Cocooning

Elemental earth is rooted in the mineral kingdom. Our tactile sensory experience acts as antenna to the moment, the here & now.

When we are cocooned by the embrace of the earth, we are in a similar process to that of a caterpillar, re-imaging a transition into a new life. Dr. Bruce Lipton writes about it eloquently here:

"To better understand the opportunity hidden in today’s crises, consider the tale of another world in transition. Imagine you are a single cell among millions that comprise a growing caterpillar. The structure around you has been operating like a well-oiled machine, and the larva world has been creeping along predictably. Then one day, the machine begins to shudder and shake. The system begins to fail. Cells begin to commit suicide. There is a sense of darkness and impending doom. 

From within the dying population, a new breed of cells begins to emerge, called imaginal cells. (aka YOU!) Clustering in community, they devise a plan to create something entirely new from the wreckage. Out of the decay arises a great flying machine—a butterfly—that enables the survivor cells to escape from the ashes and experience a beautiful world, far beyond imagination. Here is the amazing thing: the caterpillar and the butterfly have the exact same DNA. They are the same organism, but are receiving and responding to different organizing signals. 

That is where we are today. When we read the newspaper and watch the evening news, we see the media reporting a decaying caterpillar world. And yet everywhere, you and other human imaginal cells are awakening to a new possibility. We are clustering, communicating, and tuning into a new, coherent signal of love."

I, like perhaps your self, am being forced to re-structure my business due to this lockdown. It appears that a better scenario to keeping the perfumery/school space is to instead incorporate them into a new home space.

What awaits me is a complete mystery, except for change. Like the larva in the cocoon, what I know has been ground up, the machine of how I normally move through the world has stopped, and there is a definite, undeniable sense of impending doom.

In this moment in time I am living in a rental home where the lease ends shortly, same with that of the perfumery/school. The coincidence of the two leases ending together point toward yet another move. In the past three years I have moved five times, with living out of boxes becoming the new normal.

Finding a decent rental in Santa Fe feels like scaling a giant mountain in the clouds. The scenario may be changing a bit now that AirBnB'ers are struggling, a small silver lining within this chaos, we shall see.

Ultimately the lesson is to stay flexible and not get caught up in what I would want, or a sense of comfort and joy.

Dulcet, a lusty tuberose perfume

Considered a masculine flower, evident by the elongated shape of the unopened single blossom, Tuberose is an exotic, velvety floral note, a diva of natural perfume. Tuberose originates from central America where the wild species was domesticated by the indigenous people of Mexico. Eventually, like so many plants from the Americas, they were taken to be cultivated across the sea.

Tuberose is available to plant fragrance makers in a few different formats, the most widely used is the absolute produced from the waxy flowers of Agave amica, formerly Polianthes tuberosa, polianthes meaning "many flowers" in Greek, the tuberosa portion refers to the roots. In 2017 the correct name of the species Agave amica was adapted.

The scent of the absolute is a very concentrated, dominated by intense white floral notes. When diluted the aromatics express themselves much more authentically. In my personal use of the absolute and Dulcet, I find the aroma beneficial creating an uplifting and sensual field where I can more easily dive into my intuition and all things related to the feminine.

PROCESS

I approach the creation of botanical perfume making as both a practice of mindfulness and an art, I also teach from this perspective, creating a lineage of conscious perfumers. We begin by checking into our state of mind, clearing away the debris of thoughts so that we are a clear vessel of love, then and only then, we stand in reverence for our “prima materia” the plant matter.

We have an understanding of the materials intimately, the entire circle of life related to the plant(s) we are working with, whether we are distilling, infusing, tincturing or dropping essential oils into a beaker.

We are aware of the elemental properties, the relationship with the eco system from where the plant matter was harvested and/or how it was obtained. For example, working with Tuberose, white flower diva of plant fragrance making who is an “inflorescence” growing upward as a stalk with several waxy flowers.  As I work with her, there is an exchange of energy, I am collaborating with nature knowing that the end product will then be another collaboration between the wearer of the fragrance and their own skin.

Ripples of collaboration are at the heart of this art as we work to transform matter into something sublime that will delight the senses and uplift those that catch whiffs of the aromatic molecules.

