The Power of Pulse Points

According to “The Heart’s Code”, a fascinating book written by Dr. Paul Pearsall, the heart is much more than a pump. It has the ability to communicate using what he called “L energy” with other hearts. He has found evidence through his work with transplant patients to support his claim that the heart has its own form of thinking and cellular memory. Evidently, if you put a beating heart in a room and add another which is beating to a different rhythm eventually both will sync up.

The universe whispers volumes through the obviously hidden – like our pulse. There are ancient practices that utilize the pulse as a form of communication and these would speak to the above ideas quite well. One of the volumes of the Philokalia, an ancient esoteric Christian collection of writings, is devoted to Prayer of the Heart. The breath is used to bring the attention to the heart where a specific prayer is made. One weaves the prayer into the heart through repetition. In other traditions there is what is known as a pulse prayer, which one must be guided toward. Once that prayer or mantra is found, by means of repetition, using the breath and attention, one weaves it into the pulse such that the body becomes a living prayer.

Our daily lives tend to take us away from such marvels as a beating heart – the music of our pulse. But with the correct use of essential oils at the pulse points we can increase our awareness of the miraculous that is always around us. Our pulse points can be used to communicate our intentions. If you ever doubt the power of the pulse, just remember that when the pulse stops, so does life.

When I apply an essential oil generally speaking I will do the following: first I will apply it onto my left inside wrist, then use my right inside wrist to rub together with the left, producing some nice heat to help the essential oils integrate with my own skin oils. I then take this and spread it onto the sides of my neck behind the ears and onto the middle of my chest. All the while I will have an intention as a focus, and I use the breath and creative visualization to help establish this.

In homeopathy there are “Constitutionals” – formulas intended to handle the overall being state of the patient, and “Acute” formulas intended to handle immediate dis-ease expressions. In my work with essential oils I will use a blend on a daily basis, and will apply it as described above. There will be acute expressions that I then apply different essential oil compositions to target. They will have a different focal point of application. Apart from this I will do periodic clearings of my energy using gum incenses of Frankincense, Myrrh, and Benzoin. You can check out my incense ritual here: https://www.facebook.com/ThePerfumerie?ref=hl

As an example of my work with essential oils, it was recently revealed to me by my acupuncturist that I was having liver meridian issues, which in Chinese medicine refers to more than just the organ after which the energy channel is named. One characteristic of this blockage of energy is an experience of indecisiveness and a feeling of being lost.

I can use a footbath with Epsom salts to help clear out toxins and a few drops of the “Know” formula which has as a key ingredient Bay Leaf combined with Cedar and Cypress as well as other essential oils. Bay helps us clarify to a place of knowing. It has been used for purposes of protection as well, particularly in tropical island cultures such as in Puerto Rico, the place of my birth. Cedar and Cypress, apart from being supportive and healing, offer the wood element that the liver meridian is associated with – a nice correspondence. Correspondence, resonance – these are very important factors when working with vibrational forms of medicine.

While my feet are soaking, again, there will be visualization and work with breath to help the healing. It is proven scientifically that our thoughts affect our health and ability to heal tremendously. So we want to muster up our full attention and intention especially when engaged in healing activity.

Following the footbath I am at the moment inclined to apply some of my Loving blend onto the pulse points of my feet, around the inside ankle. The purpose here is to counteract the effects of fear that has contributed to the obstruction of energetic flow. Applying Loving, I make the intention to walk in Love, to engage the heart, well grounded in my path. In my creative visualization I work to program in the remembrance that each step brings me closer to clarity of the heart.

We are highly suggestible and adaptable creatures – some more than others. There are plenty of scientific studies that attest to this. We may as well use these qualities to our advantage by adopting conscious habits in place of unconscious habits. The more clarified we become, the less the distortion our intentions will suffer on their way to manifestation. And as I’ve said so many times before, consciously made perfume formulations can offer a tremendous help to our processes of clearing and intention making. The side effect of working with essential oils is a growing awareness of the subtle, where miracles abound. Like your pulse – check it out right now. You are alive. Wonderful!

