Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mama Day to all of you divine manifestations of the Goddess. Love, joy and lush floral bouquets of your favorite flowers for each of you. One of my favorites pictured below, plumeria!

My intention for everyone today is that every individual gets connected to the great mother spirit that nurtures and sustains all of us. I know, pretty big vision there, but hey big, hairy, audacious goals are where its at and how we will change things!

The opening photo is of my mom and dad with my brother and I as we disembarked an aircraft in Buenos Aires, Argentina, circa the 70's. The second photo is plumeria flowers from last year and the third is a polaroid of sweet, little Eve and I at a mommy/daughter tea, circa 1999 or so.

Magical Mystery Tour

Nineteen years ago, what seemed miraculous to me but a daily event on planet earth occurred in Culver City, California. Eve, my daughter was born. It was 6am, although my water broke at midnight labor didn't begin until around 4am. She was born consciously on a small cot at a birth center.

The journey has been fantastical and akin to a magical mystery tour. If blogs had existed back then I would have shared how I raised a child holistically, without vaccines, antibiotics and basically against the societal standards.

To celebrate many activities are planned over the weekend begining with a trek out to Santa Anita to the Arboretum.

Happy Birthday to my dear sweet Eve.


Photos of Eve ©RoxanaVilla

Souls in their bosoms

"The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms."
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

A very happy, happy day to all the mothers in the world! In the photo above is my mother as a little girl with my grandmother Anna on the beach in Mar del Plata, Argentina. These are the two representatives of "mother" in my life. I'm so grateful for their influence and guidance. Although my grandmother is no longer on planet earth in physical form her memory is very strong in my psyche. Love these two women immensely. oxoxoxo

We celebrated Mothers Day on Saturday instead of Sunday by going up to Ojai, visiting friends and playing while taking in the aroma of lavender, sage and ocean breezes.

Images: Antique postcard from my great grandmothers collection circa 1900, photograph of my grandmother, grandfather, uncle Alfredo and mother circa 1940.

A Gift Guide: Mother Earth

To commemorate the bounty of Mother Earth and honor our Mothers I have compiled a special gift guide. The guide is meant to facilitate grace and ease if you plan gifting your self or another individual on the two upcoming special days.

EARTH

"There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew."
~Marshall McLuhan, 1964

Celebrating Earth Day with a perfume made of the natural raw materials that come from the earth and are healing to mind and body seems most fitting. Don't you think? Elemental Earth is
the home of our connection to the here & now. It is related to the base chakra, the place of manifestation, control & restraint and grounded in experience. Home of the Male, strength and ability to create magic. The spirit medicine of Snake dwells here with the ability to move swiftly, above and below the ground, to shed what no longer serves and be born anew.


The fragrances most related to this energetic imprint are Terrestre solid and Sierra Solid Gold Perfume. Both these fragrances are in a solid round format, like the earth. The essences contained have an earth bound quality. The formula for Terrestre was created during Earth Hour with the perfume released last year on Earth Day. Sierra Solid Gold contains drops of a magical accord for prosperity.

Terrestre
Fragrance family: WOOD, CONIFER
Notes: Precious Oud, Labdanum, Cedar, Patchouli, Distilled Indian Earth, Vetiver, Indian Rose and Galbanum

Sierra Solid Gold
Fragrance family: WOOD, CONIFER, GOURMAND
Notes: Frankincense, Myrrh, Wood, Conifer, Rosemary, Spice and Citrus.

MOTHER

"The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms."
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Mother provide endless amounts of love, nurturing and patience. To help facilitate this sense of grace in mom consider a fragrance composed of flowers or essences associate with the above mentioned virtues.

In aromatherapy Jasmine is considered a euphoric with applications for treating depression, anxiety, sexual challenges and facilitating greater creativity. Within magical circles Jasmine is associated with the moon, the feminine and elemental water. The illuminated perfume containing the most obvious note of Jasmine are Cimbalom and Lyra.

Cimbalom
Fragrance family: FLORAL, ORIENTAL
Labdanum, Indonesian Patchouli, Indian Jasmine, Ginger and Orange.

Lyra
Fragrance family: FLORAL, ORIENTAL
Twenty different essences including: Amber Accord, Jasmine, Ylang Ylang and Citrus.

If your mum is in need of rest consider Vera with her bounty of Lavender essential oil or the perfume devoted to Peace.

Vera
Fragrance family: HERBAL, FOUGERE

The primary fragrance notes include: Lavender, Orange blossom, Hay, Honey.