The birth of DULCET

Greg's sister Sharon asked me to create a Tuberose perfume for her back in 2014, knowing that she was a devotee of synthetic fragrances, I was skeptical that I could formulate something to her liking, particularly at a price point comparable to the fragrances she was use to purchasing. Then, at one of the World of Aromatherapy conferences I was presenting at, a supplier gifted me a co-distillation of Tuberose and Vetiver. I then was inspired to tackle the challenge which was originally offered to patrons of the perfumery in Agoura, California.

The original and current formula contains eleven different plant essences including tuberose absolute, the co-distillation of tuberose and vetiver, jasmine and a variety of other wood, resins and flowers.

Here in Santa Fe, several patrons sampled the voluptuous Eau de Parfum and requested that it be re-created. I was hesitant due to the costs of the aromatic materials with full knowledge that the end product would be costly and limited to only a few bottles.

The end result is a voluptuous and decadently dark composition featuring Tuberose as our lyric soprano. Dulcet opens with a blush of green under a spectacular vaulted sky, just as the sun drops under the horizon a sultry, melodic dance begins between Tuberose and Vetiver, seducing us in the wake of their embrace.

As with all the fragrance I create, Dulcet is completely handmade. I halved the formula to offer the Eau de Parfum (spray) and the solid. At this moment I have a few bottles left of the Eau de Parfum at this link.

Materials: 190 Proof Organic grape; Tuberose absolute, co-distillation of tuberose and vetiver, jasmine and eight other plant essences including sacred woods and resins.
Fragrance Family: Floral
There is 4 grams by weight of Dulcet as an EdP (Eau de Parfum) within the glass, spray bottle pictured above, which measures approximately 2.25 inches tall x 1.25 wide with the cap on. 

I was planning to make a solid format of Dulcet and including a few of my flower infusions, but the cost for a round tin would have been about $200, so I used the synergy to make more of the Eau de Parfum.

Photos ©RoxanaVilla, Tuberose botanical print by Margaretha-Barbara Dietzsch (German, 1716-1795) Title: White flowers and a butterfly, modified slightly by me, Roxana Villa. 

Re-birthing a New Vision

Intending our collective human mind today may ingest, incubate and hatch the symbolism of the "egg" as an archetype for libration. The origins of the word Easter are found in the ancient Saxon Lunar Goddess known as Eostre and Norse Goddess Ostara. In both these traditions, as well as those of the Greeks and Egyptians we find the symbolic use of the egg and a theory of the Cosmic Egg as the source of all creation.

In August of 2003 when Greg and I attended the Visionary Art workshop titled Old Masters, New Visions in Austria. The egg is referred to as the Hermetic Vase, a vessel of transformation. As we used the whole egg to create the under painting in the workshop, we experienced a deeper meaning to the symbolism of the egg as it became a conductor of light and transformation. In turn, I was transformed and had the insight to create "Illuminated Perfume", weaving all my talents into one inspired vision.

“The shell must break before the bird can fly.” ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

This forced isolation can be looked at symbolically as an incubation with the cracking open of the collective mind, an awakening and ascension. At least that's how I am choosing to look at it, the alternative of a canopy of GGGGG above our heads and forced vaccinations with micro chips implemented by Mr. Gates of doom is too painful.

Here are a few words from Jung on the topic of the egg:

“In alchemy the egg stands for the chaos apprehended by the artifex, the prima materia containing the captive world-soul. Out of the egg — symbolized by the round cooking vessel — will rise the eagle or phoenix, the liberated soul, which is ultimately identical with the Anthropos who was imprisoned in the embrace of Physis.”

Fred Bergen, an "instagram" friend mentioned a recent episode on NPR's Science Friday, titled The Luxury Ostrich Eggs of the Bronze and Iron Age Upper Class. Auspiciously Greg and I had placed an ostrich egg on our altar this morning, which in my meditation turned gold, with a reference to me apply gold leaf to it. After listening to the segment I found the idea of carving into an egg, or as we do in todays modern era, decorating eggs, this is yet another fitting archetype to dive into—decorating, carving a new reality for our "selves" and the world.