Opening to Sensitivity With Essential Oils

Sensitivity comes in all shapes and sizes. A brute behaving insensitively by habit is not necessarily insensitive naturally. Often people put up a magnificent front of ferocity to mask the fear of feeling fully as embodied beings. To further confuse, that ferocity may take the form of a seeming intelligence that can rip to hamburger shreds authentic movement.

When filled with feelings of anger and territoriality or superiority – sensations attached to random thoughts, basically – we don’t have to feel what is. We close up and away from the cacophony of input we are bombarded with in life. Our mind conditioned responses easily replace the experience of authenticity. This is the way before we awaken away from our anesthetizing habits. We have habits of mind/body/feeling that keep us safely corralled within a limited field of possibility.

Sensitivity obviously indicates an awakening of the senses. We have these bodies that hold incredible potential if we can only access it. Awakening to our potential is reductive – we remove the impediments to our realization. But deep change takes extraordinary means. And it entails moving into our discomfort, opening out past some sensations and thoughts that keep us locked into dullness.

Essential oils are a way to introduce a new influence that may give us leverage away from habits. They reach the hard to reach places, bypassing our cognitive function with more immediate effects on the body and neurological system. Refining our senses and learning how to use this information toward more awakening will eventually open doors to new dimensional experiences.To a highly sensitive person the senses are attuned to more subtle stimuli. Emotional undercurrents and overtones, environmental factors, planetary and global events – all of these can be experienced energetically. Boundaries get fuzzy and one can feel what another feels, even taking on symptoms of illness. Certain perfumes can help when we work with boundaries creatively, with intention.

The tendency is to move away from our sensitivity into cover and protection. There are times when it is highly appropriate to protect oneself, to keep closed. I have created some very good aromatic tools to this end. At some point one begins to realize that the best way to equalize the pressure is to open up to it, to stop resisting. Like birthing contractions, the more we can open up to the experience of our life, the smoother the delivery.The right kinds of perfumes applied in a special way can help us open out beyond our habits of resistance and thus our own pain. You can see this effect in aromatherapy when Blue Chamomile (also known as German Chamomile) is applied to a place of inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s resistance to what it perceives as foreign invasion. The azulene that causes the beautiful color of Blue Chamomile has potent anti-inflammatory properties that break down the body’s resistance and thus eases the pain.

The ancients knew that burning Frankincense and other such aromatic treasures at a gathering produced an atmosphere that broke down the resistance among those gathered. Frankincense has the wondrous ability to elevate the atmosphere without over excitation. To collectively experience the positive effects of these subtle aromatic agents opens up a whole new world of experience.

We have lofty ideas about what we wish for our lives. How can we be conscious creators when so much of our activity is not conscious? To know life secrets we must know ourselves from within – but also from without. Yes, some impartial awareness of how others view us will serve us well. Increased awareness of the personal atmospheres we walk around in and emanate will help. Our best intentions are repeatedly thwarted by unconscious tendencies. We have to see them first before transformation can take place. Our vibration, emanations, habitual inner and outer postures, what we invoke into ourselves unknowingly will all be a part of what is. The sum total of this – our resonance – sends out the call to which the universe responds. If you want to get hold of your manifesting abilities there is an alignment that must take place. And aromatics offer keys to the kingdom.

This work goes deep. It is a way of life that has one result of sensitizing while at the same time strengthening through the revelation of what is authentic and essential. I have spoken about essential oils and some of the perfumes I make for intentional atmosphere making in previous posts. It’s time to talk about the application of perfume, which is really a big deal in the world of perfume with a purpose. It involves work with our pulse points, and the development of our intention making. The more we can use our developing sensitivity to tune in, listen, and allow intuitive response, the better. I will talk about the important subject of applying perfume with a purpose next time.

The Thorough Mix of Spirit and Matter

If you have read my blog it is obvious that for me this aromatic work goes beyond the composition of perfume – it is a way of life. The Perfumerie way puts emphasis on what most might consider the more subtle aspects of our existence. To tap into these subtle realms is to plug into a wellspring that can enrich and empower a life of excellence.

It should come as no surprise that the news of Robin Williams’ passing would be viewed from the energetic perspective my way of life fosters. It hit me hard – I was surprised by the impact. I have not seen a movie for years. I do not watch television. But I do social media, obviously, and I read some beautiful tributes. He was described as a force on more than one occasion, someone siting how as he was improvising, Robin would seem as though surprised at what was happening, his little chuckle before an avalanche of genius expressing his experience as witness.

