A Perfumed Bestiary, Letter A for Axolotl, Part 2

The first fragrance in A Perfumed Bestiary series has been sent, those participants will have the first opportunity to order more of the limited edition before it is offered to subscribers of Illuminated News.

For those who signed up for the "compact" as part of their membership I used the version with the cabochon insert, offering a rose quart, black onyx or unakite stone, all of which were purchased locally here in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I've been assured that the stones are not synthetic, imitation or heated. Although, they did tell me that the native people, some of which are vendors on the Plaza along the edge of the Palace of the Governors, do and did bake their stones to alter their color.

When building the fragrance I had two things in mind, first the concept: which notes work best with this months beastie, the Axolotl and secondly, how those notes work together to produce the right scent.

I'm choosing to align each beastie in the series with a specific plant, for the Axolotl I chose White Copal Resin, Copaifera officinalis, from Mexico. I was given a nice sized chunk of it as a gift from a new friend here in Santa Fe named Alberto, he had obtained it on a recent trip to Mexico. Auspiciously Greg and I burned a tiny piece during a meditation just as I was working on the fragrance.

White Copal has a bright, fruity scent, much lighter than other resins that are used as incense. As an essence for botanical perfume there is an oleoresin available that contains some of the brightness of the incense burning resin along with notes of wood and pepper. The inclusion of this material had me contemplating an incense/amber scent but with a "water" quality, turning me to the addition of Myrrh and Violet Leaf. I choose to include Cypress and Juniper as a story point for the Chinaimpas islands, located in the Axolotl's native habitat, but also knowing that it would harmonize well with the Copal. There are hints of spice, complimenting the wood and incense, as well as conceptually alluding to the salamander mistakenly being attributed to fire in the first illuminated bestiaries.

Although I can write about this all rather eloquently now, the process of achieving what I envisioned was actually quite a struggle because of the challenge with striking a balance between the scent of water with incense. I didn't want the fragrance to go too much in one direction, but instead master a synergy between incense, which is generally on the dry and smokey side, and liquid fluidity. Seaweed was out of the question since the Axolotl resides in freshwater, thus as I contemplated a list of about ten essences I associate with the scent of water Myrrh and Violet Leaf seemed to work best. I also rather liked that the pairing of many of these plant essences were producing a leathery quality.

As I work on the pairing of the aromatic notes, I am also considering how this all works conceptually with the Axolotl. So, although the Copal came onto the scene from an auspicious/intuitive place that worked perfectly with the Axolotl being from Mexico, most of the other essences were added by looking over chemistry and smelling notes on scent strips to get a sense of how they paired together.

In total, I used twenty seven essences to build the perfume, including some Dragon Blood resin from a trip to Ecuador back in 2009. Creating a perfume is a dance between the right and left hemisphere. I've found that for me, I constantly float in the the gap, standing weightless, on the invisible bridge between the intuitive and rational mind.

If you haven't already signed up for the next limited edition perfume, illuminating a beastie beginning with the letter B, you can do so here.

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Each month you will receive a small amount of perfume inspired by a specific
imagined or barely imagined being from the animal kingdom.

The next fragrance will be shipped in June 2019.

A Perfumed Bestiary, Letter A for Axolotl, Part 1

The Perfumed Bestiary series begins with a rather bizarre looking amphibian called an Axolotl (pronounced ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl) from the highland lakes of Mexico City. The lidless eyes and fuzzy external gills around its wide head give this beastie an anime quality. Also called a Mexican walking fish, Axolotls are members of the tiger salamander species, native to Lake Xochimilco. Our little salamander has been listed as critically endangered in their natural habitat due to the growing population in Mexico City, resulting in urban sprawl and pollution of the Lake.

Axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) differ from other salamanders in that they live permanently in water. In the wild they are a mottled brown color, where as the captive specimens are albino, giving them that pop art look that I mentioned earlier in this post. No wonder they referred to as "ludicrous  fish" by the early European who first encountered them.

The mythical salamander from alchemical texts and illuminated manuscripts, such as The Ashmole  Bestiary, portrays the creature having a special relationship with fire and often illustrated in the middle of flames. Ancient writings cite the salamander as a product of fire who both consumes fire and is able to put out fire. This mythology stems from the the word "Sam andaran" translates as fire within in Persian. In our modern day where we can examine sources with more scrutiny it is easy to see that the ancients spun a story around the salamander that is more consistent with the lizard, a reptile, than the salamander. We humans love a good story, and sometimes forget to discern truth, becoming ignorant, confused or blindsided by the person telling the story.

It's time we set the record straight on both mythical and endangered creatures. This project intends to do so by tuning each of us into one beastie per month. As we each become more aware of the other beings we share this planet then in our own small way we can contribute to a solution.

The Axolotl does contain one superpower, its ability to regenerate a limb or other body parts within a short period of time. So you see, although this months beastie has had some challenges in its natural habitat, its ability to heal has had humans studying it for years, resulting in fast numbers of them surviving well in large and small aquariums all over the world.

Learn more about Axolotls at Axolotl.org

AXOLOTL as an ANIMAL TOTEM

The Axolotl is an elemental of fresh water, unlike other salamanders, they live permanently in water. Despite their being listed on the endangered list they are surviving not only in the wild with the help of humans but also in aquariums throughout the world. Thus the Axolotl teaches us to be survivors, he is telling us that change is inevitable and the ability to adapt and grow a new limb if necessary is a strength. Embrace change, keep going, renew and evolve.

Although the Axolotl contains both lungs and gills it is a water elemental. Water represents fluidity, the psyche, emotions, the feminine, shadows, dreams, intuition and the moon.

As above, so below, as within, so without. For the next month, journey inward with Axolotl, discover the areas that you need to rejuvenate, those that are ready to be let go and evolve your self into a more enlightened form, then go outside your comfort zone and face new territories, perhaps those that you have avoided in the past.

Crystals associated with attributes of the Axolotl

• Lepidolite
• Elestials
• Aquamarine
• Amber Calcite
• Sodalite
• Abalone
• Rhodonite
• Hematite
• Angelite
• Chlorite in Quartz
• Alexandrite
• Chrysoprase

Read part two of this post here.

Credit to a few of the images:
Illuminated A, reconstructed by Roxana, An axolotl photographed at Detroit Zoo in Michigan by Joel Sartore, National Geographic Photo Ark Salamander (the device of Francis I), woodcut perhaps by Christopher Plantin, from Devises Heroïques by Claude Paradin, 1557 (Image from Glasgow University); Salamander, Emblem X from Musaeum Hermeticum, 1679 (Image from Wikimedia Commons.)

References: 
The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, A 21st Century Bestiary by Caspar Henderson
Animal Totem by Susan Jolley