The “flowering” of the landscape is another way to perceive the symbol of transformation. The opening image, titled The opening image is titled Hermaphrodite with the World Egg, is a color pencil on paper piece by Laurie Lipton, look closely as it bears similarities to the Rebis image below of the hermaphrodite contained in the alchemical egg.

These alchemical images have created a yearning within me to cycle back to drawing and painting, perhaps that will be part of my alchemical rebirth. Here is a story from my old art blog of H2 illuminated, an image I created back in 2002 when I was still illustrating. The final image can be viewed here.

A Perfumes Bestiary: H for Human, Part 2

H for Human is the eighth fragrance in our compendium of scents for A Perfumed Bestiary, documenting the combined scent of extinction. The main theme for Human was the concept of greed and the note of musk. The initial attributes I had assigned to Human were pretty dark, full of shadow. Then I recalled how Carl Jung mentioned that the recognition of the shadow in others is a recognition of ourself....gulp.

“The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.”
— Carl Jung, Aion (1951)

Not sure how to work with that concept in scent, I moved on to musk. The scent of musk was originally connected to the rather strong fragrance of a gland belong to the musk deer from Asia. Beginning with ancient perfumes and continuing today in some small sectors of indie perfumery who use animal ingredients, as well as the large and small perfumer house using a synthetic musk.

Artificial materials to produce a synthetic musk, "white musk", are created in labs from three types of compounds: nitro, polycyclic and macrocyclic. Nitro and polycyclic musk compounds have now been determined to contain carcinogenic properties and thankfully their use has become more limited, where macrocyclic musk compounds are now on the rise.

In the animal world the scent of musk is used for attraction, usually related to reproduction. I always thought it odd that humans preferred to use the musky scent of another animal or a synthetic perfume to attract a mate instead of their own scent.

Did you ever see the 1981 film Quest for Fire with Ron Perlman and Rae Dawn Chong? There is a specific scene that comes to mind with Rae Dawn Chong's character Ika, unfortunately I was not able to find a clip of it.

Plant based aromatics that convey the slightly sweet, pungent, animalistic, earthy, wood scent of musk that I chose to use are Ambrette seeds, Abelmoschus moschatus, and Africa stone, the latter is  the petrified and sunbaked rock-like excrement of the Cape hyrax (Procavia capensis).  Africa stone is a bit of an oddity in the plant perfumers palette, it is not technically an animal ingredient and since the hyrax is not caged, tortured, hunted, for this sun baked, petrified rock, it is generally considered acceptable in our plant palette. I rarely use it, but for H for Human is was a perfect addition.

I chose Ambrette seed as the scent ally for Human. The scent notes are sweet with a nutty/seed-like musky aroma.

AMBRETTE: Abelmoschus moschatus
Common name: Ambrette seed, other common names: Musk seed, musk mallow, Abelmosk.
The plant is native to Asia and Australia, and grows well in India.

Other notes I selected were Cognac for the concept of "addiction", Frankincense and Palo santo for "higher consciousness", a co-distillation of Vetiver & Rose for mans the dualistic nature, essential oil of Gold for "greed", Dragons Blood for our "lower, animalistic nature" and Cepes (mushroom) for "hope". Cepes was chosen after having gone to the theater to see Fantastic Fungi.

Then it was a matter of selecting other notes to build the fragrance upon the skeleton of Frankincense, Palo santo, Ambrette seed, Cepes, Vetiver+Rose, Cognac and Gold.

The final formula for H for Human includes:

Frankincense
Palo santo
Ambrette seed
Cepes
Vetiver+Rose
Patchouli
Cypress
Gold
Cedar
Juniper
Geranium
Sage
Owyhee
Dragons Blood Resin
and a very earthy base chord I made in 2008 titled "KR"

Here is an impression from one of the recipients.

"Roxana, I had to sit with this one for a couple or more days as I couldn't quite get it. It did immediately bring me to lavender, green herbs, something slightly pungent, black tea, old cloth... I thought of an old woman, a grandmother, but more than that, someone wise, someone in her garden, someone who knew many things... this morning it struck me, Hildegard von Bingen... so these are my thoughts.
H is for Hildegard"
~ ML Leidl

A Perfumed Bestiary: H for Human

“If I were a tree, I would have no reason to love a human.”

― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

H for Human, for Hysteria and for Hoarding toilet paper and deepening into our collective Heart.

This has been the most difficult perfume of the series to both make and write about. I had a really, really tough time conjuring love for Human as I was cultivating a theme for the fragrance. After all if it wasn't for Human the beasties in this series would not be on a path of extinction. My first thought was that it should just be the scent of greed—delving deeper I thought well, maybe greed, power and musk (not Elon Musk, although greed, power and destruction via 5G are certainly tangible) but musk as in the organic compound containing muscone.

The scent of musk was originally connected to the rather strong fragrance of a gland belong to the musk deer from Asia. Beginning in the ancient use of perfume and continuing today in small sectors, the aromatic substance is is prized for its ability to "fix" a fragrance on the skin, known as a fixative. In the late 19th century the use of natural musk began to dwindle as obtaining it was not economical, particularly for the large perfume conglomerates who eventually substituted it for synthetic musk. Another reason the material lost popularity was due to ethical issues.

“The Folk doubtlessly learned this lesson long ago.

They do not need to deceive humans.

Humans will deceive themselves.”

― Holly Black, The Wicked King

This "extinction" chapter of Human is so very poignant, after all we were warned over and over, specifically through the tale of Atlantis. Since Humans have decided to empower their left brains, instead of a whole mind thinking process that includes intuition and the heart, where magic is part of fundamental being.

Below is a message from the the Arhuaco Mamos in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, the full written message here.

Alright, enough whining, lets get to some of the basics. The human being is classified in the genus Homo, species sapiens, thus Homo sapiens. Human beings are what is called culture-bearing primates, with the capacity to articulate speech and abstract reasoning.

I've been working on this post for weeks, today is Tuesday, April 7th, a virus named the coronavirus is supposedly creating havoc amongst elderly humans and those with compromised immune systems. Amidst the chaos the World Health Organization has risen to power with some alarming alignments, read more about that in post from a few days ago titled "Question Reality".

In the midst of my confusion with creating the fragrance, I watched the documentary titled The Salt of the Earth about the photographer Sebastião Salgado created by Wim Wenders. Here is a TedTalk given by Sebastião Salgado in Los Angeles, so that you can truly understand the shift I had.

HUMAN as an ANIMAL TOTEM

Hmmmm, this one is difficult, is human worthy of being a totem? What attributes do we grant Human that are considered worthy of totem-ship? Upon contemplation, I realize we already have human totems don't we, they are the sages, visionary artists, spiritual figures, rock stars we where on our t-shirts and other garb. We also have the main stream icons such at the Christ, Mother Mary, Jehovah, Mohammed, Buddha, which not only have their own iconography but, in some cases have enormous structures built in their honor.

Those don't quite do it for me, as I am a bit more pagan and am not so into organized religion. I prefer someone like the mystic Hildegarde von Bingen, or Mother Theresa, both women who are more tangible and embody selflessness & compassionate. H is Hildegarde von Bingen.

Main attributes of Human are creativity, social beings and aggressiveness, which relate to our early primate state, and the reptilian portion of the Human brain. By letting go of the reptilian mind, where the constantly distracting, chattering monkey resides, we feel into your body wisdom, the realm of Sophia, an idea from Hellenistic Greece referring to higher knowledge.

Image above, titled “The Rebis”,  depicts the end product of the great work, 

being the divine hermaphrodite, the reconciliation of opposites. 

Notice the shape is reminiscent of a skull and or egg.

Like monkey Human has an agile mind, capable of creativity and imagination, after all look what we have created since back in the Quest for Fire days. Besides creativity, imagination, selflessness, and compassion, relating to the right brain, Human also a hefty does of the shadow: greed, power, obsession, narcissism, etc. Thus, in Human, we witness duality, as in the image above with Sol and Luna. The higher aspect is to rise above the animal within, the dragon, and unify our opposites into a clear, upright channel. Human asks us you to bear witness to the polarity, dark and light, masculine and feminine. As Sol and Luna hold a right angle and compass, gain perspective and outcomes from many angles before choosing an avenue with composure and grace.

I challenge those who are in the Art of Botanical Perfume who have completed the module on Alchemy, to decipher the numbers and other imagery in the image of the Rebis above.