From my perspective this artist was as a channel for a particular quality of energy and intelligence that enabled him to play his instrument as he did. My view of the artistic process is that the artist is opening up to the creative force as it is expressed through that unique individual’s instrument. The object of the game is to allow this force to come through as purely as possible, which can only take place when one is as an open channel.

It seems to me Robin Williams was capable of great empathy. Working with the quality of energy he did, he was more open than most could bear. Running this kind of energy is bound to fry out some circuits eventually unless one has taken appropriate measures to develop the skill and resistance necessary to accommodate such force. Alcohol and other substances too often are used in place of that skill.

I have learned to pay attention to and respect body/brain chemistry. Without serotonin rest and well-being will not be experienced. Lack of B vitamins and the nervous system along with everything dependent upon its healthy function starts to deteriorate. Bad digestion can lead to auto-intoxication and one’s thoughts can turn to crap. When addressing my own states, I take into consideration all of the things I’ve learned about what this body needs for optimum performance. Adjustments can be made through diet and supplementation. With a good attitude, things should be kicking.

But there is a relationship with more rarefied energy that will be addressed in a different way. Aromatics have been used in many cultures to help facilitate this relationship. Science seems to be catching up to what ancients knew of Frankincense, as an example, which has been used for centuries in healing, clearing, heart work, and attracting good energy. Evidently, according to some scientific study with acoustics, a room incensed with Frankincense will produce a measurably better quality of sound. Recently I read a little snippet from an article about how science is seeing the body and nervous system’s functioning in terms of sound instead of electricity. And in my previous post I spoke about the discovery that the skin has scent receptors that when in contact with the substance Sandalore, a synthetic Sandalwood, trigger healing responses.

Rumi says spirit and matter are so thoroughly mixed you can’t have one without the other. The part that is spirit resides in the field of infinite possibilities while matter has the illusion of time and impermanence. Real healing would necessarily have to reflect this relationship in us. To see infinite possibility might enable one to jump onto a healing track away from illness. This is where the creation of an intentional atmosphere comes into play quite well.

Even just the act of producing an intentional atmosphere brings one closer to that luminous field. Producing the right aromatic atmosphere can have immediate effects at a very deep level. These effects can help put one onto a different energetic track. Apart from brain/body chemistry, depression is fed by an imbalance of immersion into the realm of impermanence – the world and its insanity. To experience the realm of infinite possibility is another matter altogether. Things vibrate faster and brighter – it’s a different energetic environment. The perspective becomes more attuned to the connectedness of everything and destruction of one’s own life is an impossibility here.

I wish it had been an impossibility for Mr. Williams. We mourn the loss of such light on the planet – his was considerably bright. I am yet another of many humans wishing him peace in his voyage.

The path of Perfumerie power is an essential path – on many levels. While the tendency is to numb out our sensitivity in this culture, learning how to work with it is far more effective. It is becoming clearer that we are in this together. If we were all sensitive to each other, to our environments, to the unique expression of our own lives…perhaps we would know a different world. Too often it takes a big shock to awaken us enough to a place of authenticity and caring. No one is exempt from illness and death, and equally, no one is exempt from the brilliance of their own potential. To truly embrace equality carries with it the responsibility of acting from this knowledge.

One must develop the strength and will to maintain the kind of practice that encourages an open state. Just bearing sensitivity is a task in itself. I once had a sudden stomach ache in simpatico with someone immediately following his eating food I had refused. That is one small story of many. But there are tricks to help, and aromatic tools that work beautifully to produce an environment of safety and strength. I will next be talking about refining our senses and creating boundaries of protection to balance this process. Until then- I want to take the opportunity to thank you for reading my words, with heartfelt best wishes to all.

Some Essential Ways of Daily Magic

One theory about the early use of aromatics points to their function of masking other scents found in nature. Herbs and berries rubbed on the skin of a young ovulating woman out gathering for her clan’s meal might have kept her from being jumped by a male in her travels. Around the cave in the evening the fragrant resins from the trees and other plant matter helped produce an atmosphere of conviviality among the people gathered. This conviviality attracted group mind experiences of an energetic nature that seemed to bring about good living conditions. Eventually aromatics were so well prized for their ability to communicate to the gods that a path was cut across a desert to produce what is referred to as the Frankincense trail into Somalia where the best Frankincense has been cultivated for thousands of years.