The perfume devoted to Peace
Fragrance family: FLORAL, ORIENTAL, GOURMAND
Vintage Sandalwood, Tobacco, Vanilla Orchid Bean, Champa, Blue Lotus, Clementine, Ginger, Neroli.

For the mom with the gracious and abundant heart mirror her with the fragrance of Rose, a perennial symbol of love and beauty.

Vespertina™
Fragrance family: FLORAL
Main Notes: Precious Woods, Frankincense, Patchouli, Rose, Jasmine, Spice and Citrus.

Rosa
Fragrance family: FLORAL
Leather Accord, Vetiver, Precious woods, Rose, Rose Accord, Citrus.

If mom is yearning for the Ocean, the Sea Chypre perfume GreenWitch is devoted to the Greek Aquatic Goddess Tethys.

GreenWitch
Fragrance family: CHYPRE
Oakmoss, Labdanum, Seaweed, Jasmine, Rose and Bergamot.

Still not sure, how about one of the many sample packs: Liquid Perfume Samples, Solid Perfume Minis, the Ultimate Natural Botanical Perfume Sampler or a Gift Certificate.

If mom isn't into fragrance but a lover of nature give her something to adorn herself with, a antique inspired necklace with an ornamental iconic bee image.


All of these items can be found at my E-shop by clicking on this link here. All items arrive beautifully presented and ready to gift.

Mothers and Kids and the Scents that Bind Us

The oflactory terrain is vast like our Solar system, partly due to our own perceptions thrown in like variables in a scientific equation. One persons heavenly scent is another's hell. This was the path that I navigated while pregnant with my daughter Eve. All aromas became amplified, some that I cherished became dreaded, treacherous areas to avoid at all costs. I must admit, it was an extremely uncomfortable period for one sensitive to scent.

Motherhood for me was somewhat planned, certainly no accident. My physical and mental body was fairly prepared because I had been doing regular yoga for years as well as receiving massage on a monthly basis. My massage therapist, Ione, is a friend I had met in New York through yoga. Ione is one of those individuals who veer into uncharted territory of alternate medicine and consciousness. One of the qualities I cherish in friendship.


When I discovered that a child was developing in my womb I did what most women in America do. I sought out an OBGYN recommended by a friend, started taking specific vitamins, and on the advise of Ione looked into some alternate ideas like home birth. During this process I was extremely nauseous most of the time and vomiting daily.

The main triggers for my discomfort came from the smell of "the refrigerator", fresh gardenias and garlic. I remember running for my life whenever someone opened the door to the refrigerator and begging Ben not to drive by Chinese restaurants with me in the car. The gardenia bush happened to be blooming during my first trimester of pregnancy, luckily it was in the far end of the yard and fairly easy to avoid.

It was a very surreal period of extremely heightened olfactory awareness. Although at the time I had not read the Patrick Suskind novel "Das Parfum", eventually when I did read the story I found myself completely sympathic to Jean-Baptiste Grenouilles plight of extreme odor sensitivity. Many of the odors I now associate with that era of nausea took years to be reincorporated into my smell scape.

In the end I chose to deliver my child at a Home Birth facility with midwives in a large birthing tub. The patronizing OBGYN who told me I was too petite to push out a baby was dismissed. Exactly ten moons after the conception I pushed out my sweet little girl on a cot of an examining room of the Birth Center. Instead of a traditional labor with a prolonged period of contractions, my body to chose to conduct the first stage while I was deep in sleep. At four in the morning on January 27th I was jarred out of sleep by a contraction. I woke up Ben who began timing the contractions. They were intense and only minutes apart. We called the midwife who advised we come to the birth center immediately. Eve was born just a couple hours after that first contraction with no drugs what-so-ever.


It was the birth of Eve that opened up my vista of the power of alternative medicine and nature. First by choosing to raise her completely holistically and as consciously as I could. As a parent we have the opportunity to learn quite a bit from the experience and our children. Secondly I used much of my early aromatherapy training on healing her fevers, ear infections, etc. I would use Lavender essential oil in her baths, to cleanse the air of impurities and a drop on her pillow at night. When she went to sleep at another's home one drop of Lavender on her pillow would facilitate a sense of ease and remind her of her own Lavender scented pillow at home.

When we lived in the big house in Encino I had a large garden of medicinal and aromatic plants that Eve grew up with. She has been raised with mindfulness and alternative medicine, supplemented by Waldorf education. I find her to be a very sensitive, perceptive and creative individual. Eve often gives me valuable input when I compose a fragrance and has a her pulse on what is transpiring with trends, particularly in fashion.