Crystals associated with attributes of Human include: Hematite, Sodalite, Amazonite, Moonstone and Rose Quartz.

Read H for Human Part 2 here.

Images:
Head on Parchment, Roxana Villa
Two Thibetian Musk Deer engraving

Question Reality

The outer world is intense, no doubt. For those of us who are sensitives, the energy feels like a thick, chaotic soup, but when I migrate inward the landscape is completely different, its fertile, like Spring but quiet and nourishing.

Questioning reality and the information we humans consume requires much diligence, cognitive bias and critical thinking.

"The take-home lesson here is to set your hypothesis 

and look for instances to prove that you are wrong. 

This is perhaps a true definition of self-confidence: 

the ability to look at the world without the need to look 

for instances that please your ego."

~ Psychology Today

So, here we are, in what we are told is a world wide pandemic caused by a virus titled Coronavirus originating from China and subsequently spreading throughout the planet and causing complete lockdowns of our cities. Many questions and theories have arisen:

Has this situation been created with a bigger, One World Order agenda?
Is it to sway the election in the US?
Is the virus the pin prick that will result in the collapse of the economic bubble?
Is 5g and the launching of satellites related?

And then there are the connections between the World Health Organization and Bill Gates, more on that below. I don’t know where the truth is in all this I am looking for patterns and relationships.

I do know that the lungs of the earth, our forests, continue to burn each year. Those forests are our lungs, they produce huge amounts of oxygen. The alchemical motto "As above, so below" is vividly expressed through the image of trees as their roots reach down into the earth, forming the same pattern below ground as they do above. The leaves of trees mirror our lungs and many medicinals that come from leaves are good for our lungs. This is just one symbol of how we are connected to nature and the plants. For more about this watch the Tree of Life video, a lecture I presented at Bastyr University for an aromatherapy conference.

Many of us feel like the ongoing environmental challenges, and now this new situation, are beyond us as one individual, which emphasis the importance of unity as well as getting in touch with a sense of empowerment. Here is a quote from Galadriel in Lord of the Rings and a fun trailer for Free Guy, along the same theme.

"Even the smallest person can change the course of history."

The start to "feeling" empowered begins with knowing thyself and stepping out of fear and look at a few thing constructively. Remember in the words of the author of Dune, Frank Herbert "Fear is a mind killer".

"I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear. 

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain."

Fear itself is a virus, a mode of operation located in the oldest part of the brain, the limbic system.

This image from alchemical texts is titled “The Rebis” depicting the end product of the great work, being the divine hermaphrodite, the reconciliation of opposites.

Having gone through putrefaction and purification, the pair is now one, standing upon a dragon, symbolic of our primordial brain, similar concept with St. Michael taming the dragon.

The moral here is to stay calm, breath clean air, drink fresh water and tame your inner dragon.

Remember it was the plant perfumers from ancient times who survived the plagues. Why? Because they were working outdoors in the garden as well as distilling, macerating, and infusing plant material on a daily basis.

The World Health Organization

Does anyone remember the 1974 report and a scandal titled The Baby Killer1, about how multinational milk companies like Nestle were causing infant illness and death in poor communities by promoting bottle feeding and discouraging breast feeding.1 Well, guess what, now we have the World Health Organization doing the same thing.2,3 Even worse they mention the baby Killer Report on their site, promoting breast feeding with one hand, while distributing formula from companies who they are partnered with.

Let's dig deeper, in 1950 DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was developed and commonly used pesticide designed to combat mosquitoes. Perhaps you remember being a child and looking forward to heading outside so you could ride your bike behind the "smoke machine" trucks? This toxin was eventually banned in 1972, because of links liver, reproductive, nervous system damage. Take one guess who manufactured this pesticide. Bingo, Monsanto!

What other gems has Monsanto unleashed on the world? Here is a complete list of the dirty dozen4:

• Saccharin
• PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls)
• Polystyrene
• Nuclear Weapons
• DDT
• Dioxin
• Agent Orange
• Petroleum-Based Fertilizers
• Round UP
• Aspartame
• Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH)
• GMOs.