Per-fuma – through smoke. What is it about burning Sage that clarifies? There are chemical constituents in the released essential oils that trigger body responses conducive to achieving a state of clarity, yes. I would call this Aromatherapy. Humans have long known the benefits of engaging the body/mind while using fragrance intentionally toward spiritual results. The gods have been known to favor good fragrance, the smoke from incense wafting into the sublime, carrying messages of petition for grace, for rain. This falls more into the realm of magic.

Perhaps it is more accurate to say that the body/mind can use fragrance with intentionality toward occult results. That’s a loaded word for many – occult – but is meant here simply in its sense as “hidden”. To the cave clan rain and sun and other natural phenomena were the result of occult forces. The intensity of experience, stress factors, social pressures all had a different flavor to them than what we know in the age of pixilation. Things were felt more energetically, it seems to me. It is what I am told happens in tribal settings among the so called more primitive cultures – magic is just a part of the whole thing.

Ever since E.J. Gold first turned me on to work with Essential oils, incenses, and the alteration of atmosphere it has defined a big part of the way I live my life. I have maintained practices of diet and in other areas that have resulted in more sensitivity and awareness of what might ordinarily be perceived as occult matters. And this has encouraged an ongoing committed relationship to purification.

Sometimes purification means taking actions like rolling in the dirt – to purify an imbalance I might have due to an abundance of fire as an astrological and Ayurvedic element of my composition. Maybe I don’t have time to roll in the dirt, so I apply, with intent, the Essential Blend Deep Dominions, which has deep earthy tones to it. If I am feeling particularly fiery I will apply Dragon’s Blood which has the ability to meet me where I am in my fire element but then cascade me gracefully to the earth, as its deep final notes of labdanum, sandalwood, vetiver and myrrh all help to ground the fire into something that can be better shaped with intent. Before doing any of this I will bring in some needed Air, consciously engaging that element, bringing mind with breath and sealing this with the Breathe formula from our Simple line. If I want to add the element of water I will use the Breathe formula with Epsom salts in a foot soak. I can draw out energetic impediments, or to better attune myself to the electromagnetic energy of the earth. Here is a video in which I demonstrate doing a Clearing Breath, which is a great start to any activity of intention making.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4NOrr6iuFQ

These are some of the ways in which I apply essential oil compositions to the creation of intentional atmospheres in my daily life. The mystery of perfume has its roots in magic and healing. To live the way I do means having a close relationship with myself, being aware of myself as an embodied energetic being. It means working to act from consciousness while being aware of my feelings and the world around me. There are ways we can use essential oils to remind us of our origin, whether we see this in the sense of our earthly ancestors or bring things to the root of all being. It delights me how potent and flexible essential oils can be as tools for our intent. They meet our changing needs that reflect the various processes unfolding within us – of healing, evolution, growth, dissolution. I’ll talk about this next time.

The Mysteries of Scent Response Ability

Mystery and perfume go together. Many aspects of scent still remain elusive to science. Recently scientists discovered that there are scent receptors in the cells of our skin and when our skin “smells” Sandalwood it begins to heal itself.
“They found that Sandalore—a synthetic sandalwood oil used in aromatherapy, perfumes and skin care products—bound to an olfactory receptor in skin called OR2AT4. Rather than sending a message to the brain, as nose receptors do, the receptor triggered cells to divide and migrate, important processes in repairing damaged skin. Cell proliferation increased by 32 per cent and cell migration by nearly half when keratinocytes [skin cells] in a test tube and in culture were mixed for five days with Sandalore.” *

I find this intriguing in light of the work I do with the creation of intentional atmospheres – “perfume with a purpose” – and how this differs from ordinary perfumery and aromatherapy.

