Mercury. Due to my practice of recycling my containers, I'll be working in that order to make empties for the new projects. I also have some new tiny bottles that I have to find corks which fit them, or some other means of sealing/closing.
I am headed south this weekend, with stopovers along the route. We'll be over-nighting in Milwaukie, OR on Thursday. Friday morning will see us at the Enchanted Forest, about an hour further south in Turner, OR. I was here once in the 1970s, when the attraction was still quite new and there were no rides. K was here as a young girl too, but that probably was still in the later 1980s at the latest. A long time since we visited. But the memory of the ultra-uber-gigantic witch's head never faded for either of us. I'm sure you can see where this sort of thing is headed. Oh yeah, there WILL be pics.
Yet I let you know that it is properly called the Vinegar of the Wise, and that in the distillation of this Divine Liquor there happens the same thing as in that of common vinegar; you may hence draw instruction: the water and the phlegm ascend first; the oily substance, in which the efficacy of the water consists, comes the last, etc.
One play I am really looking forward to this weekend is THE TEMPEST. I've not seen the entire thing staged live, and have seen more things inspired by the original than it in its entirety. No doubt there will be alchemical allegory that will arise in there somewhere. I just signed up for JSTOR so I could have access to this major paper from a drama journal in the late 90s that specifically details the alchemy metaphors in the play. One of the big kickers for that one is that an actor with whom I worked way back in the 80s the summer I was employed by Shakespeare Santa Cruz is in the cast! I was looking up the actors online last night out of curiosity and there was Bruce A Young, still best referenced to other people as the big black transvestite hooker that Tom Cruise calls in RISKY BUSINESS. INTO THE WOODS I've only seen as the filmed stage play, and they're working on a movie adaptation now, so this should be good to see in that context. I'll be curious to see if they make the Wolf in this version as anatomically correct as they did on Broadway. Given the casting, I think not. In fact, the Wolf is going to be portrayed by the deaf actor from STTNG that we saw last season in CYMBELINE and THE HEART OF ROBIN HOOD. Several bit parts in ITW are going to be portrayed by Catherine Coulson, who was the Log Lady on the tv show TWIN PEAKS back in the 90s. Add to all that some daytime temps in the 80s, our penchant for shenanigans and we're looking at a majorly awesome weekend.
On the home front, I have my garden projects stabilized at the moment. Saffron is weeded, covered with compost and essentially "asleep" until the first of September when those bulbs will want to be fed. The roses I hacked back in February are gorgeous now, and clearly they like the big chop in the very earliest of spring. There has been some talk of adding back in a sage plant, but maybe in the front yard. Apple tree just keeps getting watered and watched. I think it's not going to set much fruit this year due to be moved in-ground, but that's for the best in the long run. White strawberries are just starting to come in, and having been moved to the front, they are getting a lot more sun and seem quite happy. Fruit yields on those are looking to be up this summer. I guess that means eating a half palmful at a time instead of three berries. Only catch garden-wise is the absence of rain. We normally don't have barrels running dry right at the start of June but, despite many predictions of various showers, the last two weeks in May were pretty dry. We just hooked up the hose to handle bigger stuff like the raspberry bed while we still water by hand on the rest.