Meanwhile our rights continue to get chipped away by the powerful greedy humans while the masses decide to glue themselves to TV's, obey orders to stop working and go into a mesmer type trance.

Staying Sane and Healthy

Greg and I regularly go forest bathing here in Santa Fe. Last week, while breathing deeply and enjoying the complex beauty and textures of the forest I ate some pine needles, which happen to be rich in vitamin C and "pinene", one of the most common terpenes in our natural world. A few of the health attributes associated with pinene are:

Anti-inflammatory
Bronchodilator
Anti-anxiety
Analgesic -> Pain relief

Although we have been forced to close our retail businesses and advised to stay inside, the forest, with her complex microbiome, is there for us, brimming with fresh air, sunshine and unseen benefits.

PLEASE don't put that stinky hand sanitizer on, especially while being out in nature. An easy way to make your own, that meets the acceptable criteria, is to combine a high proof alcohol, ideally 70%, with herbs, spices and essential oils such as lemon, eucalyptus and lavender. I am working on some formulas and a tutorial for you as well as a few different hand and room sanitizers.

Enlightening & Uplifting

A terrific documentary showing us the history of how corporations began is the 1995 film The Corporation. Here is a presentation by Douglas Rushkoff, a brilliant mind I had the opportunity to get introduced to back in 2008, whose message continues to be so very timely and important.

Two more gems from our younger sector are: a podcast with Zach Bush, MD titled A Pandemic of Possibility & Michael Garfield of Future Fossils, I suggest starting here.

One of my new hero's is Dr. Mark Hyman, author of Food Fix, he has a very helpful and informative podcast, this is a good one to start with A Functional Medicine Approach to COVID-19.

Have you seen the footage of Patti Smith singing the song Choir!Choir!Choir! in NYC? It's like a big dose of vitamin C.

And, one of my favorite gifs, that brings me so much joy.

Those links are a great place to start tuning our radar to higher knowledge. Please avoid the news (including Democracy Now, Amy Goodman appears to have gone over the edge), also avoid individuals who drain you. Activities that can keep us in that happy place of peace & calm like meditation, nature, exercise, sleep, and eating veggies. The Artist Way is a good process to do during this lockdown period, as it will help define who you are and what is important. Greg is putting together a online course titled "Know Thyself, Wisdom From the Temple of Delphi: Intended to bring clarity to your true nature, and your talents.

Greg and I have a lifestyle where all of those are part of our regular lifestyle, practicing all of them right now with extra helpings of good smells, like the lemon zest and eucalyptus salt scrub above. We've been doing lots of mineralized H2O, ginger, lemon, hydrosol spritzes, baths, supplements including: vitamin C & D3 and huge amounts of green leafy vegetables. After hearing Dr. Kessler, author of Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs, interviewed on The Doctors Farmacy pod cast, we have made an even bigger commitment to removing as many fast carbs from our diet as possible.

It appears that the question of who is susceptible to this virus is a bit of a lottery. The elderly and those with asthma,  weak immune systems and other medical conditions such as diabetes, and heart or lung disease are more at risk. Given that my immune system is weak and have asthma, I'm a bit concerned. We moved to Santa Fe to get out of the air pollution of LA and now this.

We have been told that 85% of individuals who contract the infection will develop a mild case manifesting as cold and/or flu symptoms. Our friend David Joyce in LA, is one of those individuals, read his story here.

And keep checking into that happy space within. Some of the things that work for me are yoga and nature, although right now I am avoiding landscapes with pollinating junipers, thus heading up to the our local forest. Luckily the forest is only a fifteen minute drive.

Tune your radar and action/inaction to what and who supports you and that yummy calm feeling. I'm typing this for you as well as a reminder for myself.

References:
1 The Baby Killer
2  BMC, Sustainability of WHO
3 The BMJ, Time to debate WHO's understanding of conflict of interest
4 Monsantos Dirty Dozen

Gardenia Pomade 2019

As I begin writing this post it's Friday, the day attributed to Venus, the Goddess of Love, quite fitting for the euphoric fragrance of Gardenias.

The violet jars that I had ordered for the pomade arrived, thus, today I began scooping the 2019 Gardenia pomade of the enfleurage process, into the glass containers, causing a lovely white floral cloud to hang in the air.