When I began creating custom perfumes Eve requested one for herself, this was the early manifestation of what is now known as the botanical perfume Lyra. Her favorite aromatics are from the citrus family and continually makes comments referencing the mommy smell. I asked her this morning where the mommy smell usually manifests the most and she said, in the clothes that you leave on your bed. Interesting!

This post is part two of yesterdays entry titled "Mother Nature" and has been created in tandem with four other mothers and bloggers. Follow these links below to take the journey into Mothers and Kids and the Scents that Bind Us.

Part One: Mother Nature
Perfume Shrine: Mothers and Kids and the Scents that Bind Us Together
Scent Hive: Mothers and Kids and the Scents that Bind Us
Ayalas Smelly Blog: Mothers, Children and the Scents that Bond Us

More on the botanical perfume Lyra here at this journal.

Imagery: Most of the images here are old black and white engravings which have been scanned, cleaned and put placed on parchment, all utilizing the tool Photoshop. The picture by Eve was taken by me in 1999 in what was once my garden in Encino. The photo was utilized for a Christmas card. ©RoxanaVilla

Mother Nature

One scent that binds my mother, my daughter and myself is heavenly Neroli, essential oil of the flowers from the bitter orange tree Citrus aurantium var amara. Categorized as a floral and a top note, Neroli is one of the most beloved of all the raw materials in the perfumers palette. This treasure imparts fresh floral and citrus notes to a perfume when mindfully blended. In aromatherapy the scent is often used in formulas for both babies and new mothers due to it's gentle and uplifting properties.

Neroli is like a divine being from the fairy realm whose intoxicating fragrance arrives before her, soothing you like a lullaby into a euphoric dreamy trance. When she blossoms forth into this earthly manifestation she bestows yet more gifts of elixirs for the skin, healing massage oils and tonics for the respiratory system.

I chose Neroli because it was on both my mothers scent palette and my daughters. A scent palette is what I refer to when I construct a custom perfume for an individual. As a child, visiting Buenos Aires I was often spritzed with a traditional Eau de Cologne titled Colonia de Bebe. The main note in that cologne, as in classic cologne formulas, was Neroli.

Neroli was named after the Italian princess Anne-Marie de la Tremoille, the Countess of Nerola. She is responsible for introducing the scent to the fashion community of late 17th century Europe.


Unfortunately I do not possess a bottle of Colonia de Bebe, all I have are my memories of how much I adored the scent. In November 2005 I decided to create a traditional eau de Cologne which spurred on the Lavender perfume titled Vera. Last May I revisited the genre and formulated a light and fresh eau de Cologne that contains some of the same language of the beloved Colonia de Bebe. In fact when my mother inhaled it she exclaimed "Colonia de Bebe!"

The orange tree blesses us with several essences, they include orange essential oil from the pressed or steam distilled rinds of the fruit. Orange juice essence, a fairly new raw material that is derived from the distillation of the juice. Petitgrain, the distillation of the leaves and small twigs of the tree. When the waxy, white blossoms of the tree are water distilled the essence is referred to as Neroli, however, when an absolute is created it is deemed as Orange Blossom.

In morphological terms each of these parts have different associations. In aromatherapy we use flowers in our blends to uplift and blossom open the heart. Further investigating flowers we see that they have four parts: sepals, petals, stamens and pistils. Flowers can be very erotic, like women, and attract pollinators like the bees.

Thus Neroli, an essence derived from flowers with a rich history, feels like the one that weaves it's fragrant web from the oranges of Seville in Italy, to Colonia de Bebe in Argentina and the here and now of the orange groves of Los Angeles. Like these white flowers my mother, my daughter and myself are only here on this plane in physical form for a brief instance, yet let's hope that our lasting impression will be like the memory of Colonia de Bebe and linger on. With that line I leave you with a photo of my mothers mother Ani. The photograph is from 1931 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Her memory is very much alive in me with olfactory delights from her apartment on Avenida Libertador in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This journal post is written in tandem with three other mothers who happen to also have blogs. A part two of this post can be found here. Please follow these links to read their musings on "Mother and Kids, and the Scents that Bind Us." Beginning with Elena Vosnaki of Perfume Shrine, who birthed this idea followed by the Natural Perfumer Ayala Moriel at her Smelly Blog and Trish Vawter the author of the blog Scent Hive. Each of us is bonded by scent and by the common tribe we share, motherhood.

Related journal entries:
Vera and my first EDC
herb + citrus = EDC