The practice of aromatherapy as I have known it uses pure essential oils in their unadulterated form, that is, without the fractionating of aroma chemical constituents. The above excerpt would indicate differently, as Sandalore is clearly an aroma chemical, one that evidently produces a healing result. In any case, aromatherapy employs the known properties of certain constituents found in essential oils for healing. For example the Azulene found in Blue Chamomile is responsible for the beautiful color of the oil and has known anti-inflammatory properties. Azulene is fractionated out and can be found in some skincare products.

Intentional Atmosphere creation does not focus on the chemical constituents of essential oils or their traditional healing properties – though these may nevertheless come into play. The roots of this practice lie in magic. And in a way, the roots of magic are to be found in healing. Whether it is a physical ailment or drought, humans throughout history have sought to understand universal laws in order that they may be applied to living. Shaman, priest, priestess, magician, and healer – these are some of the names given to those who have sought to know and work with universal laws for the benefit of the greater good.

The recent discovery of scent receptors in skin and the potential healing effects of the right scent environment says something about the efficacy of creating an atmosphere that invites conditions of self-healing. It also indicates that the science of scent remains largely elusive. Another mysterious effect – experiments have revealed that acoustic music being played in a room incensed with Frankincense produces a measurably better sound quality. These discoveries point to the ancient wisdom inherent in the practice of intentional atmosphere creation. The very quality of elusiveness that scent embodies allows it to be effective in realms of existence that have no verbal translation. Hence, it has been said that scent speaks to the gods.

The play of this mystery in the body is ironically quite direct. Scent molecules reach an exposed part of the spinal cord that is connected to what is sometimes called the old olfactory brain. The body responds to scent before signals are sent to the brain and cognition occurs. The scent receptors of the skin respond to scent molecules directly without signaling to the brain.

With this kind of response ability, scent is a potent communicator. What subliminal messages are being communicated to us as we go about our daily lives? What are we unconsciously communicating through our scent? How are our environments affecting us? A lot of modern Western life, which seems to be deteriorating due to its extreme imbalance, is designed to keep us distracted. In that distraction we are kept distant from awareness of the subtle.

Being keenly aware of atmospheres, producing an atmosphere of intention – these are activities quite opposed to sheep mentality. To be effective one must have, among other tools, strong unwavering attention. To learn how to use atmospheres of intention for manifestation of desired results means learning how to access and navigate in a particular zone – the zone from whence mystery springs forth. (How’s that for waxing poetic? I am a Lover, obviously – all this talk of perfume, mystery, and now a bit of poetry – sigh.) I’d better end this here – suddenly I need chocolate.  Next up, perfume with a purpose and accessing the field of infinite possibilities.

*http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/skin-can-smell/

 

 