This particular pomade is special because it was first originally the bed for my lilac enfleurage, see photo above. Since the scent of that process came out so subtle I decided to use the existing oil bed for the gardenias.

Although the lilac scent is not noticeably present to the nose, there is an imprint of all those flowers and love that has carried over to the gardenias. For those of you who feel energy, let me know if you sense it.

The process of infusing plants, mostly flowers, into a cold fat is called “enfleurage”, it is a technique made popular in the Southern region of France in the late 1800’s. As I share in the Art of Botanical Perfume course, the origin of this very laborious ritual resides in Egypt, along with alchemy. I learned about this cold fat extraction technique in the 90’s within a yahoo group of botanical perfumers. We were all experimenting and sharing our results with each other.

The gentle coaxing, liberating and harnessing the exquisite exhalation of plants takes patience and a heck of a lotta love. In Los Angeles I worked with potted jasmine sambacs, gardenias and plumerias as well as wild violets and jasmine grandi from my moms garden. Until we get more settled here in Santa Fe, my mom has been lovingly tending to my potted babies, as well as infusing & tincturing. She also sends me plants by mail to work with. Enfleurage is definitely a labor of love & devotion, perfect for an obsessive personality and lover of nature.

The gardenia pomade, is heavenly as a solid perfume or decadent face oil on its own, or you can mix it into jojoba oil to extend it. Keep in mind that the fragrance is subtle, and there are some that may not be able to perceive much.

If gardenia isn’t your thing, consider picking one up as a gift for upcoming mothers day, etc. Since the heavenly pomade is protected from light and oxidation in the special violet glass it, the scent will be preserved for when you need it most. The high quality violet glass jars offer optimal protection against the harmful effects of light and increases the shelf life to prolong potency.

I only have a limited supply of this edition, which will be offered to newsletter subscribers first.

If you would like to learn how to make fragrance from plants including the enfleurage process sign up for the Art of Botanical Perfume online course here.

Covid-19 Survival Story

Amid all the mis-information, fear-mongering, scare-mongering fake news from both the sides of the media, I thought I'd share a story that we are not hearing.

Remember the biggest killer in the US is heart disease  and diabetes, due to poor diets and government funding of campaigns that cause more harm than good.

"Only about 12% of Americans are considered “metabolically healthy.” That means the other 88% of us aren’t meeting basic medical guidelines for things like blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, and other markers of metabolic health."

Listen to a pod cast hosted by Dr. Mark Hyman where Dr. Kessler shares his inside experience working for the FDA, revealing the impact of Big Food on food labeling and public health.

Here is David's story told in his words:

"I had just come off a 14 day cleanse, and felt in GREAT health......but this thing is tough. Initially, I just felt like I had a sore throat, and treated that with salt water gargling, etc. Then it seemed like it was a sinus infection for a day, but I was running a slight fever of 99.7. As I started coughing (almost always "productive" - trying to clear my chest), in the next days, the temperature varied between 99.4-100.6 - for about a week. Indigestion, headache, diarrhea and swollen lymph nodes were some of my symptoms that were NOT initially connected with the C virus, so I was confused, and only after I and others did some research did I start to assume that this WAS in fact Covid. I was EXHAUSTED and it just continued to get daily, slightly worse. (My wonderful girlfriend, Laura Hamilton, who lives in Spain, was EXTREMELY helpful, and did research and gave support that belied the 6000 miles distance).

Day 9

I felt some tightness in my chest, and breathing was a bit more work than it had been, so I went to the ER in Northridge, to see if I could get tested for Covid-19. I'd been around a fair number of people in the previous weeks - but with appropriate hand-washing, and TRYING not to touch my face (unsucessfully:(.

The ER doctor told me there is NO way to know where I "caught the virus," as it's been in our society for weeks-it could've been anywhere. She ordered blood tests, checked my breathing, did oxygen tests (oximeter), and a chest x-ray. She said, "You have the Covid-19, from everything I can tell. I'm sorry, but we are reserving the actual test for people who answer one of the several crucial questions in the positive" (Questions: "Do you work in a nursing care facility? Have you travelled outside of the US in the past 2 weeks? Have you definitely had contact with someone who's tested positive for Covid-19?"). She told me the virus had moved into my left lung, with signs in my upper and lower lobes - but that she felt I was rational, and had a good "healing protocol" at home, so she released me to return home, with the caveat: "you MUST come back if your breathing becomes difficult".

I spent the next several days at home, treating my temperature with acetominophen, checking my oxygen levels on the "Oximeter" I'd ordered online; 2-3x/day I also lightly jumped on a little indoor trampoline and did some deep breathing - all to keep the left lung healthy, and hopefully activate the lymphatic system. However, on day 14, I couldn't seem to get my temperature down very much, from 102.4. I was feeling pretty bad, and had a pain in my right ribs. After talking to several RN/friends, and a doctor back east who works with the CDC.....Out of concern that the breathing would get WORSE, and the possibility that the pneumonia had moved to the right lung (thankfully, it had NOT - more on that, later) - I went back to the ER in Northridge about 9pm in the evening.

Since I had found out that a friend I'd interacted with had since been diagnosed positive for Covid-19, I told the ER people that, and in combination with my obvious shortness of breath - I was given several tests, including the test for Covid-19 and was admitted to the hospital. Care at Northridge Dignity Health was excellent, and although I'd been told by friends and the nurses themselves that I'd be isolated "most of the time" - they checked on my every few hours, and I did not feel truly "alone" very much. I was surprised that eating more "solid food" seemed helpful to my intestinal troubles, as I'd been mostly drinking chicken soup and health shakes for a week. I had developed a "viral rash" on my stomach and back, and the nurses applied creme to soothe that. (Another "a-typical" symptom). Thankfully, the pneumonia had not changed in the five days – another good sign that my body was fighting the virus.

I am deeply grateful, for the many friends who were reaching out, and encouraging me/loving me through the whole process - and continue to!

Day 16

The doctor in charge of my floor asked me some questions about care at home, how I was feeling, etc - and concluded that if I wanted to return home and continue care for myself, while awaiting results of the Covid-19 tests, I could do that. I jumped at the chance - in particular because I was told it could be 3-5 days before results would come back, and "one person had been waiting for 8 days". Apparently, the body had started winning the fight against this "unrecognized" and unwelcome guest, as I see it, and so my temperature normalized. It's been slightly "subnormal" since Saturday (96.8-97.4), and each day, most of the symptoms have reduced in intensity. Sunday, the doctor called me to confirm that I did in fact have the virus

I’m told that after 72 hours without an elevated temperature, the virus is no longer contagious, but since I still have an occasional cough, and some other symptoms remain - I remain in physical isolation. Healing a bit more, each day. It's the general consensus that one cannot catch THIS particular virus again....when it mutates that's another matter - most likely in a year. Till then, I kinda like the name "Antibody Man".

So, for those who asked, that is MY experience; I would not make ANY suggestions or assess anyone else's experience of this virus.

Some of the things I've been doing: breathing the steam of clove, oregano & eucalyptus; lots of vitamin C, D, zinc, magnesium, as well as a multi-vitamin. I also took apple cider vinegar, CBD oil, colloidal minerals, Echinacea/Goldenseal. After the hospital, I added Activated charcoal (to help with gas), a Healthy Lung formula, as well as the "Levofloxacin" (antibiotic), "Acyclovir" (anti-viral for rash, etc), as well as an Expectorant, to thin the mucus - (helps to make coughs more productive).

I continued taking my antiviral, antibiotic medications, as well as various herbs, vitamins, etc, and do some light exercise and deep breathing. My oxygen levels remain good: 93-97%. The healing is not linear, in my experience, but is in an Upward Trend, certainly. I wish it were faster, but this is likely to take awhile, and I'm grateful to be through the worst of it. MANY people obviously have had it much worse than I....

For ME, it's made a difference to try to keep a sense of humor; and also, to receive and to try to "take in" the outpouring of caring, concern and love: I will continue to learn from that aspect of this illness.
This world crisis will affect each of us differently, and while these are tremendously challenging times....I believe that we have the opportunity to slow down, to reassess what's most important to us, and to take actions to protect ourselves and our loved ones....while looking at our OWN lessons, and growing - physically, socially, emotionally, spiritually."