The Substance of Attention and Essential Oils

I have come to appreciate attention as a thing of substance. Most people have had the experience of feeling as though they have been invisibly tapped on the shoulder only to turn and find someone has had their attention upon them. Essential oils can address the subtleties of attention work.
I got a good taste of the palpable power of attention at fourteen. Doing an art project in my room, for some reason I was moved to slow down and watch my every movement, applying the full force of my attention on my activity. This is what many would call mindfulness, but I was clueless about such a notion back in those days. The force of my attention reached such an intensity that I seemed to voyage to another world full of exquisitely rich detail and yet all of the elaboration seemed inextricably bound to one wordless thing. There were new juxtapositions to what I was seeing, yielding fresh meaning to all around me. I saw that usually the way I lived was but a shadow of this – it was a rare occasion that the light turned on that brightly. In time I came to appreciate attention as something that must be gathered, trained and developed if it is to be used well.
We may have intuited and even observed the kernel of truth in what has been presented about the Law of Attraction or Manifestation, but we will generally be as successful as our attention is strong. Weak attention will correspondingly weaken one’s ability to work with intention. It’s the stuff of good intentional atmospheres – attention and intention.
I have developed my attention in numerous ways, and the process is ongoing. The application of an essential oil blend such as Dragon’s Blood prior to working with my attention in the way I do as an artist supports the creative space of fluid yet concentrated attention. The choice of essential oil blend will reflect my overall state of being in the context of the moment. The quality of attention wanted, which I’ve also known as a voyager’s attention, is facile, making it possible to move with the moment’s necessity.
Portions of our attention can be caught up in ways that reflect lack of mindfulness in one’s living. This culture encourages a mechanical state of sensational numbness and perpetual distraction. Essential oils and incenses can be effectively used to help remove the psychic debris that keeps us suspended away from the moment in its fullness. In working with fragrances that are produced for the purposes of creating intentional atmospheres, one is given some leverage against the onslaught.
The answer to all of our ills literally is contained in this moment here now. Steeped deeply in the Present, problems do not exist because problems require a space time continuum that is not a true property of Presence.
Practice and dedication are necessary to develop the skills of attention, and it is work of a lifetime. You need to know what to practice, and to know what to practice effectively you have to get to know your own weaknesses as well as strengths. Having a good heart mirror around sure does help.
We have portions of our attention laying around, scattered over many matters. Attention can be as if lodged, entangled in a web of static energy associated with a trauma, for example, or just simply some disagreement you had with someone earlier today. Remember – attention is a substance. To get the full force of our attention we will need to re-collect this substance. Our consensus world is geared to driving our attention to doing the next thing. We are not given time to alchemize our experiences, to re-collect our attention, unless we have mastery over time and can thus create what is necessary. You have to be willing to hang out away from time as you know it to get to the platform where the mastery train comes.
All the self-help techniques in the world are going to be ineffective if our attention is so diffused and weak we can’t even muster it to eat a meal undistracted. Gathering our attention will involve detangling the subtle energetic knots that disable flow into present moment. As we unravel some of the energetic masses held in place in the body and mind we can collect the will of attention needed to intend in our lives effectively.
Essential oils are brilliantly useful in all of the above. Aromatherapy is one path, intentional atmosphere making is another. Aromatherapy can help out with some of the bio-chemical obstructions to flow. Intentional atmosphere making works differently, but may have the same kinds of healing effects as aromatherapy. Sounds like a topic for next blog.
A note before I go – we will soon be offering the first of our Perfumerie Power download series – Making Your Presence Known in Your Life. It will deliver a whole program designed to engage your attention on your day differently, such that you infuse the day with your presence, with optional suggestions for incorporating essential oils in the various instructions given that are adaptable to anyone’s daily situation. I really look forward to sharing this useful life enhancing material!

An Inquiry About Our Three Perfume Lines and Their Distinct Uses

We received an inquiry via our Etsy shop which is as follows: I have a question regarding the different product lines you offer – Simple, Essential blends, and Intentional Atmosphere. What are the differences between them as far as when to use them or how they should be used?
This is a good question, and I’ll start with our newest line of perfumes called Simple. The Simple compositions are actually complex but comprised only of aromatherapy grade essential oils. These are pure distillations from plant matter. Breathe, Dream, and Know are full bodied perfumes that employ some Aromatherapy principles in their blending but with an aim to produce a good atmosphere that helps you to Breathe, Dream, and Know – however you wish to define these. You could use Breathe, for example, to create space – breathing room- with a problem you might have. Or you might help yourself to relax so that you can physically breathe better. Each formula’s name has a suggestion of its loosely targeted range.
This is what is fundamental to all of the perfumes we make – they are to help you create atmospheres with intention that enhance your experience of life. Commercial perfumes are intended for mass market sales, and produce corresponding atmospheres. Commercial perfumes can be loaded with fragrance products that are not naturally sourced and tend to have chemical allergens a sensitive person cannot tolerate.
The Essential Blends are comprised of pure aromatherapy grade essential oils and fragrance compounds. Our fragrance compounds are naturally sourced. I give the following example to explain what a fragrance compound is: the essence of Gardenia flower is such that some of the scent molecules are too volatile to capture in distillation. To produce the full bouquet of Gardenia one must provide those missing notes. This is where scent constituents from another flower are mined and synthesized to fill out the gap. There are different qualities of fragrance compounds, and ours are top notch due to the fact that they are naturally sourced.
The Essential Blends are malleable to your needs and serve as our house perfumes for people to explore the creation of a personal atmosphere in this way. Ultimately it is best to have a perfume especially made for you – a perfume portrait. The Essential Blend compositions offer a wide array of fragrances that can be worn daily as well as designated for the creation of intentional atmospheres. As an example of what I mean, Deep Dominions is an excellent deep unisex perfume that can also support the ability to plunge to the depth where intention making is effective.
The Intentional Atmospheres line is quite potent and well described as incense that one can wear. These are targeted to specific kinds of intention setting, but with a clean clear range that allows for making it one’s own. Dragon’s Blood, a very complex and potent formulation, can be used for clearing, cleansing, purification, and protection, as well as anything else along these lines that might strike the intuition. And that is what is key to any work with essential oils and the creation of atmospheres for intention, one’s own intuition. These perfumes help in the activation of the intuitive function over the hypnosis of a trend in a commercial perfume.
There are times when Cleanse/Banish is the tool of choice. For example, when first moving somewhere it can be useful to do a strong clearing of whatever took place in the space prior to your inhabiting it, to make it your own. Psychic Self Defense is an excellent fragrance tool for those times when we feel vulnerable and in need of protection – as in times of change. Using Psychic Self Defense in conjunction with the Bach Flower Remedy Walnut is an excellent way of fortifying oneself.
These are but a few suggestions. Above all, use your intuition. Rumi says that you can tell when you are moving toward truth by the light feeling of joy in the heart. The right kind of fragrance can help you access that kind of intelligence.
http://www.perfumerie.com, https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThePerfumerie

Clearing a Fragrant Path Toward Freedom

“The Explorers” is a favorite film. Three young teen boys receive communications in their dreams guiding them to build a “rocket ship” that lands them on an alien spacecraft. When they first arrive they must go through a decontamination process, because, as their marvelous alien host explains, earthlings are dirty.
To be able to produce good scent atmospheres for others required cleaning up my earthling act. Who wants to work with an insensitive perfumer? It is not just a question of smell – there is much more to consider here. Someone who isn’t in themselves clear and knowledgeable when blending essential oils for others can mess things up for them electrically. There’s a lot of responsibility involved. A friend of mine accidentally spilled some Myrrh oil on herself once and was dysfunctional for days – she described it as an electrical phenomenon. We’re talking about a highly achieving dynamo of a woman, an attorney – knocked out by an essential oil.
We start with the body. I was given guidance and instruction to follow a clearing diet. This helped my body get to a place of being able to discern what foods yielded the most nutritional energy for the least expenditure of processing energy. When our bodies are not bogged down by inefficiency and waste, the senses can refine, there is potential for a higher mode of functionality. But dude, be aware, gaining sensitivity is not for wimps.
We are encrusted with bad or ineffective conditioned responses and this must be seen firsthand to get to the place of doing something about it. I’ve seen that even desires are conditioned in through influences that I would not consciously choose. We long for yet fight the opening out of the consciousness playing field. Turning away from what numbs and moving toward yet more aliveness requires the creation of a new set of habits, a shift of the attention. And following a fragrant path can help.
The chemistry cultivated by one seeking freedom over thrill will be different in ways that affect the playing field of possibilities. How we smell is part of who we are and will influence our field of possible experience. This gets into the realm of the mystical ultimately. I’ll leave this delicate topic hanging where it is for the moment, and go back to the beginning of this post – The Explorers.
The three characters in the story represented the heart, body, and mind. The dreams first started coming through the heart centered character, who connected and communicated with the body (mechanic) and mind (scientist) until all were receiving the same dream signals which gave them instructions. The dreams opened them up to a different kind of influence – communication from the aliens. United, these three were able to shoot for the stars and get there, sort of. It was nothing like what they expected.
Essential oils can help align heart, body, and mind in intentional activity. For example, true relaxation is an intentional activity. Developing intentions toward a greater good can help keep us pointed in the right direction. And aromatic atmospheres can help us stay fluid in our movement, and maintain resonance with spaces of clarity. Used well – with great attention – they can launch us into deep inner space. And things might not be as we thought once we get to these areas of our being that usually remain occult (hidden). Intentional atmosphere making with essential oils can help us see and be through the sometimes tumultuous unknown we must get to in order to know real change. This is a good topic for my next post.

A Bedtime Story About Intentional Perfumery

A recent experience with one of the Simple Aromatherapy perfumes pointed to a subtle part of my responsibility as a perfumer. It says something about my attention in this work.

The Breathe formula has many components that include Labdanum (Desert Rock Rose), Lavender Absolute, Blue Chamomile, Clary, Sandalwood, Blood Orange, just to name a few of the pure essential oils in this full bodied unisex perfume. It was intended to produce an atmosphere that allows us to pause, take a breath, and dip into the fresh spring of the moment. It is a perfume to be enjoyed for its fragrance as it unfolds from fresh notes of Pink Grapefruit and Lime to the heart accords including Ylang Ylang and Geranium finally evaporating down to the beautiful rich base tones like Sandalwood and Peru Balsam.
In the composition I was intuitively drawn to essential oils that are known to produce the physiological effects helpful to relaxation and well-being. Chamomile can address inflammatory issues and is naturally calming, for example. But this is perfume with a purpose of producing an atmosphere. In this case, an atmosphere conducive to whatever healing/balancing needed to reach a state of expansive tranquility. A perfume of this nature is not directly addressing the inflammatory issues that may obstruct our breathing channels. Healing of these issues may take place, but by virtue of the atmosphere produced for the body/mind/spirit system to self-heal.
A Flamenco student told me one of her sons was having trouble sleeping and wondered if I could make something to help him. Intuition told me to use the Breathe formula as a base that I customized for her son by adding a small amount more Lavender and Roman Chamomile – with intent.
The fragrance was naturally altered and my mind started on its track of concern over this, but something in me stayed rock steady. It felt guided. When she smelled it I could tell she was a little skeptical about how her son would receive it. Three days later I saw her and she beamed, telling me it worked and her son loved the fragrance. She explained that typically she hears her boys talking at night for quite some time after they’ve gone to their bunk beds. But within five minutes of applying the oil on both nights the talk subsided and when she checked, they were asleep. It is now a ritual, they stick their wrists out as mom puts on Ms. Kelly’s Sleeping Potion.
It not only works on pre-teen boys, but on grandmothers too! At least one woman I know had tried a lot of remedies for her insomnia that included Melatonin, Tryptophan, and Chamomile. But the altered Breathe formula works for her well and I can attest to the fact that she looks much better rested. It looks like we will be adding a fourth formula to our Simple aromatherapy perfume line up – Rest.
I am grateful for the clarity. I will not blend essential oils when it is clear that I am murky, and this is a great part of my responsibility – discernment of clear or murky influences. This discernment requires a way of life that is dedicated and at the same time fluid enough to expand in range. More about this next post.

Conscious Perfumery, Intention, Alignment

Consciously made perfumes can help us develop our love of the sublime, that which feeds spirit over matter. They were applied on me and I was given conditions and training simultaneously to help me transform away from destructive habits that robbed me of energy.
Energy is needed for accessing a wider field of possibility. Negative states and their atmospheres rob vitality, narrow the playing field. They steal from what is real to give to the illusory. Anger is often glorified and touted as a healthy emotion that gets things done but it is the energy released that might fuel any doing. If that energy is unconsciously vented it simply serves to feed the habit of anger as a reaction. Anger masks fear and often gets mixed up with misdirected sexual energy.

Conscious perfumes can ground us, help in the setting of intention, producing physiological changes conducive to levity over gravity. They can assist in creating resonance with inner spaces of clarity and higher functioning. With the application of knowledge of resonance and correspondences, they can help produce conditions that open up the range of perceptual experience, deepening insight, giving fresh overview.

To change habitual reactions that are no longer useful takes strong intention. You really gotta want it. It is not easy to do this when we are invested in the outcome of circumstance more than we are our own evolution. Some think of evolution as a form of empowerment. Empowerment is not about use of power. It is more about getting the hand out of the cookie jar. It is a state of alignment to that which is truest, most essential within ourselves. With voluntary evolution, which is self-initiated, comes the development of skills and faculties that are dormant until awakened intentionally. True evolution has to do with our function and service in the greater scheme of things – its not about us. Thing is, when we are in alignment with our deepest service and function, everything else falls into place. To my view manifestation of intention has to do with this kind of alignment.

What do I mean by conscious perfumery and intention? I am referring to a whole way of life here. To intend effectively one engages three elements – will, presence, and attention. These three elements determine the nature of our reality. I use the path of perfume with a purpose as a means of developing habits of will, presence, and attention that are more helpful. More about